Dave Kurlan is a top-rated speaker, best-selling author, sales thought leader and highly regarded sales development expert.
Most of the newer material on sales effectiveness is about being more customer focused. While this gets misinterpreted, the basics cannot be misunderstood. It's about them (customer).
Unfortunately, many of the B players - the group in the middle - will never become A players because for the B's it's all about "me".
If you listen to their phone calls, observe them on sales calls, and read their emails, you'll notice that the common theme to their communication is always "I".
Your B's say things like, "I would like to schedule some time", or, "I would like to meet you", or, "I want to talk with you about", or, "I want to explain how", or "I want to learn about", or, "I will be in your neighborhood, city, state or country and I thought it would be great for us to meet".
Who cares? And more importantly, how does this serve to gain a prospect's or customer's trust? To show you care? To build a strong trusted advisor relationship? Or even to build a partnership?
Change won't occur until your salespeople learn to ask questions that put the focus on their prospects and customers.
Your A's say things like, "Would you find any value in", or "Would you like to talk about", or, "Would it make sense to discuss", or "What would you like to do?"
Pay attention to who your salespeople put first in their conversations, letters and communications and you'll understand what to coach them on.
