Search Results
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Top 10 Reasons For Inaccurate Forecasts
- February 28, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Best Top 10 Lists, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force
We joke a lot about sales forecasts being no more accurate than weather forecasts, but everything is relative. An inaccurate forecast of cloudy won’t have much of an impact on anyone, but an inaccurate forecast of sunny and warm might. An inaccurate forecast of flurries might not cause a problem if they don’t materialize, but an inaccurate forecast of a foot of snow – in either direction – has serious consequences.
Inaccurate sales forecasts are legendary. Here are the 10 most common reasons why salespeople, sales managers, Sales Directors and CEO’s suffer from this:
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Top 4 Questions, 2 Words of Advice about Sales CRM
- February 17, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A company’s executive team can have a positive or negative influence on the performance of the sales team. Each member of your executive team can impact sales in some small, or not so small way. Today, I want to talk about Chief Technology Officers, VP’s and Directors of IT. At first glance, you might not think that IT has much of an impact on sales and you would be correct. However, they do have a significant role.
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Sales Execution – What Should You Pay Attention to?
- January 22, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Baseball and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
Larry Bossidy and Ram Charan even wrote a best-selling business book titled, Execution. Yet in sales, we rarely hear anything as simple or basic. We’re far more likely to hear about competition, politics, relationships, price, marketing, or the product itself before we hear anyone utter execution as the reason for not winning an account or a deal. Why is that?
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Is the Concept of Sales Process Really Antiquated?
- December 16, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Process, Understanding the Sales Force
It’s really not sales process itself that is antiquated; it’s most people’s perception of sales process that is antiquated.
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10 Tips for Great Keynotes and Better Sales Presentations
- December 10, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Best Top 10 Lists, Understanding the Sales Force
I thought I would share some tips that you could incorporate into your group sales presentations, lunch and learns, conference talks and appearances to make them more effective.
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What is the Most Difficult Part of the Sales Process?
- December 6, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Process, Understanding the Sales Force
We discussed the various challenges associated with all three milestones and when all was said and done, everyone agreed that the midpoint, that crucial point in time where compelling reasons to buy must be identified, is the most difficult for salespeople.
Why? Well a quick look at the following list of mini-milestones, that must be accomplished in order to get to the point where compelling reasons will be shared, tells the whole story. How many of your salespeople can do all of this in their first meeting?
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Study Says to Highlight 3 Features in a Sales Presentation
- November 25, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A very interesting article caught my attention on Inc. Magazine’s website. You must read the article in order to understand the following questions.
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Social Selling – I’m a Proponent, Not a Detractor – Look at The Stats
- November 15, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Bob Thompson left several comments on the article at the CustomerThink site. In his last comment, he asked what the stats would look like if we only reported on what the best salespeople did with social media. I think that’s a terrific idea, Bob, and while it’s much more difficult to isolate those statistics, I did the research and report on it here.
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Top 10 Ways Salespeople are Selling in the Dark
- November 13, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Best Top 10 Lists, Books, Movies, Theater and Television, Understanding the Sales Force
Did you happen to see the movie Gravity?
Early in the movie, the two astronauts, played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, lose communications with Houston. From that point on, they don’t stop talking to Houston, they don’t stop reporting in and they don’t change protocol. What they do change, is they add a phrase to the beginning of each message, “Houston, in the dark…”
They are moving blindly, without direction, without feedback, without certainty. They are in the dark. That’s exactly how most salespeople go through each day, through each sales call and meeting, and through each sales cycle. They are in the dark.
It’s most obvious when salespeople don’t know:
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How Frequently Does Fear Play a Part in Sales?
- November 6, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Fear of failing doesn’t affect everyone that sells. The elite 6% are certainly immune to it, and most of the next 20% aren’t affected too much by it either. But the remaining 74% – the group that basically sucks – battles the fear of failing on a daily basis.
That fear – and most salespeople aren’t even consciously aware of it – prevents them from