Understanding the Sales Force

  • Where Can You Find the Best Salespeople?

    • September 28, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Maybe you drink the finest wines, stay at the most luxurious hotels, dine at the best restaurants, purchase the best brands and drive the fanciest cars. Or not.  Either way, you’ll at least want to know where you can find the best salespeople in the world, right?

    To accomplish this I looked at data from the most recent 435,000 sales evaluations and assessments from Objective Management Group (OMG) and broke it down into 6 regions of the world. See the image above.

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  • The Top 12 Factors that Cause Delayed Closings and What to Do About Them

    • September 25, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Delays, delays, delays.  Nearly every coaching call with a salesperson is about a delayed closing.  Nearly every coaching call with a sales manager is about a salesperson with a delayed closing.  Everyone wants to know what to do about the delayed closing but that’s the wrong question.  Everyone should be asking these two questions instead.

    Was it really delayed or were we overly optimistic about if and when this opportunity would close?
    What steps can we take to prevent delayed closings?

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  • Data Shows 1st Year Sales Improvement of 51% in this Competency

    • September 18, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I looked at the before and after scores for eight of the 21 Sales Core Competencies as well as the Reaches Decision Makers, Account Manager and Farmer competencies for a total of 11.  See the table below:

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  • How to Achieve Short-Term Explosive Growth from your Sales Team

    • September 14, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Explosive Growth.  Positive Momentum.  Better Morale. Greater Confidence. Improved Capabilities.

    Wouldn’t you just love using those phrases to describe your sales force?

    We know from the data in this article that according to Objective Management Group (OMG), sales managers who spend at least 50% of their time coaching have salespeople who are 28% more effective.

    We know from OMG’s data in this article that sales managers who are effective at coaching have salespeople who are 16% more effective.

    And we know from the same data that sales managers who spend at least 50% of their time coaching AND are effective at coaching have salespeople who are 49% more effective. 

    That’s 49% more effective!

    So what would a 49% bump mean to you and your company and what will it take to get there?

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  • How the Cheesecake Factory Menu Can Make You a Better Closer

    • September 13, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
    How the Cheesecake Factory Menu Can Make You a Better Closer

    Have you ever visited a Cheesecake Factory?  I LOVE the menu – they offer EVERYTHING.  The downside is that because there are so many items to choose from, it’s difficult to decide what to order.  That’s better than the options you have with my Blog. 

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  • Finally!  Science Reveals the Actual Impact of Sales Coaching

    • September 7, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You must have heard the joke that 73.6% of statistics are made up!

    I have read and even reported that sales leaders who coach their salespeople see a boost in revenue of around 27%.  It sounds like a realistic number but I have not seen any science to back it up.  Until now.  Check this out!

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  • Do the Best Sales Managers Have the Best Salespeople?

    • August 27, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    We all see the effects that strong leaders have when they surround themselves with either strong, mediocre or weak people.  What happens when strong leaders inherit a mixed team?  What happens when they hire a mixed team?  What happens when we ask the same questions about weak leaders?

    I dug into a subset of data from Objective Management Group’s (OMG) evaluations of the salespeople who report to more than 15,000 sales managers to determine whether the best sales managers actually have the best salespeople.  I was surprised and disappointed by what I found.  Check this out!

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  • New Data Shows That Elite Salespeople are 700% Less Likely to Do This

    • August 20, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    How effective are salespeople when it comes to creating urgency?  I’m not talking about salespeople who create urgency by telling their prospects that if they don’t order today the price will go up or it won’t be available.  I’m talking about salespeople who create urgency by asking questions to uncover problems, the consequences and cost of which, create urgency.

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  • Elite Salespeople are 26 Times More Effective at This Competency Than Weak Salespeople

    • August 14, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Elite salespeople don’t need to close and weak salespeople suck at closing.  Want proof?  Let’s review some data from 1831605 evaluations and assessments of salespeople conducted by Objective Management Group (OMG).  You can see and play with the data here.

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  • Does Being a Strong Qualifier Correlate to Having a Strong Pipeline?

    • August 7, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    My latest data mining project reveals that the answer to this question is a partial correlation.  

    Check out the two tables below and you’ll see just what I mean.

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