Understanding the Sales Force
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Consistently Inconsistent
- May 25, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…We have discussed many of the problems associated with optimizing and understanding the sales force but it all comes down to consistency. There may be expectations, accountability and coaching. The same goes for motivation, effective recruiting, support, direction and guidance.
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Compensation – the Unchanging Role
- May 23, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…It’s quite interesting to learn that a company is considering a change to the manner in which they compensate their salespeople. This typically occurs when a company has already discovered a flaw and management is hoping that a modification, usually
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Sinking in the Pool
- May 18, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…A sales manager from the company we discussed in ‘Retooling the Sales Force’ asked me about a candidate they were considering. He had mixed emotions: on the one hand, this candidate was actually borderline hirable, a rarity for them. On
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Cherry Picking
- May 16, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…Once in a while a not-so-smart, obsessive-compulsive, cost-cutting boss who knows better than anyone else, wants to move ahead with an evaluation of his sales team but….not everyone. Just a select, hand-chosen few, those about whom he has questions. His
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When Big is Bad
- May 12, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…A recent discussion with a top executive from a Fortune 1000 company provided some great insight – for him – as to the difficulties that large companies face when attempting to optimize their sales organizations.
For the most part, the
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Something’s Gotta Give
- May 10, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…Today we learned about a company that has 100% turnover – and they aren’t in the insurance business! This company burns out its 6-figure performers as well as the other 85% of the sales force, those who fail inside of
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Gut or Guts
- May 5, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…I can’t tell you how many times I’m involved in discussions with clients over gut. No typo there. They say, “My gut tells me to go with him.” They say, “My gut says she’ll do great.” So many in sales
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Retooling the Sales Force
- May 4, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…The executive team of a company whose sales force we recently evaluated wanted to ‘retool’ the sales force. Their salespeople were comfortable selling into one of the three markets on which they needed a presence, but not the other two
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Be Still My Pipeline
- May 1, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…We evaluated a sales force this week that had pipeline problems. Most companies have pipeline problems; they simply lack the awareness to recognize how serious those problems are. Of even more concern is how long it takes to fix a
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Creating a Sales Culture
- April 28, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
…One of the challenges that many companies face is to create a sales culture when the existing culture is more orientated to customer service and account management. Banks have been attempting to make this shift for twenty years. Now Law