Search Results
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Opinion: Why Sales Win Rates Have Reached an All-Time Low
- November 27, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One of the findings in the most recent Sales Performance Optimization Study, from CSO Insights, revealed that the win rate for deals has reached an all-time low.
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How Frequently Does Fear Play a Part in Sales?
- November 6, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Fear of failing doesn’t affect everyone that sells. The elite 6% are certainly immune to it, and most of the next 20% aren’t affected too much by it either. But the remaining 74% – the group that basically sucks – battles the fear of failing on a daily basis.
That fear – and most salespeople aren’t even consciously aware of it – prevents them from
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Experiment – Which Sales Approach is Really More Effective?
- October 28, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
During the past 90 days, I have been secretly selling multiple ways. On one third of our opportunities, I have been selling the way we teach – using a formal, structured sales process with a consultative approach. On another third of our opportunities (inbound leads), I have experimented with a more transactional approach, although even that has a consultative element because I can’t help but ask some good questions. It simply means that I show and tell much earlier than normal. With the remaining third of our leads, I have experimented with allowing the buyer to dictate the process. My buyer-dictated approach included a little push-back because I can’t allow a potential client to take the wrong approach to a solution.
Want to know what happened? Look at the table below:
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The Challenge of the Challenger Sales Model – The Facts
- October 21, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If we are discussing a transactional sale, then he is completely correct. Let the customer just buy what they want to buy and don’t complicate it. But most of us in the sales consulting space don’t consult to companies with a transactional sale – that’s marketing’s job to get more people to buy!
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The Latest and Greatest in Sales Force Effectiveness
- April 24, 2013
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We have introduced our share of evaluation and assessment tools during the past 23 years, but this introduction was completely different. My team worked tirelessly for nearly an entire year on our latest gem and our Partners received it, with even more enthusiasm than we felt, when we completed the project just 48 hours earlier.
Why all the excitement?
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Top 10 Criteria for a Qualified Sales Presentation
- August 17, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Salespeople should not be allowed to present until their prospects have yielded the right of way. Where intelligent pedestrians qualify the opportunity to cross, intelligent salespeople qualify the opportunity to present.
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How Christmas Gift Giving Mirrors the Ideal Sales Process
- December 15, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you understand that, then why do so many executives and salespeople, from all industries, still insist that the first thing they must do with a new prospect is present? Even the word “present” suggests waiting for the perfect time.
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Top 3 Ways for Salespeople to Eliminate Competition
- October 14, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There are three ways to eliminate increasing competition for a declining number of opportunities:
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Top 10 Reasons Why Sales Commitment Has Become More Important
- June 15, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
My recent analysis has shown that today, Commitment has overtaken Desire in importance and we will be reflecting that in assessments very shortly. But Why? What has caused this fundamental shift?
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Your Salespeople Can’t Even Do That?
- February 3, 2010
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The biggest concern is that the VP/Sales Manager should have known about and solved this problem the first week it was an issue – months ago – right after the salespeople began with the company.