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[Audio] My Interview Today with Sales Force Development Expert Dave Kurlan!

by Jason Kanigan
22 replies
Warriors!

I'm so excited to share this. Today one of the greatest sales trainers in the US, if not the world, gave me an hour of his time. He could have ignored my interview request, sent before Christmas and quickly agreed to when he came back early this month. He could have made another fistful of dollars for this billable hour.

But instead, Dave Kurlan and I talked about:
  • consultative selling
  • the message you should be giving if you're transitioning from your old career to your new IM one
  • how to assess sales candidates so that you hire a winner and not a loser

and much more!

I don't know how to embed an audio player into a WF post, so please click here for the recording.

If someone can advise me, I'll change this to a player later.

I hope you find this interview as enlightening and fun as I did: Dave even called me out once for a super-long question!

Looking forward to your comments. His award-winning blog, The Authority on Sales Force Excellence, is one you should seriously consider signing up to receive posts from! They're always informative, thought-provoking and designed to help you sell better.

His book is called Baseline Selling. (None of these are affiliate links--Dave doesn't do IM.)
#audio #dave #development #expert #force #interview #kurlan #sales #today
  • Profile picture of the author Rus Sells
    Hey Jason,

    I slapped it up on a site of mine if you don't mind I'll provide the link. If you are interested I can make you an author on the site if you wish.

    Just let me know
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Yeah hey everybody, Russ PMs me to google a phrase and his page with my interview is the #2 result. But he doesn't tell me it's his site, and I haven't come back to this thread yet.

    Jason gets trolled. Hilarity ensues.

    Fortunately, even though Russ' site doesn't seem to expressly say it's his, Jason takes a break from writing his ferocious "what the heck do you think you're doing" comment. He reads the other comments...who's site is this, anyway? Oh, riiiiiight....:rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author theemperor
    Thanks Jason there is some real gold in that audio. Many "oh yeah' moments for me (I am only half way though I had to pause it to write a load of ideas down).
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  • Profile picture of the author imsirigiri
    Thanks a ton Jason. For premium content like this, there should have been a WSO but warriors like you make us, juniors, feel like having a Christmas gift everyday with one cookie or the other.

    I am gonna listen and learn and implement.
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  • Profile picture of the author ErikNilsson
    Man this is outstanding loads of Ideas..........
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Thank you Warriors for the comments so far.

    When you respond like this it makes me feel happy that I did the work and put it up here for Free. Thanks for making the idea worthwhile.

    Dave didn't have to talk to me. He knew my name from commenting on his blog, because my comments showed that I understood consultative selling, and that's about it. I spent an hour prepping an email to ask him for this interview! Every single reason why he should get involved was carefully put in there...the message was a page long. And then after sending I discovered it was Dec 23 and he'd left for Christmas break! I wouldn't hear until Jan 3 at the earliest.

    Fortunately my email didn't get buried in the Christmas break snowdrifts. Dave responded as soon as he got back--but his schedule is booked so far in advance we had to book the time today.

    So again, I'm very glad this interview is valuable for you. The feedback makes me want to go find other pros and interview them (after all, the fact that I've done this one leverages me into that "Well, he's already done one at my level" world).
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    ...so, what else did other Warriors get out of this?
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    I'm sure there are many new Warriors these days who could get a lot of value out of listening to this interview.
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  • Profile picture of the author Preeti
    Jason this is AWESOME!!! I'm just swamped with a project right now, but I'm bookmarking this, setting up a reminder on my iphone to come back and check this out!!! I have some friends who work at Salesforce and would love to get some ideas from that innovative culture

    Thank you for sharing this Jason!!!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    All you newbies who say you are BEGGING for information--here, RIGHT HERE is information from a world-class trainer!! And it's FREE!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
    Bump. Newbs can use this, big time.
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  • Profile picture of the author Stan
    Thanks Jason - definitely going to check this out!
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  • Profile picture of the author Jan W
    thanks jason for this great resource you are providing here. some stuff is really pure gold. this is awsome share
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    • Profile picture of the author Claude Whitacre
      Jason; I've been training salespeople for a few decades now.

      The idea of asking a question based on what they just said, rather than because it was the next question on your list....I've never heard before, and didn't think of myself. It's so obvious, but I never thought of it exactly like that.

      Of course, I just ordered his book too.

      "I can't teach asking questions, but I can demonstrate it" is a great line, and a great idea.

      Thanks for posting this interview.
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      • Profile picture of the author dnjoseph1
        Jason,

        Thanks for taking the time to interview Dave. This interview really opened my eyes to some things.

        A while ago I tried hiring some sales reps to expand my business...turns out it was the worst idea ever. They just didn't "get it". And although they had past successes where they were previously employed, it didn't translate in my consulting business. Since this nightmare, I have been running my business on my own, simply because I don't trust anyone to do it the "right way". I'm sure I happened to get the bad apples of the bunch, but Dave's advice on assessing potential candidates is spot on. I'll be using it.

        I have a client questionnaire I always go over when I'm meeting with prospects. No other company (tv, radio, billboards, yellow pages etc) takes the time to learn about the owners problems. While I'm going over this questionnaire, I'm sure to follow step by step, not deviating from it one bit. This was a great way to learn about the business in depth. But I never asked questions based off of their answers...I just "answered and continued". Well during my meeting yesterday, I followed Dave's advice and decided to ask questions based on what they said. But only at the parts where there was the most pain and frustration. I kept my place in the questionnaire, each time.

        Before I even got through the meeting (about 40 minutes in) the client stopped me and says:

        Client: "You actually give a damn don't you?

        Me: "Yes I do. If I'm not personally invested in your business - I ethically can't help you" (Thanks Jay Abraham)

        Client: "I've been sold to by all those ****ers time and time again, and not once did they ever ask me about my business and my life. All they cared about was making a living, and I get that. I never made a positive return on any of it. But you. No one has ever taken the time to ask me these kinds of questions...the questions that matter. I can tell you're different than everyone else. I know your results will be too. How much do I make the check out for?"

        Listening to several of those "aha" moments during this recording, implementing them will help me grow my firm to an even higher level. Thanks for taking the time to post this for us. I've already benefited from it GREATLY!
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        • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
          A questionnaire is good, to get you started...but don't be limited by it.

          "Start anywhere, go everywhere" is the motto to follow when questioning. We don't know anything about the prospect's world when we first get in there...though we may assume we do.

          Trust is the most difficult thing to get in selling. When a prospect starts opening up and sharing some of the truth with you, you're really getting somewhere. Next step: can your solution really help them?

          Thanks for the feedback!

          Originally Posted by dnjoseph1 View Post

          Jason,

          Thanks for taking the time to interview Dave. This interview really opened my eyes to some things.

          A while ago I tried hiring some sales reps to expand my business...turns out it was the worst idea ever. They just didn't "get it". And although they had past successes where they were previously employed, it didn't translate in my consulting business. Since this nightmare, I have been running my business on my own, simply because I don't trust anyone to do it the "right way". I'm sure I happened to get the bad apples of the bunch, but Dave's advice on assessing potential candidates is spot on. I'll be using it.

          I have a client questionnaire I always go over when I'm meeting with prospects. No other company (tv, radio, billboards, yellow pages etc) takes the time to learn about the owners problems. While I'm going over this questionnaire, I'm sure to follow step by step, not deviating from it one bit. This was a great way to learn about the business in depth. But I never asked questions based off of their answers...I just "answered and continued". Well during my meeting yesterday, I followed Dave's advice and decided to ask questions based on what they said. But only at the parts where there was the most pain and frustration. I kept my place in the questionnaire, each time.

          Before I even got through the meeting (about 40 minutes in) the client stopped me and says:

          Client: "You actually give a damn don't you?

          Me: "Yes I do. If I'm not personally invested in your business - I ethically can't help you" (Thanks Jay Abraham)

          Client: "I've been sold to by all those ****ers time and time again, and not once did they ever ask me about my business and my life. All they cared about was making a living, and I get that. I never made a positive return on any of it. But you. No one has ever taken the time to ask me these kinds of questions...the questions that matter. I can tell you're different than everyone else. I know your results will be too. How much do I make the check out for?"

          Listening to several of those "aha" moments during this recording, implementing them will help me grow my firm to an even higher level. Thanks for taking the time to post this for us. I've already benefited from it GREATLY!
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        • Profile picture of the author Jason Kanigan
          Originally Posted by Claude Whitacre View Post

          Jason; I've been training salespeople for a few decades now.

          The idea of asking a question based on what they just said, rather than because it was the next question on your list....I've never heard before, and didn't think of myself. It's so obvious, but I never thought of it exactly like that.

          Of course, I just ordered his book too.

          "I can't teach asking questions, but I can demonstrate it" is a great line, and a great idea.

          Thanks for posting this interview.
          Hi Claude, what have you learned in the meantime about asking questions and gaining trust by doing so? What did you think of Dave's book?
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  • Profile picture of the author todd40fla
    this is AWSOME stuff.......worth the listen. thanks so much for sharing!
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  • Profile picture of the author Tracy411
    Thanks for posting this, Jason. I've come to greatly respect you fro all the knowledge you freely share here. This interview is another great share.

    Thanks again.

    Tracy
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  • Profile picture of the author miwaterboy
    Dude (Jason) Spot on! Very much worth the time to listen to...
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  • Profile picture of the author KingOfContentMarketing
    Finally had time to listen. Thanks for the share. Good stuff. Dave is the man. Consider putting this up on your Youtube channel to get even more exposure.
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    Marketing is not a battle of products. It is a battle of perceptions.
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