Understanding the Sales Force

  • The Biggest Mistake That Salespeople Make at Year End

    • November 30, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Your actions can not be dictated by the time of year.  Your actions must be dictated by where you are in the sales process and the step or stage that must occur next.

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  • Sales Pipeline – Reality vs. What Your Salespeople Know and Think

    • November 28, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    What your salespeople think or believe – not a data point.  

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  • How to Make it Easier for Your Salespeople to Sell

    • November 22, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Making the job easier for your salespeople is your number one responsibility after coaching and accountability but most sales managers don’t give this challenge much thought.  How about you?

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  • The Difference Between Sales Commitment and Desire

    • November 18, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I was explaining this difference to a client and the two findings, which we were comparing, were striking in their contrast.

    The candidate in question scored 100 (off the charts) on Desire (how badly he wants to succeed in sales); yet, as low as he was high – 16 – on Commitment – his willingness to do what it takes to succeed in sales. So as you might expect, the client asked, “How can he score so high in Desire but so low in Commitment?”

    Great question.

    I’ll explain it in exactly the same fashion I explained it to him.

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  • Sales Traction – The Key to Measuring the #1 Sales Competency

    • November 16, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    One of the KPI’s I introduced in my Moneyball article two months ago was Traction, the ratio of suspects that become prospects. Using the Baseline Selling process, that is also the ratio of opportunities that move from 1st base to 2nd base. Translating that one more time, it is the number of 1st meetings that move to “we have a real opportunity here”.

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  • Are You Part of the Problem with your Salespeople?

    • November 15, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    One of the things I always stress with sales leadership teams is that before they can coach effectively, before they can really hold people accountable to agreed upon metrics, before they can really motivate people to perform, and before they can develop their people, they must first shape their environment.  That’s the hard part.  After that has been accomplished, the actual coaching, motivating, development and accountability can be enjoyable and productive because of the resulting cooperation.

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  • Top 7 Things That Consultative Sellers Do

    • November 14, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    A small group of experts, especially those that lack this competency themselves, believe that using this competency for selling is manipulative and counters being customer-centric.  They are as entitled to their opinion as I am to mine.  But remember, you simply can’t argue with science, data and results.

    So which competency am I referring to?

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  • The Latest Astonishing Findings about Sales Managers

    • November 7, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This article recently appeared at SalesBenchmarkIndex.com.  The number that stood out for me in their report was 83% – as in 83% of first year sales managers don’t make their number.  Is that possible?  Is it realistic?  Is it believable?  Can you explain it?

    A few thoughts about that…

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  • The Lion King – Watching a Movie Again Improves Sales Effectiveness

    • November 2, 2011
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You can watch a movie you haven’t seen for a while and appreciate the things you missed before.  Your sales force will experience the exact same benefits from rereading the book, having refresher training, and focusing on the areas they didn’t apply and execute the first time around.

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