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Understanding the Sales Force
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Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
I was reconciling my Amex statement and found these charges:
55.51
57.85
57.06
58.06
55.86
56.81
I have always believed that in sales, the three most important attributes (not skills) are the willingness to do what it takes to succeed (commitment) the passion for being the best (desire), and the discipline to repeat the required behaviors and activities (consistency). Those numbers? My gasoline charges for last month. They are certainly consistent - no matter how I got there.
- I could have waited until my fuel guage reached a certain point and pulled into the nearest service station - but that wasn' t it.
- I could have stopped the pump before it approached $58.00 - but that wasn't it.
- I could have refueled whenever I passed a certain station I liked based on my schedule - but that wasn't it.
- I could have refueled on the same day and time each week - but that wasn't it.
- I could have driven a certain number of miles before refueling - but that wasn't it.
- It could have been a huge coincidence - but it wasn't.
I am a very consistent individual. Consistency simply happens because I expect it to happen. It's in my demeanor, which doesn't change much regardless of what might be taking place.
- If I am managing salespeople, that consistency applies to coaching and accountability.
- When I am coaching clients, the consistency applies to the format and outcomes of the call.
- If I am prospecting, my consistency applies to call quantity and quality.
- When I am selling, my questions are very consistent.
- I am consistent in the number of hours I work each day, as well as the time I wake up and begin work.
- If you checked, you would find that most of the articles on this Blog are posted between 5:30AM and 6:30 AM. That time indicates when they are completed, not when they are started. I usually begin them at 5:30 and some get done sooner than others.
You probably know some salespeople who are consistent too, but unfortunately, most of them are consistently bad!
Do you feel like fixing something on your sales force today? Figure out what/who could be more consistent, determine what behaviors must change, identify something measurable, set better expectations, and drive the change home!
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Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
 I recently paid a visit to the men's restroom (more comfortable in that one) where I saw Steve, our building maintenance man, on the floor repairing the sensor that automatically turns the water on and off. About 90 minutes later (right on schedule), I was back and shocked to see Steve still down there on the floor. I asked what was taking so long and he said, "Well it works just fine when it's not connected to the faucet but when I reconnect it the darn thing stays broken!"
Just like salespeople!
If your salespeople are going through any kind of up-to-date sales training or coaching, then they know they're supposed to ask questions and resist presenting company or product features and benefits. In the classroom they get it. In the classroom they can do it. In a coaching session it works. But as soon as you plug them in to a real sales call, by phone or in person, they revert to being obsolete.
Just like the faucet, it will work in time. The key is, as with Steve, you can't give up. You must keep plugging away, reinforcing the new thoughts, questions, behaviors and expectations until they become natural. In most companies, the training and coaching just isn't frequent enough, comprehensive enough or effective enough. Then, when it doesn't seem like it's working, it's much easier to quit, revert and be comfortable again. Comfort Never Equates to Sales Success but Sales Success Does Create Comfort. It requires Discomfort to Gain Success in Sales.
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Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
 I hosted a Webinar to introduce Objective Management Group's (OMG) newest innovation, The Sales Longevity Finding. In a nutshell, Sales Longevity is the likelihood of being able to retain a particular sales candidate through ramp-up, break-even, and 5X ROI. The attendees thought it was VERY cool! You can view the recorded webinar here.
For more information on Sales Longevity you can read some of my previous articles:
This is the first article where I began thinking about this concept. The next article came after I mined our data. Then I wrote a White Paper which you can Request Here. If you want to go back even further in time, here is an article I wrote in 2006 about Sales Hiring Efficiency, a cousin of Sales Longevity.
If you currently use OMG's Sales Candidate Assessments and wish to begin receiving this finding on your reports, you will need to log into your account (it's the link that looks like http://OMGQLink.com/AAAAAA) where AAAAAA is a series of letters representing your access code. Do not use the link you provide to candidates! When you log in, check the box in the yellow bar to see the new questions. Answer questions 28-32, Save the Profile, and you'll begin receiving Longevity Findings when the finding becomes available on September 1.
If you don't currently use OMG to assess your sales candidates you can sign up for an account here.
Wider and Deeper we go, with Recommended, Recommended Ideal Ramp-Up Skills, Recommended Perfect, the Figure-It-Out-Factor, and the Sales Posturing Index being just some of our latest innovations.
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Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
 I had two conversations that were in stark contrast to one another.
The first was with an executive who told me that the company must have their salespeople selling more consultatively to better differentiate themselves in the global market, so they began training on SPIN selling - a year ago. I told him that was a good start and wondered if they experienced the same thing as most companies that train on SPIN selling - it is a great questioning strategy but their salespeople simply can't apply it or execute it.
[Note - SPIN is a questioning strategy developed by Neil Rackham but it is not a sales process. If you are familiar with my Baseline Selling sales process and book by the same name, SPIN would take place between 1st and 2nd Base.]
Back to the story...This executive said that their salespeople aren't able to demonstrate any more competance than they were a year ago but he didn't want to upset anybody, anything, any apple carts, any vendors, any salespeople, etc. He believed he had all the answers despite his own evidence pointing to the contrary. I mentioned that he was talking out of both sides of his mouth and he even agreed with that! He was simply too invested in maintaining the status quo and keeping the peace to change anything. A powerful, consistent formula - for failure.
You may have read my article from earlier this week when I described 10 CEO's and the Impact They Have on Their Sales Forces. The executive above was a combination of #1 and #9.
My second conversation was with an effective CEO who is completely unlike those that I described in the other article. My good CEO has the following 10 qualities that have a positive impact on the sales force:
- He asks questions and listens when he doesn't have the answers;
- He has very little patience for incompetence;
- He holds people accountable;
- He lets people know where they stand;
- He demands the best from everyone;
- He leads the way and drives change;
- He sets clear expectations and has consequences for failure;
- He isn't afraid to terminate anyone;
- He is very decisive;
- He knows that revenue is King.
He has many more good qualities but these ten stand in contrast to the ten I wrote about in the previous article.
If you lead a company or a sales organization, which leader would you like to emulate?
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Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
 This year I had the opportunity to contribute to a book that would be a compilation on sales. While sales titles are released almost weekly these days, only a small number of them contain anything new, and most don't raise the bar for the selling industry as a whole. This book is different.
This book includes contributions from 89 sales experts, covering every possible topic, including sales, sales management, sales 2.0, sales process, sales strategy, sales tactics, sales motivation, sales presentations, and sales psychology. It's more like a reference manual!
The book's contributors include legendary stars like Zig Ziglar, Tom Hopkins, Brian Tracy, and Dale Carnegie, as well as my contemporaries like Jeffrey Gitomer, Chet Holmes, Jill Konrath, Anthony Paranello, Michael Bosworth and Neil Rackham.
David Riklan and Eric Taylor compiled and edited this compilation of the best that the top sales experts have to offer and, to entice you to order a copy of their book today, they have arranged for you to receive bonus gifts totalling - get this - $2,686. The book is an outstanding resource and well worth the introductory price of $14.36 on its own. I contributed to the bonus gifts and from what I've seen of the list, I would order the book just to get my hands on the bonuses!
The book is called Mastering the World of Selling and you can learn more about it and order it by clicking this link.
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 Click here to learn more about the huge benefits that you'll get from evaluating your sales force. When we look at your people, strategies, systems and processes you'll be able to see what was previously hidden from view. Our sales force evaluation process determines what you must change in order to achieve the organic growth you want.
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