Understanding the Sales Force
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The Death of Selling Revisited
- March 16, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
If you’ve been reading this blog since the spring of ’06 then you know I posted about five articles on the various thoughts regarding the death of selling, the death of the sales force, the death of the salesperson, the death of the sales call and the death of the author of the book and the blog about selling.
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Dan Millman and The Peaceful Warrior Movie
- March 16, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I have been recommending a book for more than 20 years to help overcome Need for Approval, The Way of the Peaceful Warrior, by Dan Millman.
Dan and I just had lunch last month, and today he sent me an email and allowed me to pass it on to my subscribers, friends and clients.
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Seth Godin on Good vs. Great Salespeople
- March 14, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Seth Godin got it right again today. It’s not unusual for me to disagree with his posts on the subject of salespeople and sales forces but today I agree with his rant about salespeople who are good vs. salespeople who are great.
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Sales Assessments Come to Life Part 2
- March 14, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Here’s another example of a candidate whose sales assessment came to life when he emailed the senior recruiter after taking the assessment. See if you can recognize him coming to life too!
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Dunkin Donuts – Time to Make Sales Compensation and Sales Competencies Work
- March 11, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
You don’t have to be a fast-food franchise to learn from this lesson either. Most companies are short-sighted when it comes to compensation and don’t see how paying more gets you more. Of course a top salesperson costs double what an ineffective salesperson costs. But a top salesperson will sell three to five times more than an ineffective salesperson. In that case, how could you not structure your compensation around a top salesperson?
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Salespeople – The Difference Between Over Achievers and Under Achievers
- March 9, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I often post about overachieving and posted a comprehensive article on over achieving a few weeks back. I’ve also written about under achieving and, for the first time, want to draw some comparisons between over and under achieving.
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Sales Compensation – Exceptions to the Rule
- March 8, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I’ve previously written about sales compensation, with the average salesperson earning $96,000, a good salespeople earning $135,000 (varies by industry and geography) and poor and entry level salespeople earning around $67,000. Several companies have recently asked me about how to hire salespeople when you can’t afford to pay even the entry level sales compensation.
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Salespeople – Can Their Work Ethic Be as Good as BB King’s?
- March 5, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
His skills have not eroded one bit. He is the King of the Blues.
Most of your salespeople are at least fifteen years younger than BB King. Can you say the same things about them?
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Top 10 Rules for Successfully Building a Sales Culture
- March 3, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
More and more firms that aren’t traditionally sales-driven are finding it necessary to finally build more of a sales culture. They know they need to do a better job at selling in order to deal with increasing competition, fewer call-ins, commoditization of their products and services, aging rainmakers looking at retirement, etc. Management seems to understand that they need to be more proactive bringing in business, cross-selling and up-selling. They’re saying the right words. They’re asking the right questions. But can they pull it off?
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Myths About Top Performing Salespeople
- February 28, 2007
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Most companies have “them”. Most managers brag about “them”. Most of “them” toot their own horns. Most are their company’s role models. Most companies would love to have more like “them”. They masquerade as the top salespeople in their companies, a claim supported by data, spreadsheets, commission statements, awards and accolades. But who are they really?