sales process

  • The Perfect Day for a Salesperson – 10 Ways to be More Efficient and Effective in 2018

    • December 8, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You can be more effective and more efficient selling in 2018, do every single thing I wrote about in this article, exactly as I wrote it, and without any difficulty, by making a conscious decision to follow this blueprint.  It’s not hard. It’s not scary.  It’s not unusual.  It’s not even thought-provoking.  It’s simply a list of best practices that great salespeople (top 5%) do and that crappy (46%) salespeople either don’t do consistently or don’t do it at all.

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  • Which is Worse – Crappy Salespeople or Crappy Sales Managers?

    • December 6, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In his book, The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki said, “Don’t Worry, Be Crappy.”

    That advice suggested that companies just get their early versions of software and tech products out there and they could make them better later.  

    How are early versions of technology different from crappy salespeople and crappy sales managers?  For one thing, salespeople and sales managers tend to stay crappy unless professional training, coaching and interventions occur.  And unlike products, user feedback tends to be sketchy when it comes to salespeople because they refrain from giving it.  But what would happen if they did?

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  • Customers Love to Buy – Why Do Salespeople Struggle?

    • October 2, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    So if we all love buying stuff, why do salespeople struggle so much when they try to sell stuff?  Why isn’t it as friction-free as an abundance of happy buyers would suggest it should be?

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  • 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.

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  • Sales Excellence: How to Close Anything and Everything in Any Vertical

    • January 30, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I am going to share the real truth about closing and it’s quite different from what you’ve read, what you’ve listened to, what you’ve watched, and probably from what you’ve practiced.  Countless books, tapes, videos and podcasts have been devoted to closing techniques.  Thousands of companies deliver seminars and training programs to help salespeople develop their closing skills.  They’re all wrong and they have all wasted your time.

    I have written 1,600 articles and not once have I shared the closing secret that I am about to share in this article.

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  • 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.

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  • Companies Rush to Get This One Thing in Place for their Sales Teams Before January

    • December 1, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Over the past few months, the majority of the calls and emails coming in have been to get help building predictive scorecards.  Yesterday alone I spoke with the CEO’s from 3 companies about building and slotting scorecards into their existing sales processes.

    Why the sudden rage over scorecards?  

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  • Salesperson’s Terrible Reaction Part 2

    • October 31, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I posted a very short article where I discussed one salesperson’s reaction to a great sales role play.  I received a number of emails telling me how helpful the video, story and lessons were.  

    The article highlighted Self-Limiting beliefs or negative self talk. Today we will take it a step further and discuss the other things that could have been at play – hidden weaknesses – and the interference they cause salespeople while selling to their prospects.  Like chains, salespeople are only as strong as their weakest link…

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  • The #1 Key to Making Sales Forecasts Accurate Again

    • October 24, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    What is they key to accurate sales forecasts?  Sure, it’s all of the things I’ve written about before, like sales process, uncovering compelling reasons to buy, selling value, thoroughly qualifying, etc.  But haven’t you witnessed more than enough opportunities where all of that was completed at an acceptable level and the business still failed to close?  Don’t too many of those well qualified opportunities become delayed closes or losses?  So what is it?  What is the one thing that will accurately predict whether or not an opportunity is strong enough to pursue with everything you’ve got?

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