sales training

  • The Impact of Coaching Salespeople and Sales Managers

    • October 7, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I thought back to my childhood and thought about the the coaching I had then, and later in life, and the impact it had on my success.

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  • Tale of Two Clients – Sales Training:) versus SAAAlesTraining:(

    • October 6, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Strong CEO’s see all the flaws their people have and are committed to developing them or upgrading.  Weak CEO’s see beauty, and flowers, and blue skies – yes, that’s the ticket – blue skies through rose colored glasses.

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  • Top 10 Reasons Consultative Sellers Outsell Everyone Else

    • October 1, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Have you ever worked with salespeople that were so bad you thought, “She couldn’t close a door!”?  And have you ever worked with salespeople that were so good that you thought, “She could sell white to rice!”?

    There’s a good chance that the difference has less to do with their closing skills and much more to do with their ability to build a late stage relationship in the earliest stage of the sales process – the first meeting.

    So what do they do?  Here are the top ten things they do:

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  • Why the Relationship is So Important to the Sales Outcome

    • September 30, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Unfortunately, in order to ask those questions and have those discussions, a relationship must be established.  And this is where the double edged sword comes into play.  The discussion I’m talking about is a first meeting discussion.  But the relationship that requires is often a 2nd or 3rd meeting relationship.  So the problem I present is, how does one develop a late-stage relationship in an early stage meeting?

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  • How Obama, Dan Pink, The Heaths, Steinbrenner and Kurlan Might Prepare Your Sales Force for Change

    • September 24, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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  • Preparing for Sales Training – Becoming Change Ready

    • September 23, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I just took a talented group of salespeople through three days of training. Perhaps you’ve been in a situation just like that at some point. There are several ways this group can approach integration, application and execution at the end of the training.

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  • Why Salespeople Fail to Make Needed Changes

    • September 3, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I recently paid a visit to the men’s restroom (more comfortable in that one) where I saw Steve, our building maintenance man, on the floor repairing the sensor that automatically turns the water on and off. About 90 minutes later (right on schedule), I was back and shocked to see Steve still down there on the floor. I asked what was taking so long and he said, “Well it works just fine when it’s not connected to the faucet but when I reconnect it the darn thing stays broken!”

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  • Top 10 CEO Reactions to My Comments About Their Sales Forces

    • August 23, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Just like the salespeople who work for them, CEO’s come in all different sizes, shapes, styles and flavors. As you can imagine, those variances influence the outcomes of sales force evaluations, sales infrastructure, sales and sales management development and sales recruiting.  Here is a sampling of how some of the CEO’s react to what I tell them about their sales force:

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  • Secrets of Effective Sales Development

    • March 29, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    “I’ve heard it all before.”

    That comment applies to the music AND it can be attributed to some veteran salespeople after reacting to their first day of sales training.  No matter  what you read about selling, not much has changed in the last 40 years. Even my book, Baseline Selling, is based on concepts that go back as far as 1935.  Did I improve on those concepts?  Yes!  But Selling itself is not a new concept. 

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  • What Are Reasonable Sales Management Expectations?

    • March 12, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I am often asked which of the various services we provide to companies can be done in-house, by the executive team.  Fair question.  Answer: All of them.

    So why would companies use us or others with our expertise?  Answer: Because when they try to do it in-house they aren’t able to get most of it right:

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