Understanding the Sales Force

  • The Crucial Step Missing from Most Sales Training Programs

    • September 21, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    There is a lesson here for those of us in the sales development space.  When we train, coach and develop salespeople, we must demand that customer service get the training and coaching required so as to not sabotage the great work we do with sales organizations.

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  • Masks and Sales Assessments – You Lose a Little Freedom and Control for Safety and Confidence

    • September 18, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    The same thing happens when clients use Objective Management Group’s (OMG) accurate and predictive sales candidate assessments.  They lose a little freedom because they no longer arbitrarily interview salespeople who they feel like interviewing, and refrain from simply offering positions to people because they have a gut feeling about a candidate.   However, they lose some control because one half to two-thirds of the candidates will not be recommended when they aren’t great fits for the particular sales role for which the company is hiring, or simply aren’t very good salespeople – period.

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  • How the Correlation Between Restaurants and Covid 19 Applies to Sales Assessments

    • September 17, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    But does it really matter whether this is causation?  Is there that big of a difference?  Is correlation enough?  It depends on what you are trying to show.  Let’s take sales assessments for example.

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  • Most Companies Can Boost Sales From 30-100% in Just One to Two Years

    • September 10, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Many companies already experienced at least 3 to 6 months of uncertainty and they can not withstand even 2 more months of that.   As a result, companies are investing, streamlining, expanding, hiring and going all in to save their 2020s, and position their companies for historical growth in 2021.

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  • 3 Selling Characteristics for the Age of Covid, Politics and Recession

    • September 8, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Thanks to the non-stop political news cycle, I went from averaging just over one article that mentioned politics per year to two!

    This article will be different.  For the first time in fourteen years of blogging, I am going to share what I think, uncensored, and despite some concern for what you think, not quite enough concern to stop me from writing about it.  There will still be a sales tie-in so stay with me as I build the case for 3 powerful sales characteristics.

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  • The Best Solutions for Hiring Great Salespeople for Your Company

    • August 28, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    These are all examples of inappropriate solutions to the simple question, “What is the best way to get there from here?”

    How about the simple question, “What is the best way to assure that the salespeople I am about to hire will succeed in the chosen role?”

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  • FDR and Sir Isaac Newton on Why Salespeople Fail

    • August 25, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Unlike the made up fears that prevent salespeople from asking tough questions, qualifying more thoroughly, or picking up the phone and making a cold call, the fear of burning alive in a hotel fire seemed like a pretty justifiable one.

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  • FOX News and CNN Can Help You Conduct Better Sales Opportunity Reviews

    • August 17, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I don’t really care whether or not you like, approve of, tolerate, or agree with President Trump and/or the issues he stands for.  Doesn’t matter to me.  And you shouldn’t care what I think of him or which side of that invisible center line I am on.  Shouldn’t matter to you.  While this is an article about coaching salespeople, I am going to use the current divisiveness as an analogy to help you better understand how sales leaders can have a huge impact on your salespeople.

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  • 15 Things Salespeople Must Do to Make up for a Lackluster 2nd Quarter

    • August 12, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Last week we moved our son into his dorm to begin his freshman year of college. The college President’s opening remarks were virtual, so we joined the Zoom stream from our hotel room and listened in.  He had some really useful things to share with the new freshmen and while his thoughts were targeted to the students, they apply quite equally to salespeople.

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  • Data Shows Sales Commitment and Motivation Changed During Quarantine

    • July 22, 2020
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Steve Taback and I started our respective sales training firms at the same time back in 1985.  We became great friends and he became the second licensee of Objective Management Group (OMG) in 1990.  He emailed me asking if I had seen a change in any of the scores of the 21 Sales Core Competencies since the Pandemic had hit.  Specifically, he was wondering if there was an increase in the number of salespeople who lacked Commitment or whose Outlook wasn’t good.

    OMG! (the other version of OMG this time)  Was he asking me to do some research on sales assessment statistics?  God, I love that!

    Damn that Steve is good.  Turns out he was right.  Below I’ll share the changes in Commitment, Outlook and Motivation, all of which fluctuated during the past several months.

    Take a look at these three screen shots which tell one part of the story.

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