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Understanding the Sales Force

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Tom Peters Top 9 Items for the Sales Force

  
  
  
  

Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.

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):

  • Excellent Listeners
  • Unwavering Commitment 
  • Development
  • Positive Evaluation Process
  • Mastery
  • Encourage Failures
  • Accept Blame
  • Celebrate Successes
  • Excellence as a Principal Benchmark

Tom had dozens of items on the list and an argument can be made to include more of them as staples of the sales force but these are a really good start.  If you were to pick just one to work on first, which one would you choose?  Answer using this poll.

 

 

I'll let you know which one mine would be.....

 

You thought I would pick Evaluation, didn't you!  Nope.  Unwavering Commitment (whatever it takes).  That results in Mastery - and excellence.  Then we knock off the rest of them and we're celebrating successes everywhere we look!



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Posted by Dave Kurlan on Mon, May 10, 2010 @ 09:15 PM

COMMENTS

I would have to choose Development simply because I have yet to meet a sales person or sales manager who could not improve themselves dramatically by engaging in the process of personal development. Since the question was which "to work on first", choosing Development would cover all the rest in (hopefully) the order that will have the fastest impact! <a href=”http://www.axiomexperience.com”>Axiom Development

posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 8:19 AM by Mike Shannon

I'm reflecting on my first year in sales with Xerox Corporation in 1982 when I covered the construction site for the coal gasification plants in NW North Dakota. I had everything going against me:  
-Young (21) 
-Female, when 100% of my clients/prospects were male...and 
-Fortune 100, which means that I wore the navy- blue-suit-white-shirt uniform...when everyone else was in construction clothing. 
 
It must have been hilarious to see me tip-toeing through the 12 foot mud crane tracks in my navy blue skirt, briefcase in hand, with my hard hat and safety glasses!  
 
However, it really didn't matter what anyone else thought. I was committed....I was going to get those sales no matter how much mud I had to wade through.  
 
I went through a lot of shoes that year.... and I had a great year! All because of commitment. More leadership stories at http://www.salesgrowthspecialists.com/paradox/

posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 at 8:17 PM by Danita Bye

Hi Dave 
 
 
 
Your choice of unwavering commitment makes a lot of sense however I have been on a number of joint sales calls in recent months and the biggest issue I have seen is Excellent Listening. This has been the difference between success and failure with these guys. There is no doubt that they had strong commitment and the desire to succeed but their inability to really listen and develop their questions around what was really being said was the difference between the successes and failures. 
 
 
 
I know that it made the biggest difference to my success rate when I really understood how to do this during a sales call.

posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 1:20 AM by Gary Delbridge

@Danita - thanks for the early bio - great story! 
 
@Gary - no doubt about it - that's the competency that salespeople must develop. Since most salespeople (74%) don't have it, it requires training and coaching and, in order for that to be effective, weaknesses like Need for Approval and Fear of Rejection must be overcome. Before those can go away, it takes unwavering commitment! 
 
@Mike - thanks for your comment - my response to Gary fits yours too.

posted on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 at 5:31 AM by Dave Kurlan

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