Search Results
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How the Rubber Band Sabotages Sales Performance
- April 1, 2019
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I have written many articles about Sales DNA, the combination of strengths that support sales process, sales strategy and sales tactics; or, when it appears as a weakness and sabotages ones ability to execute.
Unlike strategies and tactics, where you can learn and apply them, improving your Sales DNA requires much more effort and time.
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The Top 8 Requirements for Becoming a Great Salesperson
- January 14, 2019
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Do you remember the moment you became a Salesperson? Not a presenter, Not an order taker, but a true consultative sales professional?
Here are some guidelines to identify the moment you turned professional.
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How Getting Feedback and Making Adjustments are the Keys to Sales Improvement
- December 5, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Becoming great at selling – or anything else for that matter – is about making adjustments. In order to make an adjustment you need feedback – something you see, hear or feel that informs your ability to adjust. Take Baseball for example. When I watch my son hit he receives instant feedback from every swing of the bat. He usually crushes the ball and that suggests that no adjustment is needed. If he tops the ball or pops it up it is probably an issue with timing. If he peels the ball to the right, he probably opened his front shoulder too early. If he squares the ball up but doesn’t drive it he probably failed to use his legs. He also has 5 private coaches who coach him or, in other words, provide feedback.
That brings us back to selling. Salespeople need feedback too.
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Speed Limits, the Flow of Traffic, and Sales Pipelines
- November 19, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I don’t get stressed anymore when I’m driving. All it took was for me to not exceed the speed limit. I’m not sure whether it was my navigation system repeatedly telling me to “obey all traffic laws” each time I started the car, or my wife reminding me that I needed to be a good role model for our soon-to-be driving 16 year-old son. I admit that this was much easier for me to do after I gave up my Jaguar for a Lincoln Navigator. It holds much more baseball equipment!
There is an exception to not exceeding the speed limit. When the flow of traffic in all lanes is moving exponentially faster than you are, you must increase your speed to match the flow of traffic or risk getting run over!
That brings me to pipeline flow.
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How I Realized That Selling is Just a Bunch of Crap
- October 31, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Those are strong words and probably quite surprising coming out of my mouth but I’ll explain it all. Earlier this week I was leading another Sales Leadership Intensive and during a break it came to me.
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Examples of How Salespeople Lose Credibility with Their Prospects
- October 29, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You probably thought I would write a world series article but there wasn’t much tension or anxiety in this series as the Sox dominated. So instead of an epic baseball related article, you’re going to read about trust and credibility.
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The Top 12 Factors that Cause Delayed Closings and What to Do About Them
- September 25, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Delays, delays, delays. Nearly every coaching call with a salesperson is about a delayed closing. Nearly every coaching call with a sales manager is about a salesperson with a delayed closing. Everyone wants to know what to do about the delayed closing but that’s the wrong question. Everyone should be asking these two questions instead.
Was it really delayed or were we overly optimistic about if and when this opportunity would close?
What steps can we take to prevent delayed closings? -
How the Cheesecake Factory Menu Can Make You a Better Closer
- September 13, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Have you ever visited a Cheesecake Factory? I LOVE the menu – they offer EVERYTHING. The downside is that because there are so many items to choose from, it’s difficult to decide what to order. That’s better than the options you have with my Blog.
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Elite Salespeople are 26 Times More Effective at This Competency Than Weak Salespeople
- August 14, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Elite salespeople don’t need to close and weak salespeople suck at closing. Want proof? Let’s review some data from 1831605 evaluations and assessments of salespeople conducted by Objective Management Group (OMG). You can see and play with the data here.
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Elite Salespeople are 200% Better in These 3 Sales Competencies
- July 23, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Professional athletes have one trait in common – they are all very athletic and their skills are among the top several hundred in the world in their particular sport. For example, in Major League Baseball, there are 30 teams with 25 players each, making those ball players the top 750 in the world. Dig a little deeper and in each sport there is an even smaller subset of players who are all-stars