Dave Kurlan
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Beach Ball of Death Predicts Lack of Sales Growth
- March 11, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
And then there is the beach ball I want to share today – the sales beach ball of impending doom. You might be wondering how there could even be a sales beach ball, never mind one that spells impending doom; but, there is.
Last week I saw it for the first time on a slide from a deck that Objective Management Group (OMG) prepares when we evaluate a sales force. This particular slide answered the question, “Why Aren’t We Generating More New Business?”
Here’s the slide:
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Epic Debate on the Science of OMG’s Sales Assessment
- March 9, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
In my opinion, that very conversation is now the ultimate, defining conversation comparing the science behind OMG’s award-winning sales assessments, to gut instinct, faith, intuition and experience. The conversation explored whether or not the science was accurate, valid, predictive, consistent, and reliable. The contrarions weighed in, the know-it-alls spoke up, and eventually, the supporters arrived in droves. If you read only one article/discussion on sales selection tools in your lifetime, this must be the one. Read and Join the discussion here, but I warn you, it contains a LOT of very compelling and highly-charged reading.
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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:
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Case History – Another Pitiful Sales Cold Call Exposed
- March 2, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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Verne Harnish’s Rant and 3 Sales Leadership Issues
- February 25, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The one newsletter that I never fail to read each week, rain, 7 feet of snow, sub-zero temperatures, or shine, is Verne Harnish’s Weekly Insights (subscribe here). If you are not familiar with Verne (The Growth Guy), he wrote Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and his latest book, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make it and the Rest Don’t, is another must-read best seller.
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Fix Your Mediocre Pipeline for Accurate Sales Forecasts
- January 26, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Most salespeople don’t pay too much attention to this. Even though we perform a pipeline analysis and restage the pipeline with every individual sales evaluation and comprehensive sales force evaluation we conduct, we typically discuss this exclusively at the executive level.
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Top 5 Keys to Select and Hire Great Salespeople in 2015
- December 8, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I’m always amused when an email comes through with a message that says something like, “Maybe we should target candidates that aren’t recommended” or “Why do so many candidates lack Commitment?” or “Your assessments are only recommending 1 out of every 5 candidates!” or “The questions don’t fit the role!” or “Thanks for saving us so much time – we would have hired some of these losers last year!”
I can usually determine, just from the comment of the email, exactly who, by title, must have sent it to us. Here are some funny examples:
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Selling Value – Everything You Always Wanted to Know
- December 4, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
So if not those topics, then what should we all be writing about – all the time – that would be a real difference maker for salespeople?
I believe that it’s the importance of and ability to sell value. Why, you ask?
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Key Sales Strategies for December
- December 1, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
So let’s discuss December sales strategies. What can you do to assure that December (a short month with only 17 business days) as well as the 4th quarter and the year finish – all have a strong finish?
You won’t like my answer at all, but it’s the truth.
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You’re Afraid to Sell Because You Think There is Hope
- November 24, 2014
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
It may have been in episode 4 or 5, in season 1. It was definitely in the HBO series Band of Brothers. Thanks Chris, for recommending it. I can’t believe I’m a decade late watching this!