role play
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The Problem with Self-Directed Sales Training and its Role in Developing Salespeople
- June 8, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, Andy Miller and I delivered onboarding training to a group of new partners at Objective Management Group (OMG). Andy reached the slide that said “Lunch” at the end of the day, and I spent most of the morning displaying only slide #2 which could have been covered in 10 minutes. The spontaneous, robust discussion that broke out was not planned, but most importantly, it was not discouraged. To the contrary, it was strongly encouraged. The group learned more from that spontaneous two-hour discussion than they ever would have learned from the sterile slides. Are slides bad?
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How Pitchers Fielding Practice is Exactly the Same as Salespeople Role-Playing
- February 26, 2021
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
My Twitter feed had the funniest 1-minute baseball video I have ever seen. It was pitcher fielding practice (PFP) and the coach was miked up. It illustrated just how bad most professional major league pitchers are at fielding their position and how a coach can keep it light – even make it funny – when the pitchers are struggling so badly.
When professional salespeople are asked to role-play the salesperson’s part of a sales conversation they sound eve
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10 Reasons Why Parents of Toddlers Make Better Sales Coaches Than Sales Managers
- May 24, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Toddlers watch Sesame Street, play with blocks, take baby steps, constantly ask ‘why’, eat food that has been cut into tiny bite size pieces, love to start with dessert, and love to have fun. Their parents make sure they are comfortable, help them overcome their fears, work to prevent resistance and emotional meltdowns, and teach them as they go about their business.
What does any of this have to do with sales and sales leadership? Read a bit more and I’ll explain.
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Improve Your Win Rate and Shorten Your Sales Cycle by Doing This
- April 11, 2018
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
In September I wrote this article on the difference between asking good, tough and great questions.
I included examples all three types of question in the article.
There is also a proper sequence: Good question. Tough Question. Great question.
You will get immediate feedback on how effective your questions are: Your prospects will say, “Good question” when you ask one. They will say, “Great question” when you ask one. And they will stop and struggle before answering one of your tough questions.
Many salespeople make the mistake of preparing questions in advance. Salespeople who do that might be able to stumble onto one good question. But great questions and tough questions must be spontaneous and in response to something your prospect already said when they answered prior questions.
I’ll share a role-play from a training program that wonderfully demonstrates what I’m talking about as well as the kind of listening skills required in order to ask good, tough and great questions.
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Crucial Selling Take Aways from the 2017 Home Run Derby Lead to Sales Greatness
- July 12, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Did you watch the Home Run Derby on Monday night? I’ve never seen anything like it. You could see thunder and lightening through the glass wall in left field as thunderstorms raged while all the home runs were being launched. Wow, what a show! Of course, my mind always looks for a correlation to selling and there are some good ones here.