Relationship Selling

  • Revealing Study of Salespeople Makes News at HBR

    • October 5, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This article has my first reaction to the Challenger Sale after news of the book first appeared in HBR back in 2011.

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  • Sales Effectiveness – IDC and CEB Draw Conflicting Conclusions

    • February 24, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The latest IDC Study says that of the customers who changed vendors last year, 65% did so because they either had a poor relationship with their vendor or a better relationship with the new vendor.  One of their conclusions is that companies need to do a better job teaching their salespeople how to develop relationship building skills, especially in the C-Level.

    The latest Corporate Executive Board study starts out with this headline:  “Most companies are betting that reps who focus on building stronger customer relationships will rebuild sales. They’re wrong—here’s why.”

    So why are these two studies coming to two different conclusions?

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