Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 20, 2022

The lessons from my annual Nutcracker post have not changed at all in 12 years but my perspective changes. This year three new thoughts come to mind.

Consultative Selling 296

Consultative Selling Sales Coaching Coaching Training 296

Sales Hacker

JUNE 17, 2020

The notion that consultative selling is the optimal way to sell has been around since the last millennium. The concept was coined in the 1970s in the book Consultative Selling by Mack Hanan. To compete in this “new buying normal,” we need to modernize what we mean by and how we execute consultative selling.

Consultative Selling 70

Consultative Selling Hiring Objections Churn 70

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 18, 2013

I wrote and posted exactly 100 new articles since my final article of 2012 when I announced your favorite all-time Kurlan article. I''ve chosen 10 from this year''s articles that were either very popular, contained many comments, or thought-provoking. Magazine Gets it Wrong on Consultative Selling.

Decision Maker 204

Decision Maker Compensation Consultative Selling Call-back 204

Sales Training Connection

DECEMBER 12, 2014

In this case, the weeds involve drawing the distinction between the term consultative selling and the concept of selling consultatively. As starters, Mark Hanan established the branding this term in his brilliantly written book Consultative Selling – an early and extremely important work about selling consultatively.

Consultative Selling 99

Consultative Selling Trends Selling Skills Training 99

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 9, 2020

Forget Consultative Selling, Value Selling and Sales Process - the things I talk about most often. The inability to sell that way is nothing - and I mean nothing compared with what I'm going to explain today! For most salespeople and companies, the last three weeks has been an absolute roller coaster.

Company 353

Company Face-to-face Consultative Selling Pipeline 353

SalesEngine

MARCH 27, 2017

If you’re not doing those things already, or if you want to improve what you’re doing, read on for some simple steps to make your consultative selling more effective. What is Consultative Selling? Consultative selling is a way of selling that puts the customer’s needs first. Get to Know Your Customer.

Consultative Selling 64

Consultative Selling Sales Methodology Social Media Follow-up 64

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 25, 2014

Especially this Friday when you get my powerful rant below, as well as two bonus articles! The Selling Power Blog has my new article on why consultative selling is so difficult. Head over there for a great read!

Harvest 218

Harvest Inbound Inside Sales Outbound 218

Bigtincan

FEBRUARY 23, 2022

Hundreds of articles and analyst reports detail the amount of research buyers do on their own before contacting a sales rep, but most fail to mention the deep-seeded problems behind the “informed buyer” trend. Many buyers feel the need to “arm themselves” with tons of research due to the mistrust they have for sales reps […].

Consultative Selling 59

Consultative Selling Customer How To Trends 59

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 20, 2012

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan I was asked to comment on an article called The End of Solution Selling , which appeared in Harvard Business Review. The article was generally right on, but it also included several things that irritated me enough to question them and the article.

Face-to-face 169

Face-to-face Solutions Selling Discount Consultative Selling 169

Membrain

OCTOBER 15, 2017

I gave him the one-minute version but this article has the expanded version of that answer. Yesterday, a sales manager I was coaching asked me to explain the difference between a great question and a tough question.

Consultative Selling 76

Consultative Selling Coaching Sales Management Sales 76

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 27, 2023

Even though this article begins as a baseball article, in the fourth paragraph it quickly morphs into a sales article. ” Most simply don’t know how to sell! I started coaching him when he was old enough to hold a wiffle bat.

Hiring 156

Hiring Consultative Selling Coaching Report 156

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 27, 2023

Even though this article begins as a baseball article, in the fourth paragraph it quickly morphs into a sales article. As my regular readers know, my son is a baseball player - a rising college senior (as of the summer of 2023) - and I still coach him in the batting cage when he's home for the summer.

Hiring 300

Hiring Coaching Sales Consultative Selling 300

Sales 2.0

SEPTEMBER 18, 2020

For higher end consultative selling I would recommend a cadence along these lines. Send a handwritten note or letter (mail is an underutilized channel) Send a second email, preferable including something relevant of value, such as an article link/white paper etc. There are points of diminishing return in this process.

Direct Mail 370

Direct Mail Outbound Referrals Social Selling 370

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 22, 2022

A few years had passed since the last time I wrecked an hbr.com (Harvard Business Review online) article about sales. More Junk Sales Science in HBR Blog Now That You Have a Sales Process, Never Mind I s SELLING an Afterthought in Today's Sales Model? Why Do You Think Harvard Business Review Does This When it Comes to Sales?

Selling Skills 257

Selling Skills Hiring Study Sales Process 257

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 14, 2023

This article will explore two weather-related analogies: As a Nor'Easter barreled across Central Massachusetts today, a few interesting storm-related happenings were analogous to some sales-related occurrences.

Sales Forecasts 280

Sales Forecasts Forecasting Relationals Sales 280

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 4, 2024

Consultative Approach to Selling Call Reluctance is Just as Popular as Ever! 4 Reasons Why Salespeople Suck at Consultative Selling. Image copyright 123RF The post 200 Best Articles on Sales and Sales Leadership by Category appeared first on Kurlan & Associates, Inc.

Hiring 149

Hiring Sales Leadership Sales Forecasts Forecasting 149

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 17, 2023

Dinger, our GoldenDoodle, who I have featured in several articles , tore his ACL last week. While both of these unrelated events are analogous to selling, I would like to first share the story of how the Veterinarian closed me for surgery in a one call close. Hold that thought. Disconnected. Hold that thought too.

Closing 292

Closing Consultative Selling Sales Forecasts Forecasting 292

The Sales Hunter

AUGUST 19, 2014

I was reading an article the other day that talked about young people buying luxury cars. What jumped out to me was a dealership chairman acknowledging how the sales process is constantly changing. He matter-of-factly went on to say that forcing outdated sales processes on to current customers just won’t work. His salespeople […].

Consultative Selling 210

Consultative Selling Selling Skills Networking Prospecting 210

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 21, 2021

In an article last week we discussed how data can help you hire the ideal salespeople. In that article I shared a top/bottom analysis where the top performers were 100% more effective reaching decision makers than the bottoms. In this episode, Barry and Erica, the two oldest children, accused each other of being posers.

Decision Maker 310

Decision Maker Hiring Analysis Data 310

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 29, 2012

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Mike Myatt wrote an article for Forbes ' online site called, To Increase Revenue Stop Selling. This article has been very heavily viewed and commented. Well that isn’t consultative selling and that’s why you – and your readers – can’t stand salespeople.

Company 215

Company Consultative Selling Retail Up-Sell 215

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 18, 2021

This article is not a review of the movie but it was a terrific film and worth the time to watch it. It's almost like the movie studios decided to release all the movies filmed in the past several years that weren't ready for prime time and hope that people would stream them at home during the pandemic because we had watched everything else.

Film 382

Film Sales Management Sales Consultative Selling 382

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 29, 2013

Read this article and be sure to read the comments - a disagreement between me and the editor of the study. Make sure you read this article too, written when the study appeared in the Harvard Business Review. One of the premises of the Challenger Sale is that Relationship Selling and Solution Selling are dead.

Sales Management 196

Sales Management Lead Rank Consultative Selling Study 196

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 4, 2022

Click here to read last year's fun article comparing pitcher's fielding practice (PFP) to role-playing in sales. If you get the first second of your delivery right, almost all of these flaws get fixed instantly. Do you know how this applies to sales? I'll explain exactly how it applies and I promise you will be surprised!

Coaching 295

Coaching Exact Sales Coaching Sales 295

Marc Wayshak

APRIL 12, 2023

Consultative selling —you’ve probably heard this term a lot lately. Chances are, you’ve read some of the countless books and articles about it, too. And, no doubt, you’ve heard many sales gurus stating some form of the following: “You’ve got to start using consultative selling, now!”

Consultative Selling 95

Consultative Selling Closing Strategy Case Study 95

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 17, 2013

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Last week I posted this article in reference to an Inc. Magazine article that was way off base about Consultative Selling. Make sure the sales training is truly Consultative Selling - no short cuts. (c) Train the sales managers to coach the appropriate way.

Decision Maker 268

Decision Maker Consultative Selling Buying Cycle Proposal 268

Partners in Excellence

FEBRUARY 14, 2022

We have hundreds to thousands of books, we have thousands of articles, we have research report after research report that, for decades, talked about the need to change how we work, how we engage our customers, how we create value with those customers. Mack wrote Consultative Selling in the late 70’s/early 80’s.

Customer 127

Customer Consultative Selling Report Research 127

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

DECEMBER 4, 2019

Just when it seems that I don't have any more articles to write, another year has passed and I've now surpassed 1,800 articles on my Blog. As with any other year, some are really good and some aren't as good but I try to inject my style of using analogies because everywhere I look I see a correlation to sales and sales leadership.

Sales Leadership 31

Sales Leadership Sales Consultative Selling Pipeline 31

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 5, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan During the past 9 years I have written the occasional Top 5, Top 10 and Top 20 Articles and we have now put them into a series of their own. Top 10 Ways Salespeople are Selling in the Dark. Top 10 Kurlan Sales Articles of 2013. Top 10 Sales Management Functions.

Hiring 249

Hiring Sales Management Decision Maker Cold Calling 249

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 10, 2020

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

Video 284

Video Prospecting Consultative Selling 284

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 19, 2012

My Editorial: Salespeople must be trained to be more effective at lead follow up and consultative selling, both of which are quite different and much more challenging than selling was just 5 years ago. Many of those salespeople won't be able to make the transition from transactional selling to consultative selling.

Follow-up 228

Follow-up Incentives Incentive Sales Qualified Lead 228

Jonathan Farrington

FEBRUARY 5, 2012

Consultative Selling is dead!” – Oh no it isn’t! There are those who would suggest that “consultative selling” or its successor “collaborative selling” is dead. 3 Responses to ““Consultative Selling is dead!” – Oh no it isn’t!” Great article, Jonathan! Great article, Jonathan!

Consultative Selling 35

Consultative Selling Sales Process Follow-up CRM 35

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 22, 2013

I wrote this article on the difference between Sales Process and Sales Methodology and this article on how Sales Models are different from Process and Methodology. Consider the following formula: Sports is to Selling as Baseball is to Consultative Selling as Pitching and Defense are to Baseline Selling.

Sports 191

Sports Sales Methodology Consultative Selling Video 191

The Sales Hunter

MARCH 26, 2015

Along with the emails are the numerous articles on the web about how old school […]. Blog Breakthrough Sales University Cold-Calling Consultative Selling Phone Sales Tips Professional Selling Skills Prospecting breakthrough sales university phone sales tips phone tips prospect prospecting selling skills'

Social Media 100

Social Media Media Prospecting Cold Calling 100

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 22, 2014

Check out this series of value selling articles on my Blog. Check out this series of articles on Sales Process from my Blog. Dave Kurlan Consultative Selling sales process postwire sales CRM membrain selling value' Be like Nike. Just do it. Become a Value Seller. I’ve written a lot about this recently.

Face-to-face 275

Face-to-face Commission Exercises Sales Qualified Lead 275

Understanding the Sales Force

JULY 6, 2020

During our first of its kind Independence Day weekend, I thought about a lot of things that loosely tied into sales effectiveness and while they could all be articles in their own right, I decided to write one article tying them all together. Consultative Selling and why that approach will net better results than any other approach.

Consultative Selling 50

Consultative Selling How To Sales Coaching Coaching 50

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 20, 2012

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan So much is written about consultative selling and the huge part it plays in the world of modern sales. However, talking about consultative selling and actually selling consultatively are two entirely different things. Here's an example.

Consultative Selling 231

Consultative Selling Call-back Proposal Follow-up 231