• One Question Provides Salespeople with Instant Feedback on How Well They Differentiated

    • March 13, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Most salespeople do not know the difference between their prospects’ decision-making process compared with their decision-making criteria.

    What’s worse is that even more salespeople don’t even bother asking about it.  According to data from Objective Management Group (OMG) who has evaluated/assessed 1,843,105 salespeople, only 27% of all salespeople are strong qualifiers so it’s likely that the majority are not asking.

    If you do ask a prospect about their decision-making process, you might hear about the steps they will take. If you ask about criteria, you might hear about the topics they’ll consider when they make their decision.

    I’ll take you through an example. 

    read more

  • Dave Kurlan’s 10 Rules for Effective Sales Emails That Connect With New Prospects

    • March 10, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    They aren’t personal, they aren’t written well, their messages are identical, you want to delete them and I know  you get these emails too.  I had already decided to save some of these worthless emails for an upcoming article when Keenan posted this rant on LinkedIn.  After you read his rant and related comments, please return to my article for a short tutorial on what’s wrong with these emails and how to make them stickier.

    read more

  • Why Coaching Causes Some Sales Managers to Hold On for Dear Life

    • March 4, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Over the past few months I’ve been coaching 30 sales leaders from 3 companies and while most are trying their hardest to do everything I recommend, apply everything they learn, and coach as instructed, there are several that don’t follow through and fail to move the needle for their teams.  A few don’t want to be coached.  A few don’t think they need to be coached.  A few are too proud to be coached.  A couple are too mentally challenged to be coached.

    Avoidance aside, there are six scientifically proven reasons for their struggles and I’ll share them with you here.

    read more

  • How to Use Your Experience with Turbulence to Overcome Resistance

    • February 24, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We were on a JetBlue flight from Florida to Boston and the turbulence was much worse than usual.  More dramatic, longer lasting, and bad enough for the flight attendants to remain seated for the entire flight.  You’ve probably experienced a flight like that too.  Fun!  

    The jet was probably traveling 500 MPH but it’s funny how when the air is smooth, it doesn’t even seem like you’re moving, but when you add some serious bumps, you can feel every single one of those 500 MPH.  It feels more like an out-of-control roller coaster!

    Sales calls work the same way.

    When prospects are rushed, disinterested, resistant or rude, the call feels bumpy, like a jet traveling through turbulence.  When prospects are engaged, interested, and answering your questions, it feels smooth, like you’re hardly moving.

    So how can you get that smooth feeling on every call or meeting?

    read more

  • Salespeople Make This Mistake – The Dumb Question I Was Asked in a Hotel Restaurant

    • February 15, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I pulled up to the entrance of the Doubletree Hotel, greeted Chris, and we walked into the hotel restaurant.  As we approached the table, a well-meaning server asked, are you an Honors member?  I said, “yes.”  

    A moment later she returned and said she couldn’t find me in the system.  She asked me to spell my name, went back to her computer, and returned again, saying, “I can’t find your reservation in the system.”

    I explained that I wasn’t a hotel guest and we were here for breakfast.  “Oh, then you’ll have to pay for your breakfast!”  

    “OK,” I said.  After all, I was expecting to pay for breakfast!

    Can you imagine how much simpler it would have been if her first question was, “Are you staying with us?”

    Salespeople make the exact same mistake.  How do I know?  I can prove this with several examples.

    read more

  • Hiring Salespeople Should Not be Like a Coin Flip

    • February 6, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Hiring salespeople does not have to be like a pot luck supper or a coin flip.  If you are selective instead of impulsive, good things will happen.  Take a look at the image below.

    read more

  • I’m Sorry But Your Sales Process Sucks

    • February 1, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Perhaps you saw this too.  Yesterday, a post appeared in my LinkedIn feed that talked about the power of sales process.  The article was clearly written to support the author’s technology application, which helps track sales KPI’s; so they should know a little about the topic of sales process.

    Towards the end of the article, they provided a sample of what an effective sales process should look like.  The following text is exactly what they wrote:

    read more

  • An Easier Way to Coach Salespeople – For a While

    • January 30, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    As I suggested to a pair of sales managers today, there is an intermediate step they can take.  You can use the following approach to coach to any selling competency but this example helps your salespeople who need to take a more consultative approach.

    This is easy – you can do this.

    read more

  • Great News! The Latest Data Shows That Salespeople are Improving

    • January 23, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Some really terrific news came across my desk this week when John Pattison, Objective Management Group’s (OMG’s) COO, showed me two graphs he had created.  For the first time in recent memory, salespeople as a profession GOT BETTER!

    That’s right, when we compared the results of the 85,000 or so salespeople that were evaluated in 2018 to the 80,000 or so salespeople that were evaluated in 2017, there was a measurable improvement in overall scores!

    Let’s review the two graphs below.

    read more

  • Do the Least Informed Salespeople Have the Loudest Voices

    • January 22, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Do the least informed among us have the loudest voices? 

    Consider two very different salespeople working a new opportunity. 

    read more