sales assessment
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More Junk Sales Science in HBR Blog
- April 14, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
What do donuts, chips, cake and ice cream have in common with some of the articles that are written and published about salespeople, sales selection and assessments? That’s right, they are all junk and junk is bad for you to consume. Over the years, there has been no better source of junk science written about sales and salespeople than the reputable Harvard Business Review Blog. Recently, they put out another absurdly awful piece, this one written by sales consultant, Steve Martin. As most of these articles do, “What Separates the Strongest Salespeople from the Weakest” attempts to use personality and conditions to differentiate the two groups. This comes on the heels of another horrible article I called out in March 2015, which led to this amazing epic debate on the science of sales, sales assessments, and sales selection. This is why this latest HBR article is yet another example of junk science.
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Epic Debate on the Science of OMG’s Sales Assessment
- March 9, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
In my opinion, that very conversation is now the ultimate, defining conversation comparing the science behind OMG’s award-winning sales assessments, to gut instinct, faith, intuition and experience. The conversation explored whether or not the science was accurate, valid, predictive, consistent, and reliable. The contrarions weighed in, the know-it-alls spoke up, and eventually, the supporters arrived in droves. If you read only one article/discussion on sales selection tools in your lifetime, this must be the one. Read and Join the discussion here, but I warn you, it contains a LOT of very compelling and highly-charged reading.
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Top 5 Keys to Select and Hire Great Salespeople in 2015
- December 8, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I’m always amused when an email comes through with a message that says something like, “Maybe we should target candidates that aren’t recommended” or “Why do so many candidates lack Commitment?” or “Your assessments are only recommending 1 out of every 5 candidates!” or “The questions don’t fit the role!” or “Thanks for saving us so much time – we would have hired some of these losers last year!”
I can usually determine, just from the comment of the email, exactly who, by title, must have sent it to us. Here are some funny examples:
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Did our Sales Evaluation Uncover Part-Time Job Selling Drugs?
- October 15, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A salesperson was arrested for growing pot and selling it. Can you believe it?
Recently, the same man participated in OMG’s Sales Force Evaluation at the company where he worked. The evaluation showed that he was a very strong salesperson with tremendous selling skills, but it also identified a few telling issues:
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Top 4 Reasons a Great Salesperson Can Fail at Your Company
- October 9, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I asked the attendees if they had ever hired a great salesperson that still failed and everyone there said, “Yes!” I asked if anyone could explain how or why a great salesperson could fail, and the group offered up many guesses, but weren’t able to come up with my top 4 reasons. Here they are:
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Keys to Improved Sales Performance – Part 2 of 4
- September 3, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you are like most folks, you were away for at least part of the summer, took as many long weekends as you could, and worked fewer hours on the days you actually did work. As part of getting the work done, you deleted as many emails as you could where a reply wasn’t required and visited fewer websites and blogs.
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As Good as Your Last Successful Hire – 10 Tips for Consistency
- July 31, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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Top 10 Sales Recruiting Lessons to Hire Great Salespeople
- July 17, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One of the first emails I came across this morning was a LinkedIn update telling me that 16% of my network had started new jobs. 16%. That’s one of every 6.25 people I am connected to.
That brings us to this question. Who’s in a LinkedIn network?
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One Thing Missing from The New Way of Selling – Part 2
- July 2, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Selling is still selling and while a lot has changed in the last 10 years, a lot of it hasn’t. I’m a social seller. Social sellers get found, find prospects and connect using a myriad of social selling tools. But once a meeting has been scheduled, the social must be dropped in favor of the selling. A prospect should only be aware of a terrific conversation, but process and methodology must be hidden backstage.
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The Sales Conversation CEO’s & Sales VP’s Must Have with HR
- June 2, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I had to laugh when I was told that our assessment was “correct in not recommending” her for the sales position at her company, but “the other assessment was a more accurate description” of her.