Consultative Selling
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4 Types of Sales Positions That Can Never Be Replaced by AI
- February 22, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We’re seeing ChatGPT’s ability to create human-like articles, essays, poems, notes and messages.
I just asked ChatGPT to write a short poem on the death of selling. Here’s what it generated.
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These 6 Keys and New Data Help Your Sales Team Outperform The Rest
- February 16, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
They found that top performers make 54% more switches – the back and forth in conversations – than everyone else and 78% more in their presentations. The presentations made by top sales performers are not monologues!
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The Latest Perspective on My Most Popular Article on Selling
- December 20, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
During a first sales call, suppose your salespeople hear one prospect say, “This has been a very interesting and productive conversation and we might have some interest in this.” And imagine another prospect at the same meeting says, “We’ll get back to you next month and let you know what kind of progress we’ve made.” And still a third might say, “In the meantime, please send us a proposal with references and timeline.”
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The Top 10 Sales and Sales Leadership Articles of 2022
- December 12, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Criteria: Popularity (views) is nice but quality of content is nicer. Likes are cool but engagement is cooler. Entertainment value counts and my opinion matters because I’m judging the articles. In the end, I’m applying popularity, quality of the content, likes, entertainment, comments, engagement and my opinion to create this list of the top 10 articles.
Enjoy!
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The Connection Between Road Signs, Sales Data, Consultative Selling and Sales Recruiting
- December 6, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Salespeople who are learning to take a consultative approach to selling hear a stated issue – the consultative selling version of a road sign – but think they have arrived at their destination – the compelling reason to buy.
This is supported by the data. Objective Management Group (OMG) has data on 2,280,260 salespeople that have been assessed from more than 30,000 companies. The findings are horrific:
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“Spirited” Has So Much in Common with Most Salespeople
- November 29, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Only 13% of all salespeople take a consultative approach to selling and almost none of them can be found in the bottom 50% – the group that fails to meet quota each year. A coincidence? On the other end of the spectrum, the top 10% of all salespeople are 4300% more likely to have the Consultative Seller competency as a strength!
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How Many Authors Does it Take to Screw in a LightBulb Highlighting Selling Skills?
- September 22, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Dan Caramanico alerted me to this dubious September 19, hbr.com article that explains their 5 Skills Every Salesperson Needs to Succeed. It took three consultants to screw in the lightbulb that illuminates their five stupid-as-shit skills so let’s take a look:
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Which is Worse – The Boston Red Sox or Your Sales Team?
- August 23, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The construction of the Red Sox roster is simply a Stupid as Shit Strategy or SaSS. Use of the word strategy means that it’s intentional and is a disservice to the word stupid!
Sales team construction usually lacks formal strategy and that suggests something accidental is at play. We tend to see the “we already had these salespeople” and then “these are the new salespeople who were willing to work for us.” New is a relative term as the newest 30% of the team continues to churn when and if they find candidates.
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Can My Car Uncover Sales Qualification Criteria Better Than Most Salespeople?
- August 8, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Wouldn’t it be great if salespeople had the equivalent of two camera intelligence to see what they don’t know they need to see?
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Big Company Strategies That SMB Sales Teams Can Emulate
- July 11, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I know. The previous paragraph was about branding and marketing; not sales. But there is a correlation to my theory that a slick, professionally designed logo, makes you look bigger and more successful. Give me a moment to explain how that applies to sales.
If a professionally designed logo makes you look bigger, more successful, and provides credibility, wouldn’t the same theory apply to a professionally trained sales team?