sales management
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Change Ready Companies Experience Faster Success in Sales Development
- January 19, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I was thinking about the difference between the clients that achieve rapid progress, with very measurable change, in the first six months of sales development versus those that show more typical progress where change has begun to take place but it might not be measurable yet.
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Experts Provide Sales Management Help for 2009
- January 15, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Here are my thoughts of the day: This economic climate isn’t impossible, it’s just not easy.
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10 Steps for your Sales Force to Survive and Thrive in The Recession
- January 5, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Bernie is the President of a company that had experienced flat sales for the three strong economic years leading up to the recession. He had been looking for a VP of sales for two years but hadn’t found the right candidate or failed to pull the trigger.
He attended an event where he heard me speak and asked me to contact him. He asked for my advice and I recommended that if he was serious about finding the ideal VP, then he should:
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Surprising Statistics from the Sales Force Grader
- December 22, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The actual results are even more surprising than the number of people (several hundred) that have already visited the FREE Sales Force Grader.
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Panic on the Sales Force and What to Do About It
- December 10, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
What gets you in a panic? When I was young, height, water and people were enough to cause shortness of breath, a lump in my throat and a stomach ache. Today, I still have the symptoms, but not over any of the things that used to bother me. Today it would take somebody or something threatening harm to my wife, son or me.
What about for you? What causes a panic of that magnitude for you? I’m asking because I want you to know what it feels like, how difficult it is to function, concentrate, or breath. Have you been there?
Now let’s take your salespeople.
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Over Achieving on the Salesforce – We Have it Wrong
- December 9, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Does a salesperson over achieve simply because she exceeded her goal? What if one huge deal, order or account drops in her lap? Does that make her an over achiever or just lucky?
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Sales Coaching – The Big Differentiator
- December 2, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
What’s the difference between great sales coaching and good sales coaching?
Do you talk with your salespeople about strategy, goals, outcomes and potential obstacles? Do you check with them to make sure they agree? That’s good sales coaching.
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Ultimatums for the Salesforce – Do They Work?
- November 19, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Suppose you deliver an ultimatum to a salesperson…
Suppose you deliver it to the entire sales force…
How would you expect them to react?
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Misleading Statistics and Hiring the Wrong Sales Candidates
- November 3, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The November issue of Fortune Small Business has an article called Entrepreneurial Myth Busters. FSB has Ken Blanchard (consultant )and Scott Shane (academic) go head to head answering questions about small businesses and entrepreneurship. While Blanchard provides insightful answers based on his years of experience working in, consulting to and writing about business, Shane provides surprising answers based on data. I’m sure that if you read the article you’ll agree that Shane’s data lead to some very misleading conclusions. Academics who haven’t been “out there” can fall in love with their data!
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Your Salespeople Call on the Wrong People and Expect Them to Buy
- October 30, 2008
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I speak quite often to groups comprised primarily of CEO’s and Presidents. Yesterday was a good example of that, with about 100 people in the audience. There were 35 No-Shows, most of whom did not have the title of President or CEO.