Dave Kurlan
3 Strikes and You’re Out – The Need for Sales Force Consistency
Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert. I wrote a great article for the Digital Magazine Alister & Paine called How Consistency Rather Than Heroics Drives Revenue. It's a very comprehensive article and you should...
How Dell and Apple Use Customer Service as a Sales Force
I've written several articles about customer service and how quickly and easily they can passively sell your customers on defecting from your company and moving their business to a competitor. My favorite targets over the years have been Verizon, Dell and the airlines, but...
Top 10 Video Blunders When Used as a Sales Aid
Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert. I love the fact that companies have video available to make email and Internet communication more personal; to deliver a more compelling visual message; to say with emotion...
Best Sales Strategy For Your Company
Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert. What would you do if one of your sales reps called at 5 PM on a Friday, the last day of the month, on the final day of...
Derek Jeter Shows Salespeople How to Convert Leads to Opportunities
Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert. Derek Jeter, the leader and all-star shortstop for the New York Yankees, goes all out running hard to first base on every ball he puts into play. As...
Aligning and Optimizing Sales and Marketing to Increase Conversions
Do you ever wonder how web pages help (or hinder) the sales effort? I do. When salespeople follow up on leads their success has a great deal to do with the quality and freshness of the leads. When they fail they blame marketing for...
What Sales Leaders Don’t Know About Ego and Empathy
In the past week, three people had discussions with me about recruiting salespeople and suggested that the difference between successful and unsuccessful salespeople is that effective salespeople have empathy and ego. These people probably use personality and behavioral styles assessments too. Those assessments, always poorly...
Tom Peters Top 9 Items for the Sales Force
Tom Peters' newest book, the Little BIG Things, is well worth reading. Recently, on his blog, he posted a more complete version of the Credo he included in the book. Several of the items which, if not sales or sales force competencies, are certainly...
Xobni as Sales Assistant, Pivots Help Close Sales
My guest on yesterday's edition of Meet the Sales Experts was Matt Brezina, the co-founder of Xobni. Do you have Xobni on your computer? If you do, you know just how helpful it is. If you don't, all you need to know is that...
Sales 2.0 – The Answer to our Prayers or a Costly Distraction?
Every day I read, hear and get asked about the various modern methods for salespeople to meet, engage and get in front of prospects. Every day, the emphasis moves a little further toward the Sales 2.0 approach to getting found - LinkedIn, Blogs, Facebook,...
Anatomy of the Million Dollar Producer
I was listening to Red Sox manager Terry Francona being interviewed on one of Boston's sports radio stations the other day when I heard him say, "When we get information we try to know what information we are getting." Huh? It turns out that he...
How Do Companies Retain Their Underperforming Salespeople?
I explain the difference between lousy salespeople and good salespeople in terms of line items and investments in this article. Tony Cole was my guest on this week's episode of Meet the Sales Experts. Among his many helpful tips was his "Where's Waldo" exercise. ...
One Hidden Gem in 10 Sales Management Challenges
Hi Everyone, Here is the link for Yesterday's article, Lousy Salespeople vs. Great Salespeople - Line Item or Investment? Below you'll find the link for today's new article. You have a sales force and some of your salespeople are difficult to manage. There are varying...
Lousy Salespeople and Great Salespeople – Line Item or Investment?
Lousy salespeople are a line item but great salespeople are an investment. It's actually much worse than that. The line item on your lousy salespeople is only a fraction of what they really cost. Don't believe me? Then answer these three questions: Do you have...
Anatomy of the Worst Sales Call Ever
The company rep showed up and looked at the plumbing. We had a very short discussion, mostly him telling me what he could do because he was an expert. After about 10 minutes with me, he left. Two days later I received an emailed...
Football’s Pitch Count and its Connection to Sales Management
Herm Edwards, currently of ESPN and formerly the Head Coach of the Kansas City Chiefs, was interviewed on WEEI, Boston's Sports Talk Radio station today. He said a couple of things that were quite compelling: When asked about pro football players that get in trouble,...
Who Do You Call When Your Sales Forecast is Busted?
When your short-term sales forecast indicates that you'll come up short this period (month), what do you direct your salespeople to do in order to fill the gap? Do you have them: Intensify Their Cold Calling? - That's appropriate if you're in a very short…
When the Sales Goals Change but the Behavior and Results Don’t
Suppose that you need your salespeople to find significantly more new business. Perhaps you've wanted this for a while but it's only recently that you communicated this to your salespeople. You've changed the goal but after a month your salespeople's behavior and results haven't...
Call Reluctance in Salespeople – Causes, Factors, and Predictors
I can't believe all of the positive feedback you've sent relative to the new White Paper on Sales Longevity - The Science of Predicting Sales Turnover. Thank you all so much. Several of you asked questions about your salespeople who are failing, and whether it...
Customer Service Neutralizes Efforts of Your Sales Force
I am more convinced every day that the most overlooked and under-rated sales function in most companies is their customer service department. This extends beyond toll-free phone numbers and includes the people you meet when you walk into a company's retail locations too. When was…