Search Results
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Why Coaching Causes Some Sales Managers to Hold On for Dear Life
- March 4, 2019
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, 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.
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Salespeople Make This Mistake – The Dumb Question I Was Asked in a Hotel Restaurant
- February 15, 2019
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, 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.
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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.
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Do the Least Informed Salespeople Have the Loudest Voices
- January 22, 2019
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Do the least informed among us have the loudest voices?
Consider two very different salespeople working a new opportunity.
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Top 13 Requirements to Help You Soar as a Sales Manager
- January 17, 2019
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
In my last article I shared the top 8 requirements for becoming a great salesperson. Wow, did that resonate with people and there was a great discussion about it on LinkedIn. In addition to that, I received a number of emails asking, what are the requirements for becoming a great sales manager?
I’ll share those in a moment but first, since they were so popular, a few more “do you remember the first time” questions:
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The Top 8 Requirements for Becoming a Great Salesperson
- January 14, 2019
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
Do you remember the moment you became a Salesperson? Not a presenter, Not an order taker, but a true consultative sales professional?
Here are some guidelines to identify the moment you turned professional.
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Why are Half of All Sales Reps Still Missing Quota in a Booming US Economy?
- December 10, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Between 2010 and 2016, and soaring revenue during 2017-2018, the percentage of reps making quota has not only remained flat, but the percentage hasn’t even returned to pre 2008 rates. This article attempts to explain why.
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Would Henry Ford be Able to Sell Cars Today?
- November 29, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
What would Henry Ford think if he were alive today? I’m thinking that he would ask, “What the hell happened to my motor car and what are all these SUV’s, crossovers, smart cars, hybrids and electric cars? And what are all these pictures, icons, buttons, knobs and dials for?” I think he would also say, “So let me get this straight. You need to pay for a government issued license and pass an exam to operate it? You need to register the motor car with the government and pay for that too? You need to buy insurance before you can use it? You have to pay an excise tax to your city or town to maintain ownership? And they sell for how much? Holy shit! What did they do to my Model T? I innovated a car, not a home on wheels!”
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Speed Limits, the Flow of Traffic, and Sales Pipelines
- November 19, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force
I don’t get stressed anymore when I’m driving. All it took was for me to not exceed the speed limit. I’m not sure whether it was my navigation system repeatedly telling me to “obey all traffic laws” each time I started the car, or my wife reminding me that I needed to be a good role model for our soon-to-be driving 16 year-old son. I admit that this was much easier for me to do after I gave up my Jaguar for a Lincoln Navigator. It holds much more baseball equipment!
There is an exception to not exceeding the speed limit. When the flow of traffic in all lanes is moving exponentially faster than you are, you must increase your speed to match the flow of traffic or risk getting run over!
That brings me to pipeline flow.
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How I Realized That Selling is Just a Bunch of Crap
- October 31, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Those are strong words and probably quite surprising coming out of my mouth but I’ll explain it all. Earlier this week I was leading another Sales Leadership Intensive and during a break it came to me.
