Sales Coaching
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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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Is Moving From Vendor Up the Ladder Scary to Sales Executives?
- June 20, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This is actually the third article on this subject. Last week I posted this article which contains a link to the original article.
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Top 5 Reasons Why Salespeople Don’t Make Quota
- June 8, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I received the IDC Sales Advisor Newsletter in my email today and while it was about the importance of cross-selling, they said it is important because 50% of reps aren’t making quota.
Forget cross-selling! If 50% of your reps aren’t making quota you have bigger problems than whether or not they are cross-selling!
There are only five possible reasons why reps are not making quota:
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Are Your Salespeople Jerks or Just Different From You?
- June 1, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Last week I conducted a 3-day Sales Leadership Intensive for a very small group. Working with a small group has advantages because everyone receives more individual attention, we can go at their pace, and spend as much time as we need to on their issues. Working with a small group also has disadvantages because their diverse learning styles tend to stand-out and can be a distraction.
For example, in last week’s group, I had:
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How to Compensate Sales Hunters, Farmers and Account Managers
- May 27, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Today I received an email from a long time reader with this interesting question:
“We’ve heard a good hunter won’t farm and a good farmer (account manager) won’t hunt. If this is true how do we tackle the model of compensating hunters who bring in new customers who then turn it over to an account manager to grow the business? Is it possible to expect someone who can hunt and then manage a book of business or does that create a conflicting sales profile?”
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10 Steps to More Sales Opportunities
- May 23, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Last week, no fewer than 8 salespeople sent emails to me explaining that they committed to the 8 attempts rule and, as a result, had scheduled meetings with prospects they had been chasing for a long time. The key is not to only make 8 attempts, but make 8 attempts Halloween style – haunt them – 8 attempts in 8 days.
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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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Salespeople Failing to Get Prospects to the Phone
- April 28, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This is a great example of why so many salespeople waste so much time chasing down their prospects and why prospects do such a fantastic job of avoiding these calls and emails.