The Sales Hunter

AUGUST 27, 2013

Short-questions are truly an amazing tool most salespeople never seem to grasp. Problem is that questions of that type do little to help the sales process. In fact, I’ll contend many times that they wind up harming the sales process. The sales process is about getting the customer talking.

Sales Process 250

Sales Process Cold Calling Consultative Selling Selling Skills 250

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. But the key word here is tools. April 29 2013.

Inbound 120

Inbound Inside Sales Sales Process Top of Funnel 120

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 25, 2012

Below is a sample of the actual worksheet we gave to sales reps. The worksheet categories need to be targeted to the industry and sales role. Register for our research tour here to get this tool). Expense Reports, Additional Forecasting Reports) - Added Sales Specialists and assigned a ratio of 5 sales reps to 1 specialist.

Hiring 310

Hiring Travel Territories Face-to-face 310

SBI

DECEMBER 18, 2013

You can tell they truly enjoy the opportunity to recognize people, resources and tools that advance our industry in one way or another. In all, there were 16 categories that honored thought-leaders; books, blogs and articles; software tools; and useful resources. And Smart Selling Tools itself was nominated in several categories.

Quota 135

Quota CRM SAP Forecasting 135

SBI

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Do you want to accomplish more in 2013? What processes stand out as needing either a bit of critical re-evaluation or a complete overhaul in order for you to achieve your vision for the year ahead? If you want 2013 to be better–in whatever way you define that to be–you will need to take charge of change. Learn more?

Webinar Metrics 125

Webinar Metrics Guarantee Referrals Sales Tools 125

No More Cold Calling

APRIL 9, 2020

How People, Not Technology, Seal the Deal —in 2013, because I was alarmed by the unleashed dependence on technology by sales teams. Reps told me they didn’t need to have sales conversations. In fact, they didn’t even need to talk to prospects, because they had great tech tools. You are the ultimate sales technology.

Conversion 305

Conversion Face-to-face Social Media Referrals 305

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

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. We did pretty well this year!

Sales Talent 235

Sales Talent Video Course Up-Sell 235

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

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 5, 2014

Top 10 Reasons Why Salespeople Let Price Drive the Sale. Top 11 Reasons Why Salespeople Fail to Close Sales. Top 10 Kurlan Sales Articles of 2013. Top 5 Reasons Why Sales Cold Calls Are So Awful. Top 10 Keys to an Effective Sales Hiring Process. Top 12 Questions to Ask Yourself About Sales Process.

Hiring 249

Hiring Sales Management Decision Maker Cold Calling 249

The ROI Guy

OCTOBER 29, 2012

As a solution provider, you could help reduce the internal process by arming your customer with the right content and tools to help internally sell your solutions to executives and financial decision makers. Can your sales professionals answer key buyer questions: Why Change? proving you are not the same. You Decide.

Sales Cycle 72

Sales Cycle Decision Maker Proposal Buying Cycle 72

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. Last week I had the opportunity to participate in another conference (14th of the year), they are always great times when you can hear other speakers, learn new ideas and meet new people.

Sales Management 71

Sales Management Top of Funnel Hiring Lead Rank 71

SBI Growth

FEBRUARY 12, 2013

Genesys recently implemented a new Sales Process which is aligned to buyer’s journey. Regarding the sales rep’s dilemma, the new Sales Process was utilized differently than you’d expect. Later in the article I share a tool to assist those currently in this dilemma. Opportunity Assessment Tool.

Case Study 314

Case Study Study Travel Quota 314

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. John Kenney writes a great post on how to Maximize Your "B Player" Sales Talent in 2013 ). “C” Not the sales rep’s eyes.

Lead Rank 267

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead Lead Gen 267

SBI Growth

JULY 19, 2013

Either way, your 2014 number will outpace 2013. So as a sales leader, what are you going to do about it? World Class VP’s of Sales never stop evolving. You can’t repeat your 2013 sales strategy in 2014. As an exercise, just think about recent sales process changes. The change must be realistic.

Guarantee 296

Guarantee Exercises Follow-up ROI 296

SBI Growth

DECEMBER 11, 2012

Has 2013 planning kept you from selling? Are Sales Support experts unavailable now when you need them most? These are common, end-of-year problems for top Sales performers. A Sales Rep friend of mine, Kevin, described it best. The solution is to influence your Sales Operations leader. How do you solve the problem?

Maximizer 306

Maximizer Lead Rank Forecasting Sales Operations 306

SBI Growth

JULY 1, 2013

You see visions of making your 2013 and 2014 sales number. 1) Sales / Marketing Budget Spend Shifts. Examine the overall sales/marketing budget spend left for 2013. 2) Rethink Sales Team Head Count. By this time, it’s the end of 2013. Sales Strategy Projects you Should be Working On.

Salary 267

Salary Epiphany Top of Funnel Revelation 267

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

There are categories of sales tools and CRM applications where none existed a few years ago. 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.

Sales Management 288

Sales Management Hiring Compensation Trends 288

SBI Growth

MARCH 22, 2013

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. You can see the importance of the Sales Manager (SM) from a story. A client engaged us to assess their Sales Force.

How To 312

How To Sales Leadership Exercises Proposal 312

The ROI Guy

JULY 9, 2013

To kick off 2013, Gartner predicted that the reigns on worldwide IT spending would loosen, forecasting an increase of 4.2% 2013 Challenges for IT Solution Providers Revenue growth is extremely important for IT solution providers, as this growth is required to sustain high valuation multiples and shareholder equity. by mid-year).

Forecasting 67

Forecasting ROI Decision Maker Proposal 67

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 4, 2012

Compelling events are the engine of the Buyer Process. Before 2013 starts, now is the time to identify Buyer compelling events. Then update your Sales Process to assess these events as they happen. Designing or updating your Sales Process is complicated and time consuming. As a trigger to start a new sale.

Buyer 293

Buyer Decision Maker Demand Generation Targets Demand Generation 293

The Pipeline

DECEMBER 22, 2014

According to a recent press release from Accenture titled: Mediocre Performance by a Majority of Sales Representatives Cost Companies 3.2 Percent in Potential Revenue, Accenture Research , shows, “Just 59 percent of sales representatives are expected to achieve his/her quota in 2014, down from 67 percent in 2013.”

Data 275

Data Cold Calling Revenue Social Selling 275

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 9, 2012

3) Focus your attentions on kick starting 2013. If you chose Option 1, you might as well stop reading and go make another not-sale. Let the B’s and C’s roll forward to Q1 and strengthen your 2013 pipeline. Truth is, you can’t force the sales this year if the buyer isn’t ready. That way you’re both way ahead for 2013.

How To 244

How To Top of Funnel Funnel Face-to-face 244

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 9, 2013

One of the 11 factors that has a great deal to do with the length of the sales cycle is whether or not the sales force and/or the salespeople have an effective sales process. As you can see from the image above, nobody was following an effective sales process. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan'

Sales Cycle 255

Sales Cycle Analysis Analytics Pipeline 255

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 4, 2014

While persistence has always been important in sales, we are in uncharted territory. Despite the abundance of tools to help you connect with people, the physical act of speaking with these connections is becoming exponentially more difficult. What about the prospects who are far along in the sales process when they suddenly go missing?

Territories 268

Territories Exercises Video ACT 268

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 9, 2014

The author wrote that since most prospects today know what they want, they won''t rehash all of the needs and decisions that got them to this point, and as a result, a salesperson won''t be able to back them up to an earlier stage of the sales process to implement SPIN or any other questioning strategy. Well, maybe.

Proposal 249

Proposal Up-Sell Lead Rank Lead Scoring 249

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

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. These strategies include: Use Influence, Not Authority. Celebrate Talent.

Small Business 237

Small Business Small Business Enterprise Enterprise 237

The Pipeline

FEBRUARY 1, 2013

As it stands here today in 2013, its hard to find a medium or large size company that hasn’t purchased and implemented at least some enterprise software for their business. Long Sales Cycles. As sales people, it is hard enough for us to keep up with latest features and their benefits. Uneducated Buyers.

Telecommunications 312

Telecommunications Real Estate ROI Enterprise 312

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 11, 2013

open rate (Google, 2013). Today we’ll address step #3 of the LinkedIn sales process. Download the Tool (free event registration required) so that you''ll be able to leverage your database along with my upcoming blog and tool. Don’t underestimate the importance of this process. Still not convinced?

Referrals 331

Referrals LinkedIn Social Selling Cold Calling 331

Sales and Marketing Management

JUNE 15, 2018

Step Sales Process by modeling two top sales professionals who had been selling for years. I’ll make it easy for you to steal my idea by giving a detailed process, resources and tips to create your own digital nation. This online tool becomes a bonding experience for your staff and external relationships.

Hiring 191

Hiring Lead Rank Face-to-face Banking 191

The Sales Hunter

APRIL 16, 2013

When we shift the sales process to be customer oriented with them doing the talking, it’s amazing how much more confident the customer becomes, because they are gaining confidence in your ability to understand their needs. Let them guide the discussion and you’ll be far more likely to walk away with a profitable sale.

Customer 247

Customer Consultative Selling Customer Service Benefit 247

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 23, 2013

One of the proudest moments of my professional career occurred Sunday, April 21, 2013, when my team at Objective Management Group (OMG) introduced our brand new Sales Force Evaluation product to 120 OMG Partners from around the world. Can We Close More Sales? Can We Be More Consistent with Our Sales Process?

Decision Maker 169

Decision Maker Sales Leadership Forecasting Analysis 169

The Sales Hunter

NOVEMBER 19, 2013

You must find ways to streamline your sales process. Prospects are going to engage you later than ever in the process. The internet is an amazing tool in how it allows prospects or, as I like to say, “internet stalkers” to review how you might be able to assist them with what you sell.

Motivation 225

Motivation Loyalty Selling Skills Engineering 225

The Pipeline

DECEMBER 30, 2013

First an endless barrage of meaningless awards shows meant to squeeze the last bit of sales out of last year’s products. And an even greater number of post and articles telling you all the things you should do in 2014, most of which are retreads of things they advised you to do in 2013. Sales Process Sales Success Tibor Shanto'

Face-to-face 276

Face-to-face Commission Objections Follow-up 276

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. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan'

Company 196

Company Webinar Metrics Compensation Study 196

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 8, 2014

The origins of Social Selling go back to early human life too, although, the tools that have given social selling its name are relatively new. They are great salespeople, performing at elite levels, and if you provide them with great new tools, they still will be performing at an elite level. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan'

Social Selling 275

Social Selling Top of Funnel Groups Trends 275