sales management functions

  • Why So Many Sales Managers are So Bad

    • July 25, 2016
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I see bad ones everywhere I look. They are not usually bad people and they might not have been bad salespeople, but they are usually so ineffective in their role as sales managers. We will discuss some of the reasons and share an example next!

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  • Sales Managers are Sometimes Like Cashiers

    • October 1, 2014
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    At lunchtime one day, my curry-chicken salad tasted so bad that I returned it to the deli next door.  The owner asked what was wrong and when I told him, he tasted it, said it was fine, and get this – he returned the uneaten portion of my salad into the bowl in the display case.  Yuck!  And I never went back.  Until yesterday.  I was desperate and didn’t have enough time to go anywhere else, but I knew enough to stay away from the specialty salads.

    The crowds that used to line up were gone.  The staff was about half the size.  The menu, and specifically, the browning chicken salads in the display case were still there.  The owner was operating the cash register, calling names when their meals were ready, and taking their payments.  Instead of working on his business, fixing what was wrong, making much needed changes and urging customers back into his deli, he was handling the money – the one thing that any unskilled worker could do.

    He reminded me of so many sales managers I have met during the past 30 years.

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  • Impact of Sales Process Versus Sales Coaching

    • May 14, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    While most sales leaders admit that they must be more effective at coaching, many who said they have some kind of sales process in place didn’t come to the same conclusion.  So, why is it so obvious to sales leaders that they need to improve their coaching, but so elusive that they need to improve their sales process?  

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  • Top 5 Reasons Why Salespeople Don’t Qualify Effectively

    • April 17, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Last week, I posted this article in reference to an Inc. Magazine article that was way off base about Consultative Selling.  It led to a significant number of comments with one of them being this question:

    “Dave, in your opinion, with all the training that is available and has been delivered to sales people over the years, how come sales people still fail at executing an effective approach to qualifying a prospect. Forget what we want to call the approach. Just basic fundamentals like asking questions. This is known throughout the selling universe but sales people still suck at this. How come?”

    Great question.  Here are my top 6 reasons why:

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  • Harvard Business Review Blog Off Target on Sales Greatness

    • March 5, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This recent article in the Harvard Business Review Blog was as far off target as any I have ever debunked.  Steve Martin lists 7 characteristics that he says differentiate great sales forces from good ones.  His seven are:

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  • Are Salespeople Born or Made? The Real Story

    • October 11, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Several readers sent me the link to this article that discusses whether salespeople are born or made.  Prior to that article, many others have attempted to answer the same question in the past few years.  The common theme to each attempt is reliance on personality traits and, in Martin’s case, Language Specialization, Modeling of Experiences, Political Acumen and Greed. Good grief Charlie Brown!

    Before we look at the science – not surveys and personalities – let me explain – me.  I was both born and made to sell.

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  • How Many Salespeople Should Report to a Sales Manager?

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

    How many salespeople should report to a sales manager?

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  • Who Cares More – Sales or Marketing?

    • February 9, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    It all depends on the parameters.  I’ll list a dozen or so items that both sales and marketing should care about and provide my opinion about who cares more.  Then you can tell me how wrong I am.

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  • Salespeople Become More Effective Part 2

    • September 10, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Yesterday’s article discussed the possibility for salespeople to develop weaknesses AFTER being assessed and during the period of comprehensive sales training, coaching and development.  Today, we’ll discuss some of the areas where you should see fairly early improvement, as well as the areas where you need to see it but may not.

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  • Salespeople Become More Effective But Can They Become Worse?

    • September 9, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Objective Management Group (OMG) provides Progress Evaluations to determine how much improvement has taken place during the period of time since an individual or a team was originally assessed.  In most cases, especially when effective training and coaching has taken place, significant to dramatic improvement occurs.  Occasionally though, a salesperson will appear to be worse – weaker – than the first time.  How could this be?

    I’ll explain some of the scenarios where this should not be alarming, as well as some where it should.

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