Understanding the Sales Force
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When Coaching Salespeople Isn’t Coaching
- February 7, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
It’s likely the time that sales managers and salespeople spend together is valuable however, let’s not assume that it’s really coaching that is taking place.
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Salespeople – The Urgency of Selling
- February 4, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
It’s likely the time that sales managers and salespeople spend together is valuable however, let’s not assume that it’s really coaching that is taking place.
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Sales and Sales Management – Ideas for Growth
- January 27, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Today I was asked about the difference between sales training and sales development. They are the same except for one ENORMOUS difference. Sales training takes place in the classroom and is often difficult to apply and put into practice. Sales Development takes place throughout the sales organization from the top executives down through the most junior of salespeople. While sales training is a component of sales development, some of the components that are even more important include:
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Salespeople – Beyond Listening Skills
- January 24, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Help your salespeople learn to do this and they will double or even triple their sales.
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Why Isn’t This Sales Candidate Hirable?
- January 17, 2006
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When a client runs a pre-employment assessment on a candidate and the results are unfavorable, the client will sometimes push back and fight the unfavorable finding. Why? They already fell in love with the candidate and, rather than wanting the truth about the candidate, they prefer validation of their feelings. How does one avoid this outcome? All candidates should be assessed prior to being interviewed so that the employer has objective intelligence for the interview.
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Salespeople are Like Children
- December 13, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Your salespeople learn that they should ask questions to learn about the needs, issues, applications and problems that their prospects might have. And some of them actually ask one or two of those questions – like they get it – and then they start to present their product, service or company. Just like our son, they can think about the other person for only so long before they revert to thinking about what’s important to them or comfortable for them.
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How Are Assessments Used
- November 15, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Since I am an expert on assessments, I get asked to assess the assessments that are out there on a regular basis. Most assessments are quite good as long as they are used as intended. However, users, motivated by marketing and salespeople, are often lured into using an otherwise good assessment in an inappropriate way. This compromises the value of the assessment that now fails to provide the in-depth information, answers and actions that a more appropriate tool would give.
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Two Salespeople That Aren’t Performing
- October 26, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
A company president had three salespeople who were performing well and two that weren’t. He felt that he didn’t have an adequate method for forecasting future revenue. His request? ‘Can you evaluate the two non-performers and buy a more effective pipeline tool?’ A facilitator would say ‘yes’ to that. Take the easy money. Don’t rock the boat. But does that serve the client?
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Money Motivated Salespeople
- October 22, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The other day a client asked me about a salesperson about whom the assessment indicated wasn’t money motivated. He went on to tell me how often this salesperson tells him he needs to make more money and wants a larger base. I explained that this is more a case of ‘money need’ rather than money motivation. The easiest way to tell the difference between the two is:
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Some People Aren’t Motivated by Money
- October 22, 2005
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
One sales manager indicated that he had a salesperson who wasn’t motivated by money but was motivated by providing great customer service and making people happy. I told him that I was certain that he could not possibly be describing his best salesperson and, after a moment of consideration, he completely agreed.