sales effectiveness

  • What is the Sales Stack and Do You Need it?
    • October 2, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You bought a really nice, new, laptop computer and you thought to yourself, “Now I’m all set!”  But are you?  You needed a case to carry it around, a thumb drive for quickly moving files from your laptop to another, and a printer and if you have a Mac notebook, a port that will serve as adapters to your various cables.  These are your accessories.

    You’ll also need cloud storage, a broadband connection, email, a browser and 20 or so software applications so your computer can help you do the things you purchased it to do.  This is your technology stack.

    But now there is a sales stack too.  What is the sales stack, and should you have one for your salespeople?

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  • How Big of a Role Does Age Play in Sales Effectiveness?
    • August 19, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Young salespeople (0-2 years experience) tend to wing it, while older salespeople (20 or more years experience) tend to be more skilled and structured.  Want proof?  Let’s dig into the data.

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  • Do the Best Sales Managers Have the Best Salespeople?
    • August 27, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We all see the effects that strong leaders have when they surround themselves with either strong, mediocre or weak people.  What happens when strong leaders inherit a mixed team?  What happens when they hire a mixed team?  What happens when we ask the same questions about weak leaders?

    I dug into a subset of data from Objective Management Group’s (OMG) evaluations of the salespeople who report to more than 15,000 sales managers to determine whether the best sales managers actually have the best salespeople.  I was surprised and disappointed by what I found.  Check this out!

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  • How Salespeople Must Run Stop Signs and Red Lights – Legally
    • September 5, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    There is one simple thing you can do each day that will dramatically improve your sales effectiveness.

    But you don’t think it’s possible to do what the title says, do you?

    Well, it is not only possible, it’s crucial – and not only that you do it, but that you do it often and start doing it today.

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  • How Executives Fail to Understand the Reasons for Poor Sales and Revenue Performance
    • August 11, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I can tell you that once in a blue moon, after we evaluate a sales force and present our findings, a rare CEO can become defensive and react poorly to the results.  When it happens, it’s usually a sign that the CEO is out of touch with the sales force.  I’ll share some of the things to which they sometimes react badly:

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  • Great, Previously Unread Sales Research Uncovered
    • August 2, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I thought I was pretty smart but I was wrong.  The authors of this article are way smarter than me.

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  • 12 Reasons They Didn’t Like You Enough to Buy From You
    • July 28, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You worked hard and smart, thought you did a great job, expected to win the business, but didn’t.  Later, you learned that the prospect “Didn’t really like your style.”

    It’s not at all unusual, but it is almost always misinterpreted.  Salespeople tend to take this personally by internalizing the comment as, “They just didn’t like me.  But why?”

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  • Crucial Selling Take Aways from the 2017 Home Run Derby Lead to Sales Greatness
    • July 12, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Did you watch the Home Run Derby on Monday night? I’ve never seen anything like it. You could see thunder and lightening through the glass wall in left field as thunderstorms raged while all the home runs were being launched. Wow, what a show! Of course, my mind always looks for a correlation to selling and there are some good ones here.

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  • 30 Interesting Non-Selling Subjects to Make You Better at Selling
    • July 5, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I was sitting next to a guy who knows that our son is one of the best ball players in his age group in New England.  He is from the former Soviet Union and when he told me that he tought his son to play catch I was confused.  I said, “You didn’t play baseball growing up – how were you able to teach him?”  

    He said, “When I was in school, we may not have played baseball, but we did have to practice throwing grenades and it’s exactly the same motion!”

    Who knew?

    And he didn’t know at the time that practicing grenades would prepare him for something completely different years later.

    The same goes for sales.  There are so many subjects, all unrelated to selling, that can make salespeople more effective.

    I’ve written about many of these subjects before.  Don’t click on all of them though.  Find 3 that interest you and read only those.  Then leave a comment below on how that could help you.

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  • Phone Prospecting – the Key to Scheduling Meetings
    • May 23, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Today, a salesperson left a voicemail message and he didn’t sound bad; but his strategy and script were awful.  Listen to the message below and try to identify what was wrong.  Then watch the video below to hear me talk getting your prospects to pay attention and engage with you on the phone.

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