Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 5, 2014

In no particular order they are: Top 10 Sales Competencies. Top 10 Sales Management Functions. Top 10 Indicators That You Have a Trustworthy Sales Prospect. Top 10 Tips for Hiring Salespeople for Your Sales Force. Top 5 Reasons You Don''t Get More Strong Sales Candidates. 10 Sales Coaching Examples.

Hiring 252

Hiring Sales Management Decision Maker Cold Calling 252

SBI Growth

SEPTEMBER 2, 2012

In fact, when asking Sales Operations Leaders what qualitative data they had gathered, here are their responses: Conducted internal win/loss debrief on large opportunities. Interviewed VP of Sales, Product Leaders, and Sales Manager to understand what they were seeing in the market. Author: Joshua Meeks.

Data 267

Data Analysis Sales Operations Buying Cycle 267

The Sales Hunter

SEPTEMBER 19, 2013

Far too many salespeople have been conditioned to believe they need to have everything perfectly prepared before making a prospecting phone call. Yes, I agree we need to be prepared when we are making any type of prospecting call, whether it be in person or on the phone. Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.”

Prospecting 250

Prospecting Motivation Objections Up-Sell 250

The Sales Hunter

JULY 29, 2013

Thinking about a prospect is not the same as contacting a prospect, so it’s about time we quite confusing the two. Far too many salespeople spend all of their prospecting time working on their prospecting list, gathering information, and thinking about how they’ll prospect and what they want to say.

Pipeline 238

Pipeline Prospecting Compensation Motivation 238

HeavyHitter Sales

DECEMBER 17, 2012

management thinkers. Here’s one of my recent Harvard Business Review articles titled “TOP TEN SALES TRENDS FOR 2013.”.   What are the top business-to-business sales trends for 2013? For 2013, it’s not only what you say, but equally important, how you say it.

Trends 153

Trends Decision Maker Territories Analysis 153

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 22, 2014

While that still could be true today, it''s also possible that inside sales might replace the need for hunting, and a good consultative seller could add enough value to the prospect, his/her business, and the buying process so that great closing skills aren''t required. June 5 11:00 AM Eastern Register here.

Sales Management 246

Sales Management Top of Funnel Decision Maker Webinar Metrics 246

SBI Growth

OCTOBER 31, 2012

He had only been VP of Sales for 6 months. He rose from junior sales associate to become his division’s top rep. Then, as sales manager, he turned around a struggling team. In Robert’s company, Sales VPs reported to the CSO. Ops managers insisted on “helping” interview prospective sales reps.

Influencer 282

Influencer Strategy Policies Lead Gen 282

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 13, 2013

Sales Management must spend 50% of their time coaching salespeople like this: An enormous part of developing salespeople these days is helping them to differentiate themselves from your competitors. That creates urgency, and an incentive for a prospect to self-qualify. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan What did you learn? (c)

Coaching 264

Coaching Sales Management Decision Maker Competition 264

The Sales Hunter

AUGUST 15, 2013

Too many salespeople have prospects in their pipeline that are nothing more than suspects taking up space. A simple rule I have is a prospect cannot stay at the same level of ranking in a sales pipeline for more than 2 calls. Problem is too many sales managers also use the same thing to hide themselves.

Pipeline 211

Pipeline Prospecting Scale Motivation 211

The Sales Hunter

SEPTEMBER 20, 2013

One of the easiest things sales managers and senior management can do is to call every person they know at a client company. First is to get the name of your company back in front of the customer/prospect, even though the person might not be our buyer. Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.”

Sales Management 202

Sales Management Cold Calling Closing Consultative Selling 202

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 13, 2013

They can get feedback, they can ask questions, they can get answers, they know that their version of Houston - their prospect or customer - can hear them and will respond if there is a good reason. It''s their sales managers, who are almost as much in the dark as their salespeople. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan'

Decision Maker 313

Decision Maker Proposal Sales Cycle Exact 313

The Sales Hunter

JANUARY 3, 2013

Salespeople tend to believe they need to spend more time with major accounts, while Marketing will always argue more time should be spent prospecting. ” Salespeople love to spend time with major accounts, because I believe they would rather do that with their time instead of sales prospecting.

Account 204

Account Prospecting Guidelines Compensation 204

SBI Growth

AUGUST 6, 2012

Are your sales resources properly aligned with growth opportunity ? The Sales Leader is about to receive the 2013 Revenue Number. He will rely on you, the Head of Sales Operations, for sales strategy advice. Customer Spend: Calculate the ideal revenue from your prospects. Won deals in half the time.

Opportunity 316

Opportunity Strategy Banking Territories 316

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 22, 2012

Today’s post is the first of three directed to Sales Operations leaders. Resource allocation is critical to success for sales. Customer/prospect segmentation is a key first step in making wise allocation decisions. The third of four regional stops to nail down 2013 budgets for the Sales EVP and the CFO.

Segment 288

Segment Customer Territories Penetration 288

The Sales Hunter

MAY 21, 2014

Far too many salespeople and sales managers are still living as if it is 2013 or even 2010. Things change and they change quickly, and if your sales process and strategies aren’t keeping pace, then you’re going to find yourself closing fewer sales.

Consultative Selling 241

Consultative Selling Selling Skills Closing Sales Process 241

Fill the Funnel

DECEMBER 3, 2012

This years Top Sales Books to Read in 2013. They represent the freshest, most innovative thinking on sales currently on the market and take into consideration the changing sales climate and competitive realities every sales rep and sales leader is facing. Top Sales Books to Read in 2013.

Face-to-face 132

Face-to-face Top of Funnel Call-back Sales 132

Anthony Cole Training

MARCH 19, 2013

There are several GREAT speakers in the general sessions, but it is not a conference where you will find constant discussions about the art and science of selling or sales management. Whenever I hear a talk, a message or a point of view, I find myself automatically translating it to sales and sales management.

Hiring 196

Hiring Banking Survey Conference 196

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 14, 2012

66% of Sales Reps believe that increasing the time invested by sales managers would help to increase their sales. Don’t wait for your manager to come to you. You’re at a point in the year where you are discussing 2013. Your manager obviously wants you to succeed and hit these numbers.

Ideal Customer Profile 300

Ideal Customer Profile Lead Rank Lead Scoring Analysis 300

Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 15, 2014

Understanding the Sales Force by Dave Kurlan Yesterday I was on three separate calls with sales managers whose salespeople needed to fill their pipelines but hadn''t. A perfectionist must do things perfectly and if ever there was a sales activity that was ripe for imperfection, it would be the prospecting call.

Telemarketing 260

Telemarketing Pipeline Course Prospecting 260

Score More Sales

JANUARY 9, 2014

When I was in my early years in technology sales, I had a great sales manager named Clarence Waters. A big one has to do with prospecting. Always be on the lookout – always be prospecting. Here are some of our most popular posts about prospecting: Phone Prospecting Strategy for Success.

Ideal Customer Profile 231

Ideal Customer Profile Lead Rank Lead Scoring Outbound 231

Keith Rosen

OCTOBER 24, 2013

Keith Rosen’s company, Profit Builders, was named one of Selling Power’s Top 20 Training Companies for 2013. ” Representatives for the publication say that editors assembled the list for the benefit of sales leaders that want to reach higher levels of productivity and performance. Read his blog at KeithRosen.com.

Company 119

Company Training Sales Coaching Coaching 119

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 17, 2013

It led to a significant number of comments with one of them being this question: "Dave, in your opinion, with all the training that is available and has been delivered to sales people over the years, how come sales people still fail at executing an effective approach to qualifying a prospect. c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan'

Decision Maker 269

Decision Maker Consultative Selling Buying Cycle Proposal 269

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 6, 2013

That fear - and most salespeople aren''t even consciously aware of it - prevents them from: Making prospecting calls. Making enough prospecting calls. Challenging a prospect''s thinking, plan, or position. I didn''t send you to that article to modify your sales process; only to embrace the power of qualification.

Sales Qualified Lead 276

Sales Qualified Lead Hotels Hubspot Decision Maker 276

SBI Growth

JULY 22, 2013

You have to make the rest of 2013 with the sales heads you have.” There are 10 best practices Sales VPs have taken to ensure this doesn’t happen. Below are five of the 10: Sales Manager/VP field sales rides : Participating with your sales reps on more field calls leads to increased revenue.

Hiring 325

Hiring Top of Funnel How To Social Selling 325

Understanding the Sales Force

JUNE 4, 2014

Most of the focus on persistence is related to contacting new prospects. What about the prospects who are far along in the sales process when they suddenly go missing? An alignment of prospects willing to take a stand against salespeople that are getting too close? c) Copyright 2013 Dave Kurlan' Stop giving demos.

Territories 268

Territories Exercises Video ACT 268

Your Sales Management Guru

OCTOBER 1, 2012

Preparing for 2013. During the session I lead a panel discussion on “ Killer Strategies for Prospecting ” and I spoke separately on “ Leveraging Your Business by Partnering”. During the session I lead a panel discussion on “ Killer Strategies for Prospecting ” and I spoke separately on “ Leveraging Your Business by Partnering”.

Sales Management 71

Sales Management Top of Funnel Hiring Lead Rank 71

SBI Growth

JULY 13, 2013

Dave was promoted to be Acme’s VP of Sales for the Americas. He did it as a District Sales Manager. Dave became VP of Sales for the Americas. Dave became VP of Sales for the Americas. In the first 6 months he: Did monthly pipeline reviews with every sales manager. The EVP of WW Sales was disappointed.

Promotion 310

Promotion Fashion Trends B2B 310

DiscoverOrg Sales

DECEMBER 4, 2017

In fact, according to the CSO Insights 2016 Sales Enablement Optimization Study , the number of businesses with a dedicated enablement function has increased from 19% to 33% since 2013. Finding the right contact – and context – for sales outreach is time consuming. Training, training, training.

Sales Enablement 295

Sales Enablement Collateral Decision Maker Study 295

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 11, 2014

These kids are the can''t miss prospects. There''s talent, and then there''s the ability to utilize one''s talent and most sports talent evaluators are no better at this then most sales managers. Getting selection right depends an awful lot on selection criteria and being able to identify it during a sales interview.

Sales Talent 267

Sales Talent Hiring Sports Tools 267

Score More Sales

FEBRUARY 25, 2014

Offering visual descriptions to prospects on how your services will solve their big issues is a great start. Sales author Anne Miller gives us some examples: Hit? Determination, persistence and energy–everything a sales manager wants in a new hire, expressed metaphorically to win a job. 2 more resources.

Hiring 229

Hiring Lead Rank Lead Scoring Inside Sales 229

Partners in Excellence

DECEMBER 2, 2013

I was able to meet many clients, prospective clients, and colleagues that would have been difficult otherwise. It is somewhat ironic that all the presentations, sessions, and demos focus on best practices in sales, marketing, and customer engagement. Thank goodness for Spam filters and the Delete key. When will people learn?

Lead Rank 105

Lead Rank Meeting Conference Vendor 105

SBI Growth

NOVEMBER 7, 2013

Last year you got your 2013 quota in mid-February. This caused mass confusion, frustration and demotivation on your sales team. Do you have enough sales people to cover the new quota? Set up a planning session with your sales managers immediately. How many actual opportunities by sales person is that?

Quota 296

Quota Demand Generation Targets Demand Generation Negotiation 296

Score More Sales

SEPTEMBER 9, 2013

This was a tip I learned from one of the most favorite of my 21 sales managers over my selling career – a former IBM top sales rep and leader who would say this so regularly that it was ingrained in my 20-something brain and has been there ever since. Prospects and buyers are so busy.

Inside Sales 222

Inside Sales Lead Rank Lead Scoring Buyer Persona 222

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 15, 2013

What if your average sale or account drops? What if it takes 15 attempts instead of 10 attempts to reach a single prospect? This is one of the advantages of pipeline management and CRM. The real issues are: Will sales managers pay any attention to the metrics or look only at sales? What will you do? (c)

Top of Funnel 273

Top of Funnel Margin Sales Cycle Retention 273

The Sales Hunter

MAY 27, 2013

If you’re a sales manager and you’re reading this, then let me give you a quick way to stop it. Copyright 2013, Mark Hunter “The Sales Hunter.” ” Sales Motivation Blog. ” Sales Motivation Blog. Simply require all expense reports, paperwork, etc.

Report 232

Report Motivation Consultative Selling Selling Skills 232

No More Cold Calling

JUNE 10, 2021

My entire career had been sales and sales management, and my best business had always come from referrals. I asked salespeople and sales leaders I knew if they liked to get referral introductions. Get meetings with prime prospects in one call. Decrease the cost of sales. Fast forward to 2013.

Referrals 385

Referrals Cold Calling Webinar Metrics Inbound 385

The Sales Hunter

AUGUST 19, 2013

Sales managers who are reading this need to make sure each salesperson follows through in their pre-planning. Top performers will, but the average and below-average won’t, and come half-way through the year, you’ll be staring at a sales goal that is increasingly harder to hit. ” Sales Motivation Blog.

Motivation 219

Motivation Selling Skills Sales Goal Follow-up 219