selling has changed

  • Do You Know if Your Sales Organization is Digital or Analog?

    • August 4, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    During our very first conversation with a CEO, the talking path is determined by whether their company is analog or digital.  

    Digital companies are typically on the cutting edge in their thinking and actions, their CEO’s read content like this, are active on LinkedIn and Twitter, they are aware that selling has changed dramatically, they already have inside sales teams, playbooks, demo decks, sales enablement, online tools beyond CRM and in true digital fashion, they live by their KPI’s which count the elements of their work flow.

    Analog companies are old school. Analog salespeople still pound the phones to find opportunities, and visit their prospects to close sales. Their CEO’s may have a LinkedIn account, but it probably isn’t used much, they don’t tweet, read online content like this, and most importantly, have little clue about how dramatically selling has changed in the past 5 years.  They may not be aware of the migration to inside sales, typically make little use of selling tools, don’t know what a sales playbook is, and in true analog fashion, measure work product, not flow.  

    The difference between work flow in a digital company versus work product in the analog company is dramatic too.

    read more

  • 4 Great Sales Lessons from a Notre Dame Commencement Ceremony

    • May 17, 2016
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We were fortunate to be in the audience for the 2016 Notre Dame Commencement where Vice President Joe Biden, former Speaker of the House, John Boehner, and former Joint Chiefs of Staff and retired 4-Star General, Martin Dempsey were among the speakers.  While all were good, Biden had one great takeaway, and the General shared 3 tips and an action step. I believe that these are all share-worthy and apply to sales and sales leadership as well, and perhaps even better than they apply to those graduating from universities.

    read more