• The Philosophy of a Pitching Coach Will Improve Your Sales Team

    • April 4, 2022
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I find ideas and material for this Blog everywhere, especially when I’m not looking for them. Yesterday I received a daily email from a Paul Reddick, a baseball coach who was drumming up some business for his baseball institute. It resonated – not for its baseball coaching – but as sales coaching.  Here’s what it said:

    If your coach is talking about any of the pitching flaws that you see listed above…

    Run… Run Fast!

    That Coach is working on “flaws” that will have no impact on your pitching.  He is working on symptoms… not the illness!  He is trying to fix things that are happening as a byproduct of incorrect movement early in your delivery. If you get the first second of your delivery right, almost all of these flaws get fixed instantly. 

    Do you know how this applies to sales? 

    I’ll explain exactly how it applies and I promise you will be surprised!  Click here to read last year’s fun article comparing pitcher’s fielding practice (PFP) to role-playing in sales.

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  • When Salespeople Can’t Close Closable Business – The Bob Chronicles Part 7

    • February 14, 2022
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    So what did Bob get himself into this time?

    It’s a huge opportunity that Bob has been nurturing for years and several months ago his prospect, a top executive that has the influence and authority to make a decision, confided that he would like to find a way to do business and not only that, have this be part of his legacy. 

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  • Salespeople Will Close 50% More Business By Changing This One Thing They Do!

    • August 5, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    At Objective Management Group (OMG), one of the 21 Sales Core Competencies we measure and report on also tends to confuse salespeople, is the cause of frequent pushback, but has thirty-five years of cumulative science to support the finding and our conclusions.  Allow me to introduce you the competency called Supportive BuyCycleTM.

    BuyCycleTM represents how salespeople go about the process of making a major purchase and there is a 100% correlation between how they buy and the behavior they accept from their prospects.  For example:

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  • The Bob Chronicles Part 5 – Bob Can’t Win This Argument Over a Sales Core Competency

    • June 22, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    OMG has assessed more than 2 million salespeople and measures their sales capabilities in 21 Sales Core Competencies.  While some might not like their scores, most salespeople agree with our findings because they are extremely accurate.  However, there is one competency of the 21 that causes salespeople to dig in, disagree, and push back.  Today I will explain the competency and share yesterday’s conversation with Bob.  For new readers, and those who don’t remember, Bob tends to get himself into trouble and is representative of all weak salespeople.

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  • A Properly Constructed Sales Process Can Help You Experience the Euphoria of a Walk-Off Win

    • June 15, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The walk-off win in baseball, the buzzer beater in basketball and the field goal with no time on the clock in football are all terrific metaphors for certain types of wins in sales.  Some deals are sure things from the get go and others stand no chance of going your way.  However, some huge opportunities are truly nail-biters and could go either way.  When those opportunities are finally decided and you win, they too are euphoric.

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  • 2020’s Ten Must Read Sales and Sales Leadership Articles

    • November 30, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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  • Finally!  Science Reveals the Actual Impact of Sales Coaching

    • September 7, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You must have heard the joke that 73.6% of statistics are made up!

    I have read and even reported that sales leaders who coach their salespeople see a boost in revenue of around 27%.  It sounds like a realistic number but I have not seen any science to back it up.  Until now.  Check this out!

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  • Customers Love to Buy – Why Do Salespeople Struggle?

    • October 2, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: 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?

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  • Sales Effectiveness – How to Win Every RFP That You Respond To

    • June 19, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I am amazed by the sheer number of salespeople who believe they must respond to an RFP, RFQ or RFI.  The resources, including people, time and money, required to respond to the specs from just one of these requests is daunting.  Some companies have so many requests coming in that they spend all of their time responding to them.  This is crazy!  Do you respond to every email you receive? Every call you get?  After all, it’s a request, not a demand.  So why the frenzy over responding and replying so quickly?  You won’t believe some of the reasons!

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