Sales Coaching

  • What it Takes to Make Your Sales Pipeline Accurate & Predictive

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

    Yesterday, while speaking in DC, I asked my usual questions, but the response to one of the questions left me scratching my head.  It wasn’t a new question; as a matter of fact, I’ve been asking it for years.  And, as you can see below, I’ve been writing about the pipeline in various ways for years:

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  • Top 6 Keys to Closing Big, Difficult to Close Sales

    • August 3, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    If I think back on most of the big deals I have closed, helped others to close, or trained and coached others to close, there are several common themes we can discuss that you can incorporate into your sales and sales management world.  For the purpose of this article, we will assume that the opportunities are actually closable, that your salespeople teed these deals up in an appropriate way, and that they didn’t have happy ears:  

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  • 25 or 6 to 4 and your Sales Force

    • August 1, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    That 14-year swing is huge.  You can’t afford to have your salespeople behaving like facilitators, order takers, account managers and amateurs – ever.  You need them to be proactive – selling consultatively, everywhere, and always.

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  • Tenure – Could it Possibly Be a Good Thing for your Sales Force?

    • July 25, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    It’s good when people feel positive about their situation, allowing them to perform their most brilliant work.  It’s bad when their sense of permanence causes them to do as little as possible.  It’s good when it makes the company appear stable to those prospective companies who would consider doing business with you.  It’s bad when their sense of entitlement causes them to believe that the work that must be done is now beneath them.  And so goes the tenure argument.

    What about tenure with salespeople?

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  • Differentiating Yourself on Sales Calls

    • July 20, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Your prospects would have seen five products that looked similar, were competitively priced, and that claimed nearly identical features and benefits.  So how would each of those product salespeople differentiate themselves and their offerings?

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  • How to Prevent Crashing and Burning in a Sales Presentation

    • July 19, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    So the increasingly difficult challenge for salespeople, even if they recognize it (and most don’t), is this: When they are invited in to present capabilities, they must compare it to driving into a dead-end alley.  They must shift gears into reverse because if they push forward they will crash, burn, blow-up and die.  

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  • Top 5 Sales Presentation Tips

    • July 18, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The one area where salespeople appear to be most comfortable and confident is when they are presenting. That is when they feel like they are in control and, unlike listening and asking questions, it is when they believe they can do a great job. The problem is that most salespeople do not understand how to present in the most effective ways. Here are some examples of what they do wrong and some easy to learn adjustments:

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  • Sales Confidence – How to Ask Any Tough Question Anytime

    • July 13, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I’ll share one of my secrets for asking any tough question, push back with confidence any time, challenge the CEO of any company, or even ask why your prospect wouldn’t just make the easy decision and go with either the market leading competitor or incumbent.  Ready?  Simply keep your pipeline stuffed – busting at the seams – no place to put the next opportunity.  When you have enough opportunities in the pipeline you can say, ask or do anything – no worries.  And that’s what it takes to differentiate yourself from everyone else.  But when today’s opportunity is THE opportunity you’ll be afraid to say “boo” without worrying that you’ll mess up and lose the opportunity.

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  • If You Structure Your Sales Force Like the Big Companies…

    • July 13, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Yesterday I read a White Paper about structuring sales forces and it got my blood boiling.  It wasn’t that it was a study about sales forces, and it wasn’t that it was a study using large companies.  I got upset because of the conclusion – that you should structure your sales force like the big companies.  

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  • Top 8 Reasons Your Biggest Sale May Not be Your Best Sale

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

    Sometimes your biggest sale isn’t your best sale.  When biggest isn’t best, sometimes it is because:

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