sales management
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Another Powerful Reason Why Salespeople Struggle to Become Great Sales Managers
- February 2, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
We talk a lot about the mistake so many companies make when they take their best salespeople and make them sales managers. While it’s not always a mistake, the most commonly discussed reasons include:
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7 Reasons Why Salespeople Underperform and How Sales Leaders Can Coach Them Up
- January 25, 2017
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
These are smart, talented, experienced sales leaders, who work for companies with excellent reputations, great products and wonderful customers. So why does nearly every sales leader struggle with the problem of under performing salespeople? The biggest problem is that there isn’t one reason – there are many – and I’ll share them with you now.
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The 4 Top Sales Leadership Articles to Boost Sales Today
- August 5, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There have been at least 2 lists published of the sales books you should read on the beach this summer so we are not going there! But summer is for sun and fun and some of the best things in life happen during the summer. As a result, we miss some of the best work-related things because we aren’t working as many hours, may be in catch-up mode and not have the time to get to everything we would get to during cooler months. With that in mind, some of the best articles you haven’t read were published this summer!
I’m going to share four of them right here, tell you why the article will help today, and you can decide whether or not to read it.
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What Sales Managers Do That Make Them So Ineffective
- July 26, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Earlier this week I wrote an article on why so many sales managers are so bad. In today’s article, I’ll share what makes them so ineffective. The easiest way to explain this is to start with a baseball analogy.
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A CEO’s Guide to the Differences in Sales Leadership Roles
- June 15, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
I was reviewing a sales leadership evaluation with my client, a CEO, who was a bit confused over how this was different from a sales management evaluation. He wondered, “Aren’t sales managers and sales leaders the same?”
He has a sales force that was typical of a mid-size business with a Sales VP (the sales leader), 2 sales managers, and about 15 salespeople between them. In my experience, there is a boatload of confusion over the differences between Sales Managers, Sales Directors, Sales VP’s, Regional Sales Managers, National Sales Managers, Senior Sales VP’s, Worldwide Sales VP’s, Sales Operations VP’s, Sales Enablement VP’s and Chief Revenue Officers.
Let’s attempt to explain some of the important differences between Sales Managers and the other Sales Leadership roles.
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Sales Performance – Stop Worrying About the Words You Say
- January 25, 2016
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
When coaching, most sales managers change the words their salespeople use. “That’s not how I would say it – try this instead!” While there are a couple of key moments in the sales process where the words do actually matter, for 98% of the sales process, it’s about listening and asking appropriate questions, following the process, achieving key milestones, following the company’s general strategy and using appropriate sales tactics. It’s almost never about the actual words. For example, last week I coached a salesperson who was using all of the words the other salespeople on the team were instructed to use – but with vastly different results. I think you’ll find the coaching interesting.
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The Conversation Sales Leaders Must Have with Salespeople
- July 15, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Mark was right. It turned out that we did not have a deal, as the vice president’s peer in networking was blocking it. We eventually got a meeting with him and won the deal. More important, Mark set the tone: Sloppiness would not be tolerated.
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Connecting the Dots on Sales Management
- May 28, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Do you remember the morning that you couldn’t find your keys, but they were right there on the counter? Or the time that you couldn’t find an article of clothing, but it was hanging right there in your closet the entire time you were looking for it? Or the time you couldn’t find your car in the airport parking garage? And yes, it was right where you parked it. Sometimes, things are right in front of you and you don’t notice them! And that brings us to this sales management topic.
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Why Half of the Sales Force Resigned This Month
- May 20, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
There is a hidden problem that the CEO is unaware of and even the most accurate and predictive sales candidate assessment on the planet – ours – won’t overcome the issue. It’s worse than you can imagine!
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How Music Can Definitely Help You Sell More
- March 18, 2015
- Posted by: Dave Kurlan
- Category: Understanding the Sales Force
Next week, I have a special treat for my readers. I will post an article that features my least read articles of all time – sounds very exciting, doesn’t it? While I was looking for the least read articles, I consistently came across a whole bunch of my articles that were related to music.