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Top 3 Reasons Why Sales Training Doesn’t Change Your Salespeople
- November 17, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I get asked this question a lot: “We’ve tried sales training before and it didn’t really change anything. Why didn’t it work?”
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Have the Promises of Inbound Sales Come to Fruition?
- November 14, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Last week, I spoke at Inbound, where 19,000 people attended this sold-out event in Boston. Ironically, I spoke to a crowd that wanted to learn how to be more effective at engaging prospects by phone and converting those conversations to meetings. Why is it ironic? Well, the promise of the Inbound movement is that cold calling is dead. Salespeople will reap the benefits of inbound leads from prospects who had already expressed interest. Has that happened?
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How to Change a Crappy Sales Compensation Plan to a Better One
- November 3, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
First, this is simply an example – one example – and not the only way to create a sales compensation plan. However, this example will illustrate the most important component to be changed.
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Most Salespeople Are Wrong about the Concept of Being Willing to Walk
- October 31, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
At some point in most training programs we talk about being willing to walk away. In addition to being part of a Kurlan led sales training program, the willingness to walk away is a major focus of any training program on negotiation as well. But most people in sales don’t really understand the concept of being willing to walk, how it plays out, and what to do when you get there. I would love to share my thoughts on this below.
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Salesperson’s Terrible Reaction Part 2
- October 31, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I posted a very short article where I discussed one salesperson’s reaction to a great sales role play. I received a number of emails telling me how helpful the video, story and lessons were.
The article highlighted Self-Limiting beliefs or negative self talk. Today we will take it a step further and discuss the other things that could have been at play – hidden weaknesses – and the interference they cause salespeople while selling to their prospects. Like chains, salespeople are only as strong as their weakest link…
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The Benefits of Completely Bashing Your Competition
- October 26, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I’m referring to the circus known as the 2016 Presidential Election. It has moved from ugly to downright terrifying as we watch two presidential candidates slinging the most horrible attacks on each other. And the worst part is that most of those attacks are well deserved. But there is an important selling lesson we can take from all of this. Does bashing your competition ever work?
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The #1 Key to Making Sales Forecasts Accurate Again
- October 24, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
What is they key to accurate sales forecasts? Sure, it’s all of the things I’ve written about before, like sales process, uncovering compelling reasons to buy, selling value, thoroughly qualifying, etc. But haven’t you witnessed more than enough opportunities where all of that was completed at an acceptable level and the business still failed to close? Don’t too many of those well qualified opportunities become delayed closes or losses? So what is it? What is the one thing that will accurately predict whether or not an opportunity is strong enough to pursue with everything you’ve got?
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Is it Your Salespeople or Did You Make a Bad Decision?
- October 19, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Salesforce.com.
Consider this quote from a client:
“You were right, you know. Six months ago, when you told us that we wouldn’t be happy with the integration of the customized sales process into Salesforce.com, we didn’t understand what you meant. But now we do. It’s clunky, not really part of the interface, the customization cost us tens of thousands of dollars, and it doesn’t work the way we need it to. We are so sorry we didn’t listen because that train has left the station.”
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The Crucial Selling Skill That Nobody Talks About
- October 14, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I couldn’t care less because the tool looked lame and if he thought that he was going to hurt my feelings with his threat to remove my name he is as stupid as he is impatient. And patience is what I want to talk about today.
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What it Takes to be an Elite (Top 7%) Salesperson
- October 11, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Last week I received a call from a young, motivated salesperson – we’ll call him Jim – who desperately wanted to be one of the elite 7% of all salespeople. Despite being just 26 years old, he believed that he was already in the top 7%. During our call, he asked me a great question. He asked, “How many of the top 7% have you actually met and where are they today?” I didn’t have to think very long or hard to answer that question because it was one of the easiest questions I have ever been asked.