sales development

  • Media is to Fuel as the Recession is to Fire – How Does it Impact the Sales Force?

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

    The media – they didn’t cause the banking crisis but they have surely capitalized on it, dramatized it, chronically reported every devastating development and turned a serious but contained fire into a wildfire.

    I don’t want to hear how many jobs have been lost.  Who does that help? 

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  • Sales Assessments vs Personality Assessments Episode III – The PHD’s Strike Back

    • February 3, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Are PHD’s more sensitive to criticism than the rest of us?

    I heard from a few over the past week and they weren’t happy with what I wrote here and here.  I rocked their world and they couldn’t cope.

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  • How to Turn Around Flat or Declining Sales Revenue

    • February 2, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I am in the process of reading a New York Times bestseller called 90 Minutes in Heaven.  The first chapter, where Don Piper describes his 90 minutes in heaven, is by far the best part of the book.  Page after page of the rest of the book (so far), details his horrible ordeal, the accident, his years of pain and recovery and his depression.  This section of the book is not that enjoyable.  But today, I came to a passage of about 3 pages that made the drudgery worthwhile.

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  • Change Ready Companies Experience Faster Success in Sales Development

    • January 19, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I was thinking about the difference between the clients that achieve rapid progress, with very measurable change, in the first six months of sales development versus those that show more typical progress where change has begun to take place but it might not be measurable yet.

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  • Ultimatums for the Salesforce – Do They Work?

    • November 19, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Suppose you deliver an ultimatum to a salesperson…

    Suppose you deliver it to the entire sales force…

    How would you expect them to react?

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  • 10 Types of Sales Advisers and How to Choose the One That’s Best For You

    • October 9, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I’ll bet you know plenty about agreements, contracts, and legal compliance in your industry. You probably know enough about accounting, taxes and audits to get by too.  And I bet you know your way around insurance, investments and real estate.

    Despite all of that knowledge, I’m certain you have a great corporate attorney, corporate accountant, insurance advisers for commercial, benefits and personal lines, and a Realtor.  Some of these people may even sit on your board.

    Do you have a sales expert on your board? On retainer? Working with your sales team?  Your sales management team? On your sales infrastructure? On compensation and incentives?

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