Search Results
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Top 7 Things That Consultative Sellers Do
- November 14, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A small group of experts, especially those that lack this competency themselves, believe that using this competency for selling is manipulative and counters being customer-centric. They are as entitled to their opinion as I am to mine. But remember, you simply can’t argue with science, data and results.
So which competency am I referring to?
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Top 10 Reasons Consultative Sellers Outsell Everyone Else
- October 1, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Best Top 10 Lists, Understanding the Sales Force
Have you ever worked with salespeople that were so bad you thought, “She couldn’t close a door!”? And have you ever worked with salespeople that were so good that you thought, “She could sell white to rice!”?
There’s a good chance that the difference has less to do with their closing skills and much more to do with their ability to build a late stage relationship in the earliest stage of the sales process – the first meeting.
So what do they do? Here are the top ten things they do:
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Dave Kurlan’s 20 Keys to Sales Mastery: How to Become an Elite Salesperson
- April 13, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Best Top 10 Lists, Music and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
Discover Dave Kurlan’s 20 practical keys to sales mastery, drawn from decades of experience and OMG’s nearly 3 million assessments. Learn how the top 5% of salespeople think, practice, and outperform everyone else with consultative selling, disciplined habits, and a relentless “do whatever it takes” mindset. Start improving your win rate, deal size, and results today.
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Coaching and The Truth About AI in Sales: Great at “Or,” Terrible at “And”
- March 19, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
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Attention C-Suite! Revenue by Salesperson is Faulty Data
- March 16, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Attention C-Suite: Raw revenue by salesperson is often faulty data—like ignoring outliers in judging. Apply a trimmed mean lens to uncover hidden truths (inherited accounts, one-off deals), diagnose real effectiveness, and unlock 33% revenue growth via smart training & coaching.
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Why Only 27% of Salespeople Hear the Voice That Matters
- March 12, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force
Whose voice are you hearing when you’re on a sales call—yours, your coach’s, God’s… or your prospect’s? Most reps never hear the one that actually matters. Here’s why that’s killing their discovery, how the top 10% do it differently, and the simple move that turns you into the person who finally gets the buyer.
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Sound Check for Sales: 3 Best Practices That Need a 2026 Overhaul
- March 12, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Sales closing is dead—time for a 2026 overhaul. Dave Kurlan shares why ‘finalizing’ replaces outdated closing, how fluid scoring and proper staging fix broken pipelines, and why buyer journeys need real discovery, not facilitation. No-BS tips to boost forecasts, shorten cycles, and win more.
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Vultures or the Trusted Name in Sales Training?
- March 2, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Tired of Sandler, Challenger, SPIN, or Value Selling not delivering? Discover why companies turn to Baseline Selling after those methodologies fall short—and why it’s not vulturing, it’s expertise.
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Biased Polls and Poor Sales Questions: 83% of Salespeople Fail at This
- January 29, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Best Top 10 Lists, Politics and Sales, Sales Assessments Compared, Understanding the Sales Force
New OMG data reveals only 17% of salespeople are strong in Consultative Selling—especially at asking great, tough questions. See how biased poll questions mirror weak sales probes, and why specific competitor-weakness questions win more deals. Percentile breakdowns + fixes inside.
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The Salesperson’s Survival Kit: 236 Sales Attributes, Traits, Competencies, and Behaviors to Crush Quotas
- October 24, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Music and Sales, Understanding the Sales Force
I dug through 20 years of blog posts to compile every sales trait, competency, attribute, characteristic, element, component and desirable skill I’ve ever written about. From the 21 Sales Core Competencies to Steve Jobs’ deal-making magic, this cheat sheet is your roadmap to elite selling—packed with data, humor, and no-BS advice to up your sales game.
