Understanding the Sales Force

  • Building 4th Quarter Pipeline to Finish the Year Strong
    • October 1, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Sales Pipeline and Forecast, Understanding the Sales Force

    Is there still time?

    That depends on the length of your sales cycle.  If you have a sales cycle that runs 90 days or less, then you have time, but you must begin today.  If your sales cycle runs longer than 90 days, then your fate is sealed, and you and your fourth quarter revenue will live or die based on what you built and worked in the early stages of your sales cycle’s timeline.

    Let’s assume that you are one of the lucky ones who can still impact their fourth quarter revenue.  It will take some math, unconditional commitment and the skills to pull it off.  Let’s begin with the math.

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  • Most Sales Processes, Funnels and Pipelines are How Old?
    • September 29, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Analogies, Sales Process, Understanding the Sales Force

    I was looking for an image of a sales funnel and couldn’t believe what I found!  My search results can be found here.  Can you believe all of those images of sales funnels?  Look them over and see if you can recognize the  problem with all of them.

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  • Hidden Sales Competition and Why it Could Happen to You
    • September 27, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

    Have you ever had a sales opportunity that was completely under control, you were following your sales process, everything was looking great, and then, from out of nowhere and without warning, surprise competitors appeared?  

    Yes, the magic mushroom competitors! 

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  • How to Prepare for the Coming Sales Team Super Storm
    • September 22, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

    My first reaction was that this must have been something from 2016 – right before the boom that lasted until the pandemic slammed the economy to the ground.  Or, from the 4th quarter of 2020, when we expected the economy to come roaring back.  But it simply can’t be something that is remotely relevant to what we are about to experience.  Here’s what we know, and how that will impact companies and their sales teams in 2022.

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  • The Sales Compensation Plan from Hell and How to Improve It
    • September 17, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Analogies, Sales Compensation, Understanding the Sales Force

    Have you ever seen a compensation plan so complicated, so illogical and so detailed that all you could do was stare at it and wonder, WTF?

    I did.  This week.  Couldn’t make heads or tails of it. There were several sales groups selling different services to different audiences, several roles in each group, different plans for each role, different percentages, some of the compensation was guaranteed but some was variable and had to be earned by achieving quantitative and qualitative goals consisting of variable weighted goals, some of which were based on revenue while others were based on percentage achievement of goal.  The only way to figure it all out was to draw a table on the white board and start filling it in.  When we were done it looked like the monstrosity below:

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  • The Chainsaw Massacre and Building Sales Teams
    • September 14, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

    Despite the existence of both a science and a process for hiring salespeople, most efforts also tend to be hit or miss and the emphasis always seems to be on miss.  There are plenty of reasons why, and we can discuss some of them, but the biggest and most insane reason is…

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  • Data: The Top 10% of All Salespeople are 4200% Better at This
    • September 7, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Sales Data and Science, Understanding the Sales Force

    My wife and I entered the small jewelry shop and were greeted – not with a warm welcome – but with a matter of fact “my name is…and I’m the owner…and I created everything in the store” which was followed by fifteen minutes of non-stop presentation of everything she created.  

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  • How To Stop Sucking by Understanding and Changing Your Sales Metrics
    • August 30, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

    Suppose a company reports that its win rate is 24%.  Does that tell you anything other than they suck?  It doesn’t tell us how badly they suck, why they suck, how long they’ve sucked, who sucks, or whether there is any hope for them to stop sucking.  And even if their win rate is double the 24%, the same questions apply. Let me explain.

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  • Follow This Advice to Schedule More Meetings and Spend Less Time Doing It
    • August 25, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

    Regular readers know that I’m all about the data and I have written nearly two thousand articles based on data from Objective Management Group’s (OMG) assessments of more than two million salespeople.  Occasionally however, I see data where incorrect conclusions have been reached and like the toad on the window, my conclusions run counter to theirs.  One such example is a beautiful infographic from sales playbook company Xant. I am going to share some of their data, graphics and conclusions and I’ll provide my counter argument to their conclusions.

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  • Nothing Beats This One Tool When You Can’t Sell Face to Face
    • August 19, 2021
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Categories: Analogies, Understanding the Sales Force

    There are some misguided selling strategies that can be undone and in today’s article we’ll discuss the benefits of the single tool that is the real deal and a huge difference maker.

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