sales core competencies

  • The Nutcracker and 3 Sales Competencies That Cause Low Win Rates

    • December 6, 2024
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Christmas nutcracker

    During a first sales call, suppose your salespeople hear one prospect say, “This has been a very interesting and productive conversation and we might have some interest in this.”  And imagine another prospect at the same meeting says, “We’ll get back to you next month and let you know what kind of progress we’ve made.”  And still a third might say, “In the meantime, please send us a proposal with references and timeline.”

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  • New Competency Has 10 Attributes for Post 2024 Sales Success

    • November 18, 2024
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Uncategorized, Understanding the Sales Force
    honesty in sales

    The problem is not that prospects and customers expect you to lie, the problem is that they wonder if you are being truthful, especially when it sounds too good to be true or they believe you are telling them what they want to hear.

    Thank God that Larry Levine wrote and published Selling in a Post Trust World earlier this year!  That’s a book that will help you adapt to these changing times.  Another book that will have you selling more and selling with integrity is my timeless book, Baseline Selling-How to Become a Sales Superstar.

    In addition to the 21 Sales Core Competencies that are current best practices, I officially recommend the following ten, additional, post 2024 selling attributes:

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  • How I Learned I am a Sales Consulting Imposter

    • November 11, 2024
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    arrogant candidate

    I didn’t like this candidate.  He was way too cocky and aggressive, he wasn’t prepared, and he didn’t like all of my questions.  I ended the call after about a minute and a half because I already knew he wasn’t going to proceed in the process.  I told him that if he didn’t hear back from me by the end of business on the following day, then he didn’t make it to the next round (an interview with me).

    Considering the findings on his OMG assessment, imagine what could happen if he felt rejected from the way I ended the call, and when he didn’t get the follow up call the next day. Consider how his lack of patience, along with not being a relationship builder and not needing to be liked, could manifest.

    Did you imagine what could happen?  

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  • 7-Steps to Achieve Sales Team Excellence

    • October 9, 2024
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    sales excellence

    Any company and/or executive can initiate a sales transformation, but there is one dealbreaker that can cause a sales transformation initiative to fail. But you have to see it through.  You must be visible. You must lead by example.  You must be engaged.  You must show how important this is.  You must show your commitment.

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  • Why Top and Bottom Salespeople Have the Same Scores

    • November 21, 2023
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    trimmer adapter

    A question was brought to my attention about Objective Management Group (OMG) assessments.  For context, OMG has assessed more than 2.4 million salespeople, their accuracy is legendary and they’ve earned their stripes for predictive validity as well.  I was shown two sales candidate evaluations that at first glance had important findings that looked the same.  Both individuals lacked Desire for Success in Sales and Commitment to Achieve Sales Success.  The problem is that individual number one is their top salesperson and individual number two is their worst salesperson.  The question I was asked was, “How can that be!”

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  • Movie Contrasts the Best and Worst Salespeople

    • November 14, 2023
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    best and worst salespeople

    We watched GameStop: Rise of the Players and despite it being a documentary, found it to be quite entertaining. It was David versus Goliath.  It was Amateur versus Professional.  It was about an improbable outcome accomplished by people who were unlikely to succeed and even more unlikely to win the big payoff. 

    While I thought it had a lot in common with selling, the twelve central figures:

    Were not professional investors although they did invest in GameStop.
    Were not skilled traders although they did conduct some research.
    Did not trade as a full-time job or hobby.
    Were making decisions based on hunches, not history or science.
    Found in each other kindred souls with a shared passion for GameStop.

    The five statements above suggest that skills, attributes, competencies and capabilities were NOT part of their success so what could this possibly have in common with selling?

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  • What Companies Don’t Know About Sales

    • November 10, 2023
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    companies don't know what they don't know

    We heard that the “Sound of Freedom” was a good movie but waited until we could stream it at home.  We loved the movie, but we were moved even more by the closing messages displayed on the screen.  The statistics are astounding, where as a result of human trafficking, mostly at the southern border, more children are enslaved today than when slavery was legal!  We didn’t know what we didn’t know.

    “Companies don’t know what they don’t know about sales” is true in most companies and sales organizations.

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  • Coconut Flakes Help to Improve Sales Effectiveness

    • November 6, 2023
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    authentic salespeople

    My wife took me to a Vegan restaurant for lunch and I ordered a sandwich that consisted of coconut, lettuce and tomato on multi-grain bread.  I not only didn’t hate it, I liked it.  I showed my wife that it had bacon in it and she swore it didn’t.  She suggested I ask the owner so I asked him about the bacon and he explained that he prepared the coconut flakes to have the look, taste and texture of bacon.  Fake bacon.

    There are fake salespeople too. 

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  • Sitcoms, Sales Process, Sales Assessments and Sales Competencies

    • January 11, 2023
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Hubspot, an inbound marketing company published a list of 18 Sales Core Competencies which include non-sales competencies like customer service and data analysis.  Job site Indeed published a list of 18 Sales Core Competencies which include non-sales competencies like leadership and change management.  I’m not suggesting that these capabilities aren’t important, but in no way, shape or form should they be considered core sales competencies.  Why would people turn to any of these lists of opinions when there is a widely accepted, definitive list of 21 Sales Core Competencies backed by science and data on more than 2.3 million salespeople? 

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