sales performance

  • How to Prepare for the Coming Sales Team Super Storm

    • September 22, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    My first reaction was that this must have been something from 2016 – right before the boom that lasted until the pandemic slammed the economy to the ground.  Or, from the 4th quarter of 2020, when we expected the economy to come roaring back.  But it simply can’t be something that is remotely relevant to what we are about to experience.  Here’s what we know, and how that will impact companies and their sales teams in 2022.

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  • How to Use Buckets to Improve Sales Performance and Coaching

    • February 19, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Buckets are important, especially when you’re attempting to coach up a salesperson or even improve your own sales performance.  If you don’t have the OMG evaluation at your fingertips and can’t lookup the scores in 21 Sales Core Competencies, or see which attributes need to be improved, you’ll need to think in terms of buckets.

    When salespeople are struggling, there are five primary buckets to consider:

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  • Data Shows That Your Sales Team is No Different Than Your Lawn

    • November 20, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    But why do sales teams continue to fail, year after year, regardless of industry, and in every economy?  Why don’t the numbers improve?  Why don’t more salespeople jump from C’s to B’s?  From B’s to A’s?  From D’s to C’s?  The answers – and there are plenty – are evasive.  But let’s try!

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  • The Problem With Having Crappy Sales Managers

    • November 11, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Sales Managers underperform at a mind boggling level.  Let me show you the degree to which most sales managers are unqualified.

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  • New Data Shows an Overlooked Finding Correlates to Sales Effectiveness

    • October 15, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Compatibility is not only important, it could be one of the most overlooked criteria in hiring sales candidates.  Let’s do a deep dive! 

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  • New Data Reveals a Finding That Correlates to Sales Success

    • January 29, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We had a request for some data from one of our longtime partners.  My knee-jerk reaction to her request was that it would be a big nothing burger.  She asked for data that would show the difference between salespeople who are goal oriented and those who are not.  I did not expect much of a difference except in the area of Motivation but I was wrong.  Very wrong!  Check out some of the profound differences this data mining uncovered!

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  • The Science Behind One Company’s Top Sales Performers and Why They’re So Much Better

    • January 16, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    There are comparisons of apples to oranges, red or green, black or white, stop and go, and the most relevant and current of all, liberals to conservatives.

    In today’s article, I’ll share a hot/cold comparison of my own, but this one is about sales candidates.  Back on January 9, my article about why 3 good salespeople failed and 3 so-so candidates succeeded, used the results of a top/bottom analysis to identify the reasons why.  

    Those results were unusual because many of  the differentiators came from outside the 21 Sales Core Competencies.  What does it look like when the differentiators come from within the 21 Sales Core Competencies?  Take a look at this top/bottom analysis and you’ll quickly see the difference!

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  • The Top 15 Sales and Sales Leadership Articles of 2019

    • December 4, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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  • What Sales Organizations Must Learn from the Impeachment Hearings

    • November 22, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This is not a political article but I will use the impeachment hearings as an example to set the stage for my insights.  Currently in the USA there are 3 major schools of thought relative to the impeachment hearings:

    Most Democrats and Liberals: “We hate Trump and we want to see him impeached.”

    Most Republicans and Conservatives: “We love Trump and hate what they are trying to do to him.”

    Most  Independents: “They should follow the facts and make an informed decision.”

    Suppose that instead of the impeachment hearings we are analyzing a sales opportunity where we substitute “You” (Bob) and “Your Company” (ABC) for Trump, and substitute Your Customer or Prospect for “We”.

    You’ll quickly see how one of the same three scenarios plays out for each  opportunity. 

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  • The Top 10 Sales Articles of 2018

    • December 13, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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