Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 8, 2018

The articles in my Blog typically address these differences with science and data to support to my position. The difference between great salespeople and weak salespeople has been debated for years.

Positioning 243

Positioning Data Sales Pipeline 243

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 16, 2023

For example, they must: Pull up the old walkway which, in this case was pavers Install, level and compress new stone dust because the pavers were thicker than the stones Operate the tractor and bring one appropriately sized stone at a time to the walk site Place and position the stone 6-8 inches away from the prior stone Level the stone with stones (..)

Sales Process 227

Sales Process Decision Maker Proposal Follow-up 227

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 13, 2018

You like your salespeople, they work hard, don't give you any trouble, are positive, don't miss quota by too much, sometimes bring in good customers, are advocates of the company and brand, and are good influences, etc. Of course, they are using subjective, rather than objective approaches to measuring what "good" is. How do you measure good?

Hiring 306

Hiring Quota Objections Influencer 306

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 14, 2018

Positive Momentum. Explosive Growth. Better Morale. Greater Confidence. Improved Capabilities.

How To 258

How To Positioning Sales Data 258

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 25, 2024

When you meet with and make positive impressions with decision makers, even if it’s a very short encounter, they will remember you. There is always a table for you!” ” Decision makers make decisions and will overrule those who are merely tasked to do a job and make recommendations. ” Decision made.

Decision Maker 182

Decision Maker Hotels Cancellation Travel 182

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 10, 2023

CEOs may be in a better position to start a sales transformation, but they tend to think their work is done after approving the payment. A transformation of the sales organization must begin in the C Suite because most Sales Leaders are not comfortable enough or strong enough to initiate one and see it through to the end.

Company 212

Company Hiring Scale Forecasting 212

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

” By admitting the discomfort Bob is being true to himself and by asking permission to discuss finances he puts himself in a position to be more effective. It’s not coconut flakes but it’s not bacon either – at least not the bacon you can eat because it’s still kind of raw.

Proposal 193

Proposal Sales Training Conversion 193

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 5, 2016

But today, I'll play politician, reverse my position, and talk about why words are very important. In the past I've written about how words aren't that important. Here are two such articles: [link]. I've written about the importance of words before too.

Video 231

Video Positioning Examples Sales 231

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 1, 2014

Instead of handling an objection, instead of saying OK, instead of following up, instead of explaining your position, instead of doing nearly anything else, I have asked salespeople to write down, commit to memory, practice and use this one question. For years I have been instructing salespeople to ask this powerful, game-changing question.

Decision Maker 228

Decision Maker Follow-up Positioning Up-Sell 228

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 18, 2023

There are several factors that explain why salespeople don’t contact decision makers: It is not a milestone in their Sales Process They don’t believe they are required to meet with or talk with the decision maker (Sales Management Expectations) They aren’t comfortable talking with someone in a position of power (Self-Limiting Beliefs (..)

Decision Maker 193

Decision Maker Insurance Insurance Call-back 193

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 29, 2018

As a result of these positive developments, what should you expect to happen from a sales perspective in 2018? What will consumers do with that extra money? They'll spend it of course!

Consumer 163

Consumer Course Positioning Sales 163

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

The article also said that "T hirty-five percent of sales managers couldn''t find qualified candidates for open positions." Another important point from the article was that it is now taking three months to fill a sales position. That''s consistent with what clients have been seeing.

Hiring 246

Hiring Inbound Trends Positioning 246

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 9, 2018

You might have been paying attention when a day later the Patriots offensive coordinator agreed to take the head coaching position of the Indianapolis Colts. If you follow American football even a little, then you were paying attention this week when the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the New England Patriots to win Super Bowl VII.

Conference 186

Conference Coaching Relationals Positioning 186

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 10, 2013

Positioning yourself and company as the clear choice to help with numbers one and two. If a salesperson does successfully build or create value, or position himself/herself as the added value, they must not allow price to be one of the decision-making criteria. Now the salesperson is the added value.

Negotiation 304

Negotiation Proposal Competition Positioning 304

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 5, 2023

Matt was always positive – right up to his final day – and when you asked him how he was feeling he would always give you a number between eleven and fifteen (on a zero to ten scale). I learned you must never interrupt step-counting.

Scale 193

Scale Networking ACT Sports 193

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

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

Challenging a prospect''s thinking, plan, or position. The failure to think positively. That fear - and most salespeople aren''t even consciously aware of it - prevents them from: Making prospecting calls. Making enough prospecting calls. Getting through to decision makers. Pushing back on put-offs. Asking tough questions. Qualifying.

Sales Qualified Lead 275

Sales Qualified Lead Hotels Hubspot Decision Maker 275

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 10, 2014

The result is that only mediocre salespeople apply for the position and when the strong ones don''t apply, they can''t take the assessment or get recommended! Compensation - Clients often set the difficulty level of the job real high, hoping to get an extremely strong salesperson.

Hiring 290

Hiring Ideal Customer Profile Compensation Webinar Metrics 290

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 10, 2023

But with customer service having such an impact, both positive and negative, what happens when your customer doesn’t ever reach out to customer service? Most customers are retained or lost as a direct result of how customer service takes care of them. Not salespeople. Customer service.

Customer 156

Customer Wireless Customer Service Call-back 156

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

JUNE 2, 2014

I had to laugh when I was told that our assessment was "correct in not recommending" her for the sales position at her company, but "the other assessment was a more accurate description" of her. OMG''s Sales Candidate Assessment does not describe a personality or a person or a type.

Conversion 249

Conversion Decision Maker Compensation Sales 249

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 6, 2012

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan The pros and cons of both commission-based sales positions and salaried positions have been well-documented, so we won't be discussing that in this article. Let's talk about something other than questioning which compensation plan is best for your company and its salespeople.

Compensation 195

Compensation Salary Commission Positioning 195

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 27, 2016

They're similar books because each devotes so much ink and analysis as to how their own thinking and beliefs - both positive and negative - shaped their actions and outcomes. I finished reading Game 7 - Ron Darling's book on the final game of the 1986 World Series , and I'm half way through Shoe Dog - Nike creator Phil Knight's memoir.

Territories 136

Territories Analysis Groups Objections 136

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 10, 2016

This week a candidate for a sales position sent along his Predictive Index (PI) assessment so that we could compare it to his sales assessment from Objective Management Group (OMG).

Comparison 120

Comparison Groups Objections Positioning 120

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 17, 2014

Next I reviewed around 250 of the newest Objective Management Group (OMG) accounts for sales candidate assessments and discovered that 42% of the open positions are for inside sales roles. That''s code for how old the OMG partner is!

Inside Sales 212

Inside Sales Outside Sales Study Distribution 212

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 27, 2023

The positive group tells us the training is “life-changing,” a “breath of fresh air,” a “logical approach for them to follow,” a “welcome methodology to make them much more effective,” etc. The third time, the feedback is more direct and comes during or after a sales training kick-off.

Hiring 156

Hiring Consultative Selling Coaching Report 156

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 8, 2014

Proving that social selling is having a positive effect on results is one of our greatest challenges. As you might expect from groups who spend all of their time at the top of the sales funnel, there has been a positive impact on their ability to add opportunities to the pipeline. In my opinion, the challenge is the data iself.

Social Selling 275

Social Selling Top of Funnel Groups Trends 275

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 8, 2013

So salespeople, positioning themselves as experts that could manage the above functions, makes no sense. Out of the many products and services listed above, the last two are the only ones that some companies attempt to do internally - and they tend to do both ineffectively and inefficiently.

Consultative Selling 205

Consultative Selling Outsourcing Services Telecommunications Real Estate 205

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 23, 2014

Positioning - most salespeople don''t effectively uncover who their viable competitors are and properly position themselves with and against those competitors. Relationships - people still buy from people they like and most salespeople could do a much better job leveraging their relationships.

Sales Cycle 199

Sales Cycle Proposal Decision Maker Sports 199

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 2, 2013

they intended to buy from you. We must be able to have meaningful lost deal reviews. While it is always important to learn if we lost for any of the usual reasons (price, timing, features, fit, etc.),

Account 163

Account Analysis Decision Maker Positioning 163

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 6, 2013

Appropriate Positioning. How many of your salespeople can do all of this in their first meeting? Ask good, tough timely questions. Listen intently. Develop a relationship. Show humility. Demonstrate expertise. Experience some intimacy. Make Accurate Predictions. Differentiate. Have Patience. Develop Trust. Show Understanding.

Sales Process 302

Sales Process Webinar Metrics Intent Groups 302

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 21, 2012

That's when they feel the most motivated, excited, confident, positive, relaxed and successful. You won't like this answer but it's correct. Have them fill the pipeline, or in this case, add to it, when their pipeline is already full. That's when they should look for more opportunities. That's when they will be most effective and successful.

Pipeline 222

Pipeline Motivation Positioning Opportunity 222

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 13, 2014

Depending on the difficulty of the role, and the requirements of the position, and the customization of the assessment, we can expect anywhere from 87% (for the most challenging roles) to 57% (the least challenging roles) of all candidates to be disqualified based on whether or not their selling capabilities meet the requirements for the role.

Hiring 267

Hiring Face-to-face Groups Webinar Metrics 267

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 30, 2012

While a positive attitude is good, it can be terribly frustrating! The longer they talked, the shorter the sales cycle. Optimists are just as much of a liability as pessimists because they don't inspect or question what they hear. They assume that everything will be okay. The realist : This is exactly who you need on your sales force.

Decision Maker 253

Decision Maker Proposal Sales Cycle Exact 253

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 2, 2012

Isn't that a positive? An abundance of opportunities could be a positive, but could very easily become negative. (c) Many of us in this space write about the obvious importance of filling the sales pipeline and keeping it filled. But what about too many opportunities in a salesperson's pipeline? Maybe not.

Opportunity 156

Opportunity Sales Qualified Lead Conference Pipeline 156

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 26, 2012

The wins - which can come suddenly - build positive momentum and lead to huge wins. (c) c) Copyright 2012 Dave Kurlan

Lead Rank 247

Lead Rank Lead Scoring Sales Qualified Lead Pipeline 247

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 2, 2015

Then, with less than two minutes to left to play, we witnessed THE CATCH - requiring a fourth or perhaps even a fifth effort - that put the SeaHawks in a position to win. Just 8 minutes into the game it was obvious that second efforts would be the rule of the day.

Groups 120

Groups Objections Up-Sell Positioning 120