Consultative Selling
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A Key Competency That Differentiates Top Sales Performers From Posers
- July 21, 2021
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The bottom 50% of all salespeople are posers too. In an article last week we discussed how data can help you hire the ideal salespeople.
In that article I shared a top/bottom analysis where the top performers were 100% more effective reaching decision makers than the bottoms. Below I’ve shared another top/bottom analysis with different findings.
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Is Your Sales Process Backwards, Upside Down or Stupid?
- July 7, 2021
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When we look at the sales processes that most companies have in place, there are usually elements of upside down, backwards and stupid.
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New Movie Has 3 Great Lessons for Salespeople and Sales Managers
- January 18, 2021
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Among all the product shortages we have experienced in the past ten months, there has been no shortage of crappy movies. It’s almost like the movie studios decided to release all the movies filmed in the past several years that weren’t ready for prime time and hope that people would stream them at home during the pandemic because we had watched everything else.
One exception to the crappiness of 2020 movies is The Trial of the Chicago 7. This article is not a review of the movie but it was a terrific film and worth the time to watch it. As good as this movie is, it comes with a bonus because it also provides three exceptional lessons for salespeople and sales managers. Let’s take a look!
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My Dog Has Better Listening Skills Than Most Salespeople and I’ll Prove It
- December 10, 2020
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Prospects don’t pay a lot of attention so the less you say the better. It helps them listen and comprehend more of what you share with them when you use fewer words. But prospects aren’t the only ones who don’t listen. Salespeople don’t listen very well either. As a matter of fact, my dog has better listening skills than most salespeople because my dog knows what to listen for. Don’t believe me? I’ll prove it in the video below.
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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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Senate Confirmation Hearings Shows Us What Salespeople Do Wrong Every Day
- October 12, 2020
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Oh no, another post on the political climate. Don’t worry, I’m not taking sides, I’ll be right down the middle, and very critical of both sides. And stay with me for the pivot to the good stuff – my sales analysis. Here goes!
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New: The 21 Sales Core Competencies for 2020 And Beyond
- September 27, 2020
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Like Apple, OMG updates its assessments on a non-stop basis but rolls out significant updates a couple of times per year. Last week OMG introduced the latest revision to the 21 Sales Core Competencies.
There are thirty competencies in all, each with between six and twelve attributes but some are more important than others and OMG measures twenty-one of them in the following three categories:
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Most Companies Can Boost Sales From 30-100% in Just One to Two Years
- September 10, 2020
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Many companies already experienced at least 3 to 6 months of uncertainty and they can not withstand even 2 more months of that. As a result, companies are investing, streamlining, expanding, hiring and going all in to save their 2020s, and position their companies for historical growth in 2021.
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FDR and Sir Isaac Newton on Why Salespeople Fail
- August 25, 2020
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Unlike the made up fears that prevent salespeople from asking tough questions, qualifying more thoroughly, or picking up the phone and making a cold call, the fear of burning alive in a hotel fire seemed like a pretty justifiable one.
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15 Things Salespeople Must Do to Make up for a Lackluster 2nd Quarter
- August 12, 2020
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Last week we moved our son into his dorm to begin his freshman year of college. The college President’s opening remarks were virtual, so we joined the Zoom stream from our hotel room and listened in. He had some really useful things to share with the new freshmen and while his thoughts were targeted to the students, they apply quite equally to salespeople.