Sales Accountability

  • Derek Jeter Shows Salespeople How to Convert Leads to Opportunities

    • May 13, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Derek Jeter, the leader and all-star shortstop for the New York Yankees, goes all out running hard to first base on every ball he puts into play.  As a result, it’s easy for management to expect the same kind of hustle and effort from everyone on the team.  After all, if the star does it, then everyone should do it. Other teams?  Not so much.  David Ortiz of the Boston  Red Sox never runs hard on a ground ball so what does management say to a younger player who also fails to run hard?

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  • Football’s Pitch Count and its Connection to Sales Management

    • April 22, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Herm Edwards, currently of ESPN and formerly the Head Coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, was interviewed on WEEI, Boston’s Sports Talk Radio station today. He said a couple of things that were quite compelling:

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  • When the Sales Goals Change but the Behavior and Results Don’t

    • April 19, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Suppose that you need your salespeople to find significantly more new business.  Perhaps you’ve wanted this for a while but it’s only recently that you communicated this to your salespeople.  You’ve changed the goal but after a month your salespeople’s behavior and results haven’t changed at all. 

    Let’s compare this to weight loss. 

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  • Can We Really Get Salespeople to Change?

    • March 16, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    People change when they are ready to change.

    For example, I needed to lose weight and become healthier for several years.  I had been reading the literature on healthy eating for months.  I knew that this was important but until the day came when I was ready to commit to being healthy and eating healthy, nothing would change.

    By default, salespeople are the same way. 

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  • Sales Leadership – a Balancing Act to Achieve Compliance and Quotas

    • March 11, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We covered many areas of Sales Leadership that fall under the direction of someone in Phil’s role including cultural issues, competition among sales managers, and getting an entire sales force to change.  I chose to discuss the balance sales leaders must have between sharing, mandating and asking.  Sounds simple.

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  • Sales 2.0 Competencies, Changes and Myths

    • December 7, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    There has been much talk about Sales 2.0 yet most sales experts can’t agree on exactly what it is.  But before we can even discuss Sales 2.0, I must confess that most companies have yet to get on board with good old Sales 1.x!  Most companies are still selling without formalized sales processes, effective strategies and effective tactics.  Most companies still have their salespeople show up, present, demo, quote and wait for the business. 

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  • Accountability – 2nd of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions

    • November 12, 2009
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This is the 2nd in the series of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions.

    #1 – ACCOUNTABILITY

    In its simplest form, sales accountability consists of the following:

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  • How to Get the Entire Sales Force to Change – Now

    • July 27, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Now lets discuss your company and the sales organization.  What have you been afraid to change?

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  • How to Hold the Sales Team Accountable Under New Rules of Sales Engagement

    • June 17, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    If you read yesterday’s post, there was a comment from Teicko who asked how you can hold the sales team accountable under these new rules of sales engagement where you must work three times harder, three times longer, be three times more effective and have three times more opportunities in the pipeline to get the same results as you used to.

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  • Sales VP’s and Marketing VP’s – Combine Them or Not?

    • March 11, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Pete Caputa pointed me to an article on the Revenue Journal Blog about why you should combine the VP of Marketing and VP of Sales Roles and what the sales part of that role should be.

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