Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 12, 2017

The sales equivalent to the Home Run Derby wouldn't really work - buyers lining up to place orders with the greatest salespeople on the planet. Wow, what a show! Of course, my mind always looks for a correlation to selling and there are some good ones here. That's stupid.

Leads 178

Leads Marketing Qualified Lead Course Up-Sell 178

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 28, 2013

I have continued to urge readers how important it is to sell using a consultative, buyer-focused methodology and a formal, structured sales process. What if buyers should dictate the process? What if we should sell the way buyers want to buy? Well, at least that''s what I have been writing. What have I really been doing?

Decision Maker 173

Decision Maker Inbound Buyer Lead Rank 173

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 29, 2014

He did what a lot of buyers do to salespeople and began to boast about how well-positioned his company is to market OMG in Hong Kong and what a huge opportunity this would be for OMG. This is when the conversation began to resemble a sales call. He expected me to waive the fees in exchange for the great opportunity he described.

Licensing 229

Licensing Negotiation Exact Objections 229

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 2, 2017

Why isn't it as friction-free as an abundance of happy buyers would suggest it should be? The excitement from these purchases tends to last much longer than the moments themselves. So if we all love buying stuff, why do salespeople struggle so much when they try to sell stuff?

Sports 149

Sports Customer Buyer B2C 149

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 3, 2014

On the other hand, depending on which experts you listen to, sales success boils down to how effective one is with either Inbound, Social Selling, Consultative Selling, Qualifying, Value Selling, Solution Selling, Relationship Selling, acceptance of the Buyer Journey, Sales Process, Sales Methodology, Prospecting, Telesales, Reaching Decision Makers, (..)

Sales Methodology 212

Sales Methodology Inbound Decision Maker Consultative Selling 212

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 27, 2013

Does this represent a change in buyer behavior? Change in Buyer Behavior - behaviors are always changing and while it may be true that sales cycles are getting longer, there are only four buyer-side behaviors that can really impact sales outcomes: Relationships. Is it a result of more competition? Is it the economy?

Travel 251

Travel Decision Maker Insurance Insurance 251

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 17, 2016

Ken is one of my longtime readers, a former client, and last week he sent this note expressing his frustrations as a buyer of services. After 10 years and 1,400 articles and to avoid boredom, we will change things up a bit for this article. I'll add my comments and conclusions at the end of his note.

Sales Leadership 120

Sales Leadership Coaching Buyer Training 120

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 2, 2014

While it does provide a myriad of new ways to connect with potential buyers and customers, most who are providing the tips, steps, methods, tools and opinions are selling those very services that support the existance of a social selling industry. Take it all with a grain of salt and review these articles first.

Social Selling 243

Social Selling Inbound Google Video 243

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 30, 2015

He says that consultative sellers end up with buyers who can only make small decisions, experts end up in purchasing and only industry authorities can reach executive decision-makers. In this article for Middle Market Executive ,Tom Searcy insists that Consultative Selling is dead. experts say, "Here is your pain.",

Consultative Selling 120

Consultative Selling Decision Maker Industry Up-Sell 120

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 9, 2016

It was just last month that I wrote this hugely popular article about the tech buyer who hated salespeople. In the first paragraph I mentioned that I had a crazy case of poison ivy. At about the one-week point, I started searching Google to find anything that might help ease the itching and discomfort.

Hiring 120

Hiring Remedy Insurance Insurance 120

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 14, 2014

Unlike needs-based, buyer-journey, or pain-based approaches, the compelling reasons as to why a prospect would move their business to you, or buy this product, service or program in the first place, provides the salesperson with leverage. Is it because of uncovering compelling reasons to buy?

Sales Process 243

Sales Process Sales Up-Sell Follow-up 243

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 30, 2012

If this is normal buyer behavior, then this calls for a salesperson! All salespeople must be able to navigate around and push through these common issues or we really can't call them salespeople. The optimist : The optimist has happy ears.

Decision Maker 253

Decision Maker Proposal Sales Cycle Exact 253

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 25, 2013

A consultative, buyer-focused selling approach is the right way to leverage their compelling reasons to spend their money with you. (c) It quickly becomes bad news if you follow them up traditionally and allow your salespeople to sell them transactionally. Getting found is the new way of identifying new business opportunities.

Inbound 253

Inbound Lead Gen Motivation Up-Sell 253

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 30, 2012

If this is normal buyer behavior, then this calls for a salesperson! All salespeople must be able to navigate around and push through these common issues or we really can't call them salespeople. The optimist : The optimist has happy ears.

Decision Maker 245

Decision Maker Proposal Sales Cycle Exact 245

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Selling the job to the candidate positions you as the seller rather than the buyer, placing you in a position of weakness rather than strength. 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

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 17, 2013

Naïveté - The buyer told me that I''ll be getting the business! What''s that? Skills and Tactics - How am I supposed to know how their decision making process will work? Stupidity - Why do I need to speak with the decision maker?

Decision Maker 268

Decision Maker Consultative Selling Buying Cycle Proposal 268

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 14, 2013

This contributor says it's a combination of Drive, Personality and Intelligence but he describes someone who has the ability to get in front of a buyer and close the deal. There are plenty of highly motivated salespeople that are not nearly assertive enough, and plenty of assertive salespeople who are not very motivated. The Trifecta?

Hiring 253

Hiring Motivation Webinar Metrics Opportunity 253

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

This would point to an overall weakening of those in our profession. Dramatic changes have made professional sales a much more difficult profession.

Sales Management 288

Sales Management Hiring Compensation Trends 288

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 8, 2013

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan I have been teaching and writing for years that buyer-focused selling, a consultative approach to sales, is the best approach for differentiating, adding and being the value, maintaining and increasing margins and winning a larger percentage of opportunities.

Consultative Selling 259

Consultative Selling Margin Sports Sales Methodology 259

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 31, 2013

The authors listed four scenarios where a move to inside sales could be effective: By market segment, By stage of the buyer engagement process, By geography, and. or "We must follow because these industry leaders are doing it.". By product or service. How about these: By sales talent - What roles are your salespeople best suited for?

Inside Sales 211

Inside Sales SAP Sales Talent Lead Rank 211

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 18, 2015

One article was written by a sales expert discussing the concept of following the buyer's purchasing process. That search turned up these articles on the first page of results: So who wrote all of these articles?

Inbound 120

Inbound Inside Sales Sales Process Top of Funnel 120

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

Getting to and staying with the decision maker - most salespeople get no further than those tasked with doing research or buyers. Getting them to agree to spend a little more to do business with you - most salespeople end up attempting to compete on price. Being more memorable - most salespeople blend in and don''t stand out.

Sales Cycle 199

Sales Cycle Proposal Decision Maker Sports 199

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 3, 2014

Most of the sales bloggers don''t touch on rejection but when it does comes up, it''s usually in the context of fear, as in fear of rejection.

Face-to-face 215

Face-to-face Decision Maker Call-back Outbound 215

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 4, 2013

Demos and presentations are powerful, but not until you have an interested, motivated, qualified buyer. (c) It's not a do-it-yourself project so you must also be prepared to do it correctly, get help from a results oriented firm, and lead by example. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan

Sales Qualified Lead 188

Sales Qualified Lead Journal Consultative Selling Proposal 188

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 5, 2022

My articles begin with analogies so we'll start by asking, has baseball changed?

B2B 296

B2B Inbound Consultative Selling Outbound 296

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 3, 2019

Most of the CEOs and sales leaders I speak with agree that their sales organizations need to be more effective at taking a consultative approach to selling. At the same time, they insist that they talk about it often and that their salespeople are doing OK with a consultative approach.

How To 237

How To Consultative Selling Buyer Sales 237

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 15, 2024

Where are they in their buyer journey? That’s what salespeople and their sales managers should be doing – considering every variable. The adverbs: Where are you in the sales process? When will you…? When will they…? Who is the competition? How do we compare? How will you…? How will they…?

Forecasting 203

Forecasting Sales Forecasts Decision Maker Call-back 203

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 4, 2024

Startups Almost Always Get The Sales Thing Wrong What We Can Learn from the Latest Data on Sales Motivation The 21 Sales Core Competencies for 2021 and Beyond Sales Podcasts and Video Interviews are Better Than Sales Articles Combining Goal Setting with Sales Competencies 4 Types of Sales Positions That Can Never Be Replaced by AI How to Change a Crappy (..)

Hiring 149

Hiring Sales Leadership Sales Forecasts Forecasting 149

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 20, 2014

The Buyer Journey Instead of Sales Process Understanding the buyer journey is fine, but without a milestone-centric sales process, salespeople cannot confidently move forward the sales process. It''s being of value to the customer.

Consultative Selling 275

Consultative Selling Inside Sales Lead Nurturing ACT 275

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 25, 2012

Dan Perry, writing at Sales Benchmark Index's Sales Force Effectiveness Blog , wrote that "The single biggest problem with sales today is sales reps are mismatched to the buyer. They think like a sales rep and not like a buyer.". Well Dan, I don't agree and I have the statistics to back me up.

Company 188

Company Decision Maker Revenue Webinar Metrics 188

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 22, 2023

Through the sales process (or if you insist, their buyer journey), they may develop a favorite based on their respective roles. It’s also important to remember that each of the members of that purchasing committee may have relationships with salespeople and/or companies they have previously used.

Company 193

Company Decision Maker Proposal Up-Sell 193