sales assessment
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Best Example of Value-Added vs. Commodity Selling
- March 7, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I wrote an article for the March 2013 issue of Top Sales World Magazine that debriefs an actual sales call. I’ve written more than 1,000 articles and I believe this one is the best yet! The article effectively details an actual value-added consultative sales call which, because of a single incorrect question, quickly became a transactional, commodity-based, price-driven call. The example is really striking because it so clearly shows that you can do everything correctly but asking even one question the wrong way can cause a salesperson to lose the opportunity to be a trusted advisor, and fall into the abyss of commodity sellers.
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Sales Excellence Studies Propagate Mediocrity
- February 26, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you conduct a Google search for “sales excellence studies”, you’ll find more than 20,000 results. I’m sure that some results point to surveys which were conducted by others, but either way, that’s a lot of studies on sales excellence. If any of those studies were actually ground-breaking, insightful or truly representative of sales excellence, there would probably be fewer than a dozen. But there are not. There are many reasons why these studies are so lame, but let’s name just a few:
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Top 5 Insights From Latest Sales Organization Studies
- February 7, 2013
- Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The folks over at IKO Systems were nice enough to send me a collection of infographics which they call 66 Crazy Sales Figures. I finally had a chance to read through it and found 5 sales figures which, after I combined them, are quite interesting:
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Sales Hiring Chronicles: The Doctor, The Drug Dealer and The User
- January 31, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Recruiters think that all of their candidates walk on water. Clients think that because of our assessment, quality advice and guidance that we walk on water.
So the recruiter sends 5 of the best candidates ever to the client, who has them assessed, and 3 are not recommended. The recruiter is upset, “Why are you using that stupid assessment? You don’t need that! I know these candidates and they’re awesome.”
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Why Assessments Will Never Work for Some Companies
- December 11, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Assessments are awesome, especially when you choose the right ones, for the right purpose, at the right time. Despite the availability of some terrific assessments, they won’t work for every company.
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Boston Ballet and Money Tolerance – What it Means to Your Sales Force
- November 19, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Last week I received a call from the Boston Ballet – part of their annual fundraising drive. I hate these calls as much as you do, but the lady who called, engaged me by asking if I was looking forward to this year’s new production of The Nutcracker Ballet.
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Top 10 Lies Your Salespeople Hear and What to Do About it
- November 15, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Do you know who else thinks we are morons? Prospects.
How many of your salespeople have been told any of the following lies?
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#1 Sales Presentation Tip from October 16 US Presidential Debate
- October 17, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When your salespeople are invited back to be one of several to present capabilities, value propositions and solutions, the exact same scenario as described above is sure to be played out. If the prospect liked you going in, they’ll look for opportunities to support your presentation. If the prospect liked your competitor going in, they’ll look for opportunities to discredit you in any way they can.
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Sales Assessment Findings and Cultural Differences
- October 12, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I was in Istanbul this week, speaking to nearly 250 sales and business leaders. I learned that Turkey didn’t participate in the global economic crisis as they’re simply growing all the time. My audience wondered how cultural differences affect our assessment findings and seemed quite satisfied with the explanation. I’ll repeat it here.
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Compromises in Sales Candidate Assessments Compromise Revenue
- September 19, 2012
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Experience has demonstrated that there are three areas where companies tend to compromise with sales candidate assessments and those compromises always lead to revenue shortages: