Dave Kurlan

  • Future Red Sox Stars to Sales MVPs: Why One-on-One Coaching Wins

    • July 9, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    one on one coaching

    The Red Sox turned young players into stars with one-on-one coaching, and your sales team can too. Learn why group coaching falls short and how personalized coaching can boost revenue by up to 42%. Ready to hit a sales home run?

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  • Sell More by Understanding this God, Garden, and Baseball Analogy

    • June 9, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    red sox-yankees-rivalry

    Discover how faith in God, weeding a garden, and the Red Sox-Yankees rivalry reveal powerful lessons for boosting your sales. Learn to trust your process, balance efficiency with precision, and leverage unique strengths to close more deals.

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  • New Data: The Top 10% of Salespeople are 619% Stronger Than the Bottom 10%

    • May 24, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    rich getting richer

    New 2025 data reveals a staggering 619% performance gap between the top 10% and bottom 10% of salespeople. While top performers excel in competencies like Relationship Building and Consultative Selling, they’re slipping in areas like Hunting and Closing, influenced by COVID and economic challenges. Dive into the 21 Sales Core Competencies to understand why—and what to do about it.

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  • Car Engines and Gas Prices Can Help Eliminate Obsolete Sales Tactics

    • May 15, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    sales traditions

    In this thought-provoking article, the author questions outdated traditions in automotive and sales industries. From measuring car engine power in horsepower—a term rooted in the 1700s—to gas prices still ending in 9/10 cents, the piece challenges why we cling to archaic practices. It also critiques sales tactics, like pitching over consultative selling, excessive proposals, and weak follow-up questions, urging a shift to modern, effective strategies for 2025.

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  • The Sales Process Milestone You Can’t Get Wrong

    • May 9, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    timing of the close

    Every year, I observe that May 11th marks the day when tree leaves reach full size, a natural milestone that mirrors the critical timing in sales. Just as leaves may appear early or late due to weather, prospects reach buying decisions at varying times. Salespeople often assume the end of their pitch signals the moment to close, but prospects may not be ready—or may have been ready earlier. Missing these cues can lead to lost sales. A well-structured sales process like Baseline Selling accounts for this, but unexpected delays or accelerated decisions can still disrupt timing. Mastering the art of aligning with a.Assembly Instructions prospect’s decision-making moment is key to closing deals effectively.

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  • MLB’s Replay Center Offers Lessons for the Sales Call Debrief

    • May 4, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    mlb replay, sales debrief

    Think an MLB Replay Center and a sales call debrief have nothing in common? Think again. Both dissect critical moments with precision, from context to execution, to get the call right. Discover how a sales manager’s review mirrors baseball’s high-stakes analysis—and why precision is the key to winning in both games.

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  • Poison Ivy and 2 Powerful Lessons for Hiring Salespeople

    • April 18, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    poison ivy

    Paul McCartney hoped it would work out with Linda in the band, and while Wings were very successful, let’s be honest.  Linda would not have been hired to perform on vocals or keyboard in any other band – not even a local wedding band!  Why?  She was a photographer and shouldn’t have quit her day job.

    We see nepotism in every family owned business where the founder/CEO/President gets the entire unqualified family involved.  The family learns to adequately perform in most of the roles but the brother in charge of sales, the nephew managing major accounts, the daughter in account management, and the wife doing estimates just aren’t cutting it.

    Let’s not forget the Hope part of this…

    Hope is used when sales leaders interview and select sales candidates.  They decide that from among the following 10 characteristics and qualifiers, the candidate:

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  • My Key to Building a Strong, Sustainable, Sales Pipeline

    • April 16, 2025
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    sales pipeline

    Building a strong, sustainable pipeline requires not only commitment and discipline from salespeople, it also requires commitment and discipline from their sales leaders who cannot allow them to give up, give in, or take short cuts. While excellence involves advanced sales training skills, extended practice sessions and coaching, the desire to improve is the most important element.

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