Understanding the Sales Force

  • Topgrading Pros, Cons and Sales Assessments

    • February 23, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Somehow, I got thrown into the middle of an internet disagreement between Brad Smart, author of Topgrading, and Bob Corlett, a blogger who calls himself The Staffing Adviser.

    read more

  • Personality Assessments – They Still Don’t Get it

    • February 18, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The following email was recently forwarded to me.  As you read it, look at the descriptors which the client references in the personality assessments.  They’re not sales descriptors, so in essence, we have another example of an assessment which claims to be measuring one thing, but actually is measuring another:

    read more

  • Former IBM Pro Lashes Out Over Sales Assessment

    • February 17, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    A CEO of a fairly large-sized but under-performing OEM asked us to evaluate his sales force.  One of the three regional managers, who assessed as poorly as any regional manager could, called to complain about his results.  In addition to calling me a toad, Bob said that in the eighties he used to sell and manage at IBM and he led the top performing team.  He finished by letting me know that we didn’t know what we were talking about and, by the way, he would be picking me up at the airport for the kick-off of their national training initiative.

    read more

  • Will Gifts Get Prospects to Return Calls from your Salespeople?

    • February 13, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    A fruit basket arrived this morning.  My first reaction was, “who would want to send me a fruit basket?” It turned out that a salesperson sent it, hoping to get me on the phone.  He had already left two voice mail messages and stopped by on one other occasion.

    read more

  • Sales and Customer Service are Just Like Steriod Use in Baseball

    • February 11, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Sales is just like Steroid use in Baseball.

    read more

  • Sales Assessments vs Personality Assessments Episode III – The PHD’s Strike Back

    • February 3, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Are PHD’s more sensitive to criticism than the rest of us?

    I heard from a few over the past week and they weren’t happy with what I wrote here and here.  I rocked their world and they couldn’t cope.

    read more

  • How to Turn Around Flat or Declining Sales Revenue

    • February 2, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I am in the process of reading a New York Times bestseller called 90 Minutes in Heaven.  The first chapter, where Don Piper describes his 90 minutes in heaven, is by far the best part of the book.  Page after page of the rest of the book (so far), details his horrible ordeal, the accident, his years of pain and recovery and his depression.  This section of the book is not that enjoyable.  But today, I came to a passage of about 3 pages that made the drudgery worthwhile.

    read more

  • Exposed – Personality Tests Disguised as Sales Assessments

    • January 28, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Yesterday, I met with a long-time client who, in his previous company, used OMG’s Assessments to identify what needed to change in order to double revenue from $30 million to $60 million.  In his new company, which is already about 12x that size, he wants to double revenue again.  He said, “I just wasted two years with the _____ Assessment.”  The assessment to which he referred was a personality assessment marketed as a sales assessment.  It could have referred to any personality or behavioral-styles assessment.

    read more

  • Who Should Your Sales Force Call On?

    • January 27, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    It’s not always obvious.  If your company sells oil drilling rigs to oil companies, then your salespeople know who to call on.  If your company sell luxury cars to wealthy people, you know where to find your prospects. But what if you sell products or services that could be sold to a much broader range of customers or clients?  Who should your salespeople call on then?

    read more

  • Identify the Perfect Sales Candidate for your Sales Force

    • January 26, 2009
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Several years ago I wrote a White Paper that described both the original research as well as the ongoing research that drives our world-class, incredibly predictive, customizable sales specific candidate assessments.

    When it comes to our assessments, we strive for excellence, by venturing wider and deeper than anyone else.  We can be aggressive for two reasons:

    read more