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9th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
#9 - STRATEGY Strategy comes in several forms and is required in different dosages depending on the position. For example, a line level sales manager may be more concerned with call strategy while a Worldwide VP Sales may be more concerned with market strategy. At the VP level, strategy is far more important than tactics while at the sales manager level, tactics are more important than strategy.
10th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
Sales managers tend to be very challenged in the area of tactics. There are two varieties of sales managers...more
Lance Armstrong's Metrics Applied to the Sale Force Equals Results
Recently, I completed Lance Armstrong's 2001 book on how he became a champion cyclist, was diagnosed with Cancer, beat the cancer, and then returned to become the greatest cyclist in the world. It was an inspiring, fast-reading book. While this won't come as a surprise to my cyclist friends, I was quite surprised to learn how metric-intensive competitive cycling is.
Sales 2.0 Competencies, Changes, Myths
There has been much talk about Sales 2.0 yet most sales experts can't agree on exactly what it is. But before we can even discuss Sales 2.0, I must confess that most companies have yet to get on board with good old Sales 1.x! Most companies are still selling without formalized sales processes, effective strategies and effective tactics. Most companies still have their salespeople show up, present, demo, quote and wait for the business.
Ultimate Comparison of Top Salespeople to Salespeople Who Fail
If you've been following this Blog you know I sometimes refer to the elite 5% of salespeople, the next 20% and the bottom 74%. After reading Super Freakonomics I was moved to take a new look at our data on the more than 400,000 salespeople we have assessed. Behavioral scientists would look at our data on the top 5% and report on some common findings. It might look like this...
Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions - What's Missing?
I also didn't include sales training or sales management training in those 10 sales management functions for generally the same reasons. Those are competencies best left to outside experts. Sales Managers can learn to coach - and it takes a long time to develop the ability to do it effectively - but
Are Sales Cycles Really Getting Shorter?
I read an article that claimed that winning sales cycles are getting shorter. While I agree with everything else in the article, I questioned the 23% shorter because our substantial data does not support this claim. So where could the discrepancy be? Let's start with the author's statement, "from qualify to close has reduced by a little more than 23%".

Sales Assessment Completion Time May Affect Validity
I just reviewed some new data that Jim Sasena, our Operations/Technical Director, dug up for me. This particular data set shows the percentage of Sales Candidate Assessments that are completed in a particular amount of time.
Your Sales and Sales Management Questions Answered
In an article last week, I provided the post to a sales competency contest. The final question in that survey asked the participants for any sales issues they needed help with. Today I'll answer the first four of those questions below:
Prospecting for More Sales in a Bad Economy
A poor economy has too often become an excuse for poor performance of many businesses. While the current economic situation is a contributing factor, many of these businesses can perform much better. Most businesses in the U.S. are small and have sales that equal less than 1% market share. If your business has less than one percent of market share, it should be able to grow in any economy. One hidden area in which to find more sales is right under your own roof. According to “Baseline Selling” by Dave Kurlan, 60% of all sales people are not prospecting consistently, and 50% of all sales people won’t prospect. Combine those figures with the fact that 60% of all sales people suffer from the habit of making excuses, and I think we have uncovered one of the secrets to bringing more sales to your top line.

Tom Peters' 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 crucial sales requirements (they are abbreviated here - follow the link to Tom's article for his complete descriptions):
CEO Impact on Training and Consulting Projects
Often we are asked, "What are the factors that caused the difference between our successful and unsuccessful projects?"

Harvard Business Review Hit and Then Missed the Mark on Sales
An analysis of Harvard Business Review's recent article regarding observations about sales skills and salespeople.

The Science of Achievement Applied to Sales Success
After reading Malcolm Gladwell's book, I found that his findings really resonated with what I had seen in my own observations of thousands of sales people and the qualities that translate into success. It serves to highlight the need for assessments and for sales training.

Sales and Sales Management Simplified
Let's get to the basics of sales and sales management and make it as simple as possible by using some of my favorite baseball analogies.

Pick Yourself Up and Dust Yourself Off
In my mind, there isn't a group of professionals more suited and more deserving of hearing those very words than salespeople. I have listened to more complaining, excuse making, whining, sob stories and negativity in the last 90 days than at any other time in the 24 years I have been in the sales development business.

12 Questions About Your Sales Process
A sales process is defined as a customized, formal process including the sequence of steps, to-do's, milestones and goals that must be achieved during your sales cycle. And your sales cycle is one of four cycles in your business that impacts cash flow (the other cycles: make/prepare to deliver, deliver, billing and collections).

Other dave kurlan Related Articles

Are You The Guy Who
Dave Wright in Victoria told me about the most effective, and successful cold canvass letter he ever sent. And it's so simple!

Dave Thomas Quotes
Dave Thomas Quotes
Book Review: Persuasion: The Art of Getting What You Want
Dave Lakhni's book describes the fine line between the art of persuasion and manipulation (Dave was raised in a cult - he's well-studied in manipulation and has applied his knowledge effectively in business.) While a manipulator attempts to get you to do something you wouldn't normally do, a persuader tries to get you to choose them over the competition.

The Most Reliable Predictor of YOUR Success
Dave Longaberger grew up in the tiny village of Dresden, Ohio. One of 12 children in a modest home (with one bathroom!), Dave experienced severe stuttering problems. He also suffered from epileptic seizures. And that was before he ever got in the first grade.
Prospecting for More Sales in a Bad Economy
A poor economy has too often become an excuse for poor performance of many businesses. While the current economic situation is a contributing factor, many of these businesses can perform much better. Most businesses in the U.S. are small and have sales that equal less than 1% market share. If your business has less than one percent of market share, it should be able to grow in any economy. One hidden area in which to find more sales is right under your own roof. According to “Baseline Selling” by Dave Kurlan, 60% of all sales people are not prospecting consistently, and 50% of all sales people won’t prospect. Combine those figures with the fact that 60% of all sales people suffer from the habit of making excuses, and I think we have uncovered one of the secrets to bringing more sales to your top line.

Chinese Salespeople May be the Next Group to Outsell Your Salespeople
What are you going to do when, not only are you out priced, out sourced, out willed, out shipped, and out produced, but also out sold - by the Chinese? That is the question posed by my Kurlan & Associates colleague, Frank Belzer, who is blogging from Shanghai, where he is spending the week training Asian companies in the art of sales management.
6th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the 6th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #6 - LEADERSHIP Sales Leadership includes but is not limited to:
5th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the 5th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #5 - DEVELOPMENT Development is the ongoing development of your salespeople. It includes - and goes beyond:
4th of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the 4th in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #4 - RECRUITING The most important things to understand about consistently recruiting strong, successful salespeople are:
3rd of the Top 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions
This is the third in my series of the 10 Kurlan Sales Management Functions. #3 - MOTIVATION Motivating your salespeople comes down to getting them to: 1. Do what they won't do on their own; 2. Change their behavior; 3. Do more of what they are already doing; 4. Have more of a sense of urgency; 5. Over Achieve More...
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