Understanding the Sales Force

  • Predictions for 2018 – The Sales Triad Will Provide Record Sales Growth

    • January 29, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    With and additional competition, I can tell you this.  If you aren’t the low price leader, the best-known company, or the safest decision that a buyer can make, you will have to do some real SELLING to get that business.  And not just selling, but thoughtfully, effectively, efficiently, and articulately selling value.  What?  You already sell value?  Really?  I’ll bet you don’t. 

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  • When Good Prospects Can be Worse Than Tough Prospects

    • January 17, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Comparing stop and go traffic to the other conditions I have driven in got me thinking about a sales analogy that you might find helpful.

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  • What You Should Know When Your Cold Prospect Suddenly Returns From the Dead

    • January 15, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Last week I wrote about the deep freeze, why prospects suddenly go cold, and how you can prevent that from happening. That article was instantly as popular as any I have ever written.  I also posted a 6-minute  cold-calling rant on LinkedIn that had more than five-thousand views after just a couple of days. The video, like the article, was about mindset, not scripting and tactics.  And last week I also posted an article about writing a good prospecting email.  It seems that there was a theme to the week and it resonated really well with the readers.

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  • 7 Reasons Why Prospects Go Cold and How to Avoid it

    • January 5, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    If you change your perspective about prospects going cold, you might discover that you caused them to go cold, rather than the myriad of other possibilities.  I’ll explain.

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  • How to Write a Sales Email That Works

    • January 3, 2018
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I receive so many unsolicited emails each day that it makes my head spin.  Most of them, like the cold calls I get, are simply horrible.  Delete.  Delete.  Delete.  Junk.  Block.  Unsubscribe.

    This week I received the daily double – a cold call with an identical, corresponding email.  The email read like this:

    Hi Dave, 

    I hope this message finds you well.

    We spoke in the past regarding the copier equipment in your office.  At the time you indicated that your existing contract will be ending just over a year from now.  Have you started to look into this yet?  Our company would love a shot to earn your business.

    I’ll go through this line by line and explain what’s horrible, what’s OK and how I would change it.

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  • 3 Lessons that Apply to Every Sales Call No Matter What You Sell

    • December 18, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Several years ago, during one of the performances, it dawned on me that the orchestra’s role in the show correlated very nicely to an effective sales presentation.  There were 3 fantastic lessons that I presented then and as I have done each year since, will present again here.

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  • 14 Sales Topics That Readers Cared About Most in 2017

    • December 14, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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  • More Fake News in Sales Organizations Than on TV Networks!

    • December 13, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Most of your salespeople are just like fake news and I will prove it.  I’m not talking about the elite top 5% or the next group of 15% who are very strong.  I am referring to the bottom 46% of the sales population who, if I am to be completely honest, totally suck. If yours is like most companies, then half of its salespeople fit this description.

    I’m going to show you exactly how your salespeople report fake news but first, we need to break down how fake news happens so that I can demonstrate how your weak salespeople do the exact same thing, every chance they can get.

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  • The Perfect Day for a Salesperson – 10 Ways to be More Efficient and Effective in 2018

    • December 8, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You can be more effective and more efficient selling in 2018, do every single thing I wrote about in this article, exactly as I wrote it, and without any difficulty, by making a conscious decision to follow this blueprint.  It’s not hard. It’s not scary.  It’s not unusual.  It’s not even thought-provoking.  It’s simply a list of best practices that great salespeople (top 5%) do and that crappy (46%) salespeople either don’t do consistently or don’t do it at all.

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  • Which is Worse – Crappy Salespeople or Crappy Sales Managers?

    • December 6, 2017
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In his book, The Art of the Start, Guy Kawasaki said, “Don’t Worry, Be Crappy.”

    That advice suggested that companies just get their early versions of software and tech products out there and they could make them better later.  

    How are early versions of technology different from crappy salespeople and crappy sales managers?  For one thing, salespeople and sales managers tend to stay crappy unless professional training, coaching and interventions occur.  And unlike products, user feedback tends to be sketchy when it comes to salespeople because they refrain from giving it.  But what would happen if they did?

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