Consultative Selling

  • 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?

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  • Finally!  Science Reveals the Actual Impact of Sales Coaching

    • September 7, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You must have heard the joke that 73.6% of statistics are made up!

    I have read and even reported that sales leaders who coach their salespeople see a boost in revenue of around 27%.  It sounds like a realistic number but I have not seen any science to back it up.  Until now.  Check this out!

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  • Do the Best Sales Managers Have the Best Salespeople?

    • August 27, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We all see the effects that strong leaders have when they surround themselves with either strong, mediocre or weak people.  What happens when strong leaders inherit a mixed team?  What happens when they hire a mixed team?  What happens when we ask the same questions about weak leaders?

    I dug into a subset of data from Objective Management Group’s (OMG) evaluations of the salespeople who report to more than 15,000 sales managers to determine whether the best sales managers actually have the best salespeople.  I was surprised and disappointed by what I found.  Check this out!

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  • New Data Shows That Elite Salespeople are 700% Less Likely to Do This

    • August 20, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    How effective are salespeople when it comes to creating urgency?  I’m not talking about salespeople who create urgency by telling their prospects that if they don’t order today the price will go up or it won’t be available.  I’m talking about salespeople who create urgency by asking questions to uncover problems, the consequences and cost of which, create urgency.

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  • Discovered – Data Reveals the Second Biggest Obstacle to Closing More Sales

    • May 7, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Whichever way you turn, wherever you look, and whatever you listen to there is data. Polls, surveys, metrics, analytics, analyses, white papers, graphs, charts, infographics, tables, spreadsheets and more. There is data everywhere. 5 of my last 10 articles were based on data and I know that my regular readers love the articles that are based on data so I am writing about data again today.

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  • Discovered – Data Reveals the Biggest Obstacle to Closing More Sales

    • April 30, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Humans have been waiting for thousands of years to discover the secrets of life.  Why are we here?  Why do bad things happen?  What happens after we die?  Is Heaven real?  What is God’s plan for us?

    While many experts have attempted to answer all of these questions, most of us lack proof. There’s no data.  If we wake up tomorrow morning and suddenly there are not only answers to these questions, but science-based proof, that would be a game-changer for us.

    Likewise, every day most companies try to determine why their salespeople don’t close more business, why so many opportunities die on the vine, and what they need to do differently to change their results.  They try everything!  Most leaders think it’s an issue of closing skills.  It’s not.  Others think it’s about prospecting.  While that has an impact on the size and quality of the pipeline, it has little to do with results.  But I have discovered the cause, will show you the data, and discuss how to fix it.

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  • Improper Use of BANT Will Cause You to Kill Opportunities

    • April 26, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I received an email asking me to check out an article on the Salesforce.com blog that features an infographic they hoped I would promote.

    The article focuses on the middle of the funnel and the handoff between marketing and sales.  In doing so, they discuss MQL’s (Marketing Qualified Leads) and SQL’s (Sales Qualified Leads).  While I don’t have an issue with the infographic, I have huge issues with the content of the article and if you follow the advice in this article, you’ll have far fewer MQL’s that your salespeople can turn into SQL’s.

    Here’s why.

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  • 10 Ways to Determine if Your Sales Prospect was Engaged

    • March 8, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    A sales manager asking, “So, how did your meeting go?”

    The salesperson always replies, “It went great.”  It’s the same response a retail clerk gets when they ask shoppers if they need any help.  “Just looking.”  “It went great.”  It’s the default answer.

    The sales manager says, “Good, good.”

    I wish that sales managers wouldn’t ask how meetings and calls went.  They should say,

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  • Is the Sales Force Getting Dressed Up or are Real Changes Taking Place?

    • February 7, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Yesterday I received an email from Richardson Training, letting me know that they have completed their 2018 Selling Challenges Study.  The data in the report, which you can download here, hasn’t changed a great deal since 2017, but the report’s new look is awesome.  I reported on last year’s report in detail here, but my conclusion for 2018 is the exact same conclusion I came to in 2017.

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  • Predictions for 2018 – The Sales Triad Will Provide Record Sales Growth

    • January 29, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    With and additional competition, I can tell you this.  If you aren’t the low price leader, the best-known company, or the safest decision that a buyer can make, you will have to do some real SELLING to get that business.  And not just selling, but thoughtfully, effectively, efficiently, and articulately selling value.  What?  You already sell value?  Really?  I’ll bet you don’t. 

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