Search Results

  • Dissecting the #1 Sales Best Practice

    • August 26, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    One company is attempting to create a compilation of best sales practices by sending out a weekly survey to sales leaders and asking them to choose from multiple choice questions what they most often do and teach.  The topic changes each week.  This is silly because (1) it just isn’t that simple, (2) it’s different for each selling role, each vertical, the decision makers they call on, their price points, the length of their sales cycle, and their respective competition, just to name a few.  In addition, when you ask multiple choice questions like this, the answers will be so varied that there won’t be even a few, never mind a single best practice.  Here is an example of what they asked this week:

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  • How Better Accountability Causes Sales Performance to Increase

    • January 4, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Sure, having goals is important, but having them in writing, with an achieve by date and a plan is exponentially more likely to have an actionable outcome than only having goals.  And if you really want results, accountability is to goals as the accelerator is to the automobile.  They both cause immediate action.  Here’s what I mean.

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  • How to Finally Get Sales Selection Right

    • June 16, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Before I share some crucial sales selection tips, I need to begin with some baseball. My apologies to all of my cricket and soccer obsessed readers.

    My team, the Boston Red Sox, just lost their seventh consecutive game. They are in last place and heading for their third last place finish in the past four years. The outlier year was 2013, when they won the World Series. I think there was far less talent on that championship team than on this year’s edition, but the 2013 team had a rallying cry (Boston Strong) and everyone overachieved. You can’t count on everyone overachieving each year, so in lieu of that, as Jim Collins would say, you must have the right people in the right seats.

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  • How Dramatically Has Selling Changed?

    • February 19, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Yesterday, I was listening to a radio promotion when they said, “Take a selfie with a standie and then, using your smartphone or tablet, upload it to Facebook, or tweet your image using hashtag [something I can’t remember].”

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  • Home Run Derby Compared to Selling

    • January 28, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Categories: Monthly Tips, Strategy

    This week, Major League Baseball held its annual Home Run Derby. A fan favorite, this event features some of the mightiest sluggers to play the game. Now a three round affair, it has an amazing similarity to Sales.

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  • The Rule of Cause and Effect

    • January 20, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Categories: Monthly Tips, Tactics - Getting to 2nd Base (Prospects)

    In a recent training program we focused on closing. Each attendee was asked to identify an account they felt was “ready to close”. Not surprisingly when asked “what the compelling reason for action” was many were unable to clearly identify the real issue and it’s impact.

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  • Corporate Training

    • January 16, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Categories:
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  • The 10 Keys to Effective Group Sales Presentations

    • January 15, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    When you speak at as many events as I have over the past 3 decades, you come to expect certain things. As you consider each of the following scenarios, try to make a comparison as to how it might compare with the sales calls and presentations you make to groups:

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  • The Challenge of the Challenger Sales Model – The Facts

    • January 14, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Last week I wrote an article, Now That You Have a Sales Process, Never Mind, that was very critical of an article that appeared in Harvard Business Review. The authors were nice enough to clarify their position and, even if you read my original article, it’s worth revisiting because of the additional discussion that took place after it appeared.

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  • CSO or Sales Leader

    • January 14, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Categories:
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