Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 10, 2020

In both 2012 and 2016, companies everywhere were telling salespeople, "We're going to wait until after the election." There was tremendous uncertainty surrounding those two elections and companies didn't want to commit to anything until they were sure who the next President of the USA would be. But why?

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Company Fashion Sales Consultative Selling 261

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 10, 2022

You may have read that the latest legislation out of Washington DC provides $80 billion for the hiring, arming and training of close to 80,000 new IRS (Internal Revenue Service is the US Tax Agency) agents to nearly double the size of the agency. Did you catch the part about arming IRS agents?

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Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 28, 2020

Would you fly on a huge jet from Minneapolis, Minnesota to St. Paul, Minnesota, usually a 15-minute drive? Would you take a train between intersections of the same city block, usually a 2-minute walk? Would you take a bus to the bottom of your driveway - usually a 1-minute walk or less?

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Hiring Company Examples Training 275

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 6, 2020

I asked Objective Management Group's (OMG) COO, John Pattison, to dig into some of our data from the evaluations of 1,931,772 salespeople from companies and provide me with some scores. Doesn't it make sense to wonder about where you can find the best salespeople?

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Company Data Groups Objections 221

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 16, 2020

There are comparisons of apples to oranges, red or green, black or white, stop and go, and the most relevant and current of all, liberals to conservatives. In today's article, I'll share a hot/cold comparison of my own, but this one is about sales candidates.

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Comparison Analysis Company Sales 278

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 30, 2012

One area where we see this occur repeatedly is when companies are about to hire a Sales VP or Director AND they want to evaluate their sales force too. Knowing the answers to these questions in advance help companies specify and select a Sales VP that has the experiences and skill sets to deal with all that is known.

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Hiring Company Report Exact 203

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Sales grades are another story altogether and that is where most companies make terrible, horrible, awful mistakes. School grades go down and we say, "Oh-oh, something is seriously wrong here!" Academic grades are a reflection of tests scores, completed homework and class participation. Do you think you know what those mistakes are?

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Compensation Company Report Sales 120

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 29, 2012

It’s not the salespeople that are the problems, it’s the companies that employ them. And as long as people continue to buy, despite how ineffective salespeople are at identifying and solving problems, most companies won’t consider replacing their outdated models, processes, methodologies and salespeople.

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Company Consultative Selling Retail Up-Sell 215

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 9, 2017

Image Copyright iStock Photos.

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Company Sales 209

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 9, 2014

Earlier this week, I spoke to a great audience of sales leaders at the EcSell Institute Fall Sales Coaching Summit in Dallas where my topic was, How to Hire a Great Salesperson that Will be Great. I asked the attendees if they had ever hired a great salesperson that still failed and everyone there said, "Yes!"

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Hiring Company Sales Coaching Groups 280

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 9, 2012

Whether your salespeople are under performing or doing well, are they responsible or is it your company, culture, advertising or offering that is responsible? We know that in underdog companies (pricier than competition, high-ticket, new company, new technology, story to tell, pioneer, etc.) Sales is not like other roles.

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Company Advertising Advertising Salary 195

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 24, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Do you prefer to see movies when the previews are awesome or dull? Do you get more excited about your entree after a delicious or unspectacular appetizer? Are you more likely to buy a car after an exciting test drive or one that left you unimpressed?

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Company Webinar Metrics Compensation Study 196

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 11, 2016

For example, my company, Objective Management Group (OMG) , is universally hated by an entire vertical! Do you sell a product or service that can help a company do more with fewer employees? You are just so likable that it's inconceivable that you could be disliked. I'll share that with you but first, I must ask you a question.

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Microsoft Company Territories Groups 120

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 2, 2015

There are some really good lessons that are beneficial to all executives and from companies of all sizes and industries. He signed off with, "Some people have to cut off their nose to spite their face. &^%$# amazing!". I'll share the top five lessons here:

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Hiring Company Face-to-face Exact 120

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 2, 2015

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a Sales VP about the training he said he wanted (but didn't really) for his sales team. In most cases, unless the Sales VP initiates the call, bringing someone in from the outside really isn't high on the priority list.

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Training Company Conversion Sales 120

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 1, 2016

I've been writing about the importance of having a milestone-centric sales process for a decade and Objective Management Group's (OMG) data is showing that companies - and their salespeople - have finally begun to make some serious progress in this area.

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Company Follow-up Groups Objections 120

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 17, 2017

Image Copyright AdrianHancu. Amazon generated almost $44 Billion in net revenue last year and it had to come from somewhere. That's not $44 Billion that people wouldn't have spent if not for Amazon. It's money that people would have spent, at some retailer, probably within an hour of their home or office, but chose to buy from Amazon instead.

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Retail B2B Company Revenue 180

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 22, 2015

Copyright: 123RF Stock Photo. This week I received a cold call from one of the worst salespeople ever. I get to see the Sales DNA and Sales Competencies of more bad salespeople than anyone on the planet so I know bad when I see it or hear it. 74% of all salespeople still suck and I get to see just how bad they suck.

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Cold Calling Company Lead Generation Groups 120

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 14, 2016

There are specific events, points in time, and conditions when it is appropriate to ask for help. Before I explain those, let me go to my favorite source for analogies - baseball - to show how this is true. A quick Google search indicates that I have woven baseball into 435 of my articles - nearly one third of them, so why baseball again?

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Company Google Sales Sales Coaching 120

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 13, 2024

They become a resource, an asset, a partner and not only help write the specifications of the next RFP, but write the specs in such a way that they are the only company that can win the business. That a company would prioritize price over mission critical components or kits is disgraceful, but what if it wasn’t company policy?

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Decision Maker Data Hiring Proposal 193

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 10, 2023

The economic crisis of 2008-9, and the Covid lockdowns of 2020-2021 showed us that when companies focus on cost-cutting instead of growing revenue, revenue declines - sharply. Can companies add water to grow revenue when the economic conditions are evaporating? Failure to hit quotas. Order cancellations. You add water.

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Revenue Cancellation Forecasting Quota 344

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 25, 2024

Are the salespeople in your company getting coached every day? There is no excuse for any company with salespeople to not have a culture of coaching. Sounds way too arrogant and promotional, and I don’t even believe it. Is it to challenge them? Is it something powerful and insightful, with lessons learned and next steps?

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Coaching Guidelines Margin Incentives 333

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

Back then, new digital marketing companies were telling everyone that salespeople would be replaced by inbound marketing. And the very same companies who were claiming that their SaaS marketing platforms would replace salespeople actually required salespeople - lots of them - to sell their applications. Inbound is King," they said.

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Top of Funnel Positioning Scale Inbound 406

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 9, 2022

Like phone company awful. And cable company awful. Could companies that wanted to experience a similar uptick in sales performance achieve that by replacing their sales managers? For the longest time, my local Panera in Westboro Massachusetts was awful. The problem was chronic. The half and half was always empty.

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Sales Management Hiring Course Account 295

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 22, 2024

Over the past thirty-nine years, I have seen this at so many companies and with executives who believed they could apply DIY to any or all of the following ten functions: Evaluating their sales team – it is usually biased and limited to what they recognize as good. and a Porsche Macan, which Car and Driver scores a perfect 10.

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Comparison Construction Compensation Sales Leadership 193

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 1, 2024

But most in the sales profession are content to sit on the sidelines, do the least they can get away with, and attend training only when the company forces them to. If you haven’t enrolled, don’t wait for your company to offer something. ” I’ll end with this: Use the training you enrolled in.

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Decision Maker Call-back Training Groups 156

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 13, 2024

They become a resource, an asset, a partner and not only help to write the specifications of the next RFP, but write the specs in such a way that they are the only company that can win the business. What should a company do with those salespeople? Many companies struggle to answer that question but it’s an easy answer for me.

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Decision Maker Proposal Distribution Territories 170

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 9, 2024

Despite how important new salespeople are to the future of a company, Sales Leadership attempts to get recruiting over with as quickly as possible, often prioritizing speed to hire over cost to hire, talent and capabilities. Our process out performs what most companies achieve by 84%. For HR, that’s part of their job.

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Hiring How To Decision Maker Guarantee 193

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 20, 2023

Companies wants to use accurate sales assessments but are they accurate when the top and bottom salespeople have the same scores? Historically, Bill is the company’s best salesperson. But could there be more to it? Fred is a relatively new hire who is not performing.

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Hiring Analysis Exact Groups 182

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 21, 2020

Most companies don't understand that crappy customer service is really a sales issue. When a company's customer service is thoughtful, helpful, kind and thorough, that great customer service actually serves the sales organization. It becomes easier for salespeople to renew accounts, cross-sell, up-sell and succeed.

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Customer Service Training Objections Up-Sell 334

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 15, 2024

The Covid crisis was short lived as most selling transitioned to virtual and most companies that weren’t directly impacted continued to buy. Whether or not it’s an economic crisis like 2008-2009, the four things I shared tell us that selling is quickly becoming much more difficult. More importantly, it was short lived.

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Hiring Discount Decision Maker Call-back 182

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 20, 2024

Every company should have a custom-built scorecard that accurately predicts which opportunities they are likely to win. (A Some companies do some account planning for major accounts, but not nearly enough of this takes place. Numbers help salespeople get to the point in a sales cycle where they can discuss winning an account.

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Revenue Margin Sports Quota 193

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 31, 2022

For others, even though they may not disclose it, the base salary is completely irrelevant as long as the company won't cap the salesperson's total earnings. We need to decode the topic of compensation so that we can be sure that both the base salary and the total on-plan earnings are acceptable to candidates.

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Compensation Motivation Salary Hiring 294

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 27, 2020

We are in week 6 of lockdown, week 8 of voluntary work-from-home, while adapting, guiding and directing companies who still need to sell their products and services to generate revenue. For most companies, sales is now about generating revenue to survive, as we stare down a whole new way of doing business.

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Revenue Tools Sales Strategy 413

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 29, 2023

Let’s exclude newsletters that you get but delete, product updates, and other emails from legitimate companies that you may or may not have signed up for. They lack credibility when they don’t include a last name, company name or title. As much as I hate trash time, my feelings about email are even more negative.

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Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 21, 2022

If you think about it, and you don't have to think very long or hard, cashless bail mirrors how companies deal with under-performing salespeople. Most of the criminals are repeat offenders and those who are captured and arrested are usually back on the street committing additional crimes later that day due to cashless bail. Let me explain.

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Hiring Company Sales Enablement Sales 308

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 20, 2023

Speaking of marketing and emails, and in the “for what it’s worth category,” I counted the number of unsolicited emails from people and companies offering to provide the best lead generation program ever. They need to improve their ability to execute the company’s chosen sales process and sales methodology.

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Sales Leadership Hiring How To Account Based Marketing 203