Understanding the Sales Force
-
A Guaranteed Fix for Inaccurate Sales Forecasts
- September 15, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Are your expectations completely unrealistic when you attempt to forecast sales for the month or quarter? For most companies, inaccurate forecasts are the norm and expectations for accuracy are insane. But that’s when companies rely on CRM applications with any of the following 10 challenges:
-
Driving, Asking Questions, Inside Sales, and Sales Process with a Twist
- September 8, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
“You’ve been driving a car since you were a teenager, but your cars have always had an automatic transmission and you’ve always driven on standard roads. Now we will ask you to drive a much larger car, drive it at faster speeds, on an obstacle course, with people in your way. Oh, and one more thing – for the first time, you’ll be driving a six-speed manual transmission. You might be afraid to take your foot off the clutch and put the car into first gear because, if you’re not careful, you might kill those people standing in front of your car!
“That’s how salespeople sometimes feel when they need to be liked and are expected to ask their prospects some really difficult questions. Salespeople think someone will be killed – and they worry that it might be them!”
-
Increase Sales by 20% – Guide to Creating an Effective Sales Process
- September 3, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Earlier this week I received this inquiry form from our “Ask a Sales Expert” page:
Someone from my team always responds to these inquiries and it was my turn. I want to share the correspondence, but it’s even more important to read the accompanying explanation, interpretation, warning and lesson. If I can help you to understand this and get your sales process correct, the data suggests that there is a corresponding 20% increase to sales!
-
Advanced Sales Hacks to Take Your Sales Game to the Next Level
- September 2, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
In mid-August, I hosted approximately 20 veteran sales experts at our office in the Boston area. They were there to spend two days with me, hone their skills, and get coached up – some more. Again. They come every year! And each year, we not only accomplish that, but we usually come up with something new for them to bring back and take for a drive. Today, I decided to share one of the things we worked on this year.
-
Sales Hacks and How to Improve Your Lead Follow Up Conversions
- August 31, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I have previously written about how important it is to quickly and consistently follow up on inbound leads. This article from September of 2013 included two great infographics that demonstrate lead conversion statistics. However, Russ, from FindAccountingSoftware.com, emailed me a link to this case study on 63,256 outbound calls that has much more specific, useful information.
-
Why Inbound and Inside Sales Experts Think Sales Process is Dead Too
- August 18, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I love and use some of their tools and services and recommend them to clients too. But the key word here is tools. They support and enhance selling. Tools don’t replace selling.
-
The Science of Sales Selection vs. the Marketing of Modern Selling
- August 14, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I started with more than 100 sales-specific findings and narrowed them down to the 18 findings and scores that clearly differentiated their tops from their bottoms. A mistake made by behavioral scientists and sellers of personality and behavioral styles assessments is that they only look at top performers and identify common traits. They fail to realize that the bottom performers have the same personality traits and behavioral styles as the top performers and none of those traits or styles are predictive of sales performance.
-
How the Right Questions Can Make up for Lack of Sales Experience
- August 11, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Magic, racing and expectations are major factors in sales. We will discuss the role of each and how salespeople can be more consistent when they better understand those 3 factors and learn to manage them.
-
Trust and Integrity in Selling May Not Be What You Think
- July 28, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
as far as salespeople go, the holy grail is the salesperson who is both likable and has high integrity. I believe there are significantly more salespeople in this sales category than the other three categories combined. This may surprise people who are not in the sales professions because while salespeople constantly fight the stereotype of the snake oil salesperson, more often than not, it’s the prospects who lack integrity. They withhold information, bluff, play games, mislead salespeople and outright lie.
-
The Two Sides of Likable Salespeople
- July 23, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Do sales leaders find certain salespeople to be more likable? Do prospects and customers find certain salespeople to be more likable? Are likable and integrity intertwined? Can you have likable salespeople who lack integrity?
Some more questions…