sales management
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Top 20 Reasons Why Sales Managers Suck at Coaching
- April 4, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
So why aren’t more sales managers effective at coaching salespeople? Here are my top 19 reasons and I left #20 open so that you could add your two-cents worth.
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This is How Sales Managers Should Coach Their Salespeople
- March 13, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A salesperson told me he met with a customer that had taken their business to a competitor because of price. It sounded like they were getting what they were paying for:
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Best Example of Value-Added vs. Commodity Selling
- March 7, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I wrote an article for the March 2013 issue of Top Sales World Magazine that debriefs an actual sales call. I’ve written more than 1,000 articles and I believe this one is the best yet! The article effectively details an actual value-added consultative sales call which, because of a single incorrect question, quickly became a transactional, commodity-based, price-driven call. The example is really striking because it so clearly shows that you can do everything correctly but asking even one question the wrong way can cause a salesperson to lose the opportunity to be a trusted advisor, and fall into the abyss of commodity sellers.
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Great Salespeople Can See the Pixels – The Rest Watch the Movie
- March 6, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We have been describing the Consultative Sales approach. How do your salespeople fare in their ability to sell consultatively and, more importantly, which of them can be trained and coached to effectively execute this with consistency and results?
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Harvard Business Review Blog Off Target on Sales Greatness
- March 5, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This recent article in the Harvard Business Review Blog was as far off target as any I have ever debunked. Steve Martin lists 7 characteristics that he says differentiate great sales forces from good ones. His seven are:
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How the Landscape Quickly Changes on Your Salespeople
- February 27, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Give your salespeople these two pictures and the next time they begin to think that everything seems wonderful, make sure they remember to brush the snow away, take off their rose colored glasses, and learn what the landscape truly looks like underneath the false interest.
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Sales Excellence Studies Propagate Mediocrity
- February 26, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you conduct a Google search for “sales excellence studies”, you’ll find more than 20,000 results. I’m sure that some results point to surveys which were conducted by others, but either way, that’s a lot of studies on sales excellence. If any of those studies were actually ground-breaking, insightful or truly representative of sales excellence, there would probably be fewer than a dozen. But there are not. There are many reasons why these studies are so lame, but let’s name just a few:
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Dan Pink Hits and Then Misses the New Key to Sales Performance
- February 6, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Why do brilliant people, like Dan Pink, look at research and then reach faulty conclusions?
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Sales Hiring Chronicles: The Doctor, The Drug Dealer and The User
- January 31, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Recruiters think that all of their candidates walk on water. Clients think that because of our assessment, quality advice and guidance that we walk on water.
So the recruiter sends 5 of the best candidates ever to the client, who has them assessed, and 3 are not recommended. The recruiter is upset, “Why are you using that stupid assessment? You don’t need that! I know these candidates and they’re awesome.”
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Top 10 Problems with Veteran Salespeople
- January 28, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
For companies who want to grow revenue, veteran salespeople cause more problems than any other factor. After all, if you have a young, energetic group, there’s nowhere to go but up and everyone knows that they need to improve. On the other hand, veteran salespeople believe that they know everything and everyone and probably could lead the sales training class.