questioning skills

  • Data: The Top 10% of All Salespeople are 4200% Better at This

    • September 7, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    My wife and I entered the small jewelry shop and were greeted – not with a warm welcome – but with a matter of fact “my name is…and I’m the owner…and I created everything in the store” which was followed by fifteen minutes of non-stop presentation of everything she created.  

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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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  • The Key to Powerful Sales Conversations

    • August 28, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Earlier this week, I wrote this article about the importance of using specific words and phrases at specific times. 

    That article discussed some of the milestones in the sales process where just the right word or phrase can make such a huge (make or break) difference in the direction that the sales call takes.  In the article, I mentioned “at just the right time”, but I didn’t elaborate.  I’ll correct that omission with the following examples.

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  • Drivers and Your Salespeople Need to be Patient

    • November 30, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In order to create urgency and accelerate the sales process, your salespeople actually must slow down their meetings.  Instead though, in much the same way that I rush to get to my next meeting, they rush to the presentation or demo.  To make matters worse, your prospects want your salespeople to present and conduct demos.  They want prices and proposals and your salespeople are too willing to oblige. 

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  • Sales Traction – The Key to Measuring the #1 Sales Competency

    • November 16, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    One of the KPI’s I introduced in my Moneyball article two months ago was Traction, the ratio of suspects that become prospects. Using the Baseline Selling process, that is also the ratio of opportunities that move from 1st base to 2nd base. Translating that one more time, it is the number of 1st meetings that move to “we have a real opportunity here”.

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  • Get Your Veteran Salespeople to Take Baby Steps

    • May 12, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You cannot script these questions.  Your salespeople must be able to identify the questioning opportunities in real time while their prospects are responding to the question currently in play.  This requires VERY focused listening, note taking, and patience.  And the biggest challenge?  Your salespeople must avoid the temptation to jump to a different question topic, jump to presentation, or jump in with a solution!

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  • The Myth of Sales Habits and Competencies

    • February 23, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    If they realized that they had gotten out of the habit of doing anything, then did they really ever have a habit?  When something is a habit, one always does it and nothing would prevent it from getting done.  So it is far more likely that there was never, ever anything even close to resembling a habit.

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