objective management group

  • The Other Rejection – How Salespeople Struggle to Cope
    • May 9, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I gave this some thought and identified the following 10 reactions to Passive Rejection:

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  • 10 Reasons – Don’t Worry When Sales Candidates Don’t Take the Test
    • January 19, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Recent statistics show that only 34% of the candidates are taking the assessment without additional prompts.  Isn’t that awful?

    Maybe – let’s explore it further.

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  • Top 20 Conditions that Dictate a Sales Force Evaluation
    • June 29, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    One of our Partners recently said, “We know how comprehensive a sales force evaluation can be, and we know how it works.  We know how powerful the findings and insights are, but when are the conditions right?”

    So, the Top 20 Conditions for a Sales Force Evaluation

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  • Can Sales Candidate Assessments Drive Results?
    • May 13, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    They claimed that salespeople who scored highest on their assessments had 69% higher close rates.  That’s impressive, right?  But their assessment didn’t drive the results. Those salespeople drove the results.  Their assessment simply indicated that those salespeople would be more successful.  That is what an assessment is supposed to do!  They could just as easily said, “Our assessments do what they’re supposed to do!”

    So let’s take a closer look at a 69% higher close.  It means that if the salespeople with a lower score close 1 of every 10 opportunities, then the strong salespeople, who scored highest on the assessment, will close 69% more of their 10 opportunities, or 1.69.  It’s not nearly as impressive as it sounds, is it?  

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  • Another Behavioral Styles Assessment Pretends to Assess Salespeople
    • December 3, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Their #4 is the Ability to Develop a Compelling Story – This IS a differentiator between good and bad salespeople – only they have it backwards!  The bottom 74% have perfected the ability to present capabilities, value proposition, the brand promise and other pitches.  The top 26% have perfected the ability to ask good, tough, timely questions.  What good is the story unless you can tie it to the problems uncovered by effective questioning?

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  • Case History – Sneak Preview of a Sales Candidate
    • July 28, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    It never ceases to amaze me when clients receive nasty-grams from sales candidates who are – let’s call it put-off – by the client’s request that they first take our on-line assessment. The candidates receive a very nice email thanking them for sending their resume, explaining the client’s recruiting process and asking them to take the assessment. You just wouldn’t believe some of the notes I’ve seen. Name calling, cussing, threats, sarcasm, and more.

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  • Case History – How Not to Hire Salespeople
    • April 2, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    A company wants to hire 5000 salespeople – but why?

    2000 drop out before completing training, and another 2000 drop out during the first 90 days in the field. Another 500 drop out during the first 6 months, and at the end of the year they only have 500 of the original 5000 standing.  What would it be worth to them from a cost, time, resources and practicality standpoint for us to simply identify, in advance, the final 500, before anyone is hired?

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  • Salesperson ROI – How Long Must They Stick to Pay Off? – Part 1
    • March 4, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Is there a connection between sales success and tenure?  Is it really a given that a successful salesperson will stick around longer than an unsuccessful salesperson?

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  • The Latest Fiction for the Sales Force – No More Hunters and Farmers
    • September 10, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Today I received an email from Selling Power promoting their latest webinar, The Hunter/Farmer Paradigm is Dead. 

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  • The Secret – The Ancient Scrolls and its Impact on the Sales Force
    • March 24, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Since this book is not the Kabbalah itself, rather a Cliff Notes version, it tends to read more like a self-help book. It is far more powerful than a self-help book though as it points to a number of rules that will cause a transformation in one’s life.

    Seven of the desired behaviors are consistent with the philosophies in Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball as well as Objective Management Group’s Sales Assessments:

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