sales leadership

  • Too Many Sales Metrics? How to Choose One KPI That Drives Revenue
    • May 12, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Car dashboard showing speedometer, tachometer, tire pressure warning, miles to empty, and multiple metrics Waze navigation screen showing real-time alerts, 150 ft turn, arrival time, and traffic data on a car infotainment display

    Too many sales metrics? Between your CRM and dashboard, it feels like information overload. Here’s how to choose the one KPI that actually drives revenue — just like focusing on arrival time instead of 14 screaming gauges in your car.

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  • 25 Factors Indicative of a Strong Sales Culture
    • May 11, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Three key sales performance gauges showing rising Sales, Gross Profit, and Win Rate with upward green arrows — indicators of a strong sales culture

    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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  • CEO/Sales Leadership Reality Check: Are You Investing in What Makes You Look Good… or What Actually Drives Revenue?
    • April 30, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Sales Leadership Reality Check: Companies eagerly approve big AI budgets but hesitate or reject investments in sales training and coaching

    Companies rubber-stamp massive AI budgets but do a complete about-face when asked to invest in sales training or coaching. Discover why this happens and a low-risk way to turn your worst salespeople into producers — including real math and a built-in pilot test.

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  • Worst to First: How Sales Teams and Salespeople Can Turn It Around
    • April 23, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Split-image motivational graphic showing a sales team transforming from struggling and missing quota (dark left side) to celebrating record success with trophy and rising revenue (bright right side). Large "Worst to First" text in the center with the message "Leadership + Culture Change = Championship Performance" at the bottom. Ideal visual for sales leadership article.

    Discover how sales teams go from middle-of-the-pack to first place. Learn why leadership changes and culture shifts are the real keys to turning around veteran performance and hitting record revenue.

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  • 10 Questions Every CEO Must Answer to Increase Revenue Today
    • April 17, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    A confident mid-50s CEO in a navy suit sits at a modern executive desk in a bright corner office, leaning forward with a focused, slightly skeptical expression as he looks directly at the viewer. On the desk are a laptop displaying sales pipeline charts and a notepad with handwritten notes including “Why 72% miss quota?”, creating a professional and thought-provoking business scene.

    Google Search Console revealed what CEOs are actually searching for. It’s not closing tricks or AI hype — it’s the foundational issues holding revenue back. Here are 10 questions every CEO must answer to drive real growth today.

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  • The Baseball Dad Lesson That Made Me a Better Sales Coach
    • April 1, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    My son's intense batting cage sessions that taught me what real deliberate practice looks like in sales coaching

    How my son’s intense baseball training taught me the real secret to becoming an elite real-time sales coach. From hardcore introvert to mastering live role plays and in-the-moment coaching — with practical first steps for sales leaders.

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  • Why You Don’t Convert More Leads to Sales
    • March 17, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Professional strategist creating LinkedIn content on laptop, planning post formats like text, carousels, and video for 2026 algorithm success

    Learn how to optimize your LinkedIn presence in 2026: Choose the best content format (short posts, long-form, carousels, videos) using 8 variables like algorithm dwell time, goals, demographics, and effort. Sales leadership insights inside.

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  • Scarred for Life: Sales Lessons That Make Your Company Unstoppable
    • February 23, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Scarred for Life in Sales – sales lessons from Steely Dan, George Benson and a quadruple bypass

    When a Steely Dan tune came on the radio, it got me thinking about how they tried to be all things to all people — jazz chords, pure rock, easy listening — and ended up respected by no one. Same fate hit George Benson and Al Jarreau when they crossed over.
    One year after my quadruple bypass left me scarred for life, I realized sales has the exact same scars: chasing the wrong-size deals out of ego, staring at an empty pipeline, over-facilitating prospects, and misalignment with the real decision maker.
    Get properly scarred for life and those painful mistakes will never happen again.

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  • The Biblical Sales Force Part 7 – Blessed Are the Prospectors
    • February 9, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Open Bible showing Matthew 5 with figurine of Matthew the Apostle wearing a modern phone headset and microphone, symbolizing biblical wisdom applied to sales prospecting and cold calling

    Does the Bible reward hard work and prospecting? Explore how diligence pays off in sales, with verses from Matthew, Proverbs, Torah, and Quran. Dave Kurlan shares 40+ years of insights.

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  • The $370 Fuse: Broken Trash Compactor Offers Lessons to Fix Sales Problems
    • January 12, 2026
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    repair tech

    A $1 blown fuse cost me $370 in service fees because I misdiagnosed the problem. Sound familiar? Sales leaders often do the same thing—blaming negotiating, closing, prospecting, or new business acquisition—when the real issues are deeper: poor qualifying, weak differentiation, missing KPIs, and lack of accountability. Stop treating symptoms and start solving root causes.

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