Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

Companies are spending more money on sales force evaluations, sales training, consulting, sales leadership development, sales process, infrastructure and sales recruiting services than 5 years ago. There were some very good salespeople and sales managers among the mix of the total population of candidates.

Sales Management 288

Sales Management Hiring Compensation Trends 288

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan I write often about sales process. After all, one can't accurately predict outcomes of sales calls, meetings and cycles without a formal, structured sales process to follow. I present my Top Articles on Sales Process: Baseball's Huge Impact on Sales Performance.

Sales Process 120

Sales Process Automotive Sales Methodology Sales 120

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

In fact, when asking Sales Operations Leaders what qualitative data they had gathered, here are their responses: Conducted internal win/loss debrief on large opportunities. Interviewed VP of Sales, Product Leaders, and Sales Manager to understand what they were seeing in the market. Author: Joshua Meeks.

Data 267

Data Analysis Sales Operations Buying Cycle 267

Your Sales Management Guru

OCTOBER 1, 2012

Preparing for 2013. I thought I might simply highlight a few points from both sessions since there are pertinent for everyone as we move into 2013. Acumen Management Group Ltd. operationalizes” sales management systems and processes that pull revenue out of the doldrums into the fresh zone. Panel Discussion.

Sales Management 71

Sales Management Top of Funnel Hiring Lead Rank 71

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 29, 2013

I don''t promote an approach based on either Relationships or Solution Selling, but both must be incorporated into an appropriate 2013 sales approach. Without a sales process and a sales model, no methodology will work very well on its own. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' Event details are here. (c)

Sales Management 196

Sales Management Lead Rank Consultative Selling Study 196

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 18, 2015

Sales Process isn't even the only thing that inbound marketers say is dead. Let's start with my recent Google search for "Sales Process is Dead." One article was written by a sales expert discussing the concept of following the buyer's purchasing process. April 29 2013. Don't get me wrong.

Inbound 120

Inbound Inside Sales Sales Process Top of Funnel 120

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 1, 2012

75% of most sales processes fail. Think about this: You just invested a huge amount of time, energy and money in developing and training a buyer centric sales process. Our Making the Number research tells us that your peers feel the toughest part of a new sales process is having the team actually use it.

Sales Process 267

Sales Process Top of Funnel Forecasting Construction 267

Your Sales Management Guru

DECEMBER 3, 2012

Sales Leadership: 2013 Sales Theme. Last week I was speaking at a conference on: “ Building and Maintaining Sales Motivation ”, after the program several individuals came up to discuss my concept of a “Drive Statement. Then engage several team members to assist you in developing a sales theme or Drive Statement.

Sales Leadership 82

Sales Leadership Incentives Incentive Motivation 82

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 13, 2013

Sales Management must spend 50% of their time coaching salespeople like this: An enormous part of developing salespeople these days is helping them to differentiate themselves from your competitors. Effectively applying a consultative sales process helps to accomplish this. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan

Coaching 264

Coaching Sales Management Decision Maker Competition 264

The Sales Hunter

MAY 21, 2014

Far too many salespeople and sales managers are still living as if it is 2013 or even 2010. Things change and they change quickly, and if your sales process and strategies aren’t keeping pace, then you’re going to find yourself closing fewer sales.

Consultative Selling 241

Consultative Selling Selling Skills Closing Sales Process 241

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 18, 2013

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan My vision, of how the future of selling is shaping up, appears in today''s (the December 18, 2013) issue of Top Sales Magazine. This issue also features the 2013 Award Winners of the Top Sales & Marketing Awards in 18 Categories. I congratulate all of them!!

Sales Talent 235

Sales Talent Video Course Up-Sell 235

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 3, 2012

One of the biggest problems a VP of Sales faces is prioritization. Prioritization through 3 lenses: What sales productivity problems should you fix in 2013? This post is written for the VP of Sales trying to determine which sales productivity problem to prioritize and which ones to ignore. H ow to Sequence.

Scale 282

Scale Face-to-face Promotion Lead Rank 282

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 4, 2013

Compare that with the six I wrote about in this article : Effective Sales Selection for Appropriate Sales DNA, Effective Sales Coaching, Effective Sales Accountability, Formal, Structured Consultative Sales Process, Sales and Sales Leadership Training, Coaching and Development andHunting for New Business.

Sales Leadership 220

Sales Leadership Energy Coaching Study 220

SBI Growth

JANUARY 2, 2013

But you can excel in 2013 because of your shortcomings in 2012. And with these answers come chances for improvement in 2013. Talent Assessment of Sales Leadership and Sales Reps. Build specific competency and accountability based scorecards for Sales Leadership and Sales Reps. Not the sales rep’s eyes.

Lead Rank 267

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead Lead Gen 267

DiscoverOrg Sales

DECEMBER 4, 2017

In fact, according to the CSO Insights 2016 Sales Enablement Optimization Study , the number of businesses with a dedicated enablement function has increased from 19% to 33% since 2013. This means that, in total, 44% of businesses have not aligned their sales processes to the customer journey in any meaningful way.

Sales Enablement 295

Sales Enablement Collateral Decision Maker Study 295

SBI Growth

MARCH 22, 2013

In particular, the front-line Sales Manager - a critical role responsible for marshaling a team of revenue makers. This post includes a downloadable Sales Leader Curriculum. This tool is perfect for HR Business Partners who serve the Sales function. It will help to prevent vacant Sales Management positions.

How To 312

How To Sales Leadership Exercises Proposal 312

No More Cold Calling

NOVEMBER 8, 2013

Jason Brick’s article, “ Take Your Team From Worst To First: Leadership Lessons From The Boston Red Sox ,” shares four leadership lessons from Red Sox manager, John Farrell, who took his team from the bottom of their division last year to the 2013 World Series. Associations Enterprise Sales Management Small Business'

Small Business 237

Small Business Small Business Enterprise Enterprise 237

SBI Growth

AUGUST 17, 2012

Want to know what marketing leaders are going to do differently in 2013? Register HERE for our 6 th annual research project, Making the Number: How your Peers are Allocating People, Money & Time in 2013. In a recent survey conducted via LinkedIn, we asked marketing leaders around the globe what their focus will be in 2013.

Sales Qualified Lead 244

Sales Qualified Lead Marketing Qualified Lead Top of Funnel Leads 244

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 25, 2013

Sales cycle redesign is a good start, but the salespeople must be able to execute on the new sales process as well. Many sales processes die upon introduction as sales managers are unable to hold salespeople accountable for following the process and aren''t able to coach to the new process either.

Study 243

Study Sales Cycle Follow-up Account 243

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 20, 2012

Congratulations, your organization is launching a new product in 2013! As the leader of sales operations, I am sure you are working on: Updating CRM systems with new product information. Revising or building a new sales process to enable sales reps. Average Sales Cycle. Call to Action. Role of the Product.

Compensation 244

Compensation Incentives Incentive Penetration 244

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

The failure to follow your sales process. I didn''t send you to that article to modify your sales process; only to embrace the power of qualification. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' The failure to think positively. The failure to sell ethically. The failure to grow and improve. The failure to practice.

Sales Qualified Lead 275

Sales Qualified Lead Hotels Hubspot Decision Maker 275

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 4, 2014

What about the prospects who are far along in the sales process when they suddenly go missing? c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' And to give you a sense as to just how little persistence there is out there, I wrote this article last year. Most of the focus on persistence is related to contacting new prospects. Think again.

Territories 268

Territories Exercises Video ACT 268

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 16, 2013

Why can''t we do the sales process ourselves?" If they didn''t have an effective, efficient, optimized, formal, structured sales process for the last 20 years, where would this expertise suddenly come from to create this process tomorrow? c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' Don''t risk it.

CRM 211

CRM Training Sales Process Up-Sell 211

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 17, 2013

Their sales managers are not holding them accountable for qualifying. Their lack of adhereance to a formal, structured, sales process allows them to sell by the seat of their pants, and skip directly to a presentation, demo, proposal or quote. Have a customized, formal, structured sales process developed.

Decision Maker 268

Decision Maker Consultative Selling Buying Cycle Proposal 268

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 28, 2013

The real problem is that the CEO's, Presidents, Owners, Sales VP's, Sales Directors and Sales Managers to whom these veteran salespeople report are simply afraid of them. Then the formal sales process is introduced. You'll need to take some action now if you want change in 2013. (c)

Face-to-face 208

Face-to-face Margin Coaching Proposal 208

The Sales Hunter

FEBRUARY 25, 2013

.” Your job description says “sales” and you’re part of the sales team. They play a key role in the sale process, but I believe strongly salespeople and customer service people are to be doing two different tasks. Sales managers, what behavior are you rewarding?

Customer Service 251

Customer Service Customer Discount Maximizer 251

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 8, 2013

Need for Approval takes quite some time to overcome and, that''s only when sales managers know how to recognize it and help their salespeople overcome it. The only thing more detrimental to sales success than Need for Approval is #1, their ego. In the end, it requires more than most sales managers are capable of providing.

Consultative Selling 259

Consultative Selling Margin Sports Sales Methodology 259

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 4, 2013

Some companies just don''t have the right sales management, sales process and systems in place so even the best candidates can fail or leave. On the other hand, some companies, who have been using our processes, systems and tools for a while, consistently exceed these results. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan'

Hiring 260

Hiring Licensing System Consumer 260

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 18, 2014

Install the most useful and helpful sales applications, pipeline management and analytics to drive performance. Optimize the Sales Process so that it is milestone centric, properly sequenced, timed and weighted to make the forecasts more reliable. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' That''s easy!

Hiring 228

Hiring SAP Consultative Selling Forecasting 228

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 6, 2013

One such example of this occurred last fall when after a sales force evaluation one rep''s results showed that she lacked commitment. Their sales manager spoke with her and was cautious but optimistic that she was committed. inability to embrace a new sales process. inability to embrace a new sales methodology.

Hiring 238

Hiring Policies Sales Methodology Energy 238

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

If they don''t complete the application and assessment, then why do sales managers and HR managers try so hard to get them to do it? Sales Managers and Sales Leaders repeat a nother big mistake during the first interview when they prematurely sell the sales opportunity to the candidates.

Company 196

Company Webinar Metrics Compensation Study 196

SBI Growth

JULY 13, 2013

Dave was promoted to be Acme’s VP of Sales for the Americas. He did it as a District Sales Manager. Dave became VP of Sales for the Americas. Dave became VP of Sales for the Americas. In the first 6 months he: Did monthly pipeline reviews with every sales manager. The EVP of WW Sales was disappointed.

Promotion 310

Promotion Fashion Trends B2B 310

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 11, 2013

hit the milestones of our sales process. Top Sales & Marketing Thought Leader - Dave Kurlan. Top Sales & Marketing Article - Sales Management Best Practices. Top Sales Assessment Tool - Objective Management Group. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' prepare to take lots of notes.

Inside Sales 193

Inside Sales Groups Objections Benefit 193

Delicious Sales

MAY 2, 2012

Sales (12918). Sales Management (2614). Inside Sales (849). Outside Sales (81). Sales Process (1775). 2013 (4691). THE SALES HUNTER AUGUST 12, 2013 Is Your Sales Process Slow or Fast? Is your sales process slow or fast? Topics Major Topics. 2012 (9049).

Lead Rank 99

Lead Rank Leads360 Lead Scoring Top of Funnel 99

Pointclear

DECEMBER 18, 2012

In addition, he is author of The Sales Blog , where he writes about sales and selling, sales management, the sales process, and what it takes to succeed. You can also read his feature article Make 2013 Your Best Sales Year Ever in the January 2013 issue of Success Magazine.

Lead Rank 201

Lead Rank Social Media Sales Qualified Lead Video 201

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 12, 2013

I''ve written four White Papers over the last several years, all backed by science and data from the more than 700,000 salespeople and sales managers that Objective Management Group has evaluated and assessed. The Science of Sales Longevity. Why Did the Move from Outside Sales to Inside Sales Take so Long?

Study 203

Study Outside Sales Inside Sales Video 203

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Last year you got your 2013 quota in mid-February. This caused mass confusion, frustration and demotivation on your sales team. Do you have enough sales people to cover the new quota? Set up a planning session with your sales managers immediately. How many actual opportunities by sales person is that?

Quota 296

Quota Demand Generation Targets Demand Generation Negotiation 296