Search Results
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The Sales Force and Similarities with Baseball
- August 26, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Leah Rust, editor of EyesOnSales, interviewed me for another Podcast, this one on the similarities between baseball and sales. It runs for only 7:23.
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Another Connection Between Sales and Baseball
- September 7, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You have to make sure your salespeople are prepared for those situations. Do you coach them so that when the opportunity presents itself they’re able to capitalize on it? That’s the essence of your role as their sales manager!
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Hiring Salespeople is Like Signing Free Agent Baseball Players
- June 19, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
It may be a one call close, the need to call on the CEO, the amount of money your salespeople must ask for, the number of competitors, or a host of other factors. A strong candidate has already had success selling with those challenges.
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Baseball and Sales Management by the Numbers
- June 11, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Some salespeople don’t appear at the top of their company’s charts because they are new, don’t have the best territories or are starting territories from scratch, may be great performers, doing all the right things on a daily basis, but don’t get the recognition they deserve.
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What is it About Baseball Books?
- July 12, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A recent post on 800CEORead.com was titled ‘What is it About Baseball Books?’. It was a good article but, given the audience, Top Management Executives, I wondered how the author, Jack Covert could have omitted the two baseball books actually written for his audience. They are Jeff Angus’ fine management book, Management by Baseball, and my book, Baseline Selling.
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Management by Baseball
- June 3, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Just six months after my book, Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball was published, Jeff Angus published his new book, Management by Baseball. The experts are saying that this book is a homerun too!
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Winning and Retaining Business When There is Competition
- April 30, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We were away for most of April, watching our son play his senior year of college baseball. When we left Massachusetts, the calendar said early April, the grass and gardens were still dormant and the weather felt like mid-January with some games played in 25-degree wind chills!
When we returned home three weeks later, we looked outside and saw life! Flowers were in bloom, the Bradford Pears and Crab Apple trees had blossoms, and the green grass had already been mowed a couple of times. Although we weren’t there, nature did its thing without us.
Pivot to sales.
It doesn’t matter whether salespeople are in account management or account executive roles. The sales equivalent of nature at work occurs at both target accounts and existing accounts. When salespeople aren’t physically present or on the phone with decision makers at the account, it is likely that one of their competitors is physically present or on the phone competing for the business or trying to take their business away. Just because a salesperson doesn’t see or hear about it, doesn’t mean it isn’t happening.
What can you do?
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250 Best Articles on Sales and Sales Leadership by Category
- April 4, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
These are the top 10 articles in 25 categories on sales, sales leadership, sales assessments, sales performance, sales excellence, sales process and more.
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10 Unfavorable Selling Conditions That Prevent Sales Success
- March 25, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When you encounter unfavorable selling conditions, refuse to accept them. This isn’t about moving forward with a couple of favorable conditions, it’s about NOT moving forward unless the conditions become more favorable. Whether or not you wish to admit it, the truth is that when the conditions don’t favor you, the business isn’t coming to you.
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New Data: Top Salespeople are 7562% Better at Winning RFPs
- March 13, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
RFPs aren’t going away, and there are two ways that salespeople can approach them, the companies that write them, and the people associated with them:
Passively – in this capacity, they are nothing more than facilitators, waiting for an RFP to drop in their inbox, so they can get it off to the folks who write the proposals. When complete, they email the proposal back to procurement and hope to win.
Proactively – in this capacity, they regularly meet and develop relationships with the appropriate CxO’s and Sr VP’s of manufacturing, engineering, design, IT, IS, Finance, Marketing, HR, R&D, Operations, Facilities, Fulfillment, Distribution, Sales, Learning and Development, Enablement, and any other organizational head they might possibly sell to. They become a resource, an asset, a partner and not only help to write the specifications of the next RFP, but write the specs in such a way that they are the only company that can win the business.It seems obvious, doesn’t it? Option 1 is stupid and Option 2 is brilliant. But if option 2 is so brilliant and obvious, then why do so many salespeople become so defensive and dug in to option 1?