Search Results

  • The Connection Between Road Signs, Sales Data, Consultative Selling and Sales Recruiting

    • December 6, 2022
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Salespeople who are learning to take a consultative approach to selling hear a stated issue – the consultative selling version of a road sign – but think they have arrived at their destination – the compelling reason to buy.

    This is supported by the data.  Objective Management Group (OMG) has data on 2,280,260 salespeople that have been assessed from more than 30,000 companies.  The findings are horrific:

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  • How to Know if You Are You Really Selling Consultatively

    • June 4, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Most of the CEOs and sales leaders I speak with agree that their sales organizations need to be more effective at taking a consultative approach to selling. At the same time, they insist that they talk about it often and that their salespeople are doing OK with a consultative approach.  OMG’s Sales Force Evaluation usually reveals that they aren’t doing much more than talking about it, as their scores for the Consultative Seller competency are quite low.

    How can you determine if you or your team are being effective at using a consultative approach?  I created this list of outcomes that would be true if your consultative approach was working effectively.  You and/or your salespeople are :

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  • 4 Reasons Why Salespeople Suck at Consultative Selling.

    • September 26, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Yesterday, a sales manager I was coaching asked me to explain the difference between a great question and a tough question.  I gave him the one-minute version but this article has the expanded version of that answer.

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  • How Can Consultative Selling Already be Dead?

    • April 30, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In this article for Middle Market Executive,Tom Searcy insists that Consultative Selling is dead.  He says that consultative sellers end up with buyers who can only make small decisions, experts end up in purchasing and only industry authorities can reach executive decision-makers.  He also says that consultative sellers ask, “What is your pain?”, experts say, “Here is your pain.”, and authorities say, “Here is the pain your industry is having and how you can uniquely overcome it.”

    Is he right?

    Let’s discuss that right now before your clothes go out of style…

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  • Are Inside Sales And Consultative Selling Mutually Exclusive?

    • January 7, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I don’t write about Inside Sales as often as I should. After all, everyone else is writing about it, some bloggers are devoted to it, and if you read what the inside sales bloggers are writing, you would think that inside sales is king. Of course, it is the king of the top of the funnel where everything begins, but with few exceptions, selling rarely ends in that department.

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  • Are Inside Sales and Consultative Selling Mutually Exclusive?

    • April 7, 2014
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In this discussion, we’ll focus on group #2, traditional inside sales, where salespeople field incoming calls from existing loyal customers, existing disloyal customers, and potential customers.

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  • Consultative Selling, Commitment and Training – Like Oil & Water

    • March 14, 2014
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We recently evaluated a sales force where the salespeople had, on average, only 18% of the attributes of a consultative seller.

    “How could that be?”, asked the Director of Sales.  “Achieve Global has come in 3 times in 3 years to teach consultative selling!”

    That could be the punchline, but it’s not.

    So, why didn’t the training on consultative selling stick?  There are reasons aplenty!

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  • Top 3 Reasons Why Salespeople Fail at Consultative Selling?

    • July 8, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    One of the challenges with a consultative approach is that while it is easier to close the sale, it is far more difficult to implement than the traditional, transactional approach that today makes it so much harder to get the sale closed.  The question is why?

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  • Inc Magazine Gets it Wrong on Consultative Selling

    • April 8, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Inc. Magazine ran an article on its website that I just can’t ignore.  It’s making my blood boil.

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  • Top 7 Things That Consultative Sellers Do

    • November 14, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    A small group of experts, especially those that lack this competency themselves, believe that using this competency for selling is manipulative and counters being customer-centric.  They are as entitled to their opinion as I am to mine.  But remember, you simply can’t argue with science, data and results.

    So which competency am I referring to?

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