Sales Coaching
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The Will to Succeed, Sell Anything, Top Sales Books, and Coaching
- January 10, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I was just wondering – do you or your salespeople play the lottery? Do you or any of your salespeople have an inheritance coming? These are two things that you might not think anything of but they can cause salespeople to lack the consistency and effort that are so important to sales success. Salespeople maintain the mindset that financial success and independence, and the freedom to have what they want, when they want it, regardless of cost, must be earned and not handed to them. Big base salaries and commissions from residual business can have an even greater negative effect except they are even more immediate threats to productivity than lotteries and inheritances!
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Top 10 Steps to Initiate Salespeople to Their Roles
- January 4, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This is exactly how to initiate salespeople, whether they are new to your company, new to their role, or new to sales. Don’t vary at all from the steps above. More importantly, don’t assume that because they have sold for 10 years they’ll know what to do or be able to do it effectively. Follow the steps!
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Top 3 Sales Lessons from Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker”
- December 20, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
During a first sales call, suppose your salespeople hear one prospect say, “This has been a very interesting and productive conversation and we might have some interest in this.” And imagine another prospect at the same meeting says, “We’ll get back to you next month and let you know what kind of progress we’ve made.” And still a third might say, “In the meantime, please send us a proposal with references and timeline.”
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How Christmas Gift Giving Mirrors the Ideal Sales Process
- December 15, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you understand that, then why do so many executives and salespeople, from all industries, still insist that the first thing they must do with a new prospect is present? Even the word “present” suggests waiting for the perfect time.
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Top 10 Outcomes That Should Come from Sales Coaching
- December 14, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When you coach a salesperson, which words should you hear that would tell you the session was effective?
Not “Thanks” or “OK”.
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Top 5 Interesting Sales Tips
- December 13, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Depending on the context of the conversation, weather, personality and the frame of reference of their prospect, here are the top five things that “Interesting” could mean:
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What The Salesperson Saw (or Didn’t) – A Question about Sales Calls
- December 10, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
It’s one thing to have eyes, but our salespeople need to use them too. Typically, their mouths are moving so fast and so often, and the sound of their own voice is so compelling (to them), that their eyes are neutralized. This is similar to what happens on a long drive when you suddenly realize you drove 10 miles past your exit and have no idea how you got that far without noticing.
What do your salespeople miss on their sales calls?
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Winning in Sales Isn’t Everything – Yes it Is!
- November 29, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Sales Manager: How did the call go?
Salesperson: Really good.
Sales Manager: Excellent.
Isn’t that a lame discussion? The sales manager can improve it by simply asking, “What made it such an excellent call?”
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How to Get Salespeople to Leave Their Comfort Zone
- November 11, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We asked our 8-year-old son if he was willing to help out and have a female classmate ride home with him today. He wasn’t sure. If he didn’t do the right thing and said no, he would hurt her feelings. If he did the right thing, he worried that he would be uncomfortable spending time with her. When they are eight years old, boys think girls are yucky.
This is the same dilemma that salespeople face every day, in every sales call, in every interaction. Do the right thing and ask the tough question that the situation calls for; or do what’s comfortable and present.
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How Can Anyone Spend That Much Time on Sales Coaching?
- November 4, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
According to Objective Management Group’s considerable data, only 15% of all sales managers spend as much as 25% of their time on coaching and the time they do spend on coaching is generally ineffective. Two more statistics from OMG reveal that 18% of them shouldn’t even be in sales management, and 34% of them aren’t trainable because they lack the incentive to change. And one last statistic, a whopping 84% of sales managers just plain suck!