sales training
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Biased Polls and Poor Sales Questions: 83% of Salespeople Fail at This
- January 29, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
New OMG data reveals only 17% of salespeople are strong in Consultative Selling—especially at asking great, tough questions. See how biased poll questions mirror weak sales probes, and why specific competitor-weakness questions win more deals. Percentile breakdowns + fixes inside.
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Why Salespeople Need Music Lessons Before They Start Selling
- January 26, 2026
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Just like most kids fail to learn guitar without lessons, most salespeople flop when thrown straight into the field with no real training. In this article, Dave Kurlan draws a fresh parallel from the music world: self-taught “players” rarely succeed without mastering the fundamentals—notes, scales, chords, and theory. The same goes for sales. Sink-or-swim onboarding leads to mistakes, missed quotas, and burnout, while formal sales training (including process, methodology, and role plays) delivers massive wins. Backed by data showing 14% higher quota attainment, faster ramp times, and huge ROI, Dave explains the missing ingredient most programs ignore: a repeatable sales process and methodology. If you want new reps to make real music in sales—not just noise—skip the shortcuts.
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The 42 Best Sales and Sales Leadership Articles, Videos and Innovations of 2025
- December 17, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Celebrate 20 years of sales wisdom on Understanding the Sales Force with Dave Kurlan’s 2025 roundup! Dive into the Top 10 Video Rants that roast common pitfalls (from demo disasters to quota mysteries), the Top 7 game-changing innovations like the Sales Cholesterol diagnostic and SCAM/SCAR retention radar, and three killer Top 10 lists: Dave’s personal faves (golf analogies to BANT takedowns), Grok’s picks (cringe sales moments to grit audits), and engagement champs (Trump economy tips to duck-vs-owl hacks). Capping it off? The undisputed #1: “The Sales Cholesterol Analogy,” the only article nailing three lists. Merry holidays—here’s to bolder selling in 2026!
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A Year in Review – 2025 at Kurlan & Associates
- December 8, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Categories:
Reflect on a transformative 2025 with Kurlan & Associates. We partnered with innovators across manufacturing, SaaS, real estate, trades, and life sciences to supercharge sales teams. Highlights? Groundbreaking tools like SCAR for compensation alignment, Sales Cholesterol for pipeline health, and our Blueprint grid for scalable success. Plus, 65 fresh blog insights on sales leadership. Clients leaned into coaching, CRM migrations, and recruiting mastery—driving revenue growth and retention. Whether you’re scaling now or eyeing 2026, discover how our evaluations, training, and optimizations deliver results fast. Let’s build your sales edge.
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From Practice Range to Sales Mastery: The 8 Requirements for Game-Changing Sales Training
- November 17, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
In sales, just like in sports, anyone can start playing—but mastery takes real effort. Drawing parallels from baseball sandlots to golf courses, this article explores why most salespeople plateau early and why companies must step up with proper training. Discover the 8 essential requirements for sales training that delivers measurable results, from clear expectations to proven content, and why skipping it keeps teams stuck in mediocrity.
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The Golf to Sales Analogy: When You Don’t Know What You Don’t Know
- November 4, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Discover how a late start in golf taught me the ultimate sales lesson: “I didn’t know what I didn’t know.” From clueless reps sending premature proposals to managers without accountability, this post reveals the blind spots killing sales performance—and how a savvy CEO fixed it all.
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How Half-Measures in Your Sales Process Can Kill Your Win Rate
- October 15, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Dr. Charles Stanley’s take on The Lord’s Prayer sparked a revelation: just like prayer, a sales process needs belief and intent to work. Too many companies compromise, settling for “good enough” results. Learn how a no-compromise approach with Baseline Selling doubled win rates for clients, including a $24M-to-$65M Oracle acquisition, and how it can boost your win rate by 30% or more—guaranteed.
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How the MLB Playoffs Can Help You Rethink Your Sales Team
- September 29, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
What if your sales team was built like an MLB playoff roster? In this post, we explore how the high-stakes, cutthroat nature of the 2025 MLB playoffs can inspire you to rethink your sales team, keeping only the top performers who drive revenue growth and letting go of the rest.
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Revolutionizing Sales Forecasting with a Baseball Twist
- September 12, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Discover the “Power Alley,” a revolutionary sales forecasting strategy inspired by baseball. Learn how this KPI aligns pipeline, forecast, and revenue to boost accountability and solve CEOs’ biggest frustration.
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Don’t Let MT and Lay-Z Tank Your Sales Team: Lessons from Squirrels
- September 7, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Six years after meeting squirrels Ernest, MT, and Lay-Z, I’m stunned their sales team counterparts—underperforming salespeople—still linger. Learn why leaders hesitate to act and how to build a thriving sales team for 2026.