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Dave Kurlan Articles
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Obama and Friends On Stage - Implications for the Sales Force - 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! 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. The Importance of Practice - Click To Read Article How to become more proficient at sales by knowing what you should practice. 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. 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. 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? How Long Does it Take for Salespeople to Get it? - Click To Read Article How to get salespeople to enjoy overnight success! 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] 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. 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... 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. 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. 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. 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... 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. 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. 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? Salespeople are Like Children - Click To Read Article Good example of how hard it is for salespeople to remain focused on their prospects. 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. 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? 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] 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. 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. 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! 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. 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? 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. 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. 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? 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. 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. 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. 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! Kurlan's Law of Increased Sales Effectiveness - Click To Read Article E=AP Effectiveness=Awareness x Persistence - Read how to score yourself... Get Prospects to Make Decisions - Click To Read Article What you can say to make decision making easier for your prospects. 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! 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. 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... 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... 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. 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? 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. 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 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? 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? If Your Salespeople Can Spell They Can Sell - Click To Read Article This article explains why salespeople have trouble articulating what they do. 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. 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?" 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. 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%? 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. Sales Coaching - The Big Differentiator - Click To Read Article What's the difference between great sales coaching and good sales coaching? 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... 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 What Really Creates Sales Excellence? - Click To Read Article What really creates sales excellence? No one thing - ever. A combination of things - always. Closing Sales - Get the Freaking Proposal Right - Click To Read Article Make sure your salespeople get the freaking proposal right!!! Learn how... 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. 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: 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... 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... 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: 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? 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. 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. 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. 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! 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? 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. 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. 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"... 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: 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. 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... 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: 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. 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. Helping New Salespeople Succeed - Click To Read Article This article discusses the evolution of developing salespeople. 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? The Impact of Unhealthy Relationships on Your Salsepeople - Click To Read Article What to do when your salespeople are surrounded by negativity at home. Practice Makes Permanent - Click To Read Article Short Game School - for Golf - Applied to Sales! 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? 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. 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? 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. 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. 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. 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. 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? 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... 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. 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. 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. 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] 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] 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... 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... Like this article? Share it with your friends
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