Dave Kurlan's Blog - The Authority on Sales Force Excellence

You're Normal and Your Sucky Salespeople are Probably Normal Too!

Posted by Dave Kurlan on Tue, Sep 03, 2019 @ 16:09 PM

normal

Do salespeople report up to you? Do you get frustrated with half to three quarters of them?

Is it a good day when a new opportunity is added to the pipeline? Is it a better day when they close a new piece of business? Do you wish you could double or triple the amount of activity, number of opportunities and deals that close?

Are they generally good people and you feel like they don't deserve to be terminated? Do you like them too much to give them an ultimatum?

When you try to coach them, do you get frustrated because they say they understand but when they talk with a prospect or customer they don't do what you coached them to do?

Do you think it's you?

Have you resigned yourself to the fact that they aren't going to improve? When you look at it objectively, are they helping your competition more than they are helping you and your company?

You're not crazy and it's not you - at least it's not your fault that you haven't been able to fix them. The data from Objective Management Group proves that from the 1,894,193 salespeople that have been assessed and/or evaluated in 21 Sales Core Competencies, 50% of them just plain suck and another 25% are merely serviceable. In other words, it's exactly what you probably have on your sales force today.

One of the reasons your salespeople can't do the things you ask and suggest is their Sales DNA. If it's weak, and it probably is, there can be as many as six major weaknesses that prevent them from executing sales process, methodology, strategy and tactics. That makes it nearly impossible for sales managers who don't know or understand the role of Sales DNA to coach up their salespeople.

You might be one of the sales managers or sales leaders who fall into the 93% that don't coach enough and don't coach as effectively as required. Since you're in the majority, there's nothing to feel bad about. You simply haven't been shown how to make coaching salespeople a magical experience. But it doesn't have to be that way. There is help available and I would like to personally invite you to attend the magical two-day event that will change everything, show you how to fix your salespeople, change your life and increase your earnings.

Attending this program will get you a 28% increase in sales - quickly and easily - by applying what we teach and demonstrate. We will show you the magic ingredients to effectively coach your salespeople each day. What would a 28% increase in revenue mean for your budget, earnings and career? Watch this video.

Follow in the footsteps of the hundreds of sales leaders who came before you and join us for two days on November 13 and 14 in Jersey City. Learn more here.

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Is SELLING an Afterthought in Today's Sales Model?

Posted by Dave Kurlan on Thu, Aug 16, 2012 @ 10:08 AM

influence I believe that the blog at Harvard Business Review believes that it is. Once again, HBR was nice enough to run another article for me to dig into.

This year, their authors consistently wrote articles on selling despite not really knowing enough about what's going on in the real world. They are many levels removed from the field and rely on interviews with academics and corporate types (insulated executives in large companies) for their opinions of what has changed and what is required today.

While the four requirements which they list are valid (salespeople today do need to have more capabilities), that which really angered me was their use and placement of the word "influencing". It appears almost as an afterthought to their fourth category, "Management skills and capabilities".

Even if we accepted their concept of people in sales roles, instead of salespeople (semantics?), the entire concept of what selling actually entails seems lost on some of their writers. So, hear this:

Regardless of which technology is embraced;
Regardless of which sales model, process or methodology is used;
Regardless of which markets into which you are selling;
Regardless of on which decision-makers you call;
Regardless of what you sell or to whom you sell it;
Regardless of your price points and competition;
Regardless of the length of your sales cycle;
Regardless of the resistance you get;
Regardless of the obstacles you must overcome;

influencing will continue to be the single most important skill:

to overcome initial resistance;
to differentiate and effectively position your offering;
to help prospects understand the value which you bring to the table;
to get prospects to share important information about issues, opportunities and challenges;
to align prospects on their compelling reasons to buy from you instead of the competition;
to standardize on your offering;
to find the money;
to get you in front of the right people;
to buy from you!

When the day arrives when your prospects don't need any help being convinced that they should do business with your company and buy your products or services, even if: