pipeline management
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Why Chasing Whales is Killing Your Sales Pipeline (10 Brutal Truths)
- May 15, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Bob Chronicles, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force
Bob’s pipeline was loaded with whales again. Sound familiar? In this article I break down the 10 brutal truths about why chasing big deals is quietly killing most sales pipelines — from skewed forecasts and low margins to terrible closing rates. If you’re tired of hoping whales will save your quarter, this one’s for you.
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25 Factors Indicative of a Strong Sales Culture
- May 11, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Music and Sales, Sales Compensation, Sales Process, Understanding the Sales Force
Executives love the idea of a sales transformation until it’s time to actually change. Here are 25 proven factors that separate a truly strong sales culture from one that’s stuck making excuses.
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How to Use Baseball’s xBA Metric to Measure Your Sales Pipeline and Improve Your Sales Forecasts
- May 4, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Baseball and Sales, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force
Two Hollies songs playing simultaneously on SiriusXM? A rare lucky break. The same thing happens in sales every day. See how baseball’s xBA metric helps you separate skill from luck in your pipeline and dramatically improve forecasting accuracy.
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Attention C-Suite! Revenue by Salesperson is Faulty Data
- March 16, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force
Attention C-Suite: Raw revenue by salesperson is often faulty data—like ignoring outliers in judging. Apply a trimmed mean lens to uncover hidden truths (inherited accounts, one-off deals), diagnose real effectiveness, and unlock 33% revenue growth via smart training & coaching.
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Let the Sales Conversation Wander: Evolving Chats Unlock Powerful Sales Discovery
- November 24, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Music and Sales, Sales Assessments Compared, Understanding the Sales Force
When Monday morning hit and I had zero article ideas queued up—first time in 20 years, post-surgery aside—I panicked a bit. Then, cruising in the car with Beatles tunes blasting, I pinged Grok with a wild card: “How many songs did Lennon and McCartney write?” What unfolded was a total detour: We tallied their 1,200+ jams, stacked ’em against my 2k sales rants, dove into Dolly Parton’s marathon, Nutcracker team-sync lessons, Eagles live magic over studio polish… and boom, this post was born. No script, just flow. And that’s the secret sauce for killer sales discovery too—ditch the grocery-list questions, let the chat evolve, and uncover those hidden “must-haves” that seal deals. Data from OMG? Only 27% of reps nail qualifying, but the pros? They’re 4x more likely to crush quotas. Here’s how to jam like a pro.
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Sales Cholesterol Reveals If Your Sales Pipeline Is Clogged (And How to Fix It)
- October 31, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Analogies, Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force
In this follow-up to my viral LinkedIn rant on pipeline blockages, I dive deeper into “sales cholesterol”—a new way to measure the health of your sales pipeline. Drawing from my quadruple bypass experience and inspired by comments from sales pros like Larry Levine, we map heart health metrics (HDL, LDL, ratios, and inflammation) to sales milestones using my Baseline Selling framework. Learn how to score opportunities, reps, and teams to spot clogs early, improve forecasts, and avoid those deadly stalls. No more unreliable probabilities—get objective diagnostics to tweak your lead gen “diet” or “medicate” with coaching.
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Bob Chronicles Part 6 – When Salespeople Suddenly Make Things Your Problem
- January 20, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories: Bob Chronicles, Understanding the Sales Force
Bob was informed 2 weeks ago that an important customer proposal would be due by the end of business today. At 4pm, Bob was in a panic, screaming that he needed pricing in the next 10 minutes or you’ll lose the business. Suddenly it has become your problem.
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Science and the Length of Your Sales Cycle
- October 9, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A really important factor is exactly what salespeople actually believe – what they think – relative to the sales cycle. Read some of the beliefs that this sales force had around the sales cycle:
Those two factors alone are enough to double the length of a sales cycle! There are still 9 more factors that have an impact; however, just from what we’ve discussed and reviewed so far, it’s obvious that this company’s sales cycle is M-U-C-H longer than it needs to be.
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Make Your Salespeople Focus on This to Grow the Business
- September 5, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Let’s focus on the only tool more important than the calendar and task list – your pipeline management tool. Most salespeople, despite dozens of CRM applications from which to choose, still don’t fully comprehend pipeline management. And if they don’t get it, they probably aren’t managing it!
