Search Results

  • What Meteorologists Have in Common with Salespeople
    • January 19, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Wow!  A plowable snow event.  No hype, no accumulation predictions, no mystery about the ever-moving rain/snow line, no warnings about treacherous travel, no details about the track of the storm and where it might go, just a “plowable snow event”.  The excitement and exhaustion from the previous 3 storms had surely numbed her senses.

    How does this apply to your sales force?

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  • Compelling Reasons for Your Salespeople to Go Mobile
    • June 14, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Good Sales Managers know how important it is for their salespeople to uncover needs.

    But it goes way beyond needs. 

    As I detail in Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball, it requires that your salespeople learn about their prospects’ compelling reasons to buy.  Not just their needs. The issues, problems and frustrations – and even the consequences – that would cause them to spend money and spend it with your company, instead of your competitor.

    But it goes well beyond compelling reasons.

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  • Are Sales Cycles Really Getting Shorter?
    • December 11, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I read an article that claimed that winning sales cycles are getting shorter. 

    While I agree with everything else in the article, I questioned the 23% shorter because our substantial data does not support this claim.  So where could the discrepancy be?

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  • Sales Management – Most Important Functions in the Sales Process
    • July 8, 2007
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    As you can see, coaching, albeit different coaching , is required for each base.  Motivation is most important for getting your salespeople to first base while pipeline management and accountability are crucial along the way.

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  • Sales Best Practices – Not
    • March 24, 2007
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see the difference between company A and B.  And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to implement the process either.  But it does take more than a 60 day commitment to the new process.  When it’s been broken for a decade it doesn’t get fixed in a calendar quarter.

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