Sales Training

What Happened to Character?

By Dave Kahle / August 25, 2023

In a recent training session, I recommended to a group of sales managers that they hire their next salesperson on the basis of that person’s character, rather than his/her skill, experience or knowledge. A couple of them looked like Bambi being caught by a pair of headlights on a dark night in the middle of the road. The thought I…

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Navigating Complexity In a Rapidly Changing World – An Analogy

By Dave Kahle / August 8, 2023

I just received a notice to upgrade one of my software programs from version 7.9.1 to the latest – version 7.9.2.  You know the drill, as it happens almost daily. Log in to your computer and you’re almost immediately confronted with the latest upgrades. ‘Click here to download the latest version. I appreciate the software publishers continually improving their products. …

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How well does your organization learn?

By Dave Kahle / June 16, 2023

What may be the single most important predictor of an organization’s long-term business development and survival is that organization’s ability to learn. In a world that is changing more rapidly today than at any previous time in human history, the consistent practice of learning is the only sustainable long-term strategy. Products will come and go with increasing short life spans,…

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Five Ways to Prevent the Price Objection

By Dave Kahle / June 13, 2023

“Your price is too high!”  The infamous price objection.  Wouldn’t sales be a great profession if we could somehow wipe it out and never hear it again? Unfortunately, that will never happen.  Too many of the people with whom we deal are paid to get the best deal they can.  And that means asking for a better price, even when…

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Motivating the Sales Force

By Dave Kahle / May 9, 2023

Question: I’m frustrated. My sales force just doesn’t seem to be motivated. They agree with me at sales meetings, but then don’t follow through. Any ideas? Answer: Yes. I just had a phone conversation with a client who had a familiar story to tell. He had built his business on the model of an entrepreneurial sales force. Give them a…

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3 Types of Advisement to Thrive in Your Business

By Dave Kahle / April 20, 2023

“Plans fail when there is no counsel, but they succeed when advisers are many.“ (Proverbs 15:22)” This is an often-quoted verse, a piece of advice from King Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived. While the advice doesn’t appear to be pointed only at businesspeople, the application of that wisdom can make the difference between success and failure for a…

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Are Limiting Beliefs Holding You Down?

By Dave Kahle / April 5, 2023

As an educated and experienced practitioner in the profession of helping people change their behavior, I’ve come to the conclusion that our set of preexisting beliefs supplies the largest and most potent set of obstacles to self-improvement and the greater success and fulfillment that comes with it.

Human beings naturally make observations and conclusions about our experiences as we grow up and experience life. Eventually, some of these become hardened into beliefs. These beliefs then form our base set of assumptions about the world, and we make choices and live our lives based on those beliefs.

Inappropriate or errant beliefs can hold us back.

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How do You Provide a Solution when Selling a Commodity?

By Dave Kahle / March 29, 2023

Question:  How do you provide a solution when selling a commodity? Answer:  Great question.  On the surface, it seems almost like a contradiction in terms – “If it’s a commodity, how can it be a solution?” Before I begin, let me suggest you go to my website and read the article entitled, “Selling Commodities.” One of my clients sells what…

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Transitioning From Salesperson to Sales Manager

By Dave Kahle / March 14, 2023

Q. I have been reading some of your articles and then came across your website. I was wondering what kind of advice you would give to a salesperson trying to become a sales manager. What steps should I try taking first? A. Good question. I’m sure there are thousands of my readers who have the same question bouncing around in…

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Should We Proactively Lead the Post-Covid Adjustments?

By Dave Kahle / February 15, 2023

Very soon we’ll be confronting the next wave of change as our companies and our jobs lurch back to something resembling pre-covid normal. The question in the back of every executive’s mind is this: “How do we handle the post-Covid changes?” Specifically, we’ll have to accommodate employees who have been working from home, customers who wouldn’t see salespeople, and a…

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