sales management
-
Popularity Polls are Just Like Sales Management Tracking Metrics!
- January 8, 2019
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Have you ever watched a news program where they presented poll results, like the number of people in favor of legalizing marijuana? The poll shows popular opinion, but not the facts, logic, or impact on arrests, the economy, traffic accidents, unemployment, addiction, death rates, etc. There is a huge difference between people’s often uninformed opinions, versus what the facts might suggest. That’s the problem with the statistics I’m going to share in this article. The stats show what sales managers are doing but those managers are largely uninformed. They don’t know what’s good for them, haven’t been asked or held accountable to doing it differently, and aren’t in any way shape or form following best practices. John Pattison, Objective Management Group’s COO, mined some data on salespeople who report to sales managers. I was appalled by what I saw. Check this out!
-
5 Sales Hiring Mistakes and Fake Resume Claims
- October 10, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One of the regional sales managers asked, “What are the 5 Biggest Mistakes that Sales Managers Make When Recruiting Salespeople?”
While that question is quite easy to answer, most companies, including their recruiters, HR professionals, sales leaders and executives are guilty of some or all of the following 5 mistakes:
-
Grammar – Why Commas Provide Sales Success Where Periods Fail
- July 19, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The problem is one of grammar. All of the articles you read, videos you watch and audios you listen to suggest that there is a key to sales success. Period. But if you change the period to a comma, you’ll quickly see that all of these things are crucial to success in sales.
-
Successful Movie Franchises and the 10 Keys to Impactful Sales Coaching
- April 3, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Today’s coaching session must be so good that the salesperson does not want it to end. Not only that, but the salesperson can’t wait to come back for more coaching. Now, be honest with yourself for a moment. Assuming that you regularly and consistently coach all of your salespeople, is your coaching so powerful that your salespeople can’t wait for another session with you?
-
Another Powerful Reason Why Salespeople Struggle to Become Great Sales Managers
- February 2, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We talk a lot about the mistake so many companies make when they take their best salespeople and make them sales managers. While it’s not always a mistake, the most commonly discussed reasons include:
-
7 Reasons Why Salespeople Underperform and How Sales Leaders Can Coach Them Up
- January 25, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
These are smart, talented, experienced sales leaders, who work for companies with excellent reputations, great products and wonderful customers. So why does nearly every sales leader struggle with the problem of under performing salespeople? The biggest problem is that there isn’t one reason – there are many – and I’ll share them with you now.
-
The 4 Top Sales Leadership Articles to Boost Sales Today
- August 5, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There have been at least 2 lists published of the sales books you should read on the beach this summer so we are not going there! But summer is for sun and fun and some of the best things in life happen during the summer. As a result, we miss some of the best work-related things because we aren’t working as many hours, may be in catch-up mode and not have the time to get to everything we would get to during cooler months. With that in mind, some of the best articles you haven’t read were published this summer!
I’m going to share four of them right here, tell you why the article will help today, and you can decide whether or not to read it.
-
What Sales Managers Do That Make Them So Ineffective
- July 26, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Earlier this week I wrote an article on why so many sales managers are so bad. In today’s article, I’ll share what makes them so ineffective. The easiest way to explain this is to start with a baseball analogy.
-
A CEO’s Guide to the Differences in Sales Leadership Roles
- June 15, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I was reviewing a sales leadership evaluation with my client, a CEO, who was a bit confused over how this was different from a sales management evaluation. He wondered, “Aren’t sales managers and sales leaders the same?”
He has a sales force that was typical of a mid-size business with a Sales VP (the sales leader), 2 sales managers, and about 15 salespeople between them. In my experience, there is a boatload of confusion over the differences between Sales Managers, Sales Directors, Sales VP’s, Regional Sales Managers, National Sales Managers, Senior Sales VP’s, Worldwide Sales VP’s, Sales Operations VP’s, Sales Enablement VP’s and Chief Revenue Officers.
Let’s attempt to explain some of the important differences between Sales Managers and the other Sales Leadership roles.
-
Sales Performance – Stop Worrying About the Words You Say
- January 25, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When coaching, most sales managers change the words their salespeople use. “That’s not how I would say it – try this instead!” While there are a couple of key moments in the sales process where the words do actually matter, for 98% of the sales process, it’s about listening and asking appropriate questions, following the process, achieving key milestones, following the company’s general strategy and using appropriate sales tactics. It’s almost never about the actual words. For example, last week I coached a salesperson who was using all of the words the other salespeople on the team were instructed to use – but with vastly different results. I think you’ll find the coaching interesting.