Understanding the Sales Force

  • Sales Motivation – Boston Celtics are the Hungriest Team

    • March 14, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Max said that Garnett, Pierce and Allen are hungrier veterans because they haven’t won anything yet, unlike some of their counterparts in the NBA.  He said that their hunger, more than their talent, is the big differentiator that is making the Celtics the team to beat this year.

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  • Focused Sales Efforts Temporarily Improve Sales Competencies

    • March 10, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Every company has people whose sales competencies are not fully developed. Perhaps their salespeople don’t find enough new opportunities.  Maybe they don’t ask for referrals often enough.  It’s possible that opportunities languish in the pipeline for too long.  There are a number of reasons for results like these, from weaknesses that prevent your salespeople from performing as desired, to sales management’s ineffective motivation, setting of expectations, coaching and accountability.

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  • Sales Compensation Changes Fail to Change Results

    • March 7, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Great intentions but lousy results – it’s not unusual.  But why? Let’s explore the reasons behind designing and implementing programs like these. 

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  • New Salespeople – Realistic Expectations

    • March 6, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You’ve seen new salespeople start out and inside of 60 days, build a pipeline to be proud of. You’ve had some that started and couldn’t seem to book appointments without your coaching.  You’ve had some that were able to close some new business sooner than anyone expected.  You’ve had some who couldn’t get started because they didn’t want to speak with a prospect until they knew they could carry off a perfect phone conversation.  You’ve had some who never got started at all.  Why all this variation?

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  • The Sales Part of Seth Godin’s ‘How Do I Persuade You?’

    • March 5, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Yesterday, Seth Godin posted this article, explaining how every prospect is different. I haven’t always agreed with Seth when his thought-leader-thinking has overlapped with my domain but this post is spot on.  What he doesn’t suggest is, how do you take his questions and make them work in your sales organization?

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  • Sales – #1 on the CEO’s Agenda

    • March 3, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This post on the Blog at IDC said the the number one agenda item for CEO’s in 2008 is sales.  With a weakening, uncertain economy, that shouldn’t really surprise anyone but thanks to the researchers at IDC, now we can confirm it.

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  • Some Executives and Their Egos

    • March 1, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The local Methodist Church has one of those message signs out front so they can promote the minister’s next sermon.  Driving by yesterday, I noticed this message:

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  • More on Push Back from Sales Assessments

    • February 29, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Yesterday’s post generated a number of emails – mostly good.  But one particular question that was raised deserves a post of its own.  The reader asked, “why are your assessments so black and white?” and “why isn’t more attention paid to the strengths and skills?” and “why can’t they be like other assessments which take more of a neutral position?”

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  • Sales Force Evaluation – How to Deal with Push Back from your Employees

    • February 28, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Push back is what your salespeople give you when they receive the results of their evaluation.  Push back is what you get from your sales managers when they get the results of the evaluation of their sales force.  I’ve written about push back before but I need to explain why you get push back.

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  • Top 3 Mistakes Companies Make When Hiring Sales Managers

    • February 26, 2008
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Companies hire sales managers all the time and while some of those decisions are good ones, a lot more of them are ill advised. Today I’ll share the biggest mistakes that companies make when hiring sales managers.

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