sales process

  • 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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  • Is it Your Salespeople or Did You Make a Bad Decision?

    • October 19, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Salesforce.com.  

    Consider this quote from a client:

    “You were right, you know.  Six months ago, when you told us that we wouldn’t be happy with the integration of the customized sales process into Salesforce.com, we didn’t understand what you meant.  But now we do.  It’s clunky, not really part of the interface, the customization cost us tens of thousands of dollars, and it doesn’t work the way we need it to.  We are so sorry we didn’t listen because that train has left the station.”

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  • The Buyer Journey – Myth, Reality, Hybrid, or an Avoidable Part of Selling?

    • September 15, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The Buyer Journey is front and center again.  Dan McDade posted the second in his 3-part series on Lies and Myths and part 2 is about the Buyer Journey.  8 Sales Experts weighed in with their thoughts about the Buyer Journey and you can read those here.  Don’t miss Mike Weinberg’s comment – I love it!  It’s pretty clear where the sales experts stand, so where is all of the Buyer Journey data coming from if not the sales experts?

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  • The Biggest Secret to My Sales Success

    • September 9, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In my most controversial article ever, I will share the biggest secret of my sales success.  Some will undoubtedly call this the Dave went crazy article.

    Some of you might be able to sense what my secret is.  Some of you won’t appreciate how simple it is.  But I’m guessing that most of you will love what I share in this article and if not, you don’t have to continue reading it.  Find something else that resonates for you.

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  • Remembering The Most Powerful Sales Lesson of My Life

    • September 6, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Which one thing helps almost every salesperson succeed, even when they have other challenges?

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