Understanding the Sales Force
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Sales Role Models
- September 24, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When you hire new salespeople, who will their role models be? Should you point them to the veterans who are responsible for more revenue than anyone else? No, because they are not very good examples of what a new salesperson should do.
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The Death of the Sales Force Part 5 – Will Selling Live On?
- September 22, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I promised to fill you in on the outcome of the business symposium where the “Death of the Sales Force” was discussed by a panel of business experts. The panel included a Banker, an owner of a 40 year-old Insurance Agency, a Partner in a successful regional IT Consulting Firm, a partner in an Accounting Firm, a Turnaround Expert/Financial Consultant, a Manager of VOIP from Verizon, me and the five person management team from the company that began this all.
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Assessments – When is Knowledge Helpful?
- September 18, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Some clients want to learn as much as they can regarding how the assessments work; what makes a candidate hirable, where the findings come from, how their profile impacts the hiring decision, what is the OMG criteria, etc. Some clients crave this information because of their need to know stuff. Others want it to figure out how they manipulate the test to get more hirable candidates. One group wants to know if they can deploy candidates that aren’t recommended in some other meaningful way.
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Assessments – When is Knowledge a Good Thing?
- September 18, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Some clients want to learn as much as they can regarding how the assessments work; what makes a candidate hirable, where the findings come from, how their profile impacts the hiring decision, what is the OMG criteria, etc. Some clients crave this information because of their need to know stuff. Others want it to figure out how they manipulate the test to get more hirable candidates. One group wants to know if they can deploy candidates that aren’t recommended in some other meaningful way.
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Using the Assessment without the Process
- September 15, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The assessment accurately identified their top two candidates and they questioned the assessment? After a whopping sample size of 14? And they chose to stick by the recruiter who somehow managed to weed out 1,986 candidates prior to the 14 they assessed?
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101 Ways to Improve Your Life Volume 2
- September 12, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The great new book, 101 Ways to Improve Your Life – Volume 2, has just been released. While I am a contributing author to the book, there are also articles by 100 other experts including Jack Canfield. Volume 1 included contributions from Zig Ziglar, Dennis Waitley, Brian Tracy and Jim Rohn.
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Rating Sales and Sales Management Performance
- September 12, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Rick Roberge, in his September 3 post on TheRainmakerMaker.com Blog, reported that most people, when asked to rate themselves for a survey, rate themselves much higher and better than they are.
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Personality Tests – Are They Worth the Risk?
- September 12, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Kathryn Davis published an article warning that companies proceed with caution before they use personality tests. While she cites ‘no adverse impact’ and ‘questions that could violate privacy’ or ‘questions that could uncover mental disorders’, she really questions whether personality tests are worth the risk.
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New Salespeople – The Rules of Engagement
- September 11, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We debriefed the trip and identified 43 lessons learned. Debriefing your coaching, accountability, motivational or recruiting events should always produce lessons learned or, as the doctor in our group would call it, morbidity and mortality rounds.
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What Can a Trip to Italy Teach You About Managing New Salespeople?
- September 11, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We debriefed the trip and identified 43 lessons learned. I you strive for perfection, debriefing your coaching, accountability, motivational or recruiting events should always produce lessons learned or, as the doctor in our group would call it, morbidity and mortality rounds.