Search Results
-
Top 10 Sales Recruiting Lessons to Hire Great Salespeople
- January 7, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One of the first emails I came across this morning was a LinkedIn update telling me that 16% of my network had started new jobs. 16%. That’s one of every 6.25 people I am connected to.
That brings us to this question. Who’s in a LinkedIn network?
-
Get Your Sales Force to Perform Magic and Make Sales Appear!
- January 6, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I just finished a great novel called Law of Nines. A traveler from another world visits Earth in hopes of saving her own world. They have no technology where she comes from but they do have magic. Alex, the main character, just can’t wrap his hands around the magic. Jax, the alien, tries to help. She said, “that little black thing you talk to where messages appear – in our world, that would be magic but we would do it without the black thing. That box that brings you up and down in a building – to me that’s magic. Those enclosed carriages without horses to make them travel? Magic.”
-
Exposed – Personality Tests Disguised as Sales Assessments
- January 5, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, I met with a long-time client who, in his previous company, used OMG’s Assessments to identify what needed to change in order to double revenue from $30 million to $60 million. In his new company, which is already about 12x that size, he wants to double revenue again. He said, “I just wasted two years with the _____ Assessment.” The assessment to which he referred was a personality assessment marketed as a sales assessment. It could have referred to any personality or behavioral-styles assessment.
-
Sales Selection Experiment: A Must Read Case Study
- January 5, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This kind of story doesn’t happen every day.
One of Objective Management Group’s (OMG) most successful partners had an opportunity to work with young business leaders that had never sold. They were assessed with OMG’s tools, and assembled into 5 teams, all selling the exact same product. They had to go door-to-door, sell an overpriced luxury item, in the same market, over a 3-day period.
-
Selling Value – Everything You Always Wanted to Know
- December 4, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
So if not those topics, then what should we all be writing about – all the time – that would be a real difference maker for salespeople?
I believe that it’s the importance of and ability to sell value. Why, you ask?
-
Selling Value – Everything You Always Wanted to Know
- December 3, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Some news stories just don’t go away. Today those stories include Ferguson, Bill Cosby, ISIS and The NFL’s Domestic Abuse Problem. There is also Obamacare, Immigration and Ebola. They remain in the news more because the media continues to milk these stories then readers demand to know more.
-
Top 5 Sales Issues Leaders Should Not Focus On
- November 19, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Did you ever watch Peyton Manning, Tom Brady or Aaron Rogers have a bad day at Quarterback? Did you notice that the following day, everyone was saying that he sucked? While it’s possible that these three Quarterbacks could have a bad day, most of their bad days are less about them and more about whether or not their offensive lines gave them the time and protection they needed to find an open man and make a good pass. It could also have something to do with whether or not their receivers were able to quickly get open.
-
Leading a Sales Force is Even More Like Baseball
- November 6, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I’ve written plenty about the similarity betwen baseball and selling, but today I’m writing about the similarity between baseball and sales leadership. If you’re not a baseball person, you might not see the same things that I see, most of which can be applied to leading a sales force. For example,
-
The One Thing Most Salespeople Are Unable to Do
- October 27, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Can you guess what it is – the one thing most salespeople are unable to do?
Based on what I most frequently write about, you might think that it would be consultative selling, but that’s not it. You might also guess that it’s the sales equivalent of eating right – not doing demos and presentations so early in the sales process. But that’s not it either.
However, there really is one thing that all but the most elite salespeople are unable to do. It is partly a result of their inability to sell consultatively while continuing to demo, present, quote and propose too early. Can you guess what it is now?
-
Not the 3 Most Important Sales Hiring Attributes
- October 24, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One topic that never gets stale is how to make sure that you nail sales selection. Whether or not salespeople actually fail, or they simply stick around, but fail to have an impact, the common theme is still failure to select the right salespeople. Recently, I stumbled upon this article about 3 Uncoachable Sales Attributes that you should focus on to get hiring right.