Understanding the Sales Force

  • The Top 15 Sales and Sales Leadership Articles of 2019

    • December 4, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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  • Only 11% of All Salespeople Do This at the End of a Sales Call

    • December 2, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Traditions are important.  They ground us, give us a sense of stability and purpose, and provide something that we can look forward to.  Rituals are like traditions in that they serve the same purpose, but occur much more frequently.  Selling, is filled with rituals, from the sales process we always follow, to those specific questions we always ask to those specific talking points, comparisons, and stories we always share.  Why?  They work!

    So it is with that sense of tradition that for the 10th consecutive year, I republish my Nutcracker article which is always the most popular article each December.

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  • What Sales Organizations Must Learn from the Impeachment Hearings

    • November 22, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This is not a political article but I will use the impeachment hearings as an example to set the stage for my insights.  Currently in the USA there are 3 major schools of thought relative to the impeachment hearings:

    Most Democrats and Liberals: “We hate Trump and we want to see him impeached.”

    Most Republicans and Conservatives: “We love Trump and hate what they are trying to do to him.”

    Most  Independents: “They should follow the facts and make an informed decision.”

    Suppose that instead of the impeachment hearings we are analyzing a sales opportunity where we substitute “You” (Bob) and “Your Company” (ABC) for Trump, and substitute Your Customer or Prospect for “We”.

    You’ll quickly see how one of the same three scenarios plays out for each  opportunity. 

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  • Are You Using This New Technology to Generate New Opportunities?

    • November 13, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Do you have Rainbow flatware?  Biomagnetic ear stickers? A diamond-shaped ice cube tray? Baby feather wings?  Yah, these things exist here.  You don’t?  Me neither.

    Have you signed up to use a company that uses AI to generate leads for you?  You haven’t?  Me neither.

    It seems to me that the only companies using AI to generate leads are the companies trying to sell you their services using AI to generate leads.  How ironic!

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  • Video Conferencing for Salespeople – To Zoom or Not to Zoom?

    • November 6, 2019
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    No data or statistics today.  No sales training or coaching either.  This won’t be a lesson for sales managers or sales leaders.  This is my rant of the day.

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  • Good Sales Recruiting is Like Selecting Movies and TV Shows

    • November 5, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Do you like movies and TV Shows?  I love them!

    How do you go about selecting the next movie or show you will watch?  Do you look for a specific show, watch the trailer and if you like the trailer, watch it?  Or, do you look at all of the new releases, or everything in a particular genre, narrow down the selections, watch several trailers, and finally choose one?

    Most people use the second scenario which, by the way, is a very good approach for selecting and hiring salespeople.  Unfortunately, that’s not how most companies go about it.

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  • New Data Reveals a Magical New Score for Sales Effectiveness

    • October 31, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Do you drive at the speed limit, the fastest speed you can get away with, the slowest speed you can get away with, or are you an 85th percentile driver?  The 85th percentile driver travels at the speed that 85% of the cars on that road are traveling, regardless of the posted speed limit.  Motorists.org has data, illustrated below, proving that the 85th percentile speed is the ideal speed for safe travel.

    Thanks to a new finding soon to be included in Objective Management Group’s (OMG) evaluations and assessments, the sales equivalent of this data shows a correlation between spoken words per minute and sales effectiveness, identifying the safest speed or pace to deliver sales messaging.

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  • Squirrels Explain the Differences Between Top and Bottom Salespeople

    • October 28, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    This morning I was watching 3 squirrels each doing their thing.

    Squirrel #1, who I named Ernest, was finding lots of nuts and burying them.  His nest was full and he will reap the benefits of his hard work over the winter.

    Squirrels #2 and #3, who I named MT and LayZ, were playing.  They were running up and down tree trunks, jumping from limb to limb, running in circles and generally chasing their tails.  They don’t yet have nests and unless they make a commitment, become disciplined, and get to work, they will starve to death this winter.

    Ernest, MT and LayZ are no different than their human counterparts who find themselves in sales roles.  The top salespeople are like Ernest and the bottom salespeople are like MT and LayZ.  For evidence of that claim, take a look at the table below with a sprinkling of data from Objective Management Group (OMG) which has evaluated 1,910,915 salespeople from  companies.

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  • How Sales Coaching Utilizes a Quid Pro Quo

    • October 24, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Quid pro quo is all the rage.  The news networks are pointing to and from quid pro quo and arguing whether it was or wasn’t implied.  Regardless of which side of the political spectrum you’re on, you’ve probably heard it plenty more than you need to. 

    Could there be a sales coaching lesson here?

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  • Sales Process and Why So Many Salespeople Lose Their Way

    • October 17, 2019
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Last night I was on Interstate 90, the MassPike, driving home from the airport in a wind-driven rainstorm.  It was so bad I couldn’t see the white lines that divide the three lanes nor could I see the Jersey barriers dividing the eastbound from the westbound traffic.  It was almost as scary as the plane’s rocky decent from 30,000 feet in gale-force winds last night or driving in a blizzard! 

    The inability to see where I was and where I was going is what most salespeople experience when they sell.  Most salespeople don’t have a formal, structured, milestone-centric sales process to follow so they can’t possibly know where they are, and where they need to go.  

    Consider the following alarming statistics from Objective Management Group’s evaluations and assessments of 1,908,143 salespeople with regard to sales process:

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