Search Results
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Sales Grit: Why Only 20% of Salespeople Have It (And How to Fix the Rest)
- October 12, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
Discover how baseball’s evolving stats mirror the need for relentless sales grit. Drawing from real CEO and VP insights, explore why most salespeople fall short on commitment, perseverance, and more—and what it takes to elevate your team.
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Top 5 Ways to Stop Striking Out on Your Sales Forecasts
- September 21, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Baseball and Sales, Best Top 10 Lists, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force
The Boston Red Sox are whiffing 62% of their bases-loaded, no-outs chances—way worse than the MLB’s 15% fail rate. Sound like your sales pipeline? Discover why high-probability deals fizzle out and how to fix it with five key strategies, from robust qualifying to predictive scorecards.
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Revolutionizing Sales Forecasting with a Baseball Twist
- September 12, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Baseball and Sales, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force
Discover the “Power Alley,” a revolutionary sales forecasting strategy inspired by baseball. Learn how this KPI aligns pipeline, forecast, and revenue to boost accountability and solve CEOs’ biggest frustration.
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How to Spark the Sales Equivalent of a 10-Game Winning Streak
- July 13, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Baseball and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
Success breeds success: Just like the Red Sox’s 10-game winning streak after trading Rafael Devers, sales teams ignite when B and C players start closing deals, pushing everyone—including top performers—to elevate their game. Learn how effective training boosts revenue by 28-42%, with real client results like growing from $24M to $68M in 12 months.
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New Data: The Top 10% of Salespeople are 619% Stronger Than the Bottom 10%
- May 24, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
New 2025 data reveals a staggering 619% performance gap between the top 10% and bottom 10% of salespeople. While top performers excel in competencies like Relationship Building and Consultative Selling, they’re slipping in areas like Hunting and Closing, influenced by COVID and economic challenges. Dive into the 21 Sales Core Competencies to understand why—and what to do about it.
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Car Engines and Gas Prices Can Help Eliminate Obsolete Sales Tactics
- May 15, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
In this thought-provoking article, the author questions outdated traditions in automotive and sales industries. From measuring car engine power in horsepower—a term rooted in the 1700s—to gas prices still ending in 9/10 cents, the piece challenges why we cling to archaic practices. It also critiques sales tactics, like pitching over consultative selling, excessive proposals, and weak follow-up questions, urging a shift to modern, effective strategies for 2025.
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The Sales Process Milestone You Can’t Get Wrong
- May 9, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Sales Process, Salespeople Like Children, Understanding the Sales Force
Every year, I observe that May 11th marks the day when tree leaves reach full size, a natural milestone that mirrors the critical timing in sales. Just as leaves may appear early or late due to weather, prospects reach buying decisions at varying times. Salespeople often assume the end of their pitch signals the moment to close, but prospects may not be ready—or may have been ready earlier. Missing these cues can lead to lost sales. A well-structured sales process like Baseline Selling accounts for this, but unexpected delays or accelerated decisions can still disrupt timing. Mastering the art of aligning with a.prospect’s decision-making moment is key to closing deals effectively.
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How to Master the Sales Discovery Call
- April 11, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Good salespeople know that the key to a sales process that will result in a sale, is uncovering their prospect’s compelling reason to buy. Period. Not “period” as in that’s all they have to do, but “period”, as in nothing else in the process will matter if they don’t uncover the compelling reason to buy. Easy (to state). For most salespeople, even the good ones, it’s not that easy. How can they determine if what they heard is actually compelling? Is it compelling to the prospect? Is it compelling to the salesperson? Do those two determinations have equal value?
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10 Rules for Successful Sales Training and Revenue Growth
- March 17, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Books, Movies, Theater and Television, Understanding the Sales Force
The truth is that even the most media-rich, entertaining, engaging, memorable sales training can’t come close to holding people’s attention when compared to a series like “24.”
That’s why it is imperative that companies follow my top 10 rules for a successful sales training outcomes:
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Top 20 Reasons Why Sales Opportunities Don’t Close
- January 28, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Baseball and Sales, Best Top 10 Lists, Understanding the Sales Force
Sales Leaders who are frustrated with low win rates place the blame on closing skills when, in reality, it has NOTHING to do with closing! Watch this 2-minute video for an explanation and then continue reading below.
