Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 14, 2014

Then, in the mid 1980''s, the invention that would bring prospecting to the next level came along. Now that we have these tools at our disposal, how can we use them to take your prospecting to the next level? They were all prospects from the past 2 years that had flown off the radar, went silent or gone missing.

Prospecting 274

Prospecting Face-to-face Direct Mail Travel 274

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 19, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Everything is going along great, your prospect seems quite interested, they''ve agreed with your points, accepted your pushback, you got them qualified and you''re heading for the home stretch. Some prospects will never call the references yet won''t move forward without speaking with them.

Prospecting 272

Prospecting Follow-up Sales Meeting 272

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 28, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan When we discuss trust, it''s usually from the perspective of how to build trust, how to be more trustworthy and what to do when a prospect doesn''t trust you. These issues led to my White Paper on Trust, a study that had some very surprising and revealing results. There was no game playing.

Prospecting 243

Prospecting Decision Maker Study Pipeline 243

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 29, 2014

There is a huge connection between what I experienced with the World Series, and what prospects experience with salespeople. I''m guessing that if you''re not a Giants or Royals fan, you may not have seen too much of this World Series either. I do plan to watch Game 7 - as long as it keeps me engaged. Engagement.

Prospecting 220

Prospecting Consultative Selling Closing Meeting 220

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 30, 2013

In his article he shares a systematic approach for prospecting " loosely based upon a conversation with Thomas Ray Crowel." In the fifth step of the prospecting call he says that if the prospect sounds interested you should skip the script and jump right to the close. Isn''t this a prospecting call?

Prospecting 239

Prospecting Telemarketing Sales Qualified Lead Cold Calling 239

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 15, 2012

Prospects must think that salespeople are morons. Will you continue allowing prospects to think your salespeople are morons or can you do something to counteract their tactics? They must think we are morons. Do you know who else thinks we are morons? How many of your salespeople have been told any of the following lies?

Airlines 268

Airlines Prospecting Decision Maker Vendor 268

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 10, 2019

They aren't personal, they aren't written well, their messages are identical, you want to delete them and I know you get these emails too. I had already decided to save some of these worthless emails for an upcoming article when Keenan posted this rant on LinkedIn.

Prospecting 230

Prospecting LinkedIn Relationals Sales 230

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 17, 2019

Most lies are truths to the people who state them. Take climate change for example. Climate change is clearly a real thing. The planet has been warming exponentially since the ice age! But to think that humans are responsible or that humans can stop it, or we'll be dead in 12 years if we don't, is ludicrous.

Prospecting 199

Prospecting Google How To Examples 199

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 18, 2012

The lesson here is that sending well-written inmails to carefully targeted prospects might help salespeople stand out and have a better chance of getting a response. The lesson here is not that salespeople should use LinkedIn inmails to replace phone calls, but they shouldn't be ignoring the power of that social media tool either.

Trends 180

Trends Real Estate Prospecting Cold Calling 180

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 27, 2024

He used email to reach out to three prospects but didn’t get a response, he messaged three others on LinkedIn, but had the same result, and he didn’t pick up the phone even once! Example One: Dave asks a question, the prospects don’t answer it, and oh, it’s a turnover! Example Two: Dave is on a roll!

Sports 182

Sports Analysis Outbound Examples 182

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 10, 2022

Imagine my surprise when the first video described hacking operations as businesses with outbound prospecting operations whose goal is to convert their emails, texts and calls into paying customers.

Insurance 321

Insurance Insurance Outbound Video 321

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 22, 2024

They’re having a great conversation, the prospect needs what you have, there is money available, you’re with the decision maker, and you start making some assumptions about how good this opportunity looks. That exact same thing happens to salespeople on their sales calls. What did you miss? I mean, they are so in love with you.

Closing 212

Closing Proposal Discount Decision Maker 212

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 3, 2022

If you think about territory sales or sales into a specific vertical, reps should be calling on the same customers and prospects all the time. The key similarity is that both groups of salespeople have a limited number of prospects, as defined by geography or need, and therefore must continue calling on those prospects until they are sold.

Churn 296

Churn Account Territories Consumer 296

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 20, 2023

Last week, I wrote about how the criteria you use to choose your all-time favorite songs is essentially the same as the criteria your prospects use to choose between you and a competitor. Today, I am continuing the music analogy, but this time, as it relates to motivational tools.

Motivation 290

Motivation Pipeline How To Relationals 290

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 1, 2015

It's a simple concept, really, but 74% of all salespeople aren't very good at getting most people to buy from them. Even though the concept is simple, it seems really complicated to the group that can't do it. Of course, most salespeople wouldn't agree that they can't do it, even when their win rates are below 50%.

How To 120

How To Prospecting Groups Course 120

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 30, 2016

It's a catch-22 that I find myself in all of the time. In this business, I can't ever be better at training, coaching, evaluating, consulting, and general sales expertise than I am when actually selling. If I am less expert at selling I will lack credibility. I become one of those people who, if they can't do it, teach it.

Prospecting 120

Prospecting Coaching Meeting Training 120

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 24, 2015

Would you put steaks and burgers on the grill before it was hot? Would a pitcher throw as hard as he could without first throwing some long-toss and then pitching 20-30 slower pitches? Would a runner sprint without stretching?

Prospecting 120

Prospecting Engineering How To Sales 120

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 22, 2022

The same thing has happened with email prospecting. The only practical way to use the "car phone" was to find a coverage area, find a place to park in that area, and then have a conversation. It took a good 15 years for the technology to catch up with the concept! I had my first email account in the early 90's.

Marketing 295

Marketing Conversion Account Prospecting 295

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 1, 2020

Qualifying Skills - Caliper looks at a willingness to ask questions in general while OMG looks at the specific information which a salesperson must identify in order to qualify a prospect. Trust - Caliper looks at general skepticism (an outlook on life) while OMG looks specifically at whether the candidate trusts prospects.

Comparison 306

Comparison Lead Rank Lead Scoring Hiring 306

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 6, 2023

For example, Bob has never been comfortable having a financial conversation with his prospects. As a result of skipping the financial conversation, he regularly proposes solutions that prospects can’t justify, giving him a win rate of less than 15%. Data from Objective Management Group (OMG), which has assessed more than 2.4

Proposal 193

Proposal Sales Training Conversion 193

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 10, 2020

Prospects don't pay a lot of attention so the less you say the better. But prospects aren't the only ones who don't listen. Short article today. It helps them listen and comprehend more of what you share with them when you use fewer words. Salespeople don't listen very well either.

Video 284

Video Prospecting Consultative Selling 284

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 22, 2023

There are two ironic byproducts of the inbound phenomenon: Account executives who benefit from the appointment setting provided by BDRs not only don't prospect; they don't know how! Most BDRs are atrocious at making outbound calls, sending emails and LinkedIn reach outs, and following up on inbound leads. They average only 1.5

Top of Funnel 406

Top of Funnel Positioning Scale Inbound 406

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 16, 2023

They completed the sales call, but they didn’t do discovery and failed to uncover any compelling reasons to buy, they didn’t thoroughly qualify the opportunity, they probably failed to reach the decision maker(s), and more importantly, the impression they left on their prospect was shaky (wobbly) because they failed to differentiate.

Sales Process 227

Sales Process Decision Maker Proposal Follow-up 227

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 15, 2021

When prospects tell you that they're going with the lowest price, it's total crap. So what should you do when a prospect asks for a lower price? What's the point? They might be saying that, but are they required to do that? If they have any bottled water in the kitchen, pay for any streaming, or software then it's simply not true.

Software 310

Software Software Channels Follow-up 310

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 21, 2023

To move away from prospects asking for better pricing and facing pressure to lower your prices, read articles on selling value. million salespeople, read articles about the sales data To generate more new business, read articles about hunting and prospecting.

Hiring 156

Hiring Decision Maker Forecasting Face-to-face 156

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 21, 2023

To move away from prospects asking for better pricing and facing pressure to lower your prices, read articles on selling value. million salespeople, read articles about the sales data To generate more new business, read articles about hunting and prospecting.

Hiring 156

Hiring Decision Maker Forecasting Face-to-face 156

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 13, 2019

Most salespeople do not know the difference between their prospects' decision-making process compared with their decision-making criteria. If you do ask a prospect about their decision-making process, you might hear about the steps they will take. What's worse is that even more salespeople don't even bother asking about it.

Groups 223

Groups Objections Prospecting Data 223

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 5, 2021

BuyCycle TM represents how salespeople go about the process of making a major purchase and there is a 100% correlation between how they buy and the behavior they accept from their prospects. For example:

Guidelines 380

Guidelines Closing Call-back Report 380

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

It's a huge opportunity that Bob has been nurturing for years and several months ago his prospect, a top executive that has the influence and authority to make a decision, confided that he would like to find a way to do business and not only that, have this be part of his legacy. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6.

Closing 294

Closing Influencer Opportunity Prospecting 294

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 9, 2020

Bob was on a sales call and the prospect told him that they were looking for the lowest price. I won't suggest that a cup of coffee will make you more alert and more effective. It's much more helpful than that. This is another Bob story. I hope you hate it when that happens.

Conversion 353

Conversion Prospecting Consultative Selling Sales 353

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 27, 2019

After prospects state an objection, say they're not interested, or tell the salesperson, "No," prospects tend to raise their resistance. When you use the wrong approach it will appear to the prospect as if you are using the hard sell and their resistance will go up even further.

Insurance 263

Insurance Insurance Objections Up-Sell 263

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 20, 2024

Similarly, many prospects are also non-believers in your product or service. The author admits that until he conducted his “cold-case investigation” of the New Testament, he was an atheist, a certain non-believer. As a detective, he always followed the evidence to find the truth.

Sales Process 334

Sales Process Sales Methodology Decision Maker Pipeline 334

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 27, 2023

For example, we’ll discuss salespeople who are uncomfortable when they need to discuss finances with their prospects. And that is a great analogy for what happens when salespeople are uncomfortable with certain aspects of the sales process. The table above shows data from Objective Management Group (OMG), which has assessed close to 2.4

Sales Methodology 203

Sales Methodology Sales Process Proposal Objections 203

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 21, 2022

Why Your Prospects Won't Talk with You and What to Do About it - a rant. Revenue Sensitivity - a rant on the lack of correlation between top salespeople and revenue. On Sales Process and Methodology - the difference between popular sales processes and methodologies.

Video 296

Video Forecasting Cold Calling Consultative Selling 296

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 17, 2014

Dave Kurlan Inbound Marketing inside sales reaching prospects prospecting tips' Did you ever play a hole where you drove it perfectly off the tee, hit a great shot from the fairway and still couldn’t get it on the green in regulation? Of course you did. Almost always.

Inbound 266

Inbound Closing Inside Sales Course 266

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 1, 2024

This at a time when we are seeing: Companies hesitating to spend money Competition is becoming fierce Projects are being back-burnered or abandoned Procurement is becoming more difficult to deal with Decision-makers are more protected and harder to meet Phone calls go unanswered Voicemails are not returned Emails and LinkedIn messages are deleted before (..)

Decision Maker 156

Decision Maker Call-back Training Groups 156

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 6, 2022

The first page of results was filled with self-serving articles from companies like Gong (artificial intelligence for digital prospecting), Hubspot (marketing platform) and more urging you to leverage their platforms so that you don't have to rely on salespeople.

Retention 193

Retention Customer Hubspot Compensation 193