sales tips
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Steam Vent Hack That Salespeople Can Use on Stalled Opportunities
- August 23, 2024
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The guide simply lit a cigarette, lowered it slightly into the vent, it reacted with the air and the steam, and significantly increased the output of steam. A super simple hack that instantly causes a performance improvement gets your attention!
Of course, that got me thinking about a simple hack that will significantly improve sales performance and I present one to you in this article.
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What Relationship Builders Do Better Than All Other Salespeople
- September 5, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Last week, I posted an article on the Impact of Relationship Building Challenges in Sales. The article explored what happens to salespeople who are skilled at selling, but aren’t very good at building relationships, as well as those who are great at building relationships, but aren’t very skilled at selling. While there were some terrific insights, the one thing that was missing from the article was what great relationship builders do that everyone else fails to do.
Also last week, we celebrated the life of my best friend and longtime business partner, Matt Hogan, who passed away on Friday, August 25. Today’s article will pay tribute to Matt, the best relationship builder I have ever known, I’ll share the 10 things Matt did to build strong, lasting relationships, as well as ten things I learned from Matt.
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How Building a Stone Walkway Makes the Case for Sales Process
- August 16, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We can learn a lot about what happens when you skip steps in a sales process by looking at the work this stone crew is doing.
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Use Music to Understand the 12 Criteria Prospects Use to Buy from Salespeople
- June 12, 2023
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, while watching our son play in a summer collegiate baseball game, I missed a step and tumbled all the way down the bleachers. Isn’t that a great analogy for what happens when you miss, or skip a crucial step in the sales process? More than half of all salespeople are missing and skipping important milestones in the sales process each and every day and their egos get more bruised from failing to close those opportunities than my body got bruised from my not so thrilling adventure to the ground.
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The Latest Perspective on My Most Popular Article on Selling
- December 20, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
During a first sales call, suppose your salespeople hear one prospect say, “This has been a very interesting and productive conversation and we might have some interest in this.” And imagine another prospect at the same meeting says, “We’ll get back to you next month and let you know what kind of progress we’ve made.” And still a third might say, “In the meantime, please send us a proposal with references and timeline.”
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“Spirited” Has So Much in Common with Most Salespeople
- November 29, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Only 13% of all salespeople take a consultative approach to selling and almost none of them can be found in the bottom 50% – the group that fails to meet quota each year. A coincidence? On the other end of the spectrum, the top 10% of all salespeople are 4300% more likely to have the Consultative Seller competency as a strength!
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10 Prospect Rules That Salespeople Must Learn to Break
- January 24, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Like I said, this is not a COVID article because if it was, I could write a book about the data, science, policies and hypocrisies. However, there is a sales equivalent to the stupid restaurant masking requirement and that is what we will discuss in today’s article.
Have you or your salespeople ever been told by a prospect that they can’t:
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Bob Chronicles Part 6 – When Salespeople Suddenly Make Things Your Problem
- January 20, 2022
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Bob was informed 2 weeks ago that an important customer proposal would be due by the end of business today. At 4pm, Bob was in a panic, screaming that he needed pricing in the next 10 minutes or you’ll lose the business. Suddenly it has become your problem.
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My Most Popular Sales Article of the Last Ten Years
- December 13, 2021
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Suppose your salespeople hear one prospect say, “This has been a very interesting and productive conversation and we might have some interest in this.” And imagine another prospect at the same meeting says, “We’ll get back to you next month and let you know what kind of progress we’ve made.” And still a third might say, “In the meantime, please send us a proposal with references and a timeline.”
There are three important lessons that arise from this:
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Top 10 Sales and Sales Leadership Articles of 2021
- December 7, 2021
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There are several criteria for choosing the top articles of the year, including, but not limited to:
Views (Article)
Popularity (likes on LinkedIn and Twitter)
Engagement (comments to the article, via email, and on LinkedIn)
Personal (my favorites)
Value (insights for the community)