Sales Force
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Salespeople and Requests for References
- June 3, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
For the first time in months, I was recently asked for references. No problem!
But it got me thinking about who asks for references, why they ask for references and when they ask for references…and what salespeople do when they’re asked for references, and whether those references lead to closed business.
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Sales Cycles and Time – Is it Running Out?
- June 1, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We are always focused on sales cycles. Are they optimized? Are they taking too long? Can they be improved? How many calls should they take? Are we doing things that make the sales cycle take longer than necessary? For example, the sales cycle can be shortened in direct proportion to how high your salespeople call in the company.
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Hire the Best Salespeople on the Planet
- May 28, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Several months ago Objective Management Group began to identify hirable candidates that are ideal – they will ramp-up more quickly than a normal hirable candidate. A normal candidate should ramp up according to this formula I devised many years ago:
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Salespeople Should be More Like Children
- May 28, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Wouldn’t it be nice if all of your salespeople simply made it their number one priority to find the opportunities required to keep their pipeline stuffed with quality opportunities?
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More than Half of All Sales Managers Should Consider….
- May 19, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
After posting this article two weeks ago, showing the percentage of salespeople who are not trainable, who shouldn’t be in sales, and who are elite, it was inevitable that I would be asked to post similar statistics for sales managers.
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What Should You Tell Your Salespeople in this Economy?
- May 6, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
From time to time I have written about what you must do with your salespeople in this economy. Would you like to hear what that actually sounds like?
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Top 14 Requirements to Perform a Sales Force Makeover
- April 16, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
For kicks, let’s take a look at this week’s Baseline Selling mail bag.
One reader emailed that he just inherited a radio station in Honduras, has never sold before, and he and his salespeople aren’t able to book appointments.
Another reader is the Sales Director for several well-known magazines and said that her top producing team is down 50% from last year.
Yet another reader wrote and wanted to know how to chop her 2-3 year sales cycle down to 2-3 months.
And one President fired all of his salespeople, is back on the road selling and wonders what he can do to thrive.
What do all four of these scenarios have in common?
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Top 6 Tests to Determine if Your Sales Process Supports Sales Competencies
- April 6, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Do your salespeople sound like these folks working the deli counter? Three of the four had some kind of process, but are the processes effective?
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Good News About the Economy Positively Impacts the Sales Force
- March 31, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I often get to see things six to twelve months before they happen. When manufacturing placed projects and orders on hold as they did last October, it’s easy to predict that it will trickle down and impact everyone else over the next six months.
The word from clients so far this week is that manufacturers are taking projects off of hold and releasing money – even in the automotive industry! That too will trickle down and impact everyone else over the next six months.
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The Sales Force with Over Achievers That Don’t
- March 26, 2009
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I heard about a CEO who told one of my colleagues that all of his salespeople over achieve. In the same phone conversation he mentioned that sales are down 20%. Can you imagine where sales would be if his salespeople under achieved?