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Dave Kurlan Articles
Written by: Dave KurlanTop 10 Things - The First Minute of a Sales Candidate Interview - Click To Read Article
in addition to a candidate's sales ability, clients want the candidates to possess certain traits that appeal to the clients. Most of those traits are unnecessary. Many of those traits only serve to make the clients happy. Most of those traits don't help the salespeople sell more effectively. So they aren't necessarily the things you should look for in the first minute. I have problems with candidates who exhibit any of the following 10 behaviors:
You Can Help Salespeople Burdened with Sales Weaknesses - Click To Read Article
If you have been reading my Blog for a while you know that there is more to selling than just utilizing skills to execute the sales process, sales model, and sales methodology. The big, hidden, 600 pound gorilla in all this is the combination of hidden weaknesses that prevent salespeople from executing. Objective Management Group identifies five big ones and a dozen or so additional weaknesses that cause problems for salespeople. Most salespeople have at least 3 of the big ones and average a total of 9 weaknesses all together.
Sales Strategy and Tactics - Thoughts from the Super Bowl - Click To Read Article
The problem I observe most frequently is when sales leaders and sales managers do not take ownership of their respective responsibilities for strategy and tactics. We see sales managers unaware of what their salespeople are doing, where they are doing it, and who they are doing it with. We see sales leadership unable to get sales managers aligned on strategy, messaging, targeting, pricing and expectations.
How Many of Your Salespeople are Receiving Welfare? - Click To Read Article
I hear this very often: Dave, your assessment said that Joe was not money motivated but I disagree. It seems like Joe is in here every month asking for more money. Read this dialog...
New Penn State Coach - Just Like Dysfunctional Sales Management - Click To Read Article
Officials at Penn State will introduce Bill O'Brien as their first new head football coach in nearly 50 years. He will be responsible for rebuilding the football program and through that, the image of the school. That will be one difficult job and it begins immediately. Today, Bill O'Brien is still the offensive coordinator of the New England Patriots. Because the Patriots are the #1 seed in the playoffs, Bill O'Brien has another challenging job - preparing and helping the Patriots offense, led by future Hall of Fame Quarterback Tom Brady, to compensate for their own pathetic defense, as they attempt to advance to another Super Bowl championship. Bill O'Brien. One coach - two full time jobs. Both teams need his immediate, undivided attention and won't get all that they need.
Sales Courage and Resilience - Click To Read Article
We went to the movie, We Bought a Zoo and while it wasn't the comedy we expected it to be, it did have this: 20 seconds of courage.
Great Sales Management Advice from Football's Greatest - Click To Read Article
He doesn’t care what you did last year, he doesn’t care if you made the Pro Bowl, as long as you can help us win this week.’’ Sales Managers could learn a thing or two from Belichick! Like...
Before Your Company Hires a Sales Leader... - Click To Read Article
Everyone has a plan. Some plans are better than others because they contain all or most of the necessary steps and sequence them in an appropriate order. Most plans have gaps where steps should be and the sequence doesn't lend itself to success. One area where we see this occur repeatedly is when companies are about to hire a Sales VP or Director AND
Everyone has a plan. Some plans are better than others because they contain all or most of the necessary steps and sequence them in an appropriate order. Most plans have gaps where steps should be and the sequence doesn't lend itself to success. One area where we see this occur repeatedly is when companies are about to hire a Sales VP or Director AND - Click To Read Article
My goal was to understand to what degree people did not like and/or trust salespeople and integrate that information into our future work. I thought it could signify the importance of additional findings in Objective Management Group's Sales Candidate Assessments, and it could influence how we train salespeople in the future.
Get Your Sales Force to Perform Magic and Make Sales Appear! - Click To Read Article
I just finished a great novel called Law of Nines. A traveler from another world visits Earth in hopes of saving her own world. They have no technology where she comes from but they do have magic. Alex, the main character, just can't wrap his hands around the magic. Jax, the alien, tries to help. She said, "that little black thing you talk to where messages appear - in our world, that would be magic but we would do it without the black thing. That box that brings you up and down in a building - to me that's magic. Those enclosed carriages without horses to make them travel? Magic." Neither world could live without what they have but they simply have different names for them. We don't talk about it much but sales has a lot of magic to it.
Are Your Salespeople Still Cold Calling? The Ugly Truth - Click To Read Article
Cold calling. It sounds so...20th Century. Some industries still break-in their salespeople by putting them on the phone and having them dial - more than one hundred times a day - and attempt to schedule appointments. You still receive calls like this from new, and sometimes not so new salespeople selling insurance, investments, copiers, office supplies, commercial real estate and long distance phone services. Today, more salespeople are using...
10 Reasons - Don't Worry When Sales Candidates Don't Take the Test - Click To Read Article
We instruct clients to have their sales candidates take the Sales Candidate assessment very early in the recruiting process. It's the first step after the client receives their resumes. Clients carefully spell out exactly how the entire process will work and explain that the assessment is simply the first step. Recent statistics show that only 34% of the candidates are taking the assessment without additional prompts. Isn't that awful? Maybe - let's explore it further. We should consider that the following ten scenarios are all possible reasons why candidates fail to complete the assessment:
After Accepting the Sales Job Will the Salesperson Back Out? - Click To Read Article
Did a sales candidate ever accept your job offer only to backout prior to the agreed upon start date because the individual decided to stay with the current employer? This happened to a client and it had a tremendous ripple effect.
5,000 Reasons to Hire Salespeople Today - Click To Read Article
It has suddenly become far more difficult to find quality candidates. Fewer resumes are flowing through to hiring managers and a higher percentage are from candidates that simply don't have what it takes. How do I know? The percentage of recommended candidates compared to those who aren't recommended has changed dramatically in the past 4 months. The good news is that companies are extremely optimistic right now, they are hiring salespeople in large numbers and they should be!
How Many of Your Salespeople are Addicted to This? - Click To Read Article
Is there too much "Hopium" on your sales team?
Only 11% of Salespeople Do This at the End of a Sales Call - Click To Read Article
How many of your salespeople will stay in a meeting where they think they're hearing all the right things and continue to ask questions?
Questions You Should Ask Sales Candidates and Much More - Click To Read Article
I've included a bunch of articles I've written recently to tide your sales blog appetite until I return after the new year!
Every Sales Assessment Tells a Story - This is Fred's - Click To Read Article
Our assessments allow us to see the story behind every over and under performer you have on your sales team.
Why OMG's Sales Candidate Assessments Can't Help These Companies - Click To Read Article
Some companies don't need or can't use OMG's assessments. Here's who they are.
Sales Recruiting Effectiveness and Trust - Click To Read Article
How effective is OMG's assessment. Is it more reliable than a sales recruiter?
The Difference between Motivation and Commitment - Click To Read Article
Motivation and commitment are not the same thing!
Sales Traction - The Key to Measuring the Number 1 Sales Competency - Click To Read Article
How can you truly measure the number one Sales Competency? Traction.
The Latest Astonishing Findings About Sales Managers - Click To Read Article
83% of all first year sales managers don't make their numbers. How can we explain something like that?
Top 10 Reasons Why it's Hard for Salespeople to Land the BIG ONES - Click To Read Article
When confronted with a big opportunity, many salespeople treat them differently and as a result have trouble making the sale. Certainly there are more layers, more decision makers and there is more red tape, but the selling principles should remain the same.
Sales Process is to Religion as Sales Methodology is to Prayer - Click To Read Article
Like religion, a sales process requires some faith...
The Advantage that Focused Salespeople Have - Click To Read Article
A focused salesperson is a good salesperson.
How Can Strong Salespeople Lack Desire for Success? - Click To Read Article
Sometimes even the strongest of salespeople simply lose their desire to do whatever it takes to succeed in sales.
Best and Worst Questions for Salespeople to Ask - Click To Read Article
A recent HBR article contended that the very worst question a salesperson could as was, "What keeps you up at night?" I however, can think of much worse...
Do Your Salespeople Really Understand Pipeline Requirements? - Click To Read Article
I've found that there can be some confusion about how to satisfy pipeline requirements...
The Difference Between Sales Commitment and Work Ethic - Click To Read Article
Work ethic and sales commitment are not necessarily the same thing.
Tenure- Could It Possibly Be a Good Thing For Your Sales Force? - Click To Read Article
Is there any value for a company in helping people to feel secure about their employment and their future?
How To Close the Big Sales That Are So Difficult To Close - Click To Read Article
In most of the big deals I have closed or helped close, there are several things, extremely common, that once remedied or addressed, paved the way for the deal to go through. Here they are.
Sales Confidence - How To Ask Any Tough Question Anytime - Click To Read Article
What's the secret to asking tough questions and pushing back with confidence?
Selling - Your Company's Biggest Sale Ever - Click To Read Article
Your biggest sale isn't always your best sale. This could be for a number of reasons, here are a few of them...
If You Structure Your Sales Force Like The Big Companies... - Click To Read Article
Why you shouldn't structure your sales force like the big boys.
The Sales Manager and The Ice Cream Man - Click To Read Article
The ice cream truck can be used as a device to promote good behavior from children. What can your sales managers learn from that?
Is Moving From Vendor Up the Ladder Scary to Sales Executives? - Click To Read Article
Why does learning to move up the ladder from vendor to trusted advisor scare some sales executives? It means change...
12 Questions About Your Sales Process - Click To Read Article
Most sales people don't follow a process, those that do often confuse a sales process with a methodology. The process is the sequence of steps, "to-dos", milestones and goals that must be reached. The methodology is the technique you use to execute those steps.
How To Interpret Sales Revenue and Economic News - Click To Read Article
The economic reports can often times be misleading, the benchmark statistics are supposedly a "snapshot" of the economy but seem to be out of tune with what we're seeing with our own two eyes. The same is true with sales revenue. Sometimes the numbers belie what we know is happening right in front of us.
Are Your Sales People Jerks or Just Different From You? - Click To Read Article
The more we understand the differences between ourselves and others around us, the more effective we can become.
What would your "top salespeople" do if... - Click To Read Article
Many times those who you think are your "top salespeople" would be weak if you placed them into different circumstances. Sometimes the only way to recognize their weaknesses is through an assessment. How would your "top performers" react if some of these things happened to them?
The Complex Sale Pt II - Click To Read Article
Revisiting some of the factors that make a complex sale so challenging, and showing you how to incorporate element of the complex sell in order to beat outsell your competitors.
What Automotive Technology Can Teach Us About the Sales Process - Click To Read Article
Do you remember before all the modern safety features were installed in cars? We didn't miss them or feel unsafe, because you as the saying goes, "you can't miss what you never had." It's much the same with sales forces and formal, structured sales processes, they "don't know what they don't know."
Can Sales Candidate Assessments Drive Results? - Click To Read Article
Do sales assessments drive sales results?
Do You/Should You Have a Complex Sale? - Click To Read Article
What makes a sale complex? Why do companies find these so difficult?
10 Steps to More Sales Opportunities - Click To Read Article
It takes on average, eight attempts to reach a prospect, most salespeople give up after only four or five! Here are some steps to make sure that your salespeople reach more prospects.
The Longest Sales Cycle Ever- How They Closed the Deal - Click To Read Article
This team closed a deal after ten years! How they did it...
Selling Is All in the Timing - Click To Read Article
When it comes to selling, you can have all the ingredients, but if you don't follow the correct order, you could end up going astray.
Get Your Veteran Salespeople to Take Baby Steps - Click To Read Article
We expect newer salespeople to struggle with questioning and listening skills when they're selling. We don't expect our veterans to have the same issues, but the data shows that these skills don't necessarily improve with experience.
Do Stories Make a Difference When Selling? - Click To Read Article
How do you use stories? If you use them for these reasons you're right on the money...
Little League and the Sales Force - It's More Than Trophies - Click To Read Article
The positive and negative attributes of "giving trophies to everyone." How should you reward your sales force?
The Latest Tools to Grow Your Sales Force - Click To Read Article
A few upcoming events and a special book launch.
Salespeople Failing to Get Prospects to the Phone - Click To Read Article
Why are your sales people having trouble getting to their prospects live in person to the phone?
The New Way to Train and Develop Sales People - Does it Work? - Click To Read Article
What are the impacts of some of the changes that have been made in the past few years to sales training? How have things changed and does the new method work?
Does Fear Prevent Your Sales People from Executing Your Sales Plan? - Click To Read Article
Don't let self-limiting beliefs get in your way. Identify and over come them.
Is it Good to Have Perfectionists on Your Sales Force? - Click To Read Article
Perfectionism can be a good attribute in a salesperson when it comes to administrative accuracy, but sometimes their perfectionist tendencies can get in their way.
Bad Things Happen When You Leave it Up to Your Sales People - Click To Read Article
What are your sales people doing, or not doing when you're not looking? If they're not managed effectively here are 10 things they're doing (or not doing).
Money Motivated Salespeople are a Dying Breed - Click To Read Article
Objective Management Group has evaluated thousands of salespeople, and has found that fewer and fewer of the salespeople they assess are money motivated. This has progressed to such a degree that OMG will eliminate the money motivated finding in its sales and sales management assessments.
The Prospect Isn't Talking With Any Other Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Sales leaders, how many times have you heard this familiar refrain from your salespeople? How often is it true and why do your salespeople think it?
Top 6 Factors for Killing an Opportunity or Prospect - Click To Read Article
How can you tell if an opportunity is dead? It's dependent on a number of internal and external factors...
Selling is Like Rocket Science Until You Do These Two Things Well - Click To Read Article
Selling is really, really hard...until you learn how to do two things very well. Listen and ask questions that will get specific desired responses.
Startups and the Dilemma of the First Sales Hire - Click To Read Article
Who do you hire a VP or a Salesperson? The dilemma facing a startup attempting to build a salesforce.
Getting Deals Closed - End of Quarter Sales Gone Mad - Click To Read Article
Do you experience, "it"? The rush, the craziness, the madness that weeks 11-13 at the end of a quarter bring to a sales force? There's a way to stop it.
Top 7 Sales Force Compensation Secrets - Click To Read Article
What's the relationship between sales assessment performance and income. Specifically if someone tests well, but doesn't report ever having a high level of income is there an underlying reason?
Sales Effectiveness - IDC and CEB Draw Conflicting Conclusions - Click To Read Article
Two studies, two different conclusions about sales effectiveness. What gives?
The Myth of Sales Habits and Competencies - Click To Read Article
When they give feedback, Veteran salespeople like to talk about how they "forgot about" this or that, or "got out of the habit of..." Was it really ever a habit if they stopped doing it? What prevents them from admitting that they either never knew it or never did it?
How Many Salespeople Made Quota in 2010? - Click To Read Article
According to CSO Insights, an all time high percentage of salespeople hit their quota in 2010. What does this mean?
The Difference Between Good and Bad Sales Coaching Questions - Click To Read Article
You might think you're asking the right questions, but if you're not being as clear and direct as possible, chances are you're leaving somethings uncovered.
Can Music Make Your Sales Force More Effective? - Click To Read Article
Sometimes, when I hear a song it instantly takes me back to a memorable time in my life when it was playing. Something similar should happen with your sales people. If they hear something, a word, a phrase, something in the prospects voice, it should take them back to when they've experienced that before. They should be able to use that to their advantage.
Who Cares More-Sales or Marketing? - Click To Read Article
Sales and Marketing share a lot of the same common interests, revenue, leads, conversions, metrics...and the list goes on. So who cares more about these things that both professions should take a keen interest in. Sales or Marketing? Here's my opinion.
Sales Performance- Does it Correlate with First Impressions? - Click To Read Article
How much can you tell about a salesperson in your first impression? Is it a good indicator of future results?
You Coach but Do Your Salespeople Follow Through? - Click To Read Article
Sales Managers are often asked for advice on specific opportunities and provide coaching to the salespeople. Often times that's the last they ever hear about that situation from the salesperson, why don't they follow up? Well there are a few reasons...
How Four Variations Influence Sales and The Way People Make Decisions - Click To Read Article
When people comment on sales assessment tools, they generally d raw from one of the following arenas, their Opinions, Experiences, Gut Instinct, or Science. So which is right?
Top 10 Outcomes When Salespeople Screw Up Selling "Value Added" - Click To Read Article
Value added selling can be great...but only if it's done right.
The Sales Force and Beyond- Customer Impressions - Click To Read Article
What sort of impression do your sales people make on clients and prospects? Who has contact with those people after your sales people? How are those interactions affecting your customer retention?
How Much Crap Do You Put Up With From Your Sales Force? - Click To Read Article
How much crap do you put up with from your salespeople. How much do they put up with from you?
Death Defying Sales Calls- Don't Get Run off the Road - Click To Read Article
When you're making sales calls trust in your own ability to handle the situation but don't have too much faith that everyone involved is on your side. A healthy dose of skepticism goes a long way.
The Will to Succeed, Sell Anything, Top Sales Book and Coaching - Click To Read Article
Do your salespeople have drive to succeed or are they hoping some good luck strikes? Check out some of these books and events that are coming up; Tony and Linda Cole's new book "Resurrecting Anthony," "How to Sell Anything, to Anyone, Anytime" by Dave Kahle and be sure to sign up for the EcSell Sales Management Coaching summit April 7-8 in Scottsdale, AZ.
Did Your Salespeople Choose to be In Sales? - Click To Read Article
A majority of people didn't start their sales careers right after college. Did most of your sales people choose sales as a career or did they simply end up in sales?
Dicing, Shoveling and Training Salespeople - Click To Read Article
When you're showing a newly hired salesperson the ropes it's a lot like showing a child how to learn a new skill. But no matter how long they've been doing it you don't want to assume that they know the proper method. Teach them, let them fail and then learn from their mistakes.
Top 3 Sales Lessons from Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker - Click To Read Article
What can you learn about sales from "The Nutcracker"? Certainly more than you thought.
Prediction for Your Company's Sales Force in 2011 - Click To Read Article
Sales development not sales training!
How Christmas Gift Giving Mirrors the Ideal Sales Process - Click To Read Article
The process for giving Christmas presents is a lot like the ideal sales process..
Top 5 Interesting Sales Tips - Click To Read Article
"Interesting" is a word that can mean entirely different things. It can mean I don't care at all or that I'm actually interested, it all depends on context, tone etc. Salespeople need to ask prospects to clarify vague or ambiguous terms so that they can truly understand what the prospect is thinking and feeling.
Success Factors for a Sales Training Initiative - Click To Read Article
Sales development is an important part of a future growth strategy, how much do you know about the factors that go into a successful initiative? So don't waste your money read about what you need to do to get the most out of sales training.
When it Comes to Compensation Sales is NOT like Baseball - Click To Read Article
So, the Red Sox have made some big moves in the past week, culminating with the monster signing of Carl Crawford for $142 million. The comparison between baseball and sales is the basis of my Baseline Selling method, but when it comes to compensation the two honestly don't have a lot of common ground.
How to Determine if Your Sales Process is Effective - Click To Read Article
Attempting to reverse engineer your last sales cycle is a good way to uncover some of your sales weaknesses.
Sales.. It's more like Miss Universe than the Olympics - Click To Read Article
The World series,the olympics, the academy awards, they're all great events but everyone gets rewarded even if they fail. Not so in sales, in fact it's a lot more like the Miss Universe competition...
Sales and Sales Management Simplified - Click To Read Article
Let's get to the basics of sales and sales management and make it as simple as possible by using some of my favorite baseball analogies.
Another Behavioral Styles Assessment Pretends to Assess Salespeople - Click To Read Article
I put a new assessment claiming to evaluate salespeople to the test, putting it up against Objective Management's industry leading tool.
The Science of Achievement Applied to Sales Success - Click To Read Article
After reading Malcolm Gladwell's book, I found that his findings really resonated with what I had seen in my own observations of thousands of sales people and the qualities that translate into success. It serves to highlight the need for assessments and for sales training.
The App Store Provides Insights into Your Company's Sales Challenges - Click To Read Article
Let's look at your company, brands, products and services. Is there any possibility that someone could go wrong buying from you?
Sales 2.0 Tools Have Their Place, But Where Is It? - Click To Read Article
Sales 2.0 is a tool, not a magic solution. It can help get you in front of clients but you still have to put in time the old fashioned way, on the phone selling.
NY Times Article Hits Then Misses the Mark on Sales - Click To Read Article
A New York Times article on compensating your sales force which gets part of the formula right, but neglects the fact that the most important aspect to consider when putting together a compensation package is who you are compensating!
Caliper and Selling Power Hit and Then Miss the Mark on Sales - Click To Read Article
My analysis of three predictive indicators of top sales performers put forward in a recent Selling Power article. I compared them with the data that has been collected by Objective Management Group in sales specific assessments.
Harvard Business Review Hit and Then Missed the Mark on Sales - Click To Read Article
An analysis of Harvard Business Review's recent article regarding observations about sales skills and salespeople.
When Agreement is Really Disagreement - Happy Ears for Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Happy Ears or Effective Salespeople? It all comes down to training, coaching, observation skills, commitment and practice. When put that way, there is as much burdon on you as there is on your salespeople. Are you up for this challenge?
My Sales Process, Strategies and Tactics in Your Voice - Click To Read Article
It is extremely important for your salespeople to utilize the strategies and tactics in the context of the sales process that was introduced - AND IN THEIR OWN VOICE. They can't ever stop sounding like themselves!
The Impact of Coaching Salespeople and Sales Managers - Click To Read Article
Yesterday I presented at the Sales EdgeOne Three-Day Sales Summit and my co-presenter, Donal Daly, cited a statistic from Gallop: Organizations that use coaches get a 26% ROI from that effort. That statistic surprised me in two ways.
Tale of Two Clients - Sales Training! :) versus Saaaales Training (: - Click To Read Article
Here's an interesting comparison for you. Two client companies are on the exact same sales development time line. (Same time line but separate from each other - they don't even know about each other) Both of their sales forces went through sales force evaluations at the exact same time. Both of their sales management teams were developed at the same time. Both of their sales organizations received sales infrastructure help (sales process, sales pipeline, metrics, sales recruiting process, etc).
Effective or Easiest - Which Path Will Your Salespeople Choose? - Click To Read Article
There are always one or two crucial turning points in every sales cycle where your salespeople must choose between asking the tough question that's called for, or saying what's comfortable for them. 74% of the sales population will always go for comfort because it's the path of least resistance.
How Can Anyone Spend That Much Time on Sales Coaching? - Click To Read Article
If you aren't the low price leader or one of the two or three best-known brands in your industry, and if buying from you does NOT represent the safe choice for your customers, then you are an underdog. And if you are an underdog, you had better be providing comprehensive sales and sales management training and coaching because you can't compete on price or reputation.
Election Day - Like Decision Making Day for Salespeople - Click To Read Article
The presentation, and still later, the proposal, are simply a formality that leads to getting the business when the selling that was conducted earlier was effective.
Can Your Salespeople Sell More Effectively by Asking More Questions? - Click To Read Article
Selling by asking questions is hard. A list of questions isn't the answer. Left to their own devices, your salespeople won't be able to create the kind of questions that are needed. You might not be able to either.
How Your Salespeople Can Eliminate the Competition - Click To Read Article
If your company is like most, you have lots of competition and some of them will do anything to get the business. How would you like to eliminate your competition? I don't mean putting them out of business (some of you wouldn't mind that at all) but I do mean getting them out of the way... There are three ways to eliminate increasing competition for a declining number of opportunities:
Sales Assessment Comparison - Objective Management Group vs. Devine - Click To Read Article
It's not often that we get to compare the assessment results of an individual that took our assessment and another. Why? Because most companies don't use multiple assessments that report on similar findings. Notice that I said "report on" and not "look at". While other assessments report on findings similar to ours, they don't look at or measure the same information to draw their conclusions. That's why the reports I received today make for such an enjoyable comparison.
Tale of Two Clients - Sales Training :) vs. SAAAALES TRAINING :( - Click To Read Article
You've heard it before. It flows down hill. Your organization can only be as effective as the weakest leadership link. When it comes to a sales development initiative, you must start out committed and remain committed to drive the process until the change you demand has been accomplished. Anything short of that is a formula for failure.
The Relationship Between the Relationship and the Sales Outcome Part 2 - Click To Read Article
Have you ever worked with salespeople that were so bad you thought, "She couldn't close a door!"? And have you ever worked with salespeople that were so good that you thought, "She could sell white to rice!"?
Why the Relationship is So Important to the Sales Outcome - Click To Read Article
Many people have written extensively on the topic of relationships and selling. One common topic is that people only buy from people they like and the other is how to develop strong relationships. There is nothing wrong with either of those topics but they surely miss the mark in two important areas.
The Single Biggest Mistake That Salespeople Make - Click To Read Article
Ask 10 people and you'll get 10 different answers about the biggest mistake that salespeople make. Ask the question a bit differently and I will give you a different answer too. But ask the question in the title - "What is the single biggest mistake that salespeople make?", with the key word being mistake - something they do incorrectly rather than due to a weakness - and I can provide data to back it up. There are actually 3 mistakes that are nearly always made but 2 of them happen as a result of the single biggest mistake.
Stop a Sales Slump in its Tracks - Click To Read Article
I know a few salespeople who are in the middle of some incredible sales slumps. They are suddenly not finding new opportunities, having trouble moving existing opportunities in their pipeline, not getting the opportunities that are closable, closed, and starting to feel down about the whole turn of events. Where to start!
The Search for Perfection - How it Can Ruin Your Sales Efforts - Click To Read Article
Sometimes perfection is good but sometimes there is a strange dark side. First the good and then, in the fifth paragraph, I'll share the frightening dark side with you.
New Tools Make it Easier to Book Sales Meetings - Click To Read Article
Tools are becoming a more important part of the sales infrastructure and there is no shortage of them. With so many sales tools available and such a big percentage of them being new, how do you know which ones to use and whether they are any good? Today I'll share two tools with you. One is brand new - the launch is today - and the other is fairly new - I found it a month ago. Both tools will help you get into new opportunities more quickly, more easily and with more fun!
How Obama, Dan Pink, The Heaths, Steinbrenner and Kurlan Might Prepare Your Sales Force for Change - Click To Read Article
I was up against the time, as 6:30 AM had arrived prior to the end of my article. That's how it was yesterday when I wrote about having a change ready sales force. The only problem with yesterday's article was that I never really got to the part about being change ready! So to start where we left off you'll need to read Part I first. How do we prepare the sales force for the four possible outcomes while letting them know that options 2-4 are not acceptable? There are several possible approaches and Alex Bartholomaus, who spoke with me yesterday, said he would like to see me talk about these two:
Preparing for Sales Training - Becoming Change Ready - Click To Read Article
I just took a talented group of salespeople through three days of training. Perhaps you've been in a situation just like that at some point. There are several ways this group can approach integration, application and execution at the end of the training.
Do Salespeople Have to Give up Control to Their Prospects? - Click To Read Article
I just read Why Won't Anyone Return My !*#@$% Call by Don Fornes over at Software Advice. Don's read of the current selling environment, specifically cold-calling, entry point into the sales process, and the table stakes just to play are dead-on. Most of his conclusions are good as well. I disagree with his article when he implies that we should be resigned to the fact that there isn't much to be done except building trust until the prospect is ready to engage.
10 Sales Personalities and How to Manage Them - Click To Read Article
manage and they aren't really personalities as much as they are characteristics. You might call them one or two word descriptions of people instead of characterizing them as personalities. Following are 10 Sales Characters and how you can manage them more effectively.
Why Salespeople Fail to Make Needed Changes - Click To Read Article
If your salespeople are going through any kind of up-to-date sales training or coaching, then they know they're supposed to ask questions and resist presenting company or product features and benefits. In the classroom they get it. In the classroom they can do it. In a coaching session it works. But as soon as you plug them in to a real sales call, by phone or in person, they revert to being obsolete.
The Whiners - Salespeople Who Get Your Attention - Click To Read Article
Your top performers (real sales professionals) aren't the ones taking their time (and yours) to whine. Oh no. This stuff is the exclusive domain of the under achievers and they whine to justify their lack of success. Whining might distract you from their dismal performance and further distract them from performing the work they're supposed to be doing.
Salespeople Become More Effective Part 2 - Click To Read Article
You must talk about Sales Process and, assuming it's been formally developed, structured, optimized and introduced, include it in every daily coaching and development call so that the backdrop for your conversations is "Where in the process are you?" In Baseline Selling, that would sound like "Which Base are you on?"
Salespeople Become More Effective But Can They Get Worse? - Click To Read Article
In most cases, especially when effective training and coaching has taken place, significant to dramatic improvement occurs. Occassionally though, a salesperson will appear to be worse - weaker - than the first time. How could this be? I'll explain some of the scenarios where this should not be alarming, as well as some where it should.
Sales Longevity - Free Webinar Available Here - Click To Read Article
I hosted a Webinar to introduce Objective Management Group's (OMG) newest innovation, The Sales Longevity Finding. In a nutshell, Sales Longevity is the likelihood of being able to retain a particular sales candidate through ramp-up, break-even, and 5X ROI. The attendees thought it was VERY cool! You can view the recorded Webinar here.
Rod Stewart and Barry Manilow Could be Your Veteran Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Barry Manilow dominated the 70's with hits like "I Write the Songs" and "Copacabana". Rod Stewart dominated the 70's and 80's with hits like "Tonight's the Night" and "Hot Legs". But they are far more alike than that. They are both skinny 65 year-olds with coiffed blond hair and in the last few years received horrible face lifts. Oh yeah, women love them. Could they be the same guy? Were they separated at birth? And they both behave like veteran salespeople!
Is $100,000 a Lot of Money to You? - Click To Read Article
Your salespeople must be able to understand the value proposition of their offering from every possible angle in order to make it fit their prospects' and customers' different worlds. Do they?
How to Achieve Consistency on the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
I have always believed that in sales, the three most important attributes (not skills) are the willingness to do what it takes to succeed (commitment) the passion for being the best (desire), and the discipline to repeat the required behaviors and activities (consistency).
Sales Recruiting - How Long Can You Retain The New Salesperson? - Click To Read Article
Back in April, I posted an article that was actually my third in a series on Sales Longevity - the science of predicting sales turnover. In that article I provided a link to my latest White Paper on the subject and suggested that this new science would someday become a new feature in our already cutting edge Sales Candidate Assessments. Well, that day is upon us.
Improve How Your Sales Force Sells by Phone - Click To Read Article
If your salespeople are unable to interest their prospects there is zero chance of reaching the goal for the call which, depending on the salesperson's role, could be anything from a qualified lead to a scheduled appointment to a transactional sale.
Complete Sales Reference Manual Now Available - Click To Read Article
This book includes contributions from 89 sales experts, covering every possible topic, including sales, sales management, sales 2.0, sales process, sales strategy, sales tactics, sales motivation, sales presentations, and sales psychology. It's more like a reference manual!
10 Attributes of the CEO Who Drives Sales and More - Click To Read Article
My second conversation was with an effective CEO who is completely unlike those that I described in the other article. My good CEO has the following 10 qualities that have a positive impact on the sales force:
10 CEO's and the Impact They Have on their Sales Forces - Click To Read Article
I don't mean to paint a picture that depicts CEO's as the problem, but in some companies, they are the problem. In 9 of the 10 examples I described above they were the problem but unlike this article, it happens in only about 50% of the cases, not 90%. So if you are a CEO or know one, what should you do when getting help for your sales organization?
Optimize Your Sales Force Without Spending a Dime - Click To Read Article
Enter to Win a Free Sales Force Makeover! This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for a company that wants to grow more quickly.... If you can state your case effetively than anyone else, your company could win a Sales Force MakeOver worth between $100,000 - $250,000!
Professional Sales and the All-Star Jazz Performance - Click To Read Article
Professional Selling is just like being in the All-Star Jazz Ensemble. It's being so good and so experienced, that one can perform perfectly, on demand, in any environment, despite tremendous pressure, regardless of product knowledge and expertise. How many of your salespeople have this capability?
How to Refine Your Sales Selection Criteria and Candidate Pool - Click To Read Article
Your candidate pool is comprised of the quantity and quality of candidates who respond to your online posting. If you are not happy with either the quality or quantity of your pool, then your ad, title or job site settings are to blame.
How to Close the Deal Your Salespeople Can't Close - Click To Read Article
Sometimes, when your salespeople are trying to close a sale, the deal stalls, gets put-off, or simply doesn't close. This is followed by, well, follow up, leading to more put-offs. There are many reasons why this happens but for the purpose of this article, let's simply assume that the prospect has every reason to buy and the salesperson did not do anything glaringly wrong along the way. Simply a closable opportunity that hasn't closed yet. In situations like this, there are usually two things going on:
Sales Coaching is Like Baseball - How Do You Rate? - Click To Read Article
Really? Whiffle Ball in the back yard? Sandlot? Little League? Babe Ruth? High School? American Legion? College? Cape Cod League? Independent League? First Round Draft Pick? Signed by a Major League Team? High Minors? Cup of Coffee in the Bigs? Utility Player on a Major League Team? Every Day Player? All Star? MVP? Hall of Fame? When it comes to coaching, most sales managers have done the baseball equivilent of Sandlot - they messed around at it and had some fun.
Recruiting Strong Salespeople - The Sales Candidate Pipeline - Click To Read Article
Recruiting Salespeople - again? Yes. I cannot write enough about this! But, as usual, I'll address recruiting from a slightly different perspective this time - the candidate pipeline. Not to be confused with the candidate pool which is simply a single component of the pipeline. Your sales pipeline should have four stages:
How You Can Get Your Salespeople to Do What They Don't - Click To Read Article
Please read this article the way I intended to write it. First, what it is not. It is not an article about how I lost 40 pounds. Nor is it an article about why I lost 40 pounds. Instead, please read this as an article about how to get people to change.
Case History - Sneak Preview of a Candidate - Click To Read Article
It never ceases to amaze me when clients receive nasty-grams from sales candidates who are - let's call it put-off - by the client's request that they first take our on-line assessment. The candidates receive a very nice email thanking them for sending their resume, explaining the client's recruiting process and asking them to take the assessment. You just wouldn't believe some of the notes I've seen. Name calling, cussing, threats, sarcasm, and more. Here's a typical sample:
Bench Strength - The Key to Replacing Salespeople - Click To Read Article
When you send your replacements into the field, are your fingers crossed hoping they don't make mental errors that help competitors close business or are you confident because your replacements are better than those you replaced? Those are the two keys right there:
Which Salespeople Use Bad Judgement and Burn Bridges? - Click To Read Article
You want your salespeople to get decisions instead of taking stalls, put-offs and objections. Some of your salespeople are better at this than others. I've written extensively about the difference between the required skills versus the strengths that support closing, as well as recognizing and dealing with put-offs. Today, I will discuss the difference between not getting the desired reaction or behavior, not getting a decision and burning a bridge.
This One Tip Helps Salespeople Close More Business - Click To Read Article
Make your solution ideal, both in terms of it being needs and cost appropriate, with no options, and if you did what you were supposed to do throughout the sales process you will make it easy for your prospect to make a quick decision.
Top 5 Sales Recruiting Observations of 2010 - Click To Read Article
Today, I'll make some observations about the sales recruiting activity taking place this summer that either reinforces some of the things I've said in the past, or modifies my original stance. In no particular order, but of equal importance:
Sales Force Compensation - X Marks the Spot - Click To Read Article
Compensation is usually simpler than most companies make it. Most companies seem to either over compensate or under compensate on salary. Most companies tend to do the same with commissions.
Sales Just Can't Be This Easy - Can It? - Click To Read Article
Touch or no touch, you can't take short-cuts. Even if touch does have a positive effect, I would never consider making it part of a sales process as in, complete step 1, step 2, step 3, step 4, touch, close. No way!
Rejection Proof - The Science Behind Success in Sales - Click To Read Article
The stronger a salesperson is, the less likely rejection is to have a major effect. That said, there are effective salespeople who have a rejection problem but they manage it better than their less effective colleagues. There are also some very ineffective salespeople who don't care about being rejected. In fact, their lack of caring about it may even lead to their ineffectiveness since their strategy rarely includes consideration of how to avoid resistance!
More Sales Coaching Leads to Accelerated Growth - Click To Read Article
Your salespeople have the opportunity to replay their last call - one that probably had a horrible ending - and learn from it... Your salespeople can experience a live version of reincarnation every day! There are two keys that can't be overlooked though:
Overcome Call Reluctance - Get Your Salespeople to Prospect - Click To Read Article
By decreasing both the amount of resistance and time spent overcoming the resistance, you might be able to make it less overwhelming and therefore easier for your call reluctant salespeople to experience prospecting success.
Game 7 - There is No Tomorrow with This Sales Opportunity - Click To Read Article
Don't turn opportunities where there IS a tomorrow into a desperate, "How much of a price concession do we have to make?", last ditch effort to close it today scenario, but do turn a customer/prospect-initiated deadline into a Game 7 scenario where you do whatever it takes to earn that business!
5 Advantages That Overcome Inequities on the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
So let's move over to business, and sales. There are inequities there too - with territories, margins on imported versus domestic components, parts and products, various markets a company sells into, the relative size and market clout of the competition, patents and copyrights, etc. But there are advantages that companies can, but don't all necessarily have. R & D, leadership, people, product design and quality, expertise, service and support are a few that quickly come to mind. There are five areas where the sales force can develop a huge advantage over its competitors:
Trigger Events - The Anatomy of Sales Wisdom - Click To Read Article
When a prospect says or does something it should trigger the salesperson's time machine, bringing him back to an important sales event where something like the current scenario took place before.
Top 20 Requirements - How Salespeople Can Be Better at Closing - Click To Read Article
While salespeople can get better at closing, closing is an outcome, and with the exception of real estate and banking, not really an event. When we evaluate sales forces and look at their ability to close, they may possess some of the strengths and skills that are part of the Sales Core Competency called Closing, but most of those attributes are used prior to, not during, closing time. The ability to close depends on the following 20 variables (in no particular order) that a salesperson brings to the table - or not:
Game 7 - There is No Tomorrow with These Sales Opportunities - Click To Read Article
don't turn opportunities where there IS a tomorrow into a desperate, "How much of a price concession do we have to make?", last ditch effort to close it today scenario, but do turn a customer/prospect-initiated deadline into a Game 7 scenario where you do whatever it takes to earn that business!
Compelling Reasons for Your Salespeopole to Go Mobile - Click To Read Article
Good Sales Managers know how important it is for their salespeople to uncover needs. But it goes way beyond needs. As I detail in Baseline Selling - How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball, it requires that your salespeople learn about their prospects' compelling reasons to buy. Not just their needs. The issues, problems and frustrations - and even the consequences - that would cause them to spend money and spend it with your company, instead of your competitor. But it goes well beyond compelling reasons.
5 Frustrations that Derail the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
I write a lot about the things that frustrate Presidents, CEO's, Sales VP's and Salespeople. Yesterday, somebody asked what frustrates me so I attempted to tackle that question here. I'm very steady and what you see on Monday, you'll probably get on Tuesday and Wednesday too. That said, there are things that will make me eat faster or more often, and here you can read my top 5:
10 Reasons Why Sales Commitment Has Become More Important - Click To Read Article
A comparison of selling today with selling over the past 20 years shows that selling is significantly more challenging today than ever before. Let's take a look at 10 of the factors that explain this shift in difficulty:
10 Obstacles That Most Salespeople Can't Overcome - Click To Read Article
An average/ineffective salesperson may not be able to overcome any of the ten with the possible exception of relationship. Some salespeople, while strategically and tactically challenged, are quite good at developing relationships. Unfortunately, while a relationship is important, people won't buy if that's the only thing a salesperson brings to the table.
Top Producer, Top Salesperson or Good Account Manager? - Click To Read Article
When top management is unable or unwilling to recognize the difference between top producers and their good account managers, mistakenly believing that their good account managers are also good salespeople, the company is probably not experiencing very strong growth.
With Blown Call, Jim Joyce Succeeds at a Sales Core Competency - Click To Read Article
The certain perfect game is just like the sure things that your salespeople report. "We're gonna get this business - it's a slam dunk." Or, "Everything has been agreed to - just waiting for final approval." Or, "We're the only ones they're talking to - it's ours for the taking!" And then...it isn't.
The Magic of Jiffy Lube, Sales Adaptability and Plagiarism - Click To Read Article
Perhaps you've noticed that while driving past a Jiffy Lube during (slow times for them) your commute there may be a mechanic out front, holding a sign, offering a discount, hoping you'll pull in. I don't know about you, but I am not particularly moved by a guy in a jump suit waving for me to stop. But it made me wonder, does this work?
The Delayed Impact of Lack of Sales Commitment - Click To Read Article
If you are a client, upon learning that a top producer lacks commitment you might be asking, "How can that be?"
But I'm a Sales Guy - The Story of Motivation and Compensation - Click To Read Article
A Sales VP and his CEO were in the conference room and each time the CEO brought up a problem, we asked the Sales VP to elaborate. Each time he began with, "Well I'm a sales guy so I know this stuff..." Yes and No.
The Role of Preparation in Developing Top Salespeople - Click To Read Article
The Internet has made it easier than ever for prospects to find your company, a benefit of Sales 2.0. The upside is that your leads are coming from unexpected places and you are getting audiences with prospects you may not have found ten years ago. The downside is that this has changed the sales process, accelerated the sales cycle and in some cases, made it more difficult than ever for companies to close these new found opportunities.
Top 10 Video Blunders When Used as a Sales Aid - Click To Read Article
It should go without saying that your videos should be professionally produced and directed. The do it yourself videos made on the fly are prone to all ten of the mistakes listed above. Unless you are in the marketing, advertising or videography business, you have no business doing this yourself unless you want to give people reasons not to buy from you.
Sales Tips for Trade Shows and Major Accounts - Click To Read Article
The exhibitor and visitor attendance is more good news relative to confidence, spending and outlook in the business sector. The bad news is that the exhibitors were clueless as to how to get people to stop at their booths and engage.
How Dell and Apple Use Customer Service as Their Sales Force - Click To Read Article
You expect your salespeople to find and close business. You should expect your customer service people to not only retain the business, but uncover new opportunities too. Sounds a lot like inside sales to me...
Are You Looking for Salespeople with Entrepreneurial Spirit? - Click To Read Article
While most salespeople don't have Entrepreneurial Passion, most Entrepreneurs aren't very good salespeople. They lack the DNA, skills and competencies necessary to consistently outsell their competitors, but they (sometimes) compensate for it with their 24/7 passion. Can you have both? Yes - entrepreneurs can be trained to sell effectively! And there are some salespeople who actually have this love of what they are selling. The key is to be able to successfully attract, identify, on board and retain those rare salespeople.
10 Tips for Hiring Salespeople for Your Company - Click To Read Article
This is a perfect time to be hiring - the economy is quickly turning around - heading into an upswing - and you must have excellent salespeople to find opportunities and get them closed by outselling your competitors.
3 Strikes and Your Out - The Need for Sales Force Consistency - Click To Read Article
I place a higher value on consistency than I do on talent. I don't care how much potential a salesperson has. If they aren't performing the basics - consistently - then the talent is wasted.
Is Your Law Firm Anything Like Your Sales Consulting Firm? - Click To Read Article
Did you ever stop to think about how much or how little you rely on your advisers? Not your board, not your board of advisers, but your business advisers. These are the individuals from outside of your company that you trust to direct, recommend, advise, consult and help with decisions, strategies, options and solutions to put your business in the best possible position to succeed. Take a look at the portfolio of advisers to the left.
Best Sales Strategy for Your Company - Click To Read Article
Let's say that you failed to close a company who decided against buying what you were trying to sell them. Does it make any sense to return to them and offer to sell them what they are willing to buy?
Derek Jeters Shows Salespeople How To Convert Leads to Opportunities - Click To Read Article
If your Star Salesperson prospects like crazy it makes your job very simple. You just point and say "Do what she does and one day you'll get the same results". Then you hold your salespeople accountable to those expectations, let your top performer lead by example and watch what happens.
Xobni as Sales Assistant - Pivots Help Close Sales - Click To Read Article
In sales, pivots can occur with your market, accounts, strategies and sales calls. The key is to recognize an event that calls for a pivot. For example,
What Sales Leaders Don't Know about Ego and Empathy - Click To Read Article
Empathy and Ego are both a lot like food - you can't have too much of it or it will make you sick. And if you don't have enough of it you'll be weak. They are really best plotted on bell curves, not bar graphs!
Tom Peters' 9 Items for the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Tom Peters' newest book, the Little BIG Things, is well worth reading. Recently, on his blog, he posted a more complete version of the Credo he included in the book. Several of the items which, if not sales or sales force competencies, are certainly crucial sales requirements (they are abbreviated here - follow the link to Tom's article for his complete descriptions):
Aligning and Optimizing Sales & Marketing to Increase Conversions - Click To Read Article
When sales and marketing are aligned and optimized (lead emphasis on quality and sales emphasis on process), sales increase dramatically.
Xobni as Sales Assistant, Pivots Help Close Sales - Click To Read Article
How to use Pivots to change the direction of a sales call or business strategy.
Sales 2.0 - Answer to Our Prayers or Costly Distraction? - Click To Read Article
Every day I read, hear and get asked about the various modern methods for salespeople to meet, engage and get in front of prospects. Every day, the emphasis moves a little further toward the Sales 2.0 approach to getting found - LinkedIn, Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, E-blasts, and Youtube.
Who Do You Call When Your Sales Forecast is Busted? - Click To Read Article
When your short-term sales forecast indicates that you'll come up short this period (month), what do you direct your salespeople to do in order to fill the gap?
When Sales Goals Change but Behavior and Results Don't - Click To Read Article
Suppose that you need your salespeople to find significantly more new business. Perhaps you've wanted this for a while but it's only recently that you communicated this to your salespeople. You've changed the goal but after a month your salespeople's behavior and results haven't changed at all.
One Hidden Gem in 10 Sales Management Challenges - Click To Read Article
The salespeople who fit the description of #5 might actually be on to something. They might be right. They're actually trying to make things better. They might even be wrong, but they're being constructive. The challenge with #5 is getting over yourself enough to listen! Here's what you can say:
Lousy Salespeople and Great Salespeople - Line Item or Investment? - Click To Read Article
Lousy salespeople are a line item but great salespeople are an investment. It's actually much worse than that. The line item on your lousy salespeople is only a fraction of what they really cost. Don't believe me? Then answer these three questions:
How Do Companies Retain Their Under Performing Salespeople? - Click To Read Article
Yesterday, while reviewing the findings and answers from a Sales Force Evaluation with a client, the conversation turned to the possibility of replacing some of their reps. As we began to talk about the 5 factors, they wondered how they were able to retain these people who, for the most part, weren't very good and weren't a very good fit for the roles they were in. Three of the factors came up big in explaining why the tenure of their 9 salespeople:
Football's Pitch Count and the Connection to the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Herm Edwards, currently of ESPN and formerly the Head Coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, was interviewed on WEEI, Boston's Sports Talk Radio station today. He said a couple of things that were quite compelling:
Anatomy of a Million Dollar Producer - Click To Read Article
Do you have salespeople that aren't profitable, don't contribute enough to overhead, won't change what they're doing and simply aren't benefiting the company?
Anatomy of the Worst Sales Call Ever - Click To Read Article
It's easier to talk about some of the things he failed to do since he didn't do anything correctly. If we were to perform an analysis working backwards from the end of his (can't really call what he did a) sales process:
Sales Advice in April Inc. Magazine Hits the Spot - Click To Read Article
I wouldn't normally recommend Inc. for your Sales Force but the April 2010 issue actually has some helpful articles. Their Trio of stories, beginning on page 83, have some good quotes. The first story is about a nuclear power plant salesperson who sells the right way. Here's a great quote from him that your salespeople can use if they're selling something complex or very expensive...
Customer Service Neutralizes the Efforts of the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Companies spend a lot of money on marketing and sales calls to acquire customers. Then they spend money to train and develop their sales teams to improve their effectiveness at finding and closing business. Then, because the people in charge of customer service simply don't get it, they encourage customers to walk away because they aren't wiling to address some of their customers' most basic needs.
Call Reluctance - Causes, Factors and Predictors - Click To Read Article
Historically, when salespeople have failed, has most often been because of their inability to get appointments. We are able to identify the three factors that indicate a call-reluctance problem - a malady that is career-threatening for salespeople who are expected to hunt.
Latest Sales Recruiting Breakthrough - Download the New White Paper - Click To Read Article
We are hearing loud and clear that companies are ready and willing to hire salespeople again BUT - they don't want to make any more mistakes. If you hire a great salesperson but you can't retain your A Player, on paper, it's just one more hiring mistake.
Achieve Sales Leadership Mastery and Grow Sales Revenue - Click To Read Article
You'll come away with every tool, system, process, strategy, tactic and metric you'll need to bring your sales force to the next level. And you'll work your bottom off while we're together.
3 Sales Approaches of Elite Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Great salespeople must be able to easily use all three approaches on their sales calls. Salespeople that struggle tend to have just one approach and it won't work all the time.
What Happens When Salespeople Don't Meet Expectations? - Click To Read Article
The game and the news are quickly forgotten and don't impact your life unless you bet on the outcome of the game or happen to be the leading story on the news. When your salespeople focus too much of their time and resources on a large opportunity and it doesn't materialize, you can lose 6-12 months of productivity from them. Not only that, your forecasts fall short, your budget goes to hell, and you could have a frustrated, demotivated salesperson on your hands. The worst part is if you have a long sales cycle, say 8-12 months, and the salesperson devoted most of his time and energy to this opportunity for 8-12 months, it will take an additional 8-12 months before the pipeline will produce new, meaningful revenue.
If Your Salespeople Can't Prospect They Will be Marginalized - Click To Read Article
That's according to Ken Edmundson, my guest on yesterday's edition of Meet the Sales Experts. He said that business as we see it today is the new normal and that for most companies, taking business away from the competition is the only avenue for rebuilding sales and growth.
Effect of Optimism and Commitment on the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
I'm not an optimist or a pessimist. I tend to be a be a realist. Relating the aforementioned quotes to selling, I believe that optimists find it difficult to challenge people. I can easily slide over to the pessimistic side when necessary, like when it's time to debrief a salesperson on a recent call. It's difficult to punch holes or question a salesperson's account of a call if you are an optimist. Optimists often become overexcited and set unrealistic expectations about the likely outcome of an opportunity. I believe you must be able to slide back and forth between optimism and pessimism. Get yourself motivated and excited, be realistic about what's happening, and challenge people when what you hear doesn't sound right.
Case History - How Not to Hire Salespeople - Click To Read Article
A company wants to hire 5000 salespeople - but why? 2000 drop out before completing training, and another 2000 drop out during the first 90 days in the field. Another 500 drop out during the first 6 months, and at the end of the year they only have 500 of the original 5000 standing. What would it be worth to them from a cost, time, resources and practicality standpoint for us to simply identify, in advance, the final 500, before anyone is hired?
Top 5 Reasons Why the OMG Sales Assessment is More Predictive - Click To Read Article
I was asked why Objective Management Group's (OMG) assessments are so much more predictive of sales success and future performance than behavioral styles assessments and personality assessments. There is more than one answer to this question and I'll try to explain the top 5 answers...[read more]
180 and 360 Degree Assessments for the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
There are not a lot of companies that undertake 180 degree or 360 degree assessments of the sales force and that's a good thing because there are so many limitations. The 180 - The salesperson or sales manager does a self-rating on the predetermined competencies and attributes and the individual's boss conducts the same ratings. The 360 - The sales manager does a self-rating on the predetermined competencies and attributes and both the sales manager's boss and the salespeople that report to the sales manager conduct the same ratings. So the 180 and the 360 are nearly the same except for the number of people and the vertical depth. What are the limitations?
Fact Based Reasons Why New Salespeople Fail - Click To Read Article
Did you ever have a new salesperson fail? Did you ever have one who was highly recommended fail? Depending on how effective your recruiting, selection and on boarding processes are, you may experience new salespeople that don't work out. This article explores some of the factors that impact short-term success.
Management's Guide to the Top 10 Differences Between Sales Winners and Losers - Click To Read Article
In this article, I'll ask you to rate each of your salespeople in the 10 areas that differentiate sales winners and sales losers to determine how close you are to having an overachieving sales force...
What we Think About Sales Motivation is All Wrong - Click To Read Article
The bottom line - for your salespeople - is that everyone is different; everyone is motivated by different things and for those who are clearly motivated by money, and where you have a clear goal and focus for them, their compensation should and must be commission based. When you have people who are motivated more by recognition, awards, competition, time-off, public service, or philanthropy, your compensation program should be flexible enough to compensate them in an appropriate manner too.
10 Steps to Create More of a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
I spoke to a very lively group of 130 CEO's in Cincinnati today and the question about creating more of a sales culture came up. There are ten steps to accomplishing this:
Top 10 Differences Between Sales Winners and Losers - Click To Read Article
What is it about some players, teams, salespeople, and companies that cause them to win while others don't? I have probably not written about this subject as often as I have written about tactics, strategy and motivation so I'll give it some attention this week. I'd like to discuss the ten biggest differences between sales winners or over achievers and sales losers or under achievers.
10 Lessons from the Sales Candidate Who Smelled Like He Peed on Himself - Click To Read Article
It was quite the claim. I remember telling my client that the next candidate we were to interview was the best sounding candidate I had ever spoken with on the phone. Robert, the sales manager, went to the lobby to get the candidate and returned, an ashen look on his face. Ray, the candidate, followed Robert into the conference room and suddenly, I had the same ashen look on my face. It seemed that the best candidate I had ever spoken with by phone was, well, a bum!
Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - What's Missing? - Click To Read Article
I also didn't include sales training or sales management training in those 10 sales management functions for generally the same reasons. Those are competencies best left to outside experts. Sales Managers can learn to coach - and it takes a long time to develop the ability to do it effectively - but
7th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies that are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
Salespeople love to present options. It makes them feel like they have more chances to win the business. It's such a popular approach that it's one of the few parts of the sales process that is universally accepted and named. You know it as Good, Better and Best. Companies actually have alignment on Good, Better and Best, sometimes using it in their retail stores and catalogs to provide category options. How many times have salespeople presented you with 3 options? Just last week, I was presented with 3 options at the Lexus Dealer where I got my LS460.
Overcoming No Response and Negative Response - Click To Read Article
Case History - What to do when your prospect fails to respond or when the prospect isn't interested.
Are Sales Cycles Really Getting Shorter? - Click To Read Article
I read an article that claimed that winning sales cycles are getting shorter. While I agree with everything else in the article, I questioned the 23% shorter because our substantial data does not support this claim. So where could the discrepancy be? Let's start with the author's statement, "from qualify to close has reduced by a little more than 23%".
The Former Car Salesperson That Didn't Know Why He Failed - Click To Read Article
This article explains why a lot of salespeople struggle and fail. Read it to learn if you recognize anyone you know...
Short Window of Opportunity with Senior Executives - Click To Read Article
This very short article is an example of how to keep things short with senior executives.
Signs That The Economy Will Soon Improve - Click To Read Article
We saw it again. It happened this summer, the tell tale tip off that things are turning around, that CEO's are feeling confident enough to...
Sales and Sales Leadership Lessons from Lou Piniella and the Umpire - Click To Read Article
There are some great sales and sales leadership lessons embedded in this funny story. Can you extract any of them?
Sales VP's and Marketing VP's - Should the Roles be Combined? - Click To Read Article
Pete Caputa pointed me to an article on the Revenue Journal Blog about why you should combine the VP of Marketing and VP of Sales Roles and what the sales part of that role should be. Zhivago says that the VP should be a marketing person and goes on to explain why. Well she's wrong!
10 Types of Sales Advisers and How to Choose the One Thats Best For You - Click To Read Article
The question shouldn't be whether you should or shouldn't include a sales expert in your group of inside advisers, the question should be which kind of sales expert you should rely on for advice. [Read More]
Tom Peters - Sales Excellence - Click To Read Article
"Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in one pretty and well preserved piece, but to skid across the line broadside, thoroughly used up, worn out, leaking oil, shouting ‘GERONIMO!' "-Bill McKenna, professional motorcycle racer Tom applied it to business but think of the implications if you can drive this message home to your sales force! My comments follow each one of his one liners.
Will Salespeople Take a Straight Commission Job? - Click To Read Article
Last week I spoke at the Ritz-Carlton in Phoenix and at Barton Creek Country Club in Austin, TX. I don't recall whether it was Phoenix or Austin where I was asked this question but the question is a good one. Most who wrestle with this issue are asking the wrong question. The correct question should be, "How can I get good salespeople to work in a straight commission environment?"
Seth Godin Reinforces the Proper Sales Process - Click To Read Article
When I help companies with their sales process it always leads to: * shorter sales cycles as a result of the process itself * higher average sales as a result of the value added to the process * higher margins due to selling at their price instead of selling on price * selling last instead of selling first.
Rules of Sales Engagement for the Recession - Click To Read Article
We also discussed the economy - of course - and right now, there are some new rules of engagement. You simply have to work three times harder, three times smarter, find three times more opportunities and be three times more effective just to sell what you used to sell. That's it? No. In order to be three times more effective you must refine your strategies and expand upon your tactics. You must be more creative, quicker on your feet, more resourceful and more persuasive. You must ask better questions and more of them. You must be more powerful than ever before. Do that and you will survive. Do that consistently and you will thrive when the economy turns around and money loosens up. In the mean time, no short cuts!
Why Most Sales Training Doesn't Work - Click To Read Article
If you invest in sales training, especially now, you also need it to work now, not in 12 months. Why does it take so long for most sales training to make a difference and why does most sales training fail to make the difference you expect? There are a lot of possible reasons and I'll attempt to explain them here.
Missing Sales Research and Sales Superstars - Click To Read Article
I read this article on the Best-Kept Secrets of Sales Research. First, I wouldn't call this sales research as much as market intelligence. Second, I wouldn't exactly call this stuff secretive.
Having Good Sales Calls - Click To Read Article
When you have a good meeting with a prospect, how do you feel? If your prospect was friendly, complimentary, open, and answered all of your questions, would you say that your chances of closing this opportunity are strong?
10 Kurlan Sales Competencies That are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
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?
Lance Armstrong's Metrics Applied to the Sale Force Equals Results - Click To Read Article
Recently, I completed Lance Armstrong's 2001 book on how he became a champion cyclist, was diagnosed with Cancer, beat the cancer, and then returned to become the greatest cyclist in the world. It was an inspiring, fast-reading book. While this won't come as a surprise to my cyclist friends, I was quite surprised to learn how metric-intensive competitive cycling is.
Sales Assessment Says He's Weak but He Made President's Club - Click To Read Article
Yesterday a well meaning Sales Manager, in defense of his salesperson, asked me how a salesperson who made "Club" could possibly assess so poorly. It's a great question with a dozen or more possible explanations. Here are some:
Improve Sales Performance with More Effective Pipeline Management - Click To Read Article
I have written extensively about the sales pipeline. Here are a few examples:
Your Sales and Sales Management Questions Answered - Part 2 - Click To Read Article
In an article last week, I provided the post to a sales competency contest. The final question in that survey asked the participants for any sales issues they needed help with. Today I'll answer the first four of those questions below:
Latest Fiction for the Sales Force - No More Hunters/Farmers - Click To Read Article
In 2007 we had to deal with writers proclaiming that sales and the sales force were dead. The reality of all of that talk was that the people writing about it weren't close enough to sales to know what they were talking about. Companies with transactional sales don't need salespeople selling their transactional items, but they do need salespeople persuading companies to choose them in the first place. Then the transactions can be placed via Internet or an inside sales group. That's about the only scenario where the "dead" proclamation even comes close to being accurate.
Differentiating Pricing Strategy From Selling Strategy - Click To Read Article
Let's differentiate between this very sound pricing strategy yet unsound selling strategy. From a pricing perspective, this strategy allows you to effectively position your company, brand, products and services wherever you need them to be, based on markets, competition, reputation, quality and business strategy. However, from a selling perspective, never provide your prospect with even two, let alone three options. It's difficult enough to close business in a timely manner today and you certainly don't want to be the cause of a decision making delay.
What Does it Mean When You Can't Reach Your Sales Team? - Click To Read Article
When you can't reach anyone on your sales team is that a good thing or a bad thing? When they are all on sales calls, working the phones, or with customers/clients is that a good thing or a bad thing?
FREE Salesforce Grader Tool - Click To Read Article
It's free and it provides you with a score on the relative effectiveness of your salesforce.
The Magic of the Sales Force Evaluation - Click To Read Article
Companies that evaluate their sales forces benefit from the insights, predictions, and findings that come from the wealth of relevant information. In addition to the many surprises, including problems they weren't aware of, they learn of many opportunities too.
How to Sell More Effectively in a Recession - Click To Read Article
How can you sell more effectively in this economy? You'll need to perform some self-diagnostics. If you use Sales Force Automation of some kind, perhaps a report like the one in figure 1.0 below is available to you.
Don't Make Assumptions About Sales Candidates - Click To Read Article
I have previously shared many instance of sales candidate assessments coming to life with their emails, voice mails and interview antics following the taking of our assessment. While the following email is another example of that, it is an even better example of what happens when a skeptical client finally realizes it.
The Top 5 Factors That Predict Sales Turnover - Click To Read Article
Our data shows that only 16% of the A players with experience stick for more than two years. And that brings us back to the original question. What do you think - A's or Longevity? Should the answer be a direct relation to the length of your sales cycle? Should you go for longevity when you have a long sales cycle and for A's when you have a short sales cycle? We're interested in what you have to say!
18 Business Trends for Your Sales Force - Click To Read Article
My guests were Mark Berezow, Gary Harvey and Rocky LaGrone. Before they handled one caller's sales force challenges (excellent stuff) , they commented on the state of business out there right now. They see:
Cultural Differences with Sales Force Evaluation - Click To Read Article
I was in New Orleans speaking at the Gazelles Coaches Summit, a prelude to the Fortune Magazine Sales Summit. I was asked a question about cultural differences with the Sales Force Evaluation: Is the lack of Money Motivation on an entire sales force in Ireland a cultural difference?
Top 25 Prerequisites for Successful Sales Training and Development - Click To Read Article
Before an inside or outside expert can help you develop your sales force, there are at least 25 milestones that must take place or the initiative will probably fail. Development has much less to do with content, curriculum, and methodology than it does with the person, or people who will do the developing.
What is Maximum Effort on the Sales Force? - Click To Read Article
You've observed salespeople who were focused, efficient and effective for months at a time. Very few distractions, good balance of new opportunities and closable opportunities, and everything moved along as it should, driven by these great salespeople. And when they perform like this for long stretches at a time, that is maximum effort.
How to Ramp-Up New Salespeople in 90 Days - Click To Read Article
Can you build a 90 Day Orientation Program for New Salespeople? It must have the following components...
Will Gifts Get Prospects to Return Calls from your Salespeople? - Click To Read Article
A fruit basket arrived this morning. My first reaction was, "who would want to send me a fruit basket?" It turned out that a salesperson sent it, hoping to get me on the phone. He had already left two voice mail messages and stopped by on one other occasion. As I write about his attempts to reach me, a few thoughts are running through my mind:
New Metrics for the Sales Force - Unusual Thoughts for Unusual Times - Click To Read Article
More is less - you will close more sales if your salespeople book fewer appointments but concentrate on more quality appointments. Quality is not how well your salespeople are received, it's the fit and need of the opportunity.
How to Be Memorable - Things to Do When You are Selling Yourself - Click To Read Article
What was the most memorable thing you ever did or someone ever did to you to stand out and/or get attention?
Sales Management - Eagerness vs. Resistance - Click To Read Article
For one, Frank Belzer, my guest, is known for his ability to keep his pipeline filled and he discussed the things that motivate him to consistently do that.
What are Reasonable Sales Management Expectations? - Click To Read Article
I am often asked which of the various services we provide to companies can be done in-house, by the executive team. Fair question. Answer: All of them. So why would companies use us or others with our expertise? Answer: Because when they try to do it in-house they aren't able to get most of it right:
The Effect of Commitment and Optimism on the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
There are some noteworthy quotes which, although written in the context of innovation, apply equally, if not even more to selling and sales management.
Secrets of Effective Sales Development - Click To Read Article
So when your salespeople tell you they've heard it before they are totally missing the point of sales development. They've heard it but they weren't listening.
Sales Leadership - A Balancing Act Between Compliance and Quotas - Click To Read Article
We'll discuss the balance sales leaders must have between sharing, mandating and asking. Sounds simple.
My Sales Force Won't Use CRM - Click To Read Article
I mentioned that the key rule to getting salespeople to change is rule #9, Consequences. There are three primary ingredients to having Consequences.
Can We Really Get Salespeople to Change? - Click To Read Article
People change when they are ready to change. How can you short circuit that time line?
Baseball's General Managers versus Business' Sales Managers - Click To Read Article
You have one huge advantage over baseball General Managers though. Forward looking indicators. Except for observation, all of the statistics they use in baseball are lagging indicators.
A Missing Link to Sales Improvement? - Click To Read Article
I was walking through the Airport when I saw what could be the missing link to sales improvement...
Are You an Eagle or a Vulture? - Click To Read Article
From the Band to the Birds, this post helps you determine which kind of bird you are.
Sales Coaching - Are Sales Managers Any Good at This Function? - Click To Read Article
I've written extensively about sales coaching before. Yesterday, a fairly typical day, I coached 4 different sales experts and 2 clients on how to more effectively coach salespeople and sales managers. I have noticed that most sales managers believe that they're fairly good at coaching when, in reality, most of them are very ineffective at it. Why?
How to be More Effective Selecting Sales Candidates - Click To Read Article
I'm all for sales benchmarking. However, when it comes to assessing sales candidates, I strongly discourage benchmarking and here's why.
How to Hold The Sales Team Accountable Under the New Rules of Sales Engagement - Click To Read Article
If you read yesterday's post, there was a comment from Teicko who asked how you can hold the sales team accountable under these new rules of sales engagement where you must work three times harder, three times longer, be three times more effective and have three times more opportunities in the pipeline to get the same results as you used to.
How to Find More Sales Opportuntities without Cold Calling - Click To Read Article
The two biggest problems for most companies right now, in this economy, are delayed closings and not enough new opportunities. I've tackled delayed closings, so today, with a little help from my friends, I'll tackle not enough new opportunities. I mentioned in my last post that (most of) you need three times more opportunities than ever before to make up for the late stage opportunities that aren't closing right now.
Improve Sales Effectiveness at the Salesperson's Hall of Fame - Click To Read Article
Why don't we have a Hall of Fame for Salespeople? Why don't we have a better historical record of the developments made in selling? Why don't we have a more effective marketing machine to promote the profession of sales to those who might enter the field? Why can't we have a movie or a short that represents salespeople in a memorable, positive and honorable way? This article explores 10 things we can do about this.
Identify the Perfect Salesperson for your Sales Force - Click To Read Article
During 2008, we worked to make our sales candidate assessments even more customizable and predictive. We already had hirable and not hirable recommendations but we wanted to go even further...
How to Turn Around Flat or Declining Sales Revenue - Click To Read Article
I don't care how many years your people have been in sales. They weren't trained to sell in an economic environment like the one we have today. Retaining accounts is as important as ever, but right now, most companies need their salespeople to bring in new business. Unfortunately, most of your salespeople weren't trained to hunt and close either, only to manage accounts. So it's a complex situatio.
Jim Collins Fortune Interview Translated for the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Jim Collins was interviewed in the February 2 issue of Fortune. He was asked this question: "Right now, it seems as if people are panicking - or are paralyzed about decisions."
Is Your Sales Model Effective? Know Your Salesforce ABC's - Click To Read Article
What happens when you compare a model like Deborah's - if you're gonna go hunting you'd better come back with dinner - with a model that has its salespeople making 3 sales calls per day, or around 60 per month? Do you think those salespeople come back with 60 new customers or orders per month? No chance! They probably sell 10. That's why they're on so many calls. What would happen if you told those salespeople that you only wanted them to go on 30 calls per month, but you want them to be a lot more selective, and you expected them to close 50% instead of 10%?
Misleading Statistics and Hiring the Wrong Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Statistics are awesome when they're used in a way that benefits everyone. When they're used to fool people it makes me angry...I'll illustrate my point by using some of our sales selection data. Take the following statistic for example...
Put on Your Helmet - 3 Tips for Selling in this Economy - Click To Read Article
What a great interview I had with Bill Murray, Founder and CEO of Winning Incorporated, Friday on my Meet the Sales Experts Radio Show! He was awesome. Here are some of the highlights from my conversation with Bill:
Personality Assessments for Sales - The Definitive Case Study - Click To Read Article
Nearly two years ago we began development of an exciting new way to evaluate Executive Management Teams. We brainstormed, conducted surveys, performed research and identified 16 qualities that CEO's wanted their Executive Managers to possess, along with 9 Styles crucial to a Management Team's ability to grow their companies.
Should Social Networking Support the Sales Effort? - Click To Read Article
Deborah Penta, my guest on this week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts, shed some light on how the relationship between sales and marketing should work. One of the things she said that I really liked was that executives "have an obligation" to market their companies and generate quality leads for their salespeople. An obligation! It doesn't get any better than that.
Sales Statistics That Reveal Sales Effectiveness - Click To Read Article
You have salespeople like this! They have plenty of opportunities in the pipeline but very few of them get closed. Some of these salespeople are actually thought to be good closers because they close more new business than anyone else on your team. But are they closing more new business because they're effective closers, effective salespeople or because they simply have more opportunities than anyone else?
Sales Experts Disagree on the Right Way to Train Salespeople - Click To Read Article
I was involved in a nearly week long, on line discussion with about a half dozen other sales experts in the Top Sales Experts Group at LinkedIn that to date has included about 41 volleys. The original question, raised by the UK publisher of modernselling.com, asked whether there was a right way or a wrong way to train salespeople. While there was some agreement on some points, there was much disagreement on many points.
Sales Best Practices - Not - Click To Read Article
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see the difference between company A and B. And it doesn't take a rocket scientist to implement the process either. But it does take more than a 60 day commitment to the new process. When it's been broken for a decade it doesn't get fixed in a calendar quarter.
The Difference Between Consultative Selling and Consultants - Click To Read Article
It's not new, it's been around since the 1960's, but it has since been formalized, complicated, examined, defined, refined, simplified and criticized.
Topgrading Pros, Cons, and Sales Assessments - Click To Read Article
Somehow, I got thrown into the middle of an internet disagreement between Brad Smart, author of Topgrading, and Bob Corlett, a blogger who calls himself The Staffing Adviser.
Why Salespeople Fail and How You Could Have Predicted It - Click To Read Article
The companies at which this salesperson had prior success were with brands you know well, that everyone in the world already carried, with established distribution. All he had to do was grow what had already been established by others before him. After all, how much new distribution had to be created for Oscar-Mayer Wieners?
Who Makes a Better Salesperson - Men or Women? - Click To Read Article
Tom Peters said women are better salespeople than men. I wrote that Objective Management Group has data that proves that a greater percentage of women are stronger than men. Here is how that data breaks down:
When Salespeople Perform Poorly on OMG's Sales Assessment - Click To Read Article
When a top producer doesn't assess well on Objective Management Group's Sales Assessment, how can it be explained? These are some of the possible explanations. Read More...
When, How and Why Salespeople Discount Products and Services - Click To Read Article
When I pick up the dogs, Heather gives me the bill. When it's $140, I pay, she gets the dogs for me, and we leave. However, when the bill is $800, Heather gets really uncomfortable, and begins editing the invoice and always seems to get it under $650. Nice, right? Only if you're a customer. If you're Bob, the owner, who has no clue she is doing this, what must it be like for him?
What Really Creates Sales Excellence? - Click To Read Article
What really creates sales excellence? No one thing - ever. A combination of things - always.
What it Takes to Get More Appointments - Click To Read Article
Without question, the most popular requests I receive each week are for help with making appointments and, specifically, creating positioning statements. For example, Pat and I traded about 6 emails over the past 10 days to get his positioning statements just right. But what if you nail your positioning statement but you're still struggling to get appointments? My guess is that you're doing one of the following things ineffectively...
What Does Sales Improvement Have to Do With Sleep Apnea? - Click To Read Article
Compare my journey to the journey of a salesperson that is being trained, coached, or mentored to improve in sales. Your "apnea" is that you stop asking questions, listening, pushing forward, following an effective process, closing, or any one of many other life supporting strategies and tactics.
Helping New Salespeople Succeed - Click To Read Article
This article discusses the evolution of developing salespeople.
Getting Excited About Sales Metrics - Click To Read Article
I get a lot of push back from clients when it's time to implement the daily huddles. They don't think it's necessary. It will take too much time. It's too much of a burden. It's redundant. Yeah, right. It only takes about two weeks until even the most resistant clients figure out that they not only have more control over their future revenue than ever before, but their salespeople are more productive than ever before too.
Former IBM Pro Lashes Out Over Sales Assessment - Click To Read Article
A CEO of a fairly large-sized but under-performing OEM asked us to evaluate his sales force. One of the three regional managers, who assessed as poorly as any regional manager could, called to complain about his results. In addition to calling me a toad, Bob said that in the eighties he used to sell and manage at IBM and he led the top performing team. He finished by letting me know that we didn't know what we were talking about and, by the way, he would be picking me up at the airport for the kick-off of their national training initiative.
Filling the Sales Pipeline Whos to Blame - Click To Read Article
What happens when your salespeople don't do what they're supposed to do?
A Toasted Bagel and Five Minutes to Understand the Impact of Sales Training - Click To Read Article
Salespeople may be like children, but in training they're more like bagels in an oven.
A Call to Action for the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Al Gore has become more famous for his call to action against global warming than he ever was as Vice President of the United States. Pope John Paul II was noted for his "stand up for life" call to action. The charities that you support have calls to action that either inspire you or embarass you into giving. Yesterday, Barack Obama included a call to action in his inaugural speech.
8 Question Sales Quiz - Malpractice? - Click To Read Article
First, there aren't 8 questions in the world where the answers would allow us to make that determination. Even if we tried, we couldn't identify even 15 of our 100+ questions that would allow us to answer that question accurately! But I was curious and clicked on through. 8 Questions and if you get 3 strikes or wrong answers, you're out and shouldn't be in sales. This free test shouldn't even be available for entertainment purposes!
3rd of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies that are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
In this post I present the real #2, The Enemy is Resistance. I've written about this before too. The gist of Resistance is this: Selling would be far more simply for many more of your salespeople if they would focus on recognizing the resistance rather than attempting to overcome the many forms it takes:
2 Things Race Car Driving Has in Common with Selling - Click To Read Article
Karl said that for him, the single biggest commonality between racing and selling is the ability to be in control of his emotions, a strength which, in selling, not too many salespeople have mastered. It was as a professional race car driver when Subaru, his first real employer, would send Karl to struggling car dealers to help them push cars - despite the fact that Karl didn't view himself as a salesperson. However, if you listen to his very entertaining stories about growing up, you realize that he was always selling - because he had to.
1st of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
This is the 1st in the series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #1 - COACHING In its simplest form, sales coaching consists of the following two activities: 1. Pre-Call Strategizing - coaching prior to selected calls to make sure that the salesperson has a good reason for having the upcoming call, a desired outcome, a game plan or strategy, and the appropriate questions/dialog to achieve the desired outcome. 2. Post-Call Debriefing - coaching after selected calls to discover the true outcome of the call, why the salesperson got that outcome, and what they could have done differently or more effectively...
10th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
Sales managers tend to be very challenged in the area of tactics. There are two varieties of sales managers...more
10 Steps to Make 2009 Your Most Successful Year Ever - Click To Read Article
It's the first week of January and you have goals, a plan, some anxiety over the economy and good intentions. As you go about your work this week, what will you do that will not only make 2009 better than 2008, but make 2009 your best year ever?
Top 10 Rules for Getting Your Salespeople to Follow Your Sales Process - Click To Read Article
Sales Management's number one priority is to assure that their salespeople don't fall into old habits, take shortcuts, get lazy, or avoid steps in the sales process where they aren't as skilled or comfortable. Once your customized, optimized, integrated sales process is in place and introduced, my top 10 rules for all things sales process, strategy and tactics are:
The Science of Selling - Rules versus Data - Click To Read Article
Regular readers know that I like to talk about the science of selling. I don't mean the science of the sales process, strategy and tactics, as much as the science of research, data and proof. There is a science to selling but a more appropriate name for it would be the rules of selling. In Baseball, the rules dictate what you do, when you do it and how it should be done. In Selling, the rules accomplish the same thing.
Salesperson ROI - How Long Must They Stick to Pay Off? Part 1 - Click To Read Article
Is there a connection between sales success and tenure? Is it really a given that a successful salesperson will stick around longer than an unsuccessful salesperson?
How to Get Salespeople to Stop Resisting Change - Click To Read Article
So what can you do about resistance? For starters, don't accept it. I'm not suggesting that you should fight with your salespeople. Im suggesting that you shouldn't give up. Have ongoing discussions with resistant salespeople about:
Great Sales Opportunities That Don't Close - Click To Read Article
If getting opportunities into the pipeline is the most universal sales challenge, then getting opportunities closed comes in a close second. I'm talking about prospects who aren't ready to say, "yes" but are still "very interested". These calls pose problems for salespeople for several reasons:
Now How Can You Motivate Your Salespeople? - Click To Read Article
If you can't motivate your B and C players in the most challenging times by having them set goals so that they can earn more money, then how can you motivate them?
Should Special Effects Determine If You Have the Right Salespeople? - Click To Read Article
One of the answers we usually provide when we evaluate a sales force is whether or not a company has the right salespeople. Of course we must know, right for what?
Kindle - Lessons Applied to the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Readers who have purchased the Kindle have totally embraced that device. Some think it's the Kindle, not online sellers, that is the biggest threat to brick and mortar book stores. Read on for the lesson...
How Does the Secret of Happiness Affect Sales Motivation - Click To Read Article
OK. So what kind of a dynamic does this create for salespeople? Salespeople must be happy in order to succeed but we also know that they must want more than what they have in order to be motivated. What is the balance between being happy and being dissatisfied?
The Pros and Cons of Hiring Green Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Well, there had to be an article about going green at some point and since I was asked to write one for the folks at AlisterPaine.com, you can get my version of going green, along with both the pros and cons of this practice. It's interesting that so many mainstream companies, when they get frustrated with hiring experienced salespeople, ask what would happen if they were to target inexperienced salespeople. The issue is not that hiring experienced salespeople doesn't work. The problem is that they probably aren't going about it the right way. Read my thoughts on The Pros and Cons of Hiring Green Salespeople.
Mastering Sales and Sales Management - Click To Read Article
Do you and your salespeople have a passion for sales? What is the thing you do that is equal to repeated listening, watching or practicing? What do you do to know your material cold? Do you attend training as often as you attend concerts, theater or movies?
Why Was the Sales Forecast So Unreliable? - Click To Read Article
When you identify the reasons, the next step is to identify the hidden cause for those reasons. Failure to identify both the reasons and the causes are why most managers have difficulty getting things to change. And if you can't change the behaviors, you can't change the results.
Sales 3.0 - Is it Time to Upgrade the Sales Force? - Click To Read Article
An out-of-date sales operation (software), attempting to run in a changing marketplace (operating system) and an uncertain economy (computer) is destined to fall behind, struggle and eventually fail.
Why You Should be Scared When Your Salespeople are Closing Lots of Business - Click To Read Article
Sales managers get caught up in the excitement of a closing frenzy when they should be taking a step back and asking themselves, what's wrong with this picture?
The Sales Assessment that Dave Kurlan Developed - Click To Read Article
If you have a complex technical product with a long sales cycle, would you want to use the same hiring and selection criteria used to hire life insurance salespeople who call on married couples?
Real Live Coaching Call - Coaching Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Clients who receive sales management coaching, training and development come to know what an effective sales coaching conversation sounds like. You may not be privy to that so you might find last week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts helpful.
How Does the Salesperson Affect Price Shoppers and Negotiators? - Click To Read Article
When salespeople have a discussion about money, price shoppers usually make it very clear what their intentions are. On the other hand, negotiators don't usually advertise their intentions in advance. Instead, they'll negotiate after they have received a proposal.
Real Live Coaching Call - Coaching a Salesperson - Click To Read Article
Chris Mott was my guest and he coached a live caller for about 30 minutes. Listen to the show for a better sense of what every coaching conversation should sound like. The following email was received from the live caller the day after the scheduled sales call:
6 Steps to Sales Mastery - Click To Read Article
Salespeople must evolve through six levels of development before they can consistently and successfully execute any process, concept, strategy or tactic they are trained and coached to perform. The six levels are:
Your Salespeople Can't Even Do That? - Click To Read Article
Salespeople, struggling with sales 101 type issues, don't let anyone know for fear that they would be perceived as inept, which, it turns out they are.
What Makes You Think You Have a Sales or Recruiting Process? - Click To Read Article
Whether it's a recruiting process or a sales process, it should always include a combination of best practices, milestones, steps and stages conducted in the proper sequence, with the proper expectations, in an appropriate time frame.
The Difference Between Selling to Negotiators and Selling to Price Shoppers - Click To Read Article
Selling successfully to both the negotiator and the price shopper takes good strategy, effective tactics, and timing - you must know when to employ them.
The Ignorance Factor and Achieving Your Company's Revenue Goals - Click To Read Article
What do the 12 sales consultants and trainers and 4 new clients have in common with Michael Oher? They are ignorant too. Not about life or business as Oher was, but about sales forces.
The Importance of Pride, Self Esteem and Confidence in Selling - Click To Read Article
My guest on this week's edition of Meet the Sales Experts was Bob Sinton and we talked a lot about the importance of pride, business self-esteem and two levels of confidence:
Sales and Selling - Which Has Evolved More? - Click To Read Article
What I found amazed me and will surely amaze you. Ready? Salespeople have not changed in any way since the recession. The statistics are identical with one exception - the percentage of salespeople who are hitting their numbers has declined significantly. However, the skill sets have not improved despite the need for them to. And the weaknesses are just as plentiful as they were, despite the need for them to be overcome.
Mass. Senate Race Alternate Ending Compares with Major Account Selling - Click To Read Article
ecent special Massachusetts senate race between Democrat Martha Coakley and relative unknown Republican Scott Brown, the eventual winner. Well guess what! If this hard fought campaign had taken place at the same time 49 other states were holding their senate elections, Martha Coakley would have crushed Scott Brown.
How to Get Business to Drop Out of the Sky - Click To Read Article
I think it's both predictable, phenomenal, and fulfilling. I'm talking about the magic that occurs when you and your salespeople leave their comfort zone and work hard to perform the very work, activity, behavior and actions that, left to their own devices, would choose not to do. Whether it's a salesperson who finally:
3 Powerful Excuses for Maintaining Mediocrity in Your Sales Hiring Process - Click To Read Article
When I answered questions from the audience, the best one, in my opinion, was the most obvious. It went something like this: "If your recruiting process works so effectively, and your assessments are so predictive, and they save so much time and money and consistently identify top performers, then why don't more companies use them?"
The Holidays are a Great Metaphor for Sales Success - Click To Read Article
Which do you anticipate more? The gifts that you will receive? What will it be? Could it be what you were hoping for? Will it be smelly socks? Will you have to return it? Will you love it? Will you hate it? Or... The gifts that you present? Will they be surprised? Will they be delighted? Will they be speechless? Will they know how much thought you put into it? Will they be appreciative?
Sales Success Secrets from Beyond the Grave - Click To Read Article
I have included some very controversial material in this article so I'll start with the easy stuff and finish with the material you may not want to read. I have some insights from three totally unrelated books as well as an unrelated article that I had a chance to read last week. I found common themes that relate directly to sales and sales management success.
Sales Leadership - It's Not About the Title - Click To Read Article
We ended up spending much of the show talking about Sales Leadership and the three most predominant types we see:
Sales Assessment Completion Times May Impact the Validity of the Assessments - Click To Read Article
How would you like to influence the development of our never-ending quest for improvement in our suite of world-class assessment tools? We constantly seek ways to expand our world-class insights, legendary accuracy, and real-world relevance. I just reviewed some new data that Jim Sasena, our Operations/Technical Director, dug up for me. This particular data set shows the percentage of Sales Candidate Assessments that are completed in a particular amount of time.
Missing Sales Research and a Call for Sales Superstars - Click To Read Article
So the research or intelligence above may help you learn why you didn't get the business, perceptions about your company, its shortcomings, and the perceived advantages of your competition. But the author left out the most useful sales research...
Defining Moments in Your Sales Cycle - Click To Read Article
What are some of the more subtle, but important, key moments in your sales process that affect every sales outcome? If I were to review some recent conversations with clients and their salespeople, crucial accomplishments included:
Can the Beatles Help You Close Big Deals? - Click To Read Article
Back in the 60's, three companies were competing for attention. But they weren't retailers, manufacturers or service providers. Despite that, they had features and benefits that caused people to follow and buy from them. Some people didn't care for any of the three and bought from alternative sources. Some preferred just one or the other. And some bought from all three. They were the big winners of their day. Who were they? Try The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Rolling Stones. Check out the following table which, if they were traditional sellers, could have been used to tout their features and benefits.
Born to Sell? Give me a Break - Click To Read Article
We all have opinions. We all prefer one style over another. We all have what we believe are better methodologies, strategies and tactics. But there are some topics that are just begging for data - not opinion - and the author I seem to target more than any other just wrote one such article on whether great sales pros are born that way. All opinion. But based on what? He doesn't really say. He simply uses his two kids as comparison. The problem is, he is dead wrong and the data says so.
Your Sales and Sales Management Questions Answered - Click To Read Article
In an article last week, I provided the post to a sales competency contest. The final question in that survey asked the participants for any sales issues they needed help with. Today I'll answer the first four of those questions below:
Ultimate Comparison of Top Salespeople to Salespeople Who Fail - Click To Read Article
If you've been following this Blog you know I sometimes refer to the elite 5% of salespeople, the next 20% and the bottom 74%. After reading Super Freakonomics I was moved to take a new look at our data on the more than 400,000 salespeople we have assessed. Behavioral scientists would look at our data on the top 5% and report on some common findings. It might look like this...
Sales Assessment Completion Time May Affect Validity - Click To Read Article
I just reviewed some new data that Jim Sasena, our Operations/Technical Director, dug up for me. This particular data set shows the percentage of Sales Candidate Assessments that are completed in a particular amount of time.
Sales 2.0 Competencies, Changes, Myths - Click To Read Article
There has been much talk about Sales 2.0 yet most sales experts can't agree on exactly what it is. But before we can even discuss Sales 2.0, I must confess that most companies have yet to get on board with good old Sales 1.x! Most companies are still selling without formalized sales processes, effective strategies and effective tactics. Most companies still have their salespeople show up, present, demo, quote and wait for the business.
9th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
#9 - STRATEGY Strategy comes in several forms and is required in different dosages depending on the position. For example, a line level sales manager may be more concerned with call strategy while a Worldwide VP Sales may be more concerned with market strategy. At the VP level, strategy is far more important than tactics while at the sales manager level, tactics are more important than strategy.
4th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
This is the 4th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #4 - RECRUITING The most important things to understand about consistently recruiting strong, successful salespeople are:
3rd of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
This is the third in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #3 - MOTIVATION Motivating your salespeople comes down to getting them to: 1. Do what they won't do on their own; 2. Change their behavior; 3. Do more of what they are already doing; 4. Have more of a sense of urgency; 5. Over Achieve More...
2nd of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
This is the 2nd in the series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #1 - ACCOUNTABILITY In its simplest form, sales accountability consists of the following: * Holding salespeople accountable to something measurable - metrics - on a daily basis * Being more demanding - being firmer and tougher * Eliminating Excuse Making - people take responsibility for their results More...
8th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
Systems and processes are your sales infrastructure - everything that is not your people. A lot of us use the two words interchangeably. So what is the difference between systems and processes?
7th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
There isn't a person in the company who must work more on developing relationships than an individual in a sales management role, whether it be a line level sales manager or the World Wide VP of Sales. But developing a relationship does not mean that one should become friends.
6th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
This is the 6th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #6 - LEADERSHIP Sales Leadership includes but is not limited to:
5th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - Click To Read Article
This is the 5th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #5 - DEVELOPMENT Development is the ongoing development of your salespeople. It includes - and goes beyond:
Celebrities and the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Here I introduce the 7th in a series of articles, The Celebrity Series, 11 articles about famous people and the analogies to the sales force.
Get Out of the Way and 8 Tips for Sales Success - Click To Read Article
This was a very interesting, fast-moving show where Chris shared his 8 tips for sales success, talked about sales management's role in growing sales, the biggest obstacle he had to overcome in order to succeed, how to succeed in this economy, and much, much more. One of his 8 tips? Get out of the way!
Stupid Choices in the Selection of Sales Assessments - Click To Read Article
When you use an assessment in the sales recruiting process, it must be customizable so that criteria unique to your business, like I described above, can be factored in. That way, in addition to whether the candidate meets our criteria of a successful salesperson, we must be able to determine whether the candidate will be able to succeed in the face of the company's unique challenges.
Key Account Sales - More Than Just Important Accounts - Click To Read Article
Over the last several months I have engaged in several on line disagreements about the importance of asking questions early in the sales process. More than one sales expert has claimed that asking questions violates trust. More than one marketing expert has claimed that asking questions is offensive.
8th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies That Are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
Key Performance Indicators or KPI's abound for sales. However, most companies choose to pay attention to the wrong ones. They look at lagging indicators like:
9th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies That are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
All of the stuff they have been doing, including the order in which they have been doing it, is usually wrong when we begin working with them - and permanently so. It's harder to stop doing the permanent stuff than it is to learn a more effective way. Think of an elastic band. The information from the new lesson stretches the band a lot. Then the natural tendency to do what has become permanent snaps the band back into its original shape. Solution?
10th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies That are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
There is nothing worse than when salespeople handle objections. Not only does it cause them to rack up reverse progress, they are usually not even handling the real problem. Here are the things you need to know about objection handling that should cause you to stop handling them forever:
Directors Want Better Boards - And Rightly So - Click To Read Article
One of the many issues we identify is when Board Chairs and CEO's take the lead in areas in which they don't have the strengths or skills to justify taking the lead. They often discount the contributions, thoughts and ideas of directors or executives who are stronger than they are in that area. As a result, the company is not always choosing the best strategies and ideas, or having the right discussions, asking the right questions, or making the right decisions at the right times.
5th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies That are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
#5 - Get a Sales GPS These days you wouldn't think about getting into your car and driving to a new destination without typing the address into your car's navigation system. Each one of those 7 reasons for using a GPS applies to a sales cycle, so it makes sense that your sales force should have a sales GPS or a process.
6th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies that are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
SLOW DOWN TO SPEED UP Your salespeople can't wait to do the things at which they are: * most competent * most comfortable * having the most fun * in control * in the spot light The problem with all of that is with what they do: * present * demo * tell your story * provide capabilities * give references * do proposals * give quotes * use company resources and when they do it: * as soon as they can!
Your Sales Force - Who is Playing on Your Team? - Click To Read Article
Your worst salespeople lost the only opportunity they had. Devestation, depression, excuse making and inaction. They fail to rebuild their pipeline. Who do you have playing for you?
Your Salespeople Call on the Wrong People and Expect Them to Buy - Click To Read Article
How many sales opportunities fail to convert because your salespeople failed to meet with the individual(s) in the company that could do something about it?
Your Boring Presentations - Selling It - Click To Read Article
I was watching television on Friday evening and found myself crying at the end of The Ghost Whisperer. Are you kidding me? Me? So I'm sitting there crying like a baby and apparently, even then, my mind won't let me be because it makes another connection to sales excellence.
You Have an 82% Chance of Making a Hiring Mistake When... - Click To Read Article
My guest on this week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts was Ken Edmundson. We were talking about hiring when he he said that there is an 82% chance of making a hiring mistake when management does not know how their candidate is wired. He said it's a mistake when they are fired, they quit, or they under achieve. He went on to say that you can't hire without an interview and a background check and you can't hire by only doing those two things. He named 4 things that cause these mistakes:
Will Your Salespeople Change Behaviors to Improve Their Effectiveness? - Click To Read Article
"I have changed", a belief and a statement of fact, versus "I will change", a belief and a statement of hope, perhaps even a promise. [Read More]
Why Salespeople Have Trouble Closing - Click To Read Article
I've been speaking about what makes salespeople tick for about 15 years. From the beginning I've been telling audiences that there is a 100% correlation between how salespeople make a major purchase and the behavior (stalls, put-offs, excuses, sob stories) they will tolerate from their prospects.
Who Should Your Sales Force Call On - Click To Read Article
It's not always obvious. If your company sells oil drilling rigs to oil companies, then your salespeople know who to call on. If your company sell luxury cars to wealthy people, you know where to find your prospects. But what if you sell products or services that could be sold to a much broader range of customers or clients? Who should your salespeople call on then?
Why is Selling So Difficult? - Click To Read Article
Wouldn't it be nice if selling was as easy as most salespeople treat it? You would just come right out and say what you're selling, tell prospects why it's important, explain the features and benefits, tell them what it costs, and make the sale. After all, that's how we did it in the 60's and 70's. It's so easy. It's so logical, it's so ineffective. Why is selling so difficult? I have a number of answers....
Why Corporate Sales Training Often Fails to Deliver Results - Click To Read Article
Why do you train salespeople and sales managers? Some companies want to educate them and improve their skills. Some feel obligated to provide training while others provide training to improve results. Some do it to help their salespeople, improve morale and feel good about making it available. These are all very nobel concepts, but usually achieve disappointing outcomes.
When You Don't Find Compelling Reasons to Buy - Click To Read Article
Read this case history to learn what happened when the Lexus salesperson made it all about price, which didn't matter, but didn't bother to uncover the compelling reasons, which would have made a big difference!
What to Do When Your Prospect Goes into Hiding - Click To Read Article
How many times has this happened to you? You have a prospect that you've already spoken with and when it's time to follow up they don't take or return your phone calls. What's up with that?
Where Should Salespeople Spend TheirTime? - Click To Read Article
A reader asked how much time should be spent on each base path in Baseline Selling. That certainly differs by industry, salesperson and prospect but I can provide you with a few guidelines.
When the Sales Processing Doesn't Support Sales Competencies - Click To Read Article
So, of course, here's the question that relates to the sales force. Do your salespeople sound like these folks working the deli counter? Three of the four had some kind of process, but are the processes effective?
What Should You be Telling your Salespeople in this Economy? - Click To Read Article
From time to time I have written about what you must do with your salespeople in this economy. Would you like to hear what that actually sounds like?
What Have Your Salespeople Been Listening To? - Click To Read Article
In reality, there is no such thing as a spending freeze except for being something that top management tells bottom management. [Read More]
What Can a Trip to Italy Teach You About Managing Your Salespeople? - Click To Read Article
Fun, entertaining story with 21 lessons for managing salespeople.
What Causes Your Salespeople to Fail in this Economy? - Click To Read Article
Bob was getting anxious over what to write to a suspect that blew him off. The prospect canceled an appointment and was vague about whether or not he would reschedule. This stopped Bob in his tracks and he literally spent an entire day getting feedback on what his email should say. Not only is Bob wasting time, it is time that could be spent finding and identifying additional opportunities, moving existing opportunities along and connecting with customers or clients and collecting referrals. So what causes Bob to do this and could we have predicted this behavior?
What Happens When You Try to Hard To Sell? - Click To Read Article
If you are in an industry that has been impacted by the recession, and you are doing everything possible to continue to bring in revenue, then you are working twice as hard, twice as long and twice as smart. If not, you are probably failing right now. Twice as long is plenty obvious. Twice as smart means planning the strategies and tactics you'll use for each opportunity. But what about twice as hard? Is that working twice as hard today and tomorrow or is that working twice as hard with every prospect?
Turning Order Takers into Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Salespeople need to make adjustments. New competition, new buying strategies, unfair competition, price competition and the resistance brought on by the recession all change the way they need to play the game and they need to make adjustments too. They need to be quicker, sharper, more strategic and much more effective with their use of selling tactics (skills, not tricks). This article explains how.
Top 10 Keys to Getting Through and Getting Heard - Click To Read Article
It is a lot more difficult to address getting through in a short article than it is in a book or through training and coaching but I'll give it a shot. Following are the 10 Keys to Getting Through and Getting Heard:
Ultimatums for the Sales Force - Do They Work? - Click To Read Article
Suppose you deliver an ultimatum to a salesperson... Suppose you deliver it to the entire sales force... How would you expect them to react? One more thing about ultimatums - they don't work. UNLESS:
The Sales Management Equivalent to Baseball's Pitch Count - Click To Read Article
One friend suggested I find a way to correlate pitch count to sales. No problem. I am not a proponent of a sales manager doing the closing for his salespeople, however, should a two-call close cycle be on its fourth call; a six month sales cycle be in its tenth month, an exception is certainly called for. Or, if you consider a salesperson who is expected to perform certain levels of activity, who isn't meeting expectations, another exception might be called for.
The Sales Force with Over Achievers Who Don't - Click To Read Article
I think that many CEO's are in denial. Despite the struggles of their sales force, they continue to look at the pipeline and say to themselves, we'll be okay as soon as these deals close. But the deals aren't closing and with each passing day companies are less okay then they were the day before.
The Secret - Ancient Scrolls and Their Impact on the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
Al Turrisi was kind enough to give me a book called the Power of the Kabbalah. Its ancient scrolls originated around 4,000 years ago, inspired The Secretand predate Moses and the Bible! Since this book is not the Kabbalah itself, rather a Cliff Notes version, it tends to read more like a self-help book. It is far more powerful than a self-help book though as it points to a number of rules that will cause a transformation in one's life.
The Importance of Practice - Click To Read Article
How to become more proficient at sales by knowing what you should practice.
Ten Ways to Drive Sales - Click To Read Article
Let's assume that you have the right people, compensation, incentives, systems and processes in place. Are you all set? Hardly. You still have to drive sales because in most companies sales don't happen by themselves. The companies that do that the best follow the 10 steps in this article.
The Essence of Sales Effectiveness - Click To Read Article
Your salespeople want a better, easier, simpler way to succeed. Yet as much as they want it, they very much want to hold on to what they know, the routine, approach, beliefs, strategies and tactics they've always used. Their security blanket. What can we do about that?
The Impact of Unhealthy Relationships on Your Salsepeople - Click To Read Article
What to do when your salespeople are surrounded by negativity at home.
Survival of the Fittest on the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
When one salesperson complains that they lost a piece of business to another of your salespeople you have a problem on your hands. One client says his salespeople refer to one particular salesperson as "the pirate" because they think she steals their prospects. When territories are properly defined, this happens less often but even then the problem can creep up? What's behind it? Why does it happen?
Tale of Two Assessments - Comparing the Value - Click To Read Article
A potential client wanted to know how Objective Management Group could justify the cost of a 25 person license (unlimited assessments for one year or 25 salespeople hired for $18,000) versus a $3500 per 100 assessment price for DISC. There are several factors here but they are all worth noting. Read More
Surprising Statistics from the Sales Force Grader - Click To Read Article
The actual results are even more surprising than the number of people (several hundred) that have already visited the FREE Sales Force Grader. To date, the worst score is 0 - definitely a surprise. While we would expect there to be some sales culturally challenged companies, we didn't expect any to be that bad....
The CEO Who Needed to Hire Salespeople - Click To Read Article
Yesterday I spoke with a CEO who asked for some help recruiting salespeople. It seems that the salespeople they had previously hired had failed. As I learned more about their business, a few things became obvious to me:
The Difference Between Provocative Selling and Baseline Selling - Click To Read Article
In the wake of a recent article by the authors of Provocative Selling in the Harvard Business Review an attendee challenged me to defend Baseline Selling. Since it was in the HBR, this attendee believed it had to be the better way to sell...
Teaching Sales in School is Like Learning to Golf on the Wii - Click To Read Article
They're finally teaching sales in school - yeah! And even more surprisingly, kids are actually taking the classes - yeah again! Why surprisingly? How many of your salespeople selected, as their primary career choice, sales? Kids get a sense that selling is an honorable profession! This post, from November of 2008, demonstrates each of the last two points - kids don't choose sales because, well, they don't believe it's honorable...
The Enemy in Sales - Click To Read Article
Most salespeople do not properly identify the real enemy they face each day. They mistakenly believe that they are fighting their competition, themselves, their prospects, the economy, their pricing, and a myriad of other issues. In reality, there is only a single enemy, which often masquerades as one of those other issues I just named. The enemy is....
The 4th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies That are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
For more than 40 years, sales authors, experts and trainers have been telling their readers, subscribers and clients about the importance of talking 30% of the time and listening 70% of the time. That ratio is not etched in stone. Even 50/50 is acceptable. The stage of the sales process dictates the ratio more than the ratio itself. For instance...
Scare Yourself Successful - Click To Read Article
Everyone fears something. Salespeople fear a lot of somethings. This article shows you how to use your fear to succeed.
Selling to Larger Accounts - Find the Chauffeur - Click To Read Article
Dave Kurlan's unique insight on major account sales is not to find the champion, coach, influencer or decision maker. It's to find your chauffeur!
Sales Resistance and the Recession - 7 Steps to Turn Prospects Around - Click To Read Article
You learned the three R's when you were in grade school but selling in today's economy is about two R's - resistance and recession - and they are related. While resistance is always lurking in the background, the recession brings it to the forefront and your salespeople must be able to sell - despite it. Learn how your salespeople can get it turned around in this article.
Salespeople are Like Children - Click To Read Article
Good example of how hard it is for salespeople to remain focused on their prospects.
Salespeople Aren't Made of Glass - Click To Read Article
This article shows what you'll see inside your salespeople if you could see their DNA.
Salespeople and Their Fantasies - Click To Read Article
Our five-year-old son, often the subject of a posting in my blog, gave reason to post again tonight. He decided to recite the names of the planets and was doing a great job. He said, "Pluto, Uranus, Jupiter, Earth, Venus, Saturn, Mars, and Krypton, where Superman and Krypto the Super Dog live"...
Salespeople and the Momentum Factor - Click To Read Article
Momentum seems to be a force when it comes to sales performance. When Bob gets on a roll, new opportunities fill the pipeline, move along fairly quickly and close at the first opportunity...until the momentum changes. When Bob goes on vacation, gets distracted, becomes busy with deliverables or gets sick, it's a whole different Bob.
Selling in the Recession - Click To Read Article
It's been advertised. It's all the media wants to talk about. It's had an impact on the company you run or work for. Your customers and clients have been affected. Your home and investments have lost value. The recession is here, in full force, and there isn't a single sign that it's going to improve soon. So what must you do to not only survive this down-turn, but thrive in it as well? Here are my top 10:
Salespeople Should be More Like Children - Click To Read Article
Our son wrote a book today. He illlustrated it too. No big deal? He just turned 7. He loves to read and apparently, he must have felt that there weren't enough new books arriving in his room so he decided to create a Pokeman book to read instead. I can't wait until he's old enough to sell something because this behavior translates! When there aren't enough new leads coming in he will simply create his own.
Sales Prospecting on Steroids - Click To Read Article
With all of the articles written about sales and cold calls being dead (I usually write the counter arguments to that. How would you find new business if the only thing you could rely on was a lead?) it was a breath of fresh air when Michael Strickland, my guest on this week's edition of Meet the Sales Experts, spoke about prospecting on steroids. His five tips for sales success in today's economy are:
Sales Process - What Have You Gotten Away From? - Click To Read Article
Think about how easy it is to get away from the fundamental processes, strategies and tactics that impact efficiencies, time lines, effectiveness, consistency, communication, confidence revenue and profit. Take 3 steps back. What have you gotten away from?
Sales Appointments to Sell Free Services - Click To Read Article
Barbara left a voice mail for me today. 10 points for Barbara. She got me to call back. 10 more points for Barbara. When she finally had me on the phone she asked, and who are you with? -20 points for Barbara. It was over for me right there...Read MOre
Sales Force Motivation - Learn from the Red Sox' Miraculous Comeback - Click To Read Article
If you observed the Tampa Bay fans during game 1 in St. Petersburg and game five in Boston, you would have observed some very tense, anxious people. Yet if you paid any mind to the Red Sox fans in the three games they lost and prior to their comeback in game 5, they didn't seem very upset at all...
Sales Pipeline Gives Sight to Blind Executives - Click To Read Article
In a struggling economy, executives of sales driven companies are able to see weaknesses and shortcomings on their sales forces that they were previously either blind to or chose to ignore when the orders were coming in. Now that these executives have sight, the question to be answered is can they invest the money to improve their revenue making machine?
Sales Competencies and Your Competition - Click To Read Article
Companies don't invest enough time and energy being strategic and tactical about competition. The approach shouldn't be economic as much as it should be tactical. Your approach should revolve around neutralizing your competition as opposed to being competitive with your competition.
Sales Coaching - The Big Differentiator - Click To Read Article
What's the difference between great sales coaching and good sales coaching?
Right Salespeople in the Right Roles and the Right Seats - Click To Read Article
I was on site at a client's last week to kick-off their training. At the end of the kick-off I asked each salesperson for their three biggest lessons learned. One salesperson had difficulty coming up with anything of substance. It turned out that he was new to sales and when we assessed him two months earlier, our assessment indicated that he was not trainable. The client wanted him in the program anyway because he had a hunch it would work out. "Not trainable" manifests in different ways but usually has the same outcome - salespeople don't improve.
Sales Assessments vs. Personality Assessments Episode III - The PHD's Strike Back - Click To Read Article
Are PHD's more sensitive to criticism than the rest of us? I heard from a few over the past week and they weren't happy with what I wrote here and here. I rocked their world and they couldn't cope.
Sales and Customer Service are Just Like Steriod Use in Baseball - Click To Read Article
Sales is just like Steroid use in Baseball. If a customer attacks, complains, whines, demands or points fingers and you simply say, "you're right. I'm sorry," the issue goes away. However, if you get defensive, place blame, make excuses, deny the issue or fail to apologize, your customer will never forget and as a result, may no longer be your customer. The customer is always right - even when they're wrong.
Revising the Forbes Message of the Day for the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
The Forbes Success Calendar for 2/25/09 said, "Action and reaction, ebb and flow, trial and error, change - this is the rhythm of our living. Out of our overconfidence, fear; out of our fear, clearer vision, fresh hope. And out of hope, progress." - Bruce Barton I think this quote requires a serious revision - for the sales force and for the company. First, let's make it shorter.
Sales is an Obstacle Course - Click To Read Article
If you sell, then you encounter obstacles every step of the way. There are the prospects you can't get through to, the same ones who don't return your calls, and those who offer so much resistance that the obstacle appears to be more like a road block than an obstacle. Then there are the obstacles of timing, competition, budget, and disinterest, along with using and happy with someone else, doing it themselves and bad experiences with your company or simply companies like yours. There is no selling without obstacles.
Sales are Up and Mediocrity is Up Too - Click To Read Article
Retail sales for February, excluding auto, were up for clothing, electronics, furniture and gasoline. Overall, excluding auto, sales were up nearly 1%. That's better than it sounds out there. But mediocrity is up too...
Sales Calls are Like the 1978 AL Playoff Game - Click To Read Article
So here we have two stars of the game, obsessing over how their upcoming interaction would go, what might happen and how they would respond. It's not only a great example of visualization and preparation, it is practice at its best. Do you do that? Do you visualize, role-play, rehearse, and prepare for your calls? Or, are you so good that you don't have to? What would happen if you began to obsessively prepare like that - especially now - especially in these times?
Sales Force Alignment with Market Strategies - Click To Read Article
Most companies differentiate between inside and outside sales; domestic and international sales; products and services; equipment and consumables, etc. But if you are into breaking down processes, approaches, market strategies and positioning, there is more to it than these obvious differentiators...
Sales are Probably Down if You Are Doing These Three Things... - Click To Read Article
"When your market isn't growing, it is not business as usual and holding your breath and hoping is not the right strategy." This according to Casey Coffman, my guest on...
Sales Cycles and Time - Is it Running Out? - Click To Read Article
We are always focused on sales cycles. Are they optimized? Are they taking too long? Can they be improved? How many calls should they take? Are we doing things that make the sales cycle take longer than necessary? For example, the sales cycle can be shortened in direct proportion to how high your salespeople call in the company. If we are have begun a sales development program, you won't see results from top line revenue until 6 months plus the length of the sales cycle have passed. I have a couple of things to discuss today relative to sales cycle.
Sales Management Requires a Different Mindset Than Sales - Click To Read Article
It was on the corner of 82nd Street and 37th Avenue in Queens where 12 year-old Mark Berezow learned to approach strangers and provide them with some compelling reasons to vote for his friend's dad. He believes that experience had a great impact on his ability to sell, manage salespeople and for the past 20 years, help companies grow their sales.
Sales Force Lessons from Gates, Crowley and Obama - Click To Read Article
This should happen a lot more often on the sales force. How often do customers become upset over the behavior of a salesperson, customer service rep, technician or even accounting? When controversy jeopardizes a good account, it's time for the president or CEO to reach out and mend fences between adversaries!
Prospects Are Like Children - Click To Read Article
When telling stories about our son, I usually write in the context of Salespeople are Like Children. However, with this article, I'm writing in the context of Prospects are Like Children. When prospects want something badly enough, they can become quite resourceful. Think about what you've been willing to do when you wanted something - really badly - that you couldn't afford.
Recruiters Fear Sales Assessments - Click To Read Article
I'll get a lot of flack over this article. People will say that I'm unfairly characterizing recruiters as dealers of human flesh and that there are recruiters who not only use and pay for assessments themselves, but who guarantee the performance of the salespeople they place. I agree. If you must use a recruiter, use one of them!
Reference Requests for Salespeople - Click To Read Article
For the first time in months, I was recently asked for references. No problem! But it got me thinking about who asks for references, why they ask for references and when they ask for references...and what salespeople do when they're asked for references, and whether those references lead to closed business. As I thought this through, quite surprisingly, my three largest personal clients - all multi-billion dollar corporations, never asked. Three medium sized companies - over $100 million - never asked. I am personally working with only a handful of smaller companies and only one of them asked. Those insights tie directly to why people ask for references:
Public Speaking Simplified - Click To Read Article
I would guess that the only thing that is more common than an under performing sales force is the discomfort that people have before they speak. And I'm not even talking about speaking in front of an audience. This discomfort can even manifest when presenting to one intimidating individual!
Putting for an Eagle - Closing the Unlikely Sale - Click To Read Article
Veteran salespeople are capable of pulling off the same heroics, but only when they execute the sales process perfectly. Today, one veteran salesperson told me about all of the short cuts he took to reach his lofty goal.
Quote 85% Less - Close 300% More - Click To Read Article
He had a client who, when he met them, closed 4 deals for every 100 quotes they prepared and submitted. Not only that, it took their highly paid engineers anywhere from 1 hour to 1 week to complete those quotes.
Pick Yourself Up and Dust Yourself Off - Click To Read Article
In my mind, there isn't a group of professionals more suited and more deserving of hearing those very words than salespeople. I have listened to more complaining, excuse making, whining, sob stories and negativity in the last 90 days than at any other time in the 24 years I have been in the sales development business.
Practice Makes Permanent - Click To Read Article
Short Game School - for Golf - Applied to Sales!
Prioritizing Your Week - Click To Read Article
It's the beginning of the week and as you review your calendar for the next five days you have a wide variety of events scheduled. You have some leads to follow up, some important calls to move existing opportunities along in the sales process, and a closing opportunity. In addition, you have some time scheduled with existing clients to make sure that they are getting what they need and you have your daily cold calls to make. How would you prioritize your week?
Present Like a Rock Star - Click To Read Article
You live and breath your subject matter. You own your expertise. You wouldn't be presenting or speaking if you didn't have this command of your topic. So I always wonder why people need notes to talk about what they know so well. After all, you don't need notes to have a chat with your children or grand children, you've lived the experiences all your lives.
Panic on the Sales Force and What to Do About It - Click To Read Article
What gets you in a panic? The economy and how it impacts them, either directly or indirectly, is having this effect on about one third of your salespeople right now - today.
Personality Assessments - They Still Don't Get it - Click To Read Article
On the heels of these three articles: * Personality Assessments for Sales - The Definitive Case Study * Exposed - Personality Tests Disguised as Sales Assessments * Sales Assessments vs. Personality Assessments Episode III - The PHD's Strike Back I got the following email forwarded to me. As you read it, just look at the descriptors that the client is referencing in the personality assessments - they are not sales descriptors so, in essence, we have another examples of an assessment that claims to be measuring one thing but is actually measuring another:
Over Achievers on the Sales Force - We Have it All Wrong - Click To Read Article
Believe it or not, our six-year-old son is an over achiever. He has spelling tests each week and his teacher gives the class bonus words for extra points. He loves the bonus words and extra points so much that he has duplicated the process on his math tests. The teacher gives the class 20 math questions each week but (right now they are working on problems like 7 + 4) no bonus questions on the math. Our son takes it upon himself to add 4 bonus questions (he includes bonus questions like 800 +600) because he feels he can do more. This begs the question, how do you measure your over achievers?
Overcoming the Dysfunction in Sales Organizations - Click To Read Article
These days, many companies have questions about compensation for salespeople and sales leaders and as a result they make a lot of mistakes too. Why would a company want to squash a top producer because he/she is making a lot of money? It happened to Rocky once and he weighed in - with a strong opinion - on the subject.
Obama and McCain - The Sales Analogy - Click To Read Article
As you read this article, please consider the thoughts as they would apply to competing salespeople fighting for the same big account, NOT a political statement.
Obama and Friends On Stage - Implications for the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
There is a lot of buzz surrounding those who took to the podium this week at the Democratic National Convention - and Barach Obama hasn't had his turn yet. Once again, I will not make a political statement in this article - just a sales opinion.
My Sales Force Needs a Make Over - Click To Read Article
One reader emailed that he just inherited a radio station in Honduras, has never sold before, and he and his salespeople aren't able to book appointments. Another reader is the Sales Director for several well-known magazines and said that her top producing team is down 50% from last year. Yet another reader wrote and wanted to know how to chop her 2-3 year sales cycle down to 2-3 months. And one President fired all of his salespeople, is back on the road selling and wonders what he can do to thrive. What do all four of these scenarios have in common?
One Suprising Key to Selling Value - Click To Read Article
Gary Harvey, my guest on this week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts, has great advice for companies that are trying to avoid getting sucked into having the lowest price. His secret? Purchasing Agents have always told salespeople that they go with the lowest price. When he asks them why they do this, they always tell him the same thing. "Because it works on every other salesperson until we met you."
More on Compelling Reasons - Click To Read Article
This is a good example of what happens when you don't have the real compelling reasons for someone to spend money with you.
Most Frequently Requested Help - Click To Read Article
What do you think is the most frequently requested plea for help? Overcoming Objections? Handling Stalls and Put-Offs? Closing? Getting Appointments? It's getting calls returned.
More Than Half of All Sales Managers Should Consider... - Click To Read Article
After posting this article two weeks ago, showing the percentage of salespeople who are not trainable, who shouldn't be in sales, and who are elite, it was inevitable that I would be asked to post similar statistics for sales managers. While the number of salespeople we have assessed is greater than 400,000, the number for sales managers is closer to 50,000 - still a more than adequate sample size.
Media is to Fuel as Recession is to Fire - Click To Read Article
The media - they didn't cause the banking crisis but they have surely capitalized on it, dramatized it, chronically reported every devastating development and turned a serious but contained fire into a wildfire.
MLB All-Star Game Unveils a Sales Prodigy - Click To Read Article
Tom Schaff, Sales Development Expert in St. Louis, related a very funny story about events before and after the MLB All-Star Game. Here is Tom's story:
Managing Distractions - A Key to Sales Success - Click To Read Article
Distractions can take many forms, from the call that takes them off their game, to the illness or death of a loved one that stops their game cold. Distractions can last a few minutes or they can linger for months. You can even understand why some, especially the really bad distractions, can interfere for so long. Read this article for help on how to deal with distractions.
Many Recruiters Fear Sales Assessments - Click To Read Article
I was forwarded an email that originated with from a colleague's client that read, "...Many candidates are advised to not take on line sales assessments before at least a phone conversation." Why do you think that is?
Mall Cop - The Sales Example - Click To Read Article
Have you seen the movie Paul Blart Mall Cop yet? It's Home Alone meets Die Hard. It has a great analogy to sales - especially in this economic environment.
Making it Easier for Your Salespeople to Succeed - Click To Read Article
This baseball story is a good example of how to change things so that salespeople who are struggling can enjoy greater success.
Make Sales the Culture of Your Company - Click To Read Article
Jim shared many entertaining, insightful personal stories of success and failure, including the lessons he took away and how he continues to apply them today. One of my favorite stories was about the day he decided to raise his prices and was convinced that his potential customer would never pay $350,000, for a project he would have sold at $199,000 just one week earlier.
Leads for the Sales Force - Not - Click To Read Article
I received an email last week from a LinkedIn connection promoting his new super duper lead engine that connects salespeople with the most powerful buying influences in the world. Wow.
Kurlan's Law of Increased Sales Effectiveness - Click To Read Article
E=AP Effectiveness=Awareness x Persistence - Read how to score yourself...
Just How Important is Preparation to Sales? - Click To Read Article
Jim believes that you must know everything there is to possibly know about a potential customer or client, perhaps even more than they know about themselves. My theory for preparation revolves more around a salesperson's ability to be strategically and tactically prepared for every imaginable scenario that could occur in a sales meeting and cycle. Both of our approaches depend on the salesperson being prepared to ask good, tough, timely questions. If your salespeople combine those two approaches, they would be unbeatable.
If Your Salespeople Can Spell They Can Sell - Click To Read Article
This article explains why salespeople have trouble articulating what they do.
How to Sharpen Your Edge Using Fear - Click To Read Article
Would you be surprised to learn that, after 35 years, I experience fear prior to sales calls, presentations, training and speaking engagements? Yeah, I'd be surprised to read that too - except I really do...
How to Go From Dud to Stud in 30 Days - Click To Read Article
Last Saturday, in blizzard-like conditions, we left Boston for a much needed family vacation. We arrived in the Bahamas three hours later to find sunny, tropical, 90 degree temperatures. Blizzard to Tropical in three hours got me to thinking, as usual, about selling which, for a lot of salespeople, has become more difficult in the past 90 days. Learn how to go from Ice Cold to Red Hot - Blizzard to Tropical - Dud to Stud in 30 Days.
How to Lose Customers Under Contract - Click To Read Article
You know that your competitors' top prospects are your existing customers that you have under contract, right?
How to Find the Compelling Reasons Behind Seth Godin's Intangibles - Click To Read Article
Seth Godin's recent column on Intangibles was great. As a matter of fact, I haven't disagreed in more than two years with anything he has written about selling. Today he provided many examples - great examples - of how your intangibles create value. This article explains how your salespeople can uncover these - and other - reasons why prospects would pay more to do business with you.
How to Get the Entire Sales Force to Change - Now - Click To Read Article
Most people don't change because they are: * afraid of it, * uncomfortable with it, * don't want to give things up, or * don't want to take things on. For me it was the latter two...
How Long Does it Take for Salespeople to Get it? - Click To Read Article
How to get salespeople to enjoy overnight success!
How Many Salespeople Shouldn't Be in Sales - Click To Read Article
Our certified sales development expert in Singapore, Ray Bigger, of Think8, asked if we had data on what percentage of salespeople should be considered for a different role. Of course we do, Ray! In this case, a different role doesn't mean a different sales role, it means that they suck so bad and have such a small upside, they shouldn't be in sales - period.
Hiring Former Fortune 1000 Employees - Click To Read Article
If you are considering a salesperson, sales manager or VP of Sales from a big, name brand company, there is a crucial point that executives from smaller companies usually miss. You probably don't run a large, name brand company. Your salespeople probably aren't automatically invited in with open arms. Your company probably doesn't have a reputation that precedes it. Your company probably isn't the market leader. Your company probably doesn't have the lowest prices. So how would one of these former big-brand salespeople or sales managers fare when they encounter the resistance, challenges, ambivalence and rejection that the rest of your salespeople endure?
Highly Successful Salespeople Can't Remember What They Say - Click To Read Article
We were in an internal meeting last week and Frank Belzer said something really profound. Chris Mott asked him to repeat it and he said, "I have no idea what I just said." Light Bulb.
Hiring Salespeople is Like Baseball Expansion - Click To Read Article
Hiring salespeople is scalable until you get to a dilution point - very similar to the expansion that took place in baseball...
Hire the Best Salespeople on the Planet - Click To Read Article
Several months ago Objective Management Group began to identify hirable candidates that are ideal - they will ramp-up more quickly than a normal hirable candidate. A normal candidate should ramp up according to this formula I devised many years ago: Normal Ramp Up = Length of Sales Cycle + Length of Learning Curve + 30 Days.
Hit More Fairways and Close More Sales - Click To Read Article
Eric Dunn, my guest on this week's Meet the Sales Experts Radio Show, stressed the importance of positive self talk, affirmations, and transformation as keys to sales success. That Eric is a former golf teacher, his philosophy should not surprise anyone familiar with the mental aspect of golf. And during the interview it became clear that Eric knows a thing or two about my sport, baseball, too. Eric talked about the similarities between golf and selling and at one time he even sold golf equipment.
Handling Economic Objections - Click To Read Article
The key to surviving and even prospering in this economy is to not understand, buy into or take the objections. Don't panic, don't become defensive and don't resort to price incentives. Simply remain calm, understand what they're doing to you and confront. If you do that consistently, you'll be the only one really selling and helping while your competitors wait to follow up late in 2009.
Getting Your Calls Returned - Click To Read Article
There are actually five keys to leaving a voice mail message and getting it returned...
Good News About the Economy Positively Impacts the Sales Force - Click To Read Article
The word from clients so far this week is that manufacturers are taking projects off of hold and releasing money - even in the automotive industry! That too will trickle down and impact everyone else over the next six months...
Half of All Sales Managers Should Consider... - Click To Read Article
So there are twice as many sales managers in need of redeployment as salespeople, and 10% more sales managers than salespeople who are untrainable (they know it all?). That means 52% of all sales managers, more than half, should consider doing something else - like selling!
Happy Ears or an Empty Pipeline? - Click To Read Article
Very often, when an opportunity dies, salespeople will ask their managers or me for help. After debriefing, when it's clear that the opportunity is hopeless, and the salesperson continues to ask for help, still wants to schedule another meeting, and still wants to reach out and get it moving again, there are usually three factors at play. The salesperson either...
Get Prospects to Make Decisions - Click To Read Article
What you can say to make decision making easier for your prospects.
Getting Customers to Flock Back to Your Salespeople - Click To Read Article
The secret element to get customers coming back time after time after time.
Free Sales Hiring Mistake Calculator - Click To Read Article
Last week we introduced the Free Sales Force Grader Tool. Today I am introducing the Free Sales Hiring Mistake Calculator. This new tool calculates the total cost of all of your sales hiring mistakes, including those who are no longer there and the under achievers who are.
Free Sales Content - Use at Your Own Risk - Click To Read Article
I can't count and may not even know about all of the portals now on the web that feature subject matter experts, content, free downloads, articles and tips from people like me. It's generally a good thing, at first, until someone like me loses control of his intellectual property - the articles I write.
Frankie Valli and Jersey Boys Good Metaphor for Recession Worn Companies - Click To Read Article
The Broadway shows All Shook Up, featuring the music of Elvis Presley, Movin' Out, featuring the music of Billy Joel, and Mama Mia, featuring the music of Abba, were all very enjoyable, fun evenings, but the stories were contrived to fit the music. Like so many sales calls I've been witness to, the presentations (shows) were created to fit the product (music) because they didn't have a good story that stood on its own.
Focus on Revenue - Click To Read Article
The first item on the list was "Focus on revenue, not the economy". You'll get what you pay attention to. If you pay attention to how bad things might become, you'll get lots of bad results. If you pay attention to how well you must do, you'll get good results.
Five Lessons Learned from the 8 Figure Sale - Click To Read Article
Read this Case History of the Salesperson who Failed to Close the 8 Figure Deal He Worked on for 2 Years!
Finding a Way to Succeed - Click To Read Article
Strategies and Tactics are important - very important, especially in this economy. But even today, they take a back seat to your ability to find a way to get the job done. Whether that job is making appointments, uncovering compelling reasons to buy, getting opportunities qualified, making compelling presentations, dealing with objections or closing, you must find a way to master that part of the sales process.
Experts Provide Sales Management Help for 2009 - Click To Read Article
A number of experts including, Jill Konrath, Leslie Buterin, Joanne Black, Andy Miller, Danita Bye, Glen Ebersole, Bill Guertin, Alan Rigg, Gregory Stebbins, Jonathan Farrington, and I helped Lee Salz complete his article, Sales Management Speaks Out on Sales Focus Strategy.
Exposed - Personality Tests Disguised as Sales Assessments - Click To Read Article
Yesterday, I met with a long-time client who, in his previous company, used OMG's Assessments to identify what needed to change in order to double revenue from $30 million to $60 million. In his new company, which is already about 12x that size, he wants to double revenue again. He said, "I just wasted two years with the _____ Assessment.
Enough Leads for the Sales Force? How to Convert More of Them More Quickly - Click To Read Article
If you presently get a lot of leads, simply read it without the marketing assumptions in place. If you don't presently get a lot of leads, read both the marketing and sales assumptions.
Enough Leads for the Sales Force? How to Convert Them More Quickly - Click To Read Article
How marketers can help to shorten the sales cycle and close more sales...
Does Changing Compensation Increase Sales? - Click To Read Article
A conference attendee asked how she could change the compensation for her highly paid, salaried producers, in order to provide the incentive to sell more. Read this article to learn the answer to this question.
Data Points Tell a Story Prospects Buy Happy Endings - Click To Read Article
When your salespeople connect the dots and ask themselves, "what do these data points tell me?" there should be a dramatic tale of woe. If the story is compelling enough, the prospect will pay for a happy ending.
Dell, The Economy, Their Sales Force, and You - Click To Read Article
Last week I received an email from my Dell representative's sales manager. It was five paragraphs, and started out great:
Dell Resorts to Questionable Sales Tactics to Drive Revenue - Click To Read Article
Today, I received an email from Dell showcasing their latest ill conceived scheme to generate revenue. I really have to question their thinking because when you see it you'll start thinking about all of those Yellow Page advertisers that send confirmations for ads you didn't place...
Creating a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
One of the challenges that many companies face is to create a sales culture when the existing culture is more orientated to customer service and account management.
Do Your Salespeople Build or Lose Credibility - Click To Read Article
In a training session I delivered this week, one well-meaning salesperson said he had a quick point and went on to talk for quite a while before I pointed out that this wasn't a quick point. Your salespeople lose all credibility when their actions and behavior are not consistent with their claims...
Do You Need Your Salespeople to Love and Respect You? - Click To Read Article
The sales manager I coached had some very human needs. When he connected with his salespeople, they shared details of their lives, plans for their weekends and he felt loved. When salespeople praised his coaching or said that his advice helped them on a sales call, he felt respected. And when he assured the higher-ups that good things were happening, he truely believed that business was on the way.
Closing Sales - Get the Freaking Proposal Right - Click To Read Article
Make sure your salespeople get the freaking proposal right!!! Learn how...
Can Sales Assessments Actually Predict On the Job Sales Success - Click To Read Article
Stathead was hell-bent on learning about the technical nature of how the assessment works, how it was created, how it was validated and its impact on protected minorities. While this is important, it can be very misleading. As you will read below, a test can meet all of those criteria and not help with selection at all!
Change Ready Companies Experience Faster Success in Sales Development - Click To Read Article
It's a fairly simple difference. [Read More]
Chinese Salespeople May be the Next Group to Outsell Your Salespeople - Click To Read Article
What are you going to do when, not only are you out priced, out sourced, out willed, out shipped, and out produced, but also out sold - by the Chinese? That is the question posed by my Kurlan & Associates colleague, Frank Belzer, who is blogging from Shanghai, where he is spending the week training Asian companies in the art of sales management.
Bringing a Sales Opportunity Back From The Dead - Click To Read Article
The deal is a dying patient with no will to live. Unless you approach it that way, you'll fall in love with your strategy, use the wrong tactics and waste your time trying to save a deal with a do not resuscitate order.
Bench Strength and a Hard Driving Sales Force - Click To Read Article
He also spoke at length about the right way for companies to use value to decommoditize their products and services. Bill elaborated about the difference between real selling and demonstrating and presenting. His 5 tips for owners, presidents, and CEO's? He said that things really aren't terribly different other than money being tighter. So he said:
Bad Apples on the Sales Force - Sales or Sanity? - Click To Read Article
I've met hundreds of these individuals during the past 25 years and they're all pretty much the same. They're loud, arrogant, know-it-alls that crave attention and will say pretty much anything to get it.
Are Your Salespeople Selling Value Like Nordstrom's or Price Like Sam's Club? - Click To Read Article
Nordstrom's was busier than Walmart and salespeople are trying to get appointments based on low price. What does this say about the state of the economy and more specifically, about discounting and trying to win business based on price? Read the exciting details...
Avoid Mistakes, Take Action, Overcome Resistance - Click To Read Article
Works great in sales too. Your salespeople would have more success changing the minds of their prospects if they weren't so busy denying them of their opinions, trying to push facts and features, benefits and value propositions, and proof and examples down their throats.
Are Sales Tools the Solution? - Click To Read Article
When your salespeople focus and play with the tools instead of using the tools to support their selling efforts, the tools become part of the problem. Am I suggesting a 15-hour work day? No. You need balance, you should spend time with your family. But salespeople must do the work that doesn't involve interacting with their prospects, at times when they can't reach their prospects.
A Career in Sales is No Place for a.... - Click To Read Article
I must be losing my vision because regardless of the number of times I looked, I still didn't see Sales on the list. So here we are, late into 2008, and the profession is still so disrespected that they...
8 Ways to Translate Tiger Woods' Experiences into Sales Success - Click To Read Article
I was reading an article about Tiger Woods in Golf Digest . The article explored whether Tiger would be better or worse after he returned from surgery and rehabilitation on his knee. It went on to detail how effectively he played while injured and in great pain, and how much potential he had to be even better when he could move weight to his left leg. It also went on to describe his many potential distractions. Finally, I read a part of the article that talked about how prepared Tiger is for adversity.
5 Ways to Motivate Your Salespeople - Click To Read Article
I believe that motivation is very misunderstood. You can't motivate by being a cheerleader, nor can you motivate by reciting somebody else's inspirational quotes. Motivation comes from within and you must find out what your salespeople's internal motivators are. Why are they doing this thing called selling? The other thing that's important to know is that everyone reacts differently to motivation and motivation takes may forms. For instance, perhaps you have some people who respond to one of these methods when trying to get them to perform:
A Forgotten Secret of Sales Success - Click To Read Article
Brad learned early in his career that left to his own devices, he would find ways to avoid picking up the phone and making calls. Like so many salespeople, he suffered from call reluctance, fear of rejection, fear of failure, and more. Over time, he learned to trick himself, play games and, most importantly use purpose, motivation and fear to assure that he was consistently filling his pipeline. Listen to the show to hear more about this compelling topic.
10 Steps for Your Sales Force to Survive and Thrive in the Recession - Click To Read Article
I was in the pool, playing catch with our six-year old son, when Henry began a "dialog" with me. He said, "You can't play catch in the pool. It's against the rules." I was stunned, but apologized, said I wasn't aware of that rule and removed the football from the pool. There was another guy in the pool and he mentioned to me that the pool rules did not include an exclusion about playing catch. I mentioned that to Henry and he became irate because he owns one of the resort's units, wrote the rules himself, and said, "It better be on that sign!" So what's wrong with this picture?
3 Ways to Feel Better About the Economy - Click To Read Article
Three Ways to Feel Better About the Economy...
5 Things Your Sales Force Can Do to Thrive in this Economy - Click To Read Article
One of my clients recently completed a transformation. I helped them transform their salespeople from account managers to hunters and closers, from order takers to consultative salespeople and from selling on price to selling at their price - all while selling into one of the markets most devastated by the recession.
10 Steps to Record Breaking Revenue - Click To Read Article
When things loosen up (and things will loosen up) and companies and consumers both begin spending money again, you could be in for a significant windfall. You may even have some record breaking revenue months if, and it's a big if, you have your sales force doing all of the right things, even while companies and consumers aren't spending money. Here are ten requirements for having and continuing to have record-breaking months in the not-too-distant future:
5 Steps to Coaching Your Salespeople Beyond Happy Ears - Click To Read Article
Following are my thoughts about how you, the leader of your salespeople, can help them overcome Happy Ears. Slip into these five roles to help them be more realistic about and more comprehensive with their opportunities.
1st of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies that are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
#1 - IT'S NOT ABOUT YOU! Believe it or not, there are a lot of people in sales who mistakenly believe that the world revolves around them. If my previous sentence said "show business" instead of "sales" it would make sense but this isn't show business.
2nd of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies that are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
What exactly is a case of Happy Ears? A salesperson has Happy Ears when she hears what she wants to hear. Example: Your salesperson asks her prospect about the budget and the prospect says, "we'll try to find the money". Your salesperson hears, "We have the money, and we will spend the money, and there isn't a limit."
4th of the 10 Kurlan Sales Competencies that are Key to Building a Sales Culture - Click To Read Article
For more than 40 years, sales authors, experts and trainers have been telling their readers, subscribers and clients about the importance of talking 30% of the time and listening 70% of the time. That ratio is not etched in stone. Even 50/50 is acceptable. The stage of the sales process dictates the ratio more than the ratio itself. For instance, if your salespeople are following the Baseline Selling process, they would talk 100% in the earliest phase of Getting to 1st Base, and probably 10% in the later phase of Getting to 1st Base. They would probably talk 10% of the time while Getting to 2nd Base. They might talk 50% of the time on the way to 3rd Base and 90% of the time when Running Home.
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