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.