Understanding the Sales Force

MAY 4, 2025

Its Sunday night and I havent begun to write my Monday article, which is usually completed by Friday. Oh no! I have an excuse but I dont believe in excuses so that wont work. I didnt have the opportunity to write on Friday or Saturday because we were in NYC and among the things we did, was to take a private tour of the MLB Replay Center. Wow – that was amazing!

Decision Maker 177

Decision Maker Call-back Gatekeeper Analysis 177

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 16, 2025

Although this article will provide a blueprint for building a strong, full, and sustainable pipeline, we begin with a hospital analogy. When I was in the hospital for surgery in February, and during the recovery that followed, I had specific KPIs assigned at discharge that I was required to meet. After a few weeks, I chose and added some personal milestones to demonstrate progress in my recovery.

Pipeline 194

Pipeline Follow-up Conversion Outbound 194

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 14, 2025

I was driving with the radio on when the Shania Twain song from the 90s, Dont Impress Me Much , began to play. I hadnt heard that song in at least a decade and as I listened to the words, I was reminded that Shania is not impressed with: Rocket Scientists Brad Pitt Guys Who Kiss Their Expensive Shiny Cars Elvis Most women would probably be impressed with that group of men but Shania is much more discerning.

Hiring 177

Hiring Quota Guarantee Industry 177

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 11, 2025

When I was in the hospital for a week in February, my discharge was delayed by two days because each time they asked me to walk up a flight of stairs, my blood pressure crashed. While I didnt do anything wrong, I still had a negative outcome, and there wasnt anything I could have done differently. The same thing can happen to salespeople. Good salespeople know that the key to a sales process that will result in a sale, is uncovering their prospects compelling reason to buy.

How To 317

How To Cancellation Proposal Revenue 317

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 6, 2025

Last week I wrote this important article about how you can use sales process to increase revenue by 28%. The article was incomplete because while it discussed which category of sales process you had, what a proper sales process must include, the importance of a predictive sales scorecard, and the benefits of both, it did not include anything about governance.

Government 177

Government Sales Leadership Coaching Sales Coaching 177

Understanding the Sales Force

APRIL 3, 2025

Despite writing about sales process quite frequently over the years, this article will take a very different approach. Let’s define a couple of terms: Sales Process – a series of 4-6 stages, each with 5-10 milestones, that provide salespeople with a repeatable framework for sales success. Sales Methodology – a repeatable approach that guides salespeople to have quality conversations that move the sales process forward from milestone to milestone and from stage to stage.

Sales Process 256

Sales Process Lead Rank Customer Lead Scoring 256

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 31, 2025

April Fools. We all get these spammy emails and LinkedIn messages on a daily basis which promise more meetings, more customers, an increase in revenue, and success like we’ve never seen before. It’s April Fools every day! Even the people who provide the services promising inbound leads, meetings, and sales increases are struggling to generate inbound leads!

Pipeline 194

Pipeline How To Cold Calling Inbound 194

Understanding the Sales Force

MARCH 16, 2025

I believe that “24” was the best Television series I have ever watched. Although it ran from 2003-2010, long before streaming was a thing, no show was better situated for streaming and binge watching than “24.” My wife and I watched it for the first time a few years ago but we recently watched all eight seasons again. It was amazing to both of us that despite how much we loved “24” the first time we watched it, we didn’t remember any of it as we watched

Training 232

Training Revenue Face-to-face Decision Maker 232

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 14, 2025

I read the majority of the reports, studies, white papers, and books related to sales development because others in the field might stumble onto a trend, an insight or a statistic of which I was not aware. That’s why I downloaded Xactly’s 2025 Sales Compensation Survey. I was hoping to see statistics about actual compensation but there wasn’t much substance in the area of compensation.

Data 227

Data Hiring Compensation Quota 227

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 10, 2025

You could say that the Philadelphia Eagles showed up for Super Bowl LIX with tremendous urgency to win. You could also say that the Kanas City Chiefs made it clear that they lacked that same urgency. While the single most important thing for salespeople to achieve in a discovery call is urgency, you can’t tell a prospect that they have urgency, you can’t manufacture urgency, and you can’t fake urgency.

Kana 194

Kana Benefit Margin Sales Qualified Lead 194

Understanding the Sales Force

FEBRUARY 1, 2025

If you are driving in your car, looking at your phone, fiddling with your radio, looking at people on the sidewalk, weaving in and out of traffic or speeding because you’re in a hurry, you are probably not a very good driver and bad things will happen. If you have a pile of files on your desk, a to-do list that is so long it must be scrolled to read, past-due proposals, and an empty pipeline, you are probably not very well organized, don’t manage your time very well, and likely behin

Sales Leadership 292

Sales Leadership Buying Cycle Coaching Proposal 292

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 31, 2025

Kurlan & Associates earned the Diamond Award, the highest level of recognition from Objective Management Group, for its 2024 performance. Using OMG, Kurlan helped a multitude of clients evaluate their sales teams and assess their sales and sales management candidates to help companies make much better hires for their sales organizations. The post OMG Names Kurlan a Diamond Award Winner for 2024 appeared first on Kurlan & Associates, Inc.

Hiring 177

Hiring Groups Objections Sales Management 177

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 18, 2025

With the holidays in the rear-view mirror, we can reflect on the time-honored tradition of gift giving. Whether you’re someone who gives a single gift or twenty gifts to your loved ones, the premise is the same. Figure out what they would like, find it, buy it at a store or online, get it home, wrap it, and put a bow on it. On Christmas eve or Christmas day, you present the gift.

Quota 337

Quota Top of Funnel How To Cancellation 337

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 15, 2025

Do you ever circle back, repurpose slide decks and proposals, become nostalgic, rewatch movies or TV series? When my son was small, he loved watching the same movies and shows over and over again. We watched The Lion King with him around one hundred times and Brother Bear another fifty times. When he got older, we watched Christmas Vacation, Home Alone, Elf, School of Rock, and Grown Ups every year.

Sales Process 177

Sales Process Lead Scoring Lead Rank Sales Qualified Lead 177

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 9, 2025

Do you enjoy meeting celebrities? I’ve had the opportunity to meet some through chance encounters and when I was in the music industry in the late 70’s and early 80’s, it was arranged for me to meet many star musicians. One chance encounter I had was on an airline flight from Dallas to Boston when a country star, in the seat next to me, woke me for no apparent reason.

Airlines 177

Airlines Decision Maker Call-back Vendor 177

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 7, 2025

Top Sales Magazine awarded Dave Kurlan, and Understanding the Sales Force, the Gold Medal for the Best Sales & Marketing Blog of 2024. Dave's Blog has placed for Gold, Silver or Bronze in all 12 years of the award's existence.

Sales 120

Sales Marketing 120

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 7, 2025

SellingPower has named Kurlan & Associates as one of the Top 20 Sales Training Companies of 2024. This is the fifth year that Selling Power has bestowed that honor on Kurlan.

Training 156

Training Company Sales 156

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 7, 2025

The post Dave Kurlan’s Homicide Detective Article Was a Finalist for Top Sales Article of 2024 appeared first on Kurlan & Associates, Inc.

Sales 120

Sales 120

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 6, 2025

As we do each season, my family attended the Boston Pops Holiday Concert at Symphony Hall in Boston. Although we’ve attended for close to 23 years, this year I noticed something different and that experience will help you better understand the important role that sales process plays in the context of a modern sales methodology. As I wrote in this article , Sales Process is a framework for consistent, predictable, repeatable results and the framework is best deployed as a staged, milestone-

Sales Process 334

Sales Process Benefit Sales Methodology Sales Cycle 334

Understanding the Sales Force

JANUARY 3, 2025

Happy New Year everyone! For most people, the New Year is a forward-looking time time for goal setting, planning, and resolutions. Nothing wrong with that. But as someone who likes breaking rules and pushing the envelope, I’m starting the New Year by looking back to January of 2024. Last January, my first article included the introduction of my new Sales Grid.

Video 177

Video Engineering Quota Sales 177

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 11, 2024

If you’ve been reading this Blog for more than a couple of years, or since 2006, then you know that every December I post the best articles of the past year. This year there are five articles listed in the category of best Sales Leadership articles, there are ten articles listed in the category of best sales articles of the year, and five more that are my personal favorites.

Sales Leadership 156

Sales Leadership Hiring Epiphany Video 156

Understanding the Sales Force

DECEMBER 11, 2024

On this page you’ll find everything you always wanted to know about how to get Baseline Selling content and training – all in one place. Baseline Selling is a proprietary sales process and methodology that Dave Kurlan developed in 2005. It uses the metaphor of the baseball diamond to visualize the sales process and any corporate sales process can be overlaid, integrated or married to it, making it the most flexible sales process ever to be introduced.

Course 156

Course Sales Process Training Company 156

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 26, 2024

Randy Newman has written a lot of hit songs. The two most popular were probably Short People and I Love LA but he also wrote the music for Toy Story and Monsters, Inc. In 1970, Three Dog Night recorded one of his songs called Mama Told Me (Not to Come). If you don’t remember or weren’t around to hear one of the first hits of the 1970’s, you should probably watch/listen to the song, Mama Told Me (Not to Come) below and pay attention to the words in the chorus.

Decision Maker 334

Decision Maker Proposal Sales Process Video 334

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 23, 2024

This is my third article using the Bible as an analogy to sales and I am currently reading Numbers. What is Numbers if not God’s mandate to Moses about, well, the required numbers for success? While there are several business leaders who can be credited for the creation and development of KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) or metrics, the earliest evidence of KPIs goes back to the 1870’s.

Comparison 177

Comparison Exact Follow-up Call-back 177

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 15, 2024

More than a dozen years ago, when I was coaching Little League, I had two kids on my 9-year old team that never made contact with the ball. I spent some extra time with them and realized they were both swinging with their eyes closed. If I could get them to swing with their eyes at least partly open, they might get their hands and bat close enough to the ball so that maybe the ball might hit their bats.

Prospecting 177

Prospecting Incentive Incentives Cold Calling 177

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 10, 2024

The title of today’s article might be confusing, but it’s true. Phil told me so. But before I share what he said, I have some anecdotal evidence that supports the claim that I’m an imposter. Here are ten reasons why I could be an imposter: I stand tall but I’m actually just 5′ 6″ I’m a white collar professional yet I never wear a jacket or tie I have helped B2B sales teams for nearly 40 years but prior to that I sold only B2C I invented and perfected

Hiring 348

Hiring Cold Calling Call-back B2C 348

Understanding the Sales Force

NOVEMBER 1, 2024

In Central Massachusetts, the 2024 Foliage season was dramatically different from a year ago when the leaves turned late in the fall, without much color, and they didn’t drop until the second half of November. Long Foliage Cycle. This year, much like when I was growing up, the leaves turned in mid-October and had mostly fallen from the trees by the end of October.

Sales Cycle 358

Sales Cycle Decision Maker Government Up-Sell 358

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 25, 2024

I love it when readers forward article links to me, hoping that I will debunk the article in a Blog post. That’s what happened when Mike Shannon sent me the link to a recent Success Magazine article entitled, “ Born to Sell? The Science Behind Adaptive Learning and What it Means for Entrepreneurs.” That is a revised title as the <title> in the HTML code revealed that the original title was, “What the Science of Sales Means for Entrepreneurs.” I knew this w

Telemarketing 177

Telemarketing Compensation Study Sales Coaching 177

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 19, 2024

My latest sales epiphany happened while I was watching Friday’s American League Championship Series game between the Yankees and the Guardians. The Guardians went to the bullpen to bring in a relief pitcher and I felt nothing. Wow! If it was the Red Sox, I would have been worried sick that the pitcher they were bringing into the game: Sucked all year Walks too many guys Is prone to giving up home runs Pitches worse against the Yankees Won’t prevent the Yankees from scoring right he

Epiphany 194

Epiphany Real Estate Face-to-face Coaching 194

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 9, 2024

The Boston Red Sox had a mediocre team in 2024. They had too many left-handed hitters, not enough starting pitching, an undependable bullpen, and by far, the worst defense in the MLB. Sure, they won half their games, but they lost the other half – many of them games they should have won. Most sales teams win fewer than half their “games,” and while defense can’t be blamed, pitching can!

Hiring 358

Hiring Compensation Lead Scoring Lead Rank 358

Understanding the Sales Force

OCTOBER 6, 2024

I last wrote about the efficacy of cold emails/LinkedIn Messages in February, when it was clear that immature AI and ineffective cold messaging wasn’t effective. The phone was and still is a better option. Read here. Although I continue to receive pathetic emails and Messages, I recently got one that was significantly better. Allow me to share some examples of typical emails/messages so that you can avoid these mistakes and then I’ll show one that suggests there is finally hope for

LinkedIn 334

LinkedIn Channels Hiring B2C 334

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 29, 2024

This is my fourth post in 2024 writing about God, Jesus or Church. I haven’t changed, it’s just that I have cast a wider net relative to sources for my many sales analogies! I never read the Bible from beginning to end until I began reading it a few weeks ago. I am still reading Genesis (first book in the Old Testament) and I am amazed by what I have read so far.

Scale 194

Scale Lead Rank Hiring Quota 194

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 20, 2024

The New England Patriots’ new head coach Jerod Mayo picked up his first win and loss in the first two weeks of the NFL season. I read in the Boston Herald that he is only 177 losses away from tying the NFL coaching record for most losses by a head coach, currently held by both Bill Belichick and Tom Landry. My first reaction was, do they expect him to be that bad?

Pipeline 177

Pipeline Coaching Opportunity Comparison 177

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 13, 2024

One of our favorite garden plants is the Endless Summer Hydrangea, the first Hydrangea bred to bloom all summer long, every summer. And they always do. Except last summer. Except this summer. Last summer, they barely flowered at all and this summer they flowered around two weeks early, with a tremendous number of large, full blue blooms, only to not flower again for the rest of the summer.

Hiring 177

Hiring Coaching Revenue Pipeline 177

Understanding the Sales Force

SEPTEMBER 8, 2024

Sunday, when the Priest was giving his sermon he said they (the Priests) compare mass attendance at the end of each weekend. He said since everyone has returned from their summer vacations, Saturday night mass was full, the two earlier Sunday masses were full and this mass was full. My wife and I looked around and it seemed to us that the church was a bit more than half full.

Government 348

Government Forecasting Pipeline Report 348

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 31, 2024

My wife and I add around 200 plants to our perennial gardens each year. She chooses the plants, decides where they should be placed, and I have the important job of digging holes. One thing I have excelled at in my hole digging responsibilities is cutting into the coaxial cable that makes up Dinger’s invisible fence, rendering it useless. As long as I know where I cut it I can splice it back together again and I have spliced that cable back together so many times that there are more splices th

Cold Calling 316

Cold Calling Call-back Follow-up Proposal 316

Understanding the Sales Force

AUGUST 23, 2024

When we were exploring the volcano in Hawaii, our tour guide showed us a simple hack that exponentially increased the amount of steam rising up through one of the vents. Check it out in the video that I shot below. The guide simply lit a cigarette, lowered it slightly into the vent, it reacted with the air and the steam, and significantly increased the output of steam.

Opportunity 177

Opportunity Decision Maker Cold Calling Call-back 177