sales process

  • Most Salespeople are Underdogs Like the Boston Red Sox

    • October 13, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    If your company is not the brand leader, market leader, or price leader; if you have a complex sale, a story to tell, a new technology, a new brand, a new product, a much higher price or a much tougher sale, then you are an underdog too.

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  • Most Sales Processes, Funnels and Pipelines are How Old?

    • September 29, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I was looking for an image of a sales funnel and couldn’t believe what I found!  My search results can be found here.  Can you believe all of those images of sales funnels?  Look them over and see if you can recognize the  problem with all of them.

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  • How To Stop Sucking by Understanding and Changing Your Sales Metrics

    • August 30, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Suppose a company reports that its win rate is 24%.  Does that tell you anything other than they suck?  It doesn’t tell us how badly they suck, why they suck, how long they’ve sucked, who sucks, or whether there is any hope for them to stop sucking.  And even if their win rate is double the 24%, the same questions apply. Let me explain.

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  • A Properly Constructed Sales Process Can Help You Experience the Euphoria of a Walk-Off Win

    • June 15, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The walk-off win in baseball, the buzzer beater in basketball and the field goal with no time on the clock in football are all terrific metaphors for certain types of wins in sales.  Some deals are sure things from the get go and others stand no chance of going your way.  However, some huge opportunities are truly nail-biters and could go either way.  When those opportunities are finally decided and you win, they too are euphoric.

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  • Crappy Salespeople and Lack of Urgency Alignment  – The Bob Chronicles Part 4

    • April 27, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This is the fourth installment in the Bob Chronicles.  Bob is the weak salesperson who represents the bottom 50% of all salespeople. You can read previous installments about Bob below:

    The $225,000 Mistake That Most Salespeople Make

    Data – The Top Salespeople are 631% More Effective at This Than Weak Salespeople 

    Good Bob, Bad Bob, The Stockdale Paradox and Sales Success

    You’re probably wondering, what did Bob screw up this time?  He screwed up urgency.  You might be asking how a salesperson could possibly screw up urgency but Bob and the rest of the weak salespeople screw up just about everything else so why not urgency too?

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  • Why Sales Transformation Achieves Better Results Than Sales Training Alone

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

    You brought in sales training but it didn’t achieve the expected change because the training didn’t address the bigger problems that went beyond selling skills.  You may not have realized that companies really need sales transformation and while sales training can be part of that transformation, on its own, it usually underperforms.

    Why?

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  • My Prediction – What’s in Store for Sales Teams in 2021?

    • January 8, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    When I made my predictions for 2020 I’m pretty sure I didn’t predict a pandemic.  Making predictions isn’t easy. 

    In the US, sales teams are coming off three robust years of sales growth and while revenue was up during that time, the percentage of salespeople hitting quotas was not.  That means the top 20% were not only carrying the load, they carried more of the load.

    That dynamic growth hit an iron barrier last spring when COVID became the unexpected economic disrupter, but the second half comeback was quite impressive.  What does 2021 have in store for those of us in the sales world?  In the US, how will Democrat control of all three branches of government affect sales and selling?  And how long before that kicks in?

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  • The $225,000 Selling Mistake Most Salespeople Make

    • December 7, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    While colleagues and supervisors shared their enthusiasm for this exciting moment, my first reaction was, “And why do you think this is good news?” 

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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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