Search Results
-
Persistence Over Polish – What the Top 10% of All Salespeople Do Better
- March 12, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
The best athletes in the world know exactly how they do the things they do that make them so great. In addition to their God-given talent, they outworked everyone else to master the mechanics and nuances of their sport, the mindset required for greatness, and competed at a high level from a very young age. When they falter they can easily make the adjustments necessary to get back on track.
Interestingly, most top salespeople don’t know what it is that they do that makes them so successful! That’s surprise #1. If you look through the data on the 2,.3 million salespeople that Objective Management Group (OMG) has assessed, you will see that the top 10% of all salespeople have better average scores than their colleagues in each of the 21 Sales Core Competencies. Their average scores are listed below for 5 Sales Core Competencies in which they have the best scores. They are:
-
10 Ways to Determine if Your Sales Prospect was Engaged
- March 8, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
A sales manager asking, “So, how did your meeting go?”
The salesperson always replies, “It went great.” It’s the same response a retail clerk gets when they ask shoppers if they need any help. “Just looking.” “It went great.” It’s the default answer.
The sales manager says, “Good, good.”
I wish that sales managers wouldn’t ask how meetings and calls went. They should say,
-
Would You Like to be Selling Guns Right Now?
- February 27, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
What if you sell for a company whose products are not reliable, lack the latest and greatest features, aren’t a good fit, or don’t have competitive pricing? That would suck, wouldn’t it? What if you sell for one of America’s 20 Most Hated Companies? That would suck too. But those sales organizations are not disintegrating, their salespeople are not heading for the doors and their revenues are not in a nosedive. Most of the outrage, hate, and reputation-killing is taking place in the media, not with their customers.
-
Is the Sales Force Getting Dressed Up or are Real Changes Taking Place?
- February 7, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday I received an email from Richardson Training, letting me know that they have completed their 2018 Selling Challenges Study. The data in the report, which you can download here, hasn’t changed a great deal since 2017, but the report’s new look is awesome. I reported on last year’s report in detail here, but my conclusion for 2018 is the exact same conclusion I came to in 2017.
-
Predictions for 2018 – The Sales Triad Will Provide Record Sales Growth
- January 29, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
With and additional competition, I can tell you this. If you aren’t the low price leader, the best-known company, or the safest decision that a buyer can make, you will have to do some real SELLING to get that business. And not just selling, but thoughtfully, effectively, efficiently, and articulately selling value. What? You already sell value? Really? I’ll bet you don’t.
-
7 Reasons Why Prospects Go Cold and How to Avoid it
- January 5, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you change your perspective about prospects going cold, you might discover that you caused them to go cold, rather than the myriad of other possibilities. I’ll explain.
-
The Perfect Day for a Salesperson – 10 Ways to be More Efficient and Effective in 2018
- December 8, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You can be more effective and more efficient selling in 2018, do every single thing I wrote about in this article, exactly as I wrote it, and without any difficulty, by making a conscious decision to follow this blueprint. It’s not hard. It’s not scary. It’s not unusual. It’s not even thought-provoking. It’s simply a list of best practices that great salespeople (top 5%) do and that crappy (46%) salespeople either don’t do consistently or don’t do it at all.
-
B2B Salespeople Send 16,000+ Unqualified Proposals Each Day!
- November 30, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you have a role in sales or sales leadership then what could be better than knowing exactly how you and/or your salespeople REALLY compare with the other salespeople in your industry or in the world? Could anything be more fascinating than a visual or infographic depicting how effective your sales force is at various aspects of selling? And what if these visuals could demonstrate that B2B salespeople create and send more than 16,000 inappropriately timed proposals each day? Cool, huh? More on that data in a minute.
-
5 Keys to Get Prospects to Trust You and Then Buy From You
- November 27, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Politics and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
For most of 2017 those of us in the US have been inundated with political news. That means lots of talking points (or spin) and of course talking points and selling go hand and hand, right?
Maybe.
While catching up with the latest news during the Thanksgiving break, I heard talking points from both sides of the political spectrum. I was very disturbed with the lack of facts in those talking points. First we’ll discuss the lack of facts and then we’ll discuss how to make sure your talking points hit home with your prospects.
-
Customers Love to Buy – Why Do Salespeople Struggle?
- October 2, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
So if we all love buying stuff, why do salespeople struggle so much when they try to sell stuff? Why isn’t it as friction-free as an abundance of happy buyers would suggest it should be?
