Search Results
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Official Guidance for Sales Teams Navigating the 2nd Trump Economy
- January 20, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Let’s discuss how the Trump economy will affect sales organizations.
It will be easier to schedule meetings – hooray!
It may be easier to reach decision makers – that’s awesome! They hide when they aren’t interested in spending.
Sales cycles will be shorter – that’s great news!
But with all that good news, I do have five warnings to share:
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Timing – A Secret Key to Sales Success
- January 9, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Timing is easy to recognize. When the timing is right anyone who calls can get a meeting scheduled. When the timing is bad, nobody who calls will get a meeting scheduled. Then there are all the occasions in the middle – the timing is neither good nor bad – where by asking the right questions and getting them to recognize they might have an issue you can help with, you do succeed at scheduling a meeting. These are the very meetings you want because early on, they aren’t talking with anyone other than you.
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Dave Kurlan’s Homicide Detective Article Was a Finalist for Top Sales Article of 2024
- January 7, 2025
- Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
- Category: News
Homicide Detective Makes Best Case for Sales Process was named a finalist for Top Sales Article of 2024 by Top Sales Magazine. Read it at https://www.kurlanassociates.com/understanding-the-sales-force/2024/homicide-detective-makes-best-case-for-sales-process/
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The Biblical Sales Force Part 4 – Accountability
- January 4, 2025
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Having a job in sales should not be the equivalent to membership in a country club, where you are welcome until you resign. On the contrary. It’s a privilege, and with it comes a requirement for sales excellence, not sales mediocrity.
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Why Most Salespeople Require More Training and Repetition
- December 12, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The people who enter sales immediately after high school or college graduation learn sales from the ground up and are better trained and prepared for what they will encounter and what they must do in those situations. However, those who make career changes and transition to sales later in their career, don’t benefit from nearly as much sales training, receiving mostly product training instead. That forces them to rely on instincts, which are not based on sales experience or wisdom, and often guide them to do what makes them comfortable, as opposed to what makes them effective.
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Top Sales & Sales Leadership Articles of 2024
- December 12, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you’ve been reading this Blog for more than a couple of years, or since 2006, then you know that every December I post the best articles of the past year. This year there are five articles listed in the category of best Sales Leadership articles, there are ten articles listed in the category of best sales articles of the year, and five more that are my personal favorites. Additionally, I listed the top five video rants of 2024 to give you a bit more value while you are here.
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The Nutcracker and 3 Sales Competencies That Cause Low Win Rates
- December 6, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
During a first sales call, suppose your salespeople hear one prospect say, “This has been a very interesting and productive conversation and we might have some interest in this.” And imagine another prospect at the same meeting says, “We’ll get back to you next month and let you know what kind of progress we’ve made.” And still a third might say, “In the meantime, please send us a proposal with references and timeline.”
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How I Learned I am a Sales Consulting Imposter
- November 11, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I didn’t like this candidate. He was way too cocky and aggressive, he wasn’t prepared, and he didn’t like all of my questions. I ended the call after about a minute and a half because I already knew he wasn’t going to proceed in the process. I told him that if he didn’t hear back from me by the end of business on the following day, then he didn’t make it to the next round (an interview with me).
Considering the findings on his OMG assessment, imagine what could happen if he felt rejected from the way I ended the call, and when he didn’t get the follow up call the next day. Consider how his lack of patience, along with not being a relationship builder and not needing to be liked, could manifest.
Did you imagine what could happen?
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7-Steps to Achieve Sales Team Excellence
- October 9, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Any company and/or executive can initiate a sales transformation, but there is one dealbreaker that can cause a sales transformation initiative to fail. But you have to see it through. You must be visible. You must lead by example. You must be engaged. You must show how important this is. You must show your commitment.
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Hydrangeas Tell the Story of Underperforming Salespeople
- September 13, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You don’t have to stand by, throw your hands in the air, become frustrated and use hope as your strategy. When did hope even become a strategy? You don’t need to terminate these underperforming salespeople and replace them with new salespeople who might not get it done. Take matters into your own hands, get the help you need to actually develop your salespeople.