Dave Kurlan
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Sound Check for Sales: 3 Best Practices That Need a 2026 Overhaul
- March 12, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: 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 Dave Kurlan shares why ‘finalizing’ replaces outdated closing, how fluid scoring and proper staging fix broken pipelines, and why buyer journeys need real discovery, not facilitation.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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Another Top Sales Blog Award
- March 11, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: News
Thrilled (and a bit humbled) to share that my blog has been named to Feedspot’s Top 100 Sales Blogs for 2026!
It’s not the flashiest award on my shelf, but it’s meaningful—recognition from a platform that surfaces the best voices in sales every day. Huge thanks to the Feedspot team for curating this list based on relevance, expertise, freshness, and real impact.
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Mindset Matters: How the Songs in Your Head Shape Your Sales Success
- March 9, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
What songs are playing in your head before a big B2B sales call? Discover how song titles shape your sales mindset — plus the exact Spotify playlist I use to get pumped and close more deals.
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Vultures or the Trusted Name in Sales Training?
- March 2, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: 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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Scarred for Life: Sales Lessons That Make Your Company Unstoppable
- February 23, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When a Steely Dan tune came on the radio, it got me thinking about how they tried to be all things to all people — jazz chords, pure rock, easy listening — and ended up respected by no one. Same fate hit George Benson and Al Jarreau when they crossed over.
One year after my quadruple bypass left me scarred for life, I realized sales has the exact same scars: chasing the wrong-size deals out of ego, staring at an empty pipeline, over-facilitating prospects, and misalignment with the real decision maker.
Get properly scarred for life and those painful mistakes will never happen again. -
The Biblical Sales Force Part 7 – Blessed Are the Prospectors
- February 9, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Does the Bible reward hard work and prospecting? Explore how diligence pays off in sales, with verses from Matthew, Proverbs, Torah, and Quran. Dave Kurlan shares 40+ years of insights.
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How to Lock Competitors Out of Your Biggest Deals
- February 2, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
In sales, your biggest deals deserve vault-level protection. Using a simple lock-to-vault analogy, learn why closable opportunities are your most valuable assets—and exactly how to lock the competition out for good.
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Biased Polls and Poor Sales Questions: 83% of Salespeople Fail at This
- January 29, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: 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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Why Salespeople Need Music Lessons Before They Start Selling
- January 26, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Just like most kids fail to learn guitar without lessons, most salespeople flop when thrown straight into the field with no real training. In this article, Dave Kurlan draws a fresh parallel from the music world: self-taught “players” rarely succeed without mastering the fundamentals—notes, scales, chords, and theory. The same goes for sales. Sink-or-swim onboarding leads to mistakes, missed quotas, and burnout, while formal sales training (including process, methodology, and role plays) delivers massive wins. Backed by data showing 14% higher quota attainment, faster ramp times, and huge ROI, Dave explains the missing ingredient most programs ignore: a repeatable sales process and methodology. If you want new reps to make real music in sales—not just noise—skip the shortcuts.
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Bosch, Bounces and Why You Should Call Prospects Who Said No
- January 19, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A surprising 30% of executive contacts turned over in the past year — meaning yesterday’s “no” often belongs to someone who’s no longer there. Using real email bounce data and lessons from shows like Bosch, this article shows why persistent prospecting is simple math, not heroic effort.