Understanding the Sales Force
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Are Salespeople Born or Made? The Real Story
- October 11, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Several readers sent me the link to this article that discusses whether salespeople are born or made. Prior to that article, many others have attempted to answer the same question in the past few years. The common theme to each attempt is reliance on personality traits and, in Martin’s case, Language Specialization, Modeling of Experiences, Political Acumen and Greed. Good grief Charlie Brown!
Before we look at the science – not surveys and personalities – let me explain – me. I was both born and made to sell.
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Steve Jobs Legacy on Selling – 10 Criteria to Sell Itself
- October 6, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Steve Jobs left many legacies and I thought it might be useful to discuss the one he left on sales.
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Revealing Study of Salespeople Makes News at HBR
- October 5, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This article has my first reaction to the Challenger Sale after news of the book first appeared in HBR back in 2011.
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Time and Territory Management for Salespeople
- October 4, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Aside from requests for Motivational training, Time and Territory management training is one of the most inappropriate requests I receive each week. And I’ve been getting requests like that for more than 25 years!
Time and Territory management is what sales managers and VP’s ask for when they:
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Top 10 Ways to Increase Sales
- October 3, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I’ll bet that every CEO, President, Director, VP of Sales and Sales Manager asks the “how can we increase sales?” question on a regular basis. Do you?
There are as many answers to this question as there are politicians running for US President in 2012. They include but aren’t limited to:
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The Sales Interview – When One Candidate is Actually Two?
- September 30, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You can overlook what you like and discount the candidate.
You can overlook what you don’t like and hire the candidate – a compromise.
Or you can play best 2 out of 3.
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The Difference Between Sales Commitment and Work Ethic
- September 29, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When a sales force evaluation shows that a salesperson lacks commitment, the most likely remark we hear from management is usually, “but he has such a good work ethic!” When we ask what they mean by “work ethic”, management often say things like:
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12 Differences Between Your Salespeople and Sales Candidates
- September 28, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Salespeople that already work for you are TWICE AS LIKELY to LACK Commitment than candidates applying for sales positions at your company.
What are some of the possible reasons for this discrepancy? Here are 12:
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Top 15 Questions That Prospects Ask Themselves
- September 27, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Two questions for you: Are your salespeople consciously aware of the 3 mindsets and two categories, and have you checked as to whether they have appropriate approaches for each?
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Does Moneyball Work for the Sales Force?
- September 26, 2011
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
It’s funny – the way those statisticians arrived at the new baseball statistics are similar to the old sales metrics we used where we calculated the number of attempts, conversations, first meetings, presentations, and proposals required to close 1 deal. But those metrics are not enough anymore and attempts and conversations are no longer the default method for how sales opportunities come to be.
What if we included the following new KPI’s as the Sales Force’s version of Moneyball?