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Good News About the Economy Positively Impacts the Sales Force
- March 31, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I often get to see things six to twelve months before they happen. When manufacturing placed projects and orders on hold as they did last October, it’s easy to predict that it will trickle down and impact everyone else over the next six months.
The word from clients so far this week is that manufacturers are taking projects off of hold and releasing money – even in the automotive industry! That too will trickle down and impact everyone else over the next six months.
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The Sales Force with Over Achievers That Don’t
- March 26, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I heard about a CEO who told one of my colleagues that all of his salespeople over achieve. In the same phone conversation he mentioned that sales are down 20%. Can you imagine where sales would be if his salespeople under achieved?
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Entering Sales – a Ten-Year Old’s Perspective
- December 11, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The collection of beliefs, possessed by your salespeople can either support or sabotage their outcomes. It’s important to know and understand their beliefs so that you can better understand why they get the outcomes they get. Objective Management Group, in its analysis of each salesperson, uncovers up to 64 self-limiting beliefs.
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Lights Out Sales Performance
- June 6, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Don’t let your salespeople behave like government employees. Make them take some responsibility or tell them they can go and work for the government where their behavior will be appreciated.
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Sales and Sales Management One Liners
- June 4, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
In this article, my one-liners are exactly that. MY ONE LINERS – favorite originals I challenge my audiences with. Here are my top ten:
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First Impressions
- June 3, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Management must do a better job reviewing what is said by their salespeople to ensure consistency, impact, the integrity of the value proposition and revenue. Be sure your messaging is consistent!
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Put Offs that Sound OK
- May 13, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Your salespeople come back with good news and tell you that they spoke with the decision maker of the big opportunity they’ve been working on. They report that the decision maker told them they’re very interested in moving forward but want to wait until the close of their fiscal year (90 days away) or want to first complete a project they’re currently working on (60 days) before discussing further. Your salespeople are psyched. They try to get you psyched. You get psyched.
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Closing – Overcoming Objections
- May 12, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, 50 salespeople gave me their biggest closing obstacles – about 25 – when we combined them all. I showed them the four bases in Baseline Selling and defined what must happen for the salesperson to reach each base. Then I asked them to identify the specific base paths where the closing obstacles should have been dealt with. Closing takes place at home plate and sure enough, all 25 of those closing obstacles actually should have been dealt with either between 1st and 2nd base or between 2nd and 3rd base. The moral of the story is your salespeople haven’t even earned the right to close until there are not issues that would prevent them from getting the business.
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Two Kinds of Salespeople
- May 12, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A successful serial entrepreneur who attended my seminar for CEO’s in Montreal today, suggested that there were two kinds of salespeople; those who prospected and went through the motions, only to not close, and those who asked for the business. Give me a break!
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Sales Management Woes – Depression over Impression
- April 27, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You want all of your salespeople to make a good first impression but even more, you want them to make a lasting impression. It’s difficult, if not impossible to recover from a bad first impression but what happens when your salespeople are making a less than impressive lasting impression?
