sales management

  • What Makes a Lead a Good Lead?

    • February 22, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    A dozen leads came in today and among them were leads from DELL and Bose.  Both are large companies and might even make great clients but are they good leads?  That all depends on who you ask.

    So I pretended to ask 6 salespeople that I’ve worked with over the past several years.  I pretended to say, “I have leads from DELL and Bose – are you interested in either of them?”  And here is how the imaginary conversation went from there:

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  • 10 Sales Coaching Examples

    • February 13, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Your system for coaching – the frequency, duration and process – should remain consistent, but it is important to remember these variations.  All of the people whom you coach or should be coaching are unique individuals and need you to work with them in a way that is most beneficial to them, not you.

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  • Sales Strategy and Tactics – Thoughts from the Super Bowl

    • February 6, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In my opinion, football is the sport based more on strategy while baseball is the sport based more on tactics.

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  • Great Sales Management Advice from Football’s Greatest

    • February 3, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Sales Managers could learn a thing or two from Bill Belichick!  Like:

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  • New Penn State Coach – Just Like Dysfunctional Sales Management

    • January 6, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Bill O’Brien. One coach – two full time jobs.  Both teams need his immediate, undivided attention and won’t get all that they need.  Given the dual roles, how do you feel about the Patriots’ chances of another Super Bowl?  Given this conflict of interest, how do you feel about Penn State’s ability to have a quality recruiting season?

    This happens quite frequently in my world – the sales force.

    In most small businesses, the President or owner is responsible for running the company and by default, manages the sales force too.  The problem?  Unskilled sales management is being provided on demand and that is always quite ineffective.

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  • How Many of Your Salespeople are Addicted to This?

    • December 14, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Do your salespeople have a hopium addiction?

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  • Are You Part of the Problem with your Salespeople?

    • November 15, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    One of the things I always stress with sales leadership teams is that before they can coach effectively, before they can really hold people accountable to agreed upon metrics, before they can really motivate people to perform, and before they can develop their people, they must first shape their environment.  That’s the hard part.  After that has been accomplished, the actual coaching, motivating, development and accountability can be enjoyable and productive because of the resulting cooperation.

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  • Embarassed by This Sales Article in The Economist?

    • October 31, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    On October 22, The Economist published an article called, The Art of Selling – The Death of the Salesman Has been Greatly Exaggerated.  Is the Economist really that far out of touch?  I wrote the last of my 5-part Death of Selling Has Been Exaggerated articles 5 years ago!  And how long has it been since anyone referred to salespeople at “salesmen”?  

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  • The Secret to Winning Sales Presentations and Public Speaking Success

    • October 28, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I spoke to an Entrepreneurial class at Clark University this week, something I’ve been doing once or twice a year for the past 5 years.  It’s much more difficult than working with experienced C-Level Executives, Sales Leaders, Sales Managers and Salespeople because the kids don’t have the context, reference points or experiences that professionals have.  Despite the difficulty, it’s more fun because they don’t push back, they don’t claim to have heard it before, they don’t say that “it” won’t work in their business, they don’t resist, and they are great learners!

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  • Time and Territory Management for Salespeople

    • October 4, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Aside from requests for Motivational training, Time and Territory management training is one of the most inappropriate requests I receive each week. And I’ve been getting requests like that for more than 25 years!

    Time and Territory management is what sales managers and VP’s ask for when they:

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