selling value
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My New Perspective on Sales Process and Methodology
- August 8, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We were at the Zoo when we came upon the monkey in the picture. He was holding on to the chainlink fence with both hands and both feet – probably not very unusual for a monkey – but he was sitting on a basketball!
The monkey is following a traditional monkey methodology for hanging on, while being authentic, allowing his silly personality to come through, and getting people who were interacting with him to laugh.
We can even apply that approach to sales process and methodology!
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Top 10 Keys to Determining and Improving Your Ideal Win Rate
- March 7, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
What kind of car should you drive?
Answering that question with anything other than, “It depends,” is irresponsible because there are so many variables. Choosing a car depends on budget, family size, how much stuff you load into your car, the length of your drives, the logo/ego influence, fit and function, ergonomics, appearance, perceived value, reliability, cost to drive it (gas/electric/mileage), and so much more.
If that makes senses, why do companies struggle when I am unable to instantly tell them what their win-rate or closing percentage should be?
There are so many the variables that can influence your sales win-rate and here are my top ten keys to win rates:
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This is What Would Happen if Bob Got Promoted to Sales Manager
- February 7, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
For those of you who are familiar with my series of articles about Bob – the worst salesperson ever – you can catch up by enjoying, laughing, and making fun of him here. 12 of the articles that show up on that page are about Bob!
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The Bob Chronicles – The Difference Between Selling Skills and Effectiveness
- October 12, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Today a client asked me to explain the difference between skills and effectiveness. You won’t find the answer by doing a Google search as that search turns up exactly nothing on the subject. This article will discuss the similarity between symptoms/causes and skills/effectiveness. Do you remember Bob, the subject of many articles and my favorite weak salesperson to write about?
Bob strikes again!
I’ve written 10 articles about Bob and everyone says that the Bob series is their favorite.
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How Many Authors Does it Take to Screw in a LightBulb Highlighting Selling Skills?
- September 22, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Dan Caramanico alerted me to this dubious September 19, hbr.com article that explains their 5 Skills Every Salesperson Needs to Succeed. It took three consultants to screw in the lightbulb that illuminates their five stupid-as-shit skills so let’s take a look:
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You Can’t Lose Customers or Salespeople – 2 Secrets to Their Retention
- July 6, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There were lots of articles that had the top 5, 7, 10, 12, and 15 reasons why salespeople leave or quit their jobs. Most of those lists were simply subsets of other lists and the reasons included things like compensation, morale, workload, changing quotas, culture, toxic management, the job was misrepresented, too much pressure and lack of growth opportunity. While there were no surprises to these lists of reasons, I think there is a more pervasive reason that is not represented on the lists created by marketers and recruiters:
Sales Selection.
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Selling and the Need for Speed
- June 8, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Salespeople tend to be in a rush to close – before an opportunity is even closable.
Salespeople tend to be in a rush to present – before an opportunity is even qualified. Most salespeople are in such a hurry that they completely skip things like qualifying and discovery. And when salespeople do perform discovery they accept the very first indicator they hear and rush to explain how their product or service addresses that indicator.
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The Recession is Here – How to Take Advantage and Prepare Your Sales Team
- May 31, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
So what must you do to prepare your sales team and how can you leverage the effects of a recession?
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How a Mug of Dunkin Can Help You More Effectively Sell Value
- December 9, 2020
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This is another Bob story. Bob was on a sales call and the prospect told him that they were looking for the lowest price. I hope you hate it when that happens. It’s a bad thing because while Bob was supposed to be selling value, a price-based conversation is transactional yet he’s supposed to be taking a consultative approach to support the value he provides. Would you like to guess what Bob did instead? Yup, he got them his best price. Ugh!
So what should Bob have done instead to turn this around and not waste everyone’s time?
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Senate Confirmation Hearings Shows Us What Salespeople Do Wrong Every Day
- October 12, 2020
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Oh no, another post on the political climate. Don’t worry, I’m not taking sides, I’ll be right down the middle, and very critical of both sides. And stay with me for the pivot to the good stuff – my sales analysis. Here goes!
