Understanding the Sales Force
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Rebuttal to What Elite Salespeople Do Differently
- March 4, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
This article appeared through syndication on some other sites. On CustomerThink, an epic discussion followed this introduction and I have included more than 50 comments that appeared there. It started with this comment from Bob Thompson, who also happens to own the CustomerThink website:
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Case History – Another Pitiful Sales Cold Call Exposed
- March 2, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
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Verne Harnish’s Rant and 3 Sales Leadership Issues
- February 25, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
The one newsletter that I never fail to read each week, rain, 7 feet of snow, sub-zero temperatures, or shine, is Verne Harnish’s Weekly Insights (subscribe here). If you are not familiar with Verne (The Growth Guy), he wrote Mastering the Rockefeller Habits and his latest book, Scaling Up: How a Few Companies Make it and the Rest Don’t, is another must-read best seller.
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How Dramatically Has Selling Changed?
- February 19, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Yesterday, I was listening to a radio promotion when they said, “Take a selfie with a standie and then, using your smartphone or tablet, upload it to Facebook, or tweet your image using hashtag [something I can’t remember].”
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Fix Your Mediocre Pipeline for Accurate Sales Forecasts
- January 26, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Most salespeople don’t pay too much attention to this. Even though we perform a pipeline analysis and restage the pipeline with every individual sales evaluation and comprehensive sales force evaluation we conduct, we typically discuss this exclusively at the executive level.
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Top 10 Sales Competencies
- January 15, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
These aren’t the 10 sales competencies you read about and listen to all the time. No way! These 10 are hardly ever discussed, seldom, if ever written about, and the most difficult to learn. Ready?
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If Andre Agassi Was in Sales, Would He Be Ranked #1?
- January 15, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Andre Agassi’s autobiography, Open, was a great book! I kept wondering what it would have been like if Agassi was in sales instead of tennis. Would he have been the best salesperson in the world? Would he have won all the biggest deals? Would he have earned as much money? So I thought about the areas that would have supported a quest for #1 salesperson, as well as those that would have thwarted the effort.
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Do Chain Reactions Like This Really Occur When Selling?
- January 15, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Mary always succeeded in finding new opportunities, but her weaknesses, especially her Need for Approval, Discomfort Talking About Money, and Tendency to Become Emotionally Involved, would usually interfere with her ability to gain traction and close the sale. During the past year, she has improved enough so that she is not only finding new business, but closing it too. But she isn’t out of the woods yet.
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To Salespeople, Demos and Presentations Are Like Snack Food
- January 15, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Prior to learning about healthy eating, I believed a bagel was a healthy alternative to a donut. After I was shown that a carbohydrate converts to sugar in the blood and there wasn’t much difference between bread, bagels or rolls; and donuts, cake or pie, I changed the way that I ate.
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Specific Words Are So Crucial to a Sales Conversation
- January 15, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I just returned from a speaking engagement in Athens and had to stop at passport control several times during this trip. They always ask, “What kind of business?” and over the years I’ve used them all: consulting, speaking, training, business adviser, author, coaching, etc. I’ve learned that if I wantto be interrogated, “speaker” would be the answer of choice. If I simply want to answer a few questions, “consultant” will do the trick. But to elicit the desired yawn from the officers, I only need to say “attend a conference.” Words make a huge difference and if you like scripts, you’ll be disappointed. But a well-chosen word or phrase at just the right time can be the difference between a resistant prospect and an intrigued one. Do you pay enough attention to the things you do and say as well as how you say them just before a prospect becomes resistant or more engaged? Well, you should!