sales tips

  • The Sales Epidemic That is Neutralizing Salespeople Everywhere

    • June 4, 2014
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The Selling Power Blog published a new article of mine, The Top 10 Steps Salespeople Can Take to Improve.  The article includes a really terrific video on the importance of tonality.  I thought it would be helpful to expand on item #5, Persistence, because selling requires more persistence than ever before.

    read more

  • Top 5 Reasons Sales Prospects Ask for References

    • May 19, 2014
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Everything is going along great, your prospect seems quite interested, they’ve agreed with your points, accepted your pushback, you got them qualified and you’re heading for the home stretch.

    It doesn’t matter if this has all occurred in the last 45 minutes, or if this took place over a series of meetings, calls and months.  

    They ask for references.

    The best example of doing a lousy job in this area is the salesperson who was referred in, yet still gets asked for references!

    How a salesperson handles the request for references is crucial and most salespeople screw it up royally.

    read more

  • Do Salespeople Leverage the Ideal Moment in the Buying Process?

    • February 20, 2014
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The moment after it’s all closed is the perfect moment for both salesperson and customer, and it can only go downhill from there.  So why do salespeople fail to leverage that moment?

    read more

  • Sales Traditions and Rituals – They’re Not Just for December

    • December 11, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    Sales Traditions and Rituals - They're Not Just for December

    For some salespeople, selling is as caked in tradition and ritual as any religious ceremony.  To get a sense of this, consider the many inside sales roles, demo-centric salespeople, and low-level, in-home salespeople.   Many inside salespeople repeatedly read from the same script.  Most demo-centric salespeople must cover all of the features and benefits.  And many in-home salespeople perform a mini-show on every sales call.

    read more

  • The Key to Powerful Sales Conversations

    • August 28, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Earlier this week, I wrote this article about the importance of using specific words and phrases at specific times. 

    That article discussed some of the milestones in the sales process where just the right word or phrase can make such a huge (make or break) difference in the direction that the sales call takes.  In the article, I mentioned “at just the right time”, but I didn’t elaborate.  I’ll correct that omission with the following examples.

    read more

  • Top 6 Reasons Decision Makers Fail to Attend Your Meetings

    • July 30, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    My mind doesn’t work the same as most people.  I always seem to find a sales analogy buried somewhere.  Frank, who writes the Sales Archaeologist Blog, has that ability too.

    Recently, at a picnic with my family, I took note of all the guests and couldn’t help but see the similarities between the picnic and selling to a group.

    read more

  • Top 10 Reasons Salespeople Can’t Move the Conversation from Price

    • July 11, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    There are other factors that could contribute to salespeople regularly finding themselves in a price-sensitive discussion:

    read more

  • The Waffle Cone and the Mass Production of Salespeople

    • July 2, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    For me, today’s waffle cones are a constant disappointment because they always fail to meet my expectations.

    What does this have to do with selling?

    Think about salespeople as a version of the waffle cone.  In some companies, they are made fresh, and in other companies, especially bigger companies, they are mass-produced.

    There are many ways of looking at th

    read more

  • Salespeople Must Stop Snorkeling and Start Scuba Diving

    • May 15, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We talk a lot about the importance of using a consultative approach instead of a transactional approach to better differentiate and sell value instead of price.  When we explain consultative selling, we usually emphasize the importance of listening and questioning.  When we further explain effective listening and questioning, it becomes much more difficult to describe in a paragraph or in the absence of a demonstration or role-play.

    Until today.

    read more

  • How Selling is Just Like Driving a Car

    • June 5, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    If you can make the adjustments when you are driving, then you should be able to make similar adjustments when you are selling.  Those adjustments, in no particular order, include being sure that:

    read more