sales management
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Keys to Improved Sales Performance – Part 4 of 4
- September 5, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you are like most folks, you were away for at least part of the summer, took as many long weekends as you could, and worked fewer hours on the days you actually did work. As part of getting the work done, you deleted as many emails as you could where a reply wasn’t required and visited fewer websites and blogs.
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Top 5 Mistakes Salespeople Make When Under Pressure
- August 11, 2014
- Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Before I unveil the top 5 mistakes, you might be interested to know that last week, Top Sales World Magazine went from monthly to weekly. I was featured on the cover, but I’m most hopeful that everyone will read Jonathan Farrington’s interview with me. He got me to be very outspoken about what’s taking place right now in our industry and I believe that everyone will benefit from reading it.
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College Basketball vs. the Pros & Sales Management & Selling
- March 3, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you live in fear and follow the path laid out by NBA head coaches, and just try to make everyone happy, you get the wrong outcome. Additionally, you show that you are not a good leader, you are not a good coach, you are not a good sales manager, and you are not a good role model. You are, in essence, a babysitter with all of the power of the 13-year old who can watch and entertain, but cannot make a decision.
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Double Article Friday – How New Salespeople Struggle
- February 21, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If ever there was a good analogy for the new salesperson, this is it; and what a case it makes for nailing the onboarding process to make sure that nothing is left to chance. In what kind of shape is your onboarding process for new salespeople?
Here is an article that I wrote seven years ago about how to onboard new salespeople and it still holds true today. Enjoy.
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Do Salespeople Leverage the Ideal Moment in the Buying Process?
- February 20, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The moment after it’s all closed is the perfect moment for both salesperson and customer, and it can only go downhill from there. So why do salespeople fail to leverage that moment?
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What Does it Take to Become a Sales Manager?
- January 24, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
After his football career ended, Chatham went back to school and received an MBA from Babson in 2011. With that in hand, he said that he would prefer a front office job and wishes to become a GM. On the other hand, Fouria said that he would love to coach, but…
There were a lot of buts:
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What Would You Do? Sales Force Attempts to Maintain Status Quo
- January 6, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This is what can happen when salespeople have zero concept of selling; when knowledgeable, technical people are moved into selling roles without being trained to sell; when the sales manager is more interested in selling than managing; when the president doesn’t hold the sales manager accountable; and when there isn’t a sales culture.
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10 Tips for Great Keynotes and Better Sales Presentations
- December 10, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I thought I would share some tips that you could incorporate into your group sales presentations, lunch and learns, conference talks and appearances to make them more effective.
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Top 10 Ways Salespeople are Selling in the Dark
- November 13, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Did you happen to see the movie Gravity?
Early in the movie, the two astronauts, played by Sandra Bullock and George Clooney, lose communications with Houston. From that point on, they don’t stop talking to Houston, they don’t stop reporting in and they don’t change protocol. What they do change, is they add a phrase to the beginning of each message, “Houston, in the dark…”
They are moving blindly, without direction, without feedback, without certainty. They are in the dark. That’s exactly how most salespeople go through each day, through each sales call and meeting, and through each sales cycle. They are in the dark.
It’s most obvious when salespeople don’t know:
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Now That You Have a Sales Process, Never Mind
- October 16, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Here’s the premise: Companies that have been rigorously enforcing sales process should stop doing so because it is resulting in longer sales cycles, decreased conversion rates, unreliable forecasts and depressed margins. So they say. Here are some of the many problems with their premise: