Sales Training: An Independent Perspective. Dave Stein's Blog.

Just for the record – I am not having a go at Americans in this post despite what the title might suggest. But having worked with hundreds of Irish companies over the years and having been involved with selling programs such as SalesSTAR and the International Selling Programme I am only too familiar with some [...]

Filed under: Hiring | 1 Comment »

During the past few weeks I’ve fielded queries from several clients regarding our view on salesreps working from home. More salesreps are telecommuting now than even a few years ago.  But working from home isn’t for every salesrep or every company.  It could mean the difference between your home-office reps making their numbers or not.

Filed under: Hiring, Sales Enablement | 3 Comments »

First I want to thank all of you who have endorsed me on LinkedIn. It’s a privilege to be acknowledged in that manner by so many of you whom I respect in return.  What I found interesting is that the prevalent category for those endorsements seems to be “start-ups.”  Sure, I know that “start-ups” is [...]

Filed under: Account Management, Book Recommendation, Hiring, Leadership, Sales Strategy | 4 Comments »

I “discovered” Mike Kunkle a while back through his contributions to the sales effectiveness discussion groups, his tweets, and his comments on various sales experts’ blogs. Whatever he’s written has been to-the-point, clearly articulated, and has oozed experience and knowledge. ES Research worked with Mike on a special project for his last company, so we [...]

Filed under: Hiring, Interview, Measurement, Methodology, Presentations, Research, sales process, social media | 13 Comments »

There was a very relevant announcement made recently: Enterprise Ireland Announces Record Exports of €15.2bn in 2011. This is big news in Ireland, especially with the situation that Ireland has been in.  The funding, support, and programs the Irish goverment has provided companies that export (read: sell outside Ireland) led to this significant achievement. (Read [...]

Filed under: Hiring, sales process | 2 Comments »

I’m In Ireland again for my yearly visit. I’m an Adjunct Professor of Sales and Sales Management at the Dublin Institute of Technology. DIT delivers an eight module program in international selling for Enterprise Ireland, the government organization responsible for the development and growth of Irish enterprises in world markets. Among the subjects I cover in [...]

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Too often sales executives find that newly hired sales professionals do not possess the particular traits needed for the jobs they were hired to do. ES Research Group estimates that this happens 25-33 percent of the time, depending on the industry. In all cases, those salespeople endured or even thrived throughout a rigorous interview process, [...]

Filed under: Hiring, Sales Training Companies | 10 Comments »

One of the most common issues that needs to be overcome through a sales performance improvement initiative is the subjectivity with which many salespeople pursue business.  If left to their own, many sales reps see what they want to see, hear what they want to hear, and, frankly, do what they want to do. This [...]

Filed under: Hiring, Research, sales training | 3 Comments »

We read a lot on the sales blogs and in articles about A, B, and C players.  Those pieces have covered various methods, learning approaches, and tools for transforming C’s into B’s, and B’s into A players. We have a strong view at ESR about this subject.   With the right approach, time, and support, you [...]

Filed under: coaching, Hiring, Leadership, Professionalism | No Comments »

A Conversation with Sales Training Industry Leader Dave Kurlan Part I:  What’s In It for Me (and My Sales Organization)? If you’ve been following this blog or investing in ESR’s research, you know how important it is to have the right people in and managing the sales team as an absolute pre-requisite to any sales [...]

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