Understanding the Sales Force

  • What You Get When You Accelerate Sucky Sales

    • June 22, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Chris Beall, CEO of ConnectAndSell.com says, “Be careful not to accelerate suck!”. That quote appeared today on the High Velocity Sales Blog, where Chad Burmeister wrote a great article about outbound on demand. You should read that article. It can change your world! Anyway, I wanted to elaborate on that quote as it applies to expanding your sales force. 

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  • Why Some Great Salespeople Produce and Others Don’t

    • June 18, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    I was talking with someone who wanted his farmers – salespeople who are assigned to a single enterprise account – to hunt. His idea is to take existing salespeople and have them bring on new accounts instead of hiring additional salespeople to do that. There are certainly pros and cons to that, but do you think it will work? What would it take? What are the chances? If it works, can it be replicated? Let’s take an inside look at the factors, chances and reasons, shall we?

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  • How to Finally Get Sales Selection Right

    • June 16, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Before I share some crucial sales selection tips, I need to begin with some baseball. My apologies to all of my cricket and soccer obsessed readers.

    My team, the Boston Red Sox, just lost their seventh consecutive game. They are in last place and heading for their third last place finish in the past four years. The outlier year was 2013, when they won the World Series. I think there was far less talent on that championship team than on this year’s edition, but the 2013 team had a rallying cry (Boston Strong) and everyone overachieved. You can’t count on everyone overachieving each year, so in lieu of that, as Jim Collins would say, you must have the right people in the right seats.

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  • Why You Must Hire Salespeople Right Now

    • June 4, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Forbes conducted a survey of Fortune 500 CEO’s and 82% of them said they would be hiring more people within 2 years.  Why should that be important to you?  

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  • How You Can Increase Sales During the Summer

    • June 3, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    It is concert season and salespeople tend to drag out their own old and inappropriate beliefs about selling in the summer.

    For one, they work much less.  I understand the need for a summer vacation, but why is the summer any different from when they take their winter vacation?  They return from their winter vacation and work really hard, but for some reason, before and after the summer vacation, they hardly work.  That’s lazy!

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  • Connecting the Dots on Sales Management

    • May 28, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Do you remember the morning that you couldn’t find your keys, but they were right there on the counter?  Or the time that you couldn’t find an article of clothing, but it was hanging right there in your closet the entire time you were looking for it?  Or the time you couldn’t find your car in the airport parking garage?  And yes, it was right where you parked it.  Sometimes, things are right in front of you and you don’t notice them!  And that brings us to this sales management topic.  

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  • Whiplash on the Sales Force

    • May 26, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    In many cases, difficult prospects are actually easier to sell because there isn’t a whole lot of competition.  Most salespeople give up or lose the prospect’s respect before they get remotely close to doing any business with them.

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  • Why Half of the Sales Force Resigned This Month

    • May 20, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    There is a hidden problem that the CEO is unaware of and even the most accurate and predictive sales candidate assessment on the planet – ours – won’t overcome the issue.  It’s worse than you can imagine!  

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  • Chris Cagle – Great Example of Intangibles in Sales

    • May 18, 2015
    • Posted by: Kurlan & Associates, Inc.
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    You probably heard that BB King, the King of the Blues, died last week.  My wife and I met him after a performance in 2007 and the meeting inspired this article on work ethic.  Last week, on a flight from Dallas to Boston, I was sitting next to Country Music star Chris Cagle, who told me all about his new business.  You just have to read his story and the great example of intangibles at work.  

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  • Salespeople as Closers & 10 Other Sales Myths

    • May 14, 2015
    • Posted by: Dave Kurlan
    • Category: Understanding the Sales Force

    Just because you think it, that does not make it normal, correct, supportive or useful.  Challenge everything you believe to be true in sales and ask whether or not it really needs to be that way.  Could you change your results if you changed your beliefs, expectations and thinking?

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