sales recruiting

  • Sales Recruiting – How Long Can You Keep This New Salesperson?

    • August 19, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Back in April, I posted an article that was actually my third in a series on Sales Longevity – the science of predicting sales turnover.  In that article I provided a link to my latest White Paper on the subject and suggested that this new science would someday become a new feature in our already cutting edge Sales Candidate Assessments.  Well, that day is upon us.

    read more

  • How to Refine Your Sales Candidate Pool and Selection Criteria

    • August 13, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    If you aren’t happy with the salespeople you are selecting, you can look in the mirror.  Ask yourself to what degree you are putting your likes and dislikes ahead of the data.  The data never lies but your eyes will tell you you’re hungry right after you eat!  There is a place for gut feel, but it should never take place at selection time when following your gut means overruling the data.

    read more

  • Case History – Sneak Preview of a Sales Candidate

    • July 28, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    It never ceases to amaze me when clients receive nasty-grams from sales candidates who are – let’s call it put-off – by the client’s request that they first take our on-line assessment. The candidates receive a very nice email thanking them for sending their resume, explaining the client’s recruiting process and asking them to take the assessment. You just wouldn’t believe some of the notes I’ve seen. Name calling, cussing, threats, sarcasm, and more.

    read more

  • Bench Strength – The Key to Replacing Salespeople

    • July 19, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Don’t put yourself in a position where you have to worry about your new salespeople.  Once they’re on board, make sure you have a structured, effective 90-day ramp-up program to assure they succeed instead of setting them up for failure.

    read more

  • Top 10 Reasons Why Sales Commitment Has Become More Important

    • June 15, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    My recent analysis has shown that today, Commitment has overtaken Desire in importance and we will be reflecting that in assessments very shortly.  But Why?  What has caused this fundamental shift?

    read more

  • Top 10 Tips for Hiring Salespeople for Your Sales Force

    • May 24, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Today, we will discuss hiring for the sales force but not so much the “how” of it as much as the importance of doing it for the right reasons, at the right time and in the right manner.

    read more

  • What Sales Leaders Don’t Know About Ego and Empathy

    • May 12, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In the past week, three people had discussions with me about recruiting salespeople and suggested that the difference between successful and unsuccessful salespeople is that effective salespeople have empathy and ego.

    These people probably use personality and behavioral styles assessments too.  Those assessments, always poorly adapted for sales, feature empathy and ego.  There are three things you must know when it comes to salespeople and their empathy and ego.

    read more

  • How Do Companies Retain Their Underperforming Salespeople?

    • April 30, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I explain the difference between lousy salespeople and good salespeople in terms of line items and investments in this article.

    read more

  • Latest Sales Recruiting Breakthrough – Download the New White Paper

    • April 12, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    About six weeks ago, I started a discussion and asked, How Long Should a Salesperson Stick?  I followed that up with a more researched discussion and provided The Top 5 Factors to Predict Sales Turnover.  Over the past six weeks I have continued to research the two subjects and the results of my work are now available in my brand new White Paper, “Sales Longevity – The Science of Predicting Sales Turnover”. 

    read more

  • The Top 5 Factors to Predict Sales Turnover

    • March 5, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Here are the Top Five Factors to Predict Sales Turnover / Longevity

    The most important factor in predicting sales longevity is

    read more