Dave Kurlan is one of the world's foremost experts in sales management and sales leadership. Here are 11 of his best sales management and leadership tips from 2013...so far!

1. Dave Kurlan’s Top 11 Sales Leadership
Tips from 2013… So Far
Brought to you by InsightSquared

2. Dave Kurlan is the
founder and CEO of
Objective
Management Group,
Inc. and Kurlan &
Associates, Inc. He is
both a top-rated
speaker and author,
having penned such
titles as Mindless
Selling and Baseline
Selling – How to
Become a Sales
Superstar by Using
What You Already
Know About the
Game of Baseball.

3. Dave also runs a
blog, Understanding
the Sales Force. We
at InsightSquared are
committed followers
of his work. He
recently published a
blog post, listing his
“Top 10 Sales
Leadership Tips From
2013 – So Far”. We
were so taken with
this list that we
made this
presentation, to
showcase his
thought leadership.

4. One
It's not that cold calls don't work; it's that salespeople
truly suck at making cold calls!

5. Two
It is stupid for salespeople to worry that asking more
questions will cause them to appear dumb!

6. Three
While many successful salespeople have college
degrees, salespeople never succeed because of their
education.

7. Four
Most other "sales assessments" are marketing-
modified versions of personality assessments.

8. Four
The actual findings are the same as on the standard
personality tests, but the names or labels have been
modified to sound as if they are sales findings.

9. Four
As with costumes, you only need to take off the mask
and you'll see what's underneath. No exceptions. No
apologies.

10. Five
The pipeline should be the single most accurate
predictor of future revenue.

11. Six
Salespeople change in direct proportion to the
availability of immediate coaching feedback from their
sales managers.

12. Seven
Salespeople believe that to differentiate and add
value, they must come in with the best pricing and it
will make them a hero.

13. Seven
Unfortunately, it makes them just like everyone else
and there isn't much value in that.

14. Eight
Even if the data is sound, you would not be smart to
target, recruit and select ambiverts! I guarantee that
74% of them will suck at sales too!

15. Nine
Difficult selling, with all of its challenges, leads to easy-
to-achieve outcomes. Easy selling, while avoiding
challenges, causes difficult-to-achieve outcomes.

16. Ten
Companies mislabel salespeople as top producers
when the reality is that they're usually great account
managers who've inherited the best territories.

17. Ten
It's often the less visible salespeople who are the best
producers, bringing in new business, one deal at a
time, but growing their revenue just the same.

18. Eleven
In many companies, some sales leadership categories
are placed under the direction of people who aren't
qualified to lead them.

19. Eleven
In other companies, there are huge gaps where some
or all of the categories are missing.

20. Thank you for viewing our presentation!

21. You can visit our website at
http://www.insightsquared.com/ and our blog at
http://www.insightsquared.com/blog/

22. Photo Credits
“Dave Kurlan portrait” Courtesy of kurlanandassociates
“fireworks” Courtesy of baron valium
“cold calling” Courtesy of mongo gushi
“Student Raising Hand” Courtesy of UC Davis College of Engineering
“Graduation” Courtesy of Andrew Schwegler
“Masks” Courtesy of Garry Knight
“Pipes” Courtesy of Michael Pereckas
“Sean Bradley Coaches Dealers on Building Action Plans – Internet
Sales 20 Group: Day 3” Courtesy fo DigitalRalph
“Offa’s Dyke Walk 3 / black sheep” Courtesy of Andrew Fogg
“Volume Levels” Courtesy of garysan97
“Night Shift – Hard@Work (1of8)” Courtesy of cell105
“Map ~ Pennsylvania Colony ~ 1777” Courtesy of e r j k p r u n c z y k
“tea strainer” Courtesy of aesop
“Salman Ahmad inspires the audience to sing and clap along” Courtesy
of M. Elizabeth Williams, Girl + Camera LLC, and TEDx NJLibraries