Search Results

  • The Top 10% of All Salespeople are 4,000% Better at this than the Bottom 10%

    • March 3, 2022
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I found Dinger with his nose glued to my front bumper where some of the deer’s hair was still attached to my car.  Dinger, who loves to bark at deer from the safety of our home, seemed to be saying, “Ohhhh, so THIS is what a deer smells like!”

    The exact same thing happened to a salesperson I was training.  It wasn’t a deer or a dog, it was about Jim’s sales aha moment.

    His team was asked to send me an email with their five biggest lessons from their first six months of training.  Among Jim’s top five was this one:

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  • Top 10 Sales and Sales Leadership Articles of 2021

    • December 7, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    There are several criteria for choosing the top articles of the year, including, but not limited to:

    Views (Article)
    Popularity (likes on LinkedIn and Twitter)
    Engagement (comments to the article, via email, and on LinkedIn)
    Personal (my favorites)
    Value (insights for the community)

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  • Two Selling Strategies That are More Effective Than Facts and Figures

    • January 29, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Most of my articles begin with a Story and despite not writing about story telling very often, it is a very important part of selling.

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  • How a Mug of Dunkin Can Help You More Effectively Sell Value

    • December 9, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This is another Bob story. Bob was on a sales call and the prospect told him that they were looking for the lowest price.  I hope you hate it when that happens.  It’s a bad thing because while Bob was supposed to be selling value, a price-based conversation is transactional yet he’s supposed to be taking a consultative approach to support the value he provides.  Would you like to guess what Bob did instead?  Yup, he got them his best price.  Ugh!

    So what should Bob have done instead to turn this around and not waste everyone’s time?

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  • The $225,000 Selling Mistake Most Salespeople Make

    • December 7, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    While colleagues and supervisors shared their enthusiasm for this exciting moment, my first reaction was, “And why do you think this is good news?” 

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  • What Sales Organizations Must Learn from the Impeachment Hearings

    • November 22, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This is not a political article but I will use the impeachment hearings as an example to set the stage for my insights.  Currently in the USA there are 3 major schools of thought relative to the impeachment hearings:

    Most Democrats and Liberals: “We hate Trump and we want to see him impeached.”

    Most Republicans and Conservatives: “We love Trump and hate what they are trying to do to him.”

    Most  Independents: “They should follow the facts and make an informed decision.”

    Suppose that instead of the impeachment hearings we are analyzing a sales opportunity where we substitute “You” (Bob) and “Your Company” (ABC) for Trump, and substitute Your Customer or Prospect for “We”.

    You’ll quickly see how one of the same three scenarios plays out for each  opportunity. 

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  • Dave Kurlan’s 10 Rules for Effective Sales Emails That Connect With New Prospects

    • March 10, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    They aren’t personal, they aren’t written well, their messages are identical, you want to delete them and I know  you get these emails too.  I had already decided to save some of these worthless emails for an upcoming article when Keenan posted this rant on LinkedIn.  After you read his rant and related comments, please return to my article for a short tutorial on what’s wrong with these emails and how to make them stickier.

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  • How to Get New Salespeople to Take Off Like a Rocket Ship

    • September 7, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Most companies combine some kind of classroom training with self-directed online training, shadowing an experienced salesperson and coaching. While all of that helps to pass on important knowledge, it does little to quickly ramp up a new salesperson.  What does?  I’ll share that next.

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  • How Executives Fail to Understand the Reasons for Poor Sales and Revenue Performance

    • August 11, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I can tell you that once in a blue moon, after we evaluate a sales force and present our findings, a rare CEO can become defensive and react poorly to the results.  When it happens, it’s usually a sign that the CEO is out of touch with the sales force.  I’ll share some of the things to which they sometimes react badly:

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  • Remembering The Most Powerful Sales Lesson of My Life

    • September 6, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Which one thing helps almost every salesperson succeed, even when they have other challenges?

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