salespeople

  • How Much Has Video Impacted the Way We Sell?

    • June 23, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In March, most salespeople were very uncomfortable conducting their business over video. Look at this article I wrote about video as recently as November!  Yet today, just three months later, 49% of salespeople prefer video to a phone call and another 28% don’t have a preference.  That’s quite a change!

    So how do salespeople feel about video?

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  • 30 Reasons Why 1 Million Sales Jobs Will be Obsolete

    • March 30, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    On March 8, this article on the Hubspot Sales Blog reported that one million B2B sales jobs will be lost.  Are you, or any of your salespeople at risk?  The article talked about four archetypes of salespeople and the two types at greatest risk.  While I agree that there won’t be a place for order takers, and those who sell consultatively will always have work, I see the shakeup a bit differently.  Here’s why.

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  • Top 10 Indicators That You Have a Trustworthy Sales Prospect

    • April 28, 2014
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    there are some indicators that we can identify, to help salespeople have a better handle on whether the prospect is being honest and whether or not they will buy.  But these are not replacements for instinct. These indicators do not change the facts, they cannot move the opportunity to another stage of the pipeline or sales process, and they cannot alter the probability of closing.  They are simply indicators:

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  • Trust in Selling is Becoming More Important Than Ever

    • February 26, 2014
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Trust is becoming more important than ever.  Companies are focusing more on integrity and values, and that’s from both sides of the door.  They are looking for salespeople, vendors, suppliers, partners and trusted advisors who have strong integrity.  And they are also hiring the people (in this case, salespeople) who are deemed to be of a higher integrity.  Trustworthy is the operative word here.

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  • Everyone Can Sell. Not Really. Top 10 Reasons Why Not

    • May 22, 2013
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Dan Pink, Author of To Sell is Human, has been getting a lot of well-deserved exposure.  He wrote a terrific book and most who have read it, really like it.  I don’t have a problem with his book because read in its entirety, it makes sense.  I do have an issue with the people who write about his book and take the concept, that everyone can sell, out of context.  The context is that everyone can sell their ideas.  Agreed.  But out of context, it is suggested that everyone can be a salesperson.  I strongly disagree.

    Forget for a moment all of the data from Objective Management Group showing that 74% of all professional salespeople suck.  When we take the concept from selling an idea (at home, at church, in the neighborhood or internally to coworkers) to professional selling, 10 things change:

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  • Did President Obama Do More Damage to the Image of Salespeople?

    • November 7, 2012
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Last week, Obama’s campaign called Romney a great salesman and added that what he was selling wasn’t any good.  In other words, “Don’t believe a word he says.”  So, if we connect the dots what do we get?

    Salesman = bullshitter
    Salesman = liar
    Salesman = felon

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  • Did Your Salespeople Choose to Be in Sales?

    • January 5, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Even if you reviewed as many resumes as I do each week you might not notice this:  Most sales candidates did not have a sales position as their first job after college.  Most started as something else and then, out of the blue, they were in sales, sales management, marketing, or business development.  I always get suspicious when somewhere back in time a candidate went from Purchasing to Sales Management and never sold along the way…

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  • Top 10 Outcomes That Should Come from Sales Coaching

    • December 14, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    When you coach a salesperson, which words should you hear that would tell you the session was effective?

    Not “Thanks” or “OK”.

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  • Top 5 Interesting Sales Tips

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

    Depending on the context of the conversation, weather, personality and the frame of reference of their prospect, here are the top five things that “Interesting” could mean:

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  • My Sales Process, Strategies and Tactics in Your Voice

    • October 10, 2010
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Our son has this comedy routine by John Pinette down cold. He heard it once and can now do it for anyone.

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