Search Results

  • How Wrong are Company Methods to Rank and Compensate Salespeople?

    • February 23, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    When report cards and grades are available, measuring the academic success of your child or grandchild is a lot easier than it is to measure sales success.  School grades go up and we say, “Great effort!”  School grades go down and we say, “Oh-oh, something is seriously wrong here!”   Academic grades are a reflection of test scores, completed homework and class participation. Sales grades are another story altogether and that is where most companies make terrible, horrible, awful mistakes.  Do you think you know what those mistakes are?

    read more

  • Part 4 – The Real Story Behind the Sales Selection Fiasco

    • October 21, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This week we discovered a statistical difference between those salespeople who currently work for a company whose sales force was evaluated, and those sales candidates who were applying for sales positions.

    read more

  • Price Quotes and the Inability of Salespeople to Sell Value

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

    Last week, I was training a sales force to sell value – an absolutely revolutionary concept – when the unthinkable happened, not once, but twice in the same training.  As incredible as it was to me, it clearly illustrates why it is so darn hard for companies to get their salespeople to sell value.

    read more

  • Should a Salesperson be Punished after a Huge Sale?

    • May 4, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    My wife and I watched with a combination of fascination, sadness and shock as the coach of our son’s 12 and under AAU baseball team made them run suicides after the double header they won on Saturday, and again after the double header they won on Sunday.  Why would he punish them after winning four games this weekend?  And how does this apply to sales?  You’ll be amazed by what you read.

    read more

  • Rebuttal to What Elite Salespeople Do Differently

    • March 4, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This article appeared through syndication on some other sites.  On CustomerThink, an epic discussion followed this introduction and I have included more than 50 comments that appeared there. It started with this comment from Bob Thompson, who also happens to own the CustomerThink website:

    read more

  • More Closing Urgency – Part 2

    • February 6, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Categories: Monthly Tips, Tactics - Scoring (Closing)

    I wrote about Closing Urgency in last week’s Baseline Selling Tip. One salesperson, who believed I wrote it for him, proved himself correct. I had an unusual print job that needed to be completed within a week. My assistant was having difficulty identifying a local printer that could handle the job and get it done on a timely basis. “Bob” learned about the print job and with as much urgency as I’ve ever seen, contacted a one of his closable prospects, a printer. He and the printer both showed considerable urgency, appearing in my office within an hour.

    read more

  • How to Translate Tiger Woods’ Experiences into Sales Success

    • January 20, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Categories: Monthly Tips, Motivation

    I was reading an article about Tiger Woods in Golf Digest. The article explored whether Tiger would be better or worse after he returned from surgery and rehabilitation on his knee. It went on to detail how effectively he played while injured and in great pain, and how much potential he had to be even better when he could move weight to his left leg. It also went on to describe his many potential distractions. Finally, I read a part of the article that talked about how prepared Tiger is for adversity.

    read more

  • Asking the Question that Changes the Call

    • January 19, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Categories: Monthly Tips, Tactics - Getting to 2nd Base (Prospects)

    I accompanied Bob and George on a sales call yesterday and mostly sat and observed. Not much happened, there weren’t any obvious compelling reasons for the prospect to do anything and the call seemed to be a waste of their time. I jumped in twice, the first time to rattle off some issues that I had heard but which weren’t addressed. That moved the call a little bit in the right direction, but not enough.

    read more

  • Having Good Sales Calls

    • January 19, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Categories: Monthly Tips, Tactics - Getting to 2nd Base (Prospects)

    When you have a good meeting with a prospect, how do you feel? If your prospect was friendly, complimentary, open, and answered all of your questions, would you say that your chances of closing this opportunity are strong?

    read more

  • Topgrading Pros, Cons and Sales Assessments

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

    Somehow, I got thrown into the middle of an internet disagreement between Brad Smart, author of Topgrading, and Bob Corlett, a blogger who calls himself The Staffing Adviser.

    read more