Sooner or later, almost every sales manager must face the difficult decision as to whether or not to terminate the employment of a salesperson. In this podcast, I provide some principles to help you with that decision.

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       Dave Kahle’s goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.

         Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.

       Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation.

Subscribe to Dave’s Newsletters

Check out the website

How To Kreate Kahle’s Kalculation

 One of the best ways to supercharge your personal development is to set goals.  In this post, I reply to a question about goal setting for personal improvement, with guidelines for every sales executive.

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       Dave Kahle’s goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.

         Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.

       Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation.

Subscribe to Dave’s Newsletters

Check out the website

For 30 years I’ve been training B2B sales forces to sell better.  I’ve noticed this – that any group of salespeople, 20% to 30% are eager to learn and enthusiastic about trying some of the practices I teach.  Of the remainer, some will try to apply some of the lessons, and others will fail to adjust their behavior at all. What is it that distinguishes the eager learners from the rest of the pack? 

Let’s unpack this.

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       Dave Kahle’s goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.

         Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.

       Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation.

Subscribe to Dave’s Newsletters

Check out the website

: For all but the new and the internally driven salespeople, straight commission plans merely reward the content sales person to maintain the status quo. Let’s consider this together.

Salespeople are sick of hearing “Your price is too high.”  But, what if the real issue isn’t the price? 

        Here’s a secret that almost nobody knows, including all those gurus telling you to sell value.  They don’t always buy the best value.  But, they can invariably be counted on to buy the lowest risk!

         The biggest issue in the minds of your customers and prospects is not price, and it is not value – it is risk.   Let’s dig into this.

The XI Community. Learn More Here

One or more of your salespeople has leveled off.  Their performance hasn’t improved much in the last few years.  You know that these experienced salespeople can do better, but they seem unable or unwilling to break out of a certain level of performance.  You are scratching your head, frustrated, and losing sleep at night wondering how to improve the situation.  What do you do? Here’s a simple, effective strategy: 

How to Kreate Kahle's Kalculation of Sales Productivity

 “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 businessperson.  [G1]  

          How do you apply the wisdom of this passage in a practical way to a business?        

Inserted: only

What’s gunk?  Any practice that detracts from the salesperson spending time with customers.  In other words, other things the outside salespeople do instead of meeting with customers. Let’s drill deeper into Gunk, determine if you, or your salespeople are guilty of any of it, and begin to fix it.

The community for Excellence & Influence -- Learn more.

It seems like more and more business people have lost the ability to say no. That’s too bad.  Being able to say no is a higher level skill that is advantageous in both business as well as life in general. Those who don’t master the art of saying no are forever doomed to an immaturity in their business skills, while those who can and do say no operate at a higher level of skill and social finesse.

The biggest cost in a sales team is often invisible and unacknowledged.  Yet, it costs the company more in opportunities lost than any other single issue. Many sales managers aren’t even aware of it.  Let’s take a look.

The Kahle Way(r) B2B Selling System: https://www.thesalesresourcecenter.com/immersion-b2b-sales/

The Kahle Way Distributor Selling System https://www.thesalesresourcecenter.com/immersion-distributor-sales/

Over my career, I’ve worked with hundreds, maybe even thousands of sales managers, and I’ve learned some things. Regardless of the size of business, the product sold or market to which it is sold, sales managers share some common hurdles.  Here are the three most common challenges for sales managers.

The Sales Manager's Group 

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course

Every sales manager wants to hire star salespeople.  But few do. One reason for that is we don’t know what to look for in an interviewee.  In this concluding article in a series of six, I identify the qualities of character that contribute to the make-up of a superstar salesperson.  

Hiring a star salesperson is one of the best things you can do.  But, very few people do it well.  We often look for the wrong things in the interview process.  We should be looking for the character of the prospect.  Here's the next  in my series on the qualities of character star salespeople have in common. -- A self-image of success. 

The sales leader's group in the XI Community.  Learn More Here.  

"What do people think about you when you are not there?" That's Steve's definition of what a personal brand is.  Join me as I dig into the details of creating and managing your personal brand in this interview with Steve Miler.

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       Dave Kahle’s goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.

         Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.

       Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation.

Subscribe to Dave’s Newsletters

Check out the website

We’d all like to hire great salespeople.  Few of us ever do.  Part of the reason may be the qualities and qualifications we look for in the interview process.  In this next of a series of qualities of character of the best salespeople, I unveil the next in the list – the ability to create positive business relationships.

The Sales Managers Group of the XI Community:  Learn More Here.

We’d all like to hire superstar salespeople. The problem is spotting one in the interview process. What do you look for?  In this, one of a series on the qualities of character of superstar salespeople, I share my number three recommendation:  Th Ability and Propensity to learn.

We’d all like to hire a superstar salesperson.  But we often look for the wrong things in the interview process.  Instead of product or industry knowledge, we should look for qualities of character.  Here’s my second characteristics of superstar salespeople : High Energy. 

The X-I Community:  Learn More Here

Companies  lead by Servant Leaders more than double the return on investment when compared to other management styles.  In this interview with author Max Cates, we dig into the nuts and bolts of servant leadership

Serve, Lead, Succeed -- Book by Max Cates

The Sales Leaders Excellence & Influence Course

If you can hire a superstar salesperson, your life will be easier and you’ll look like a hero.  Easier said than done.  In this podcast, I share what to not look for, and share one of six things I look for in a sales hire.

The Kahle Way B2B Selling System

The Kahle Way Distributor Selling System

Sales productivity may be a new concept for many sales executives.  “Sales” is easy to understand, and “productivity” is pretty clear, but when those two words are combined the combination becomes a bit vague.

What exactly is sales productivity, and why should you be concerned about it?

Kahle's Kalculation -- Free Ebook.

Great business leaders invariably exhibit the same qualities of character. In this first of series, I look at the qualities of character that mark great leaders, with a deep dive into the first:  An unshakeable work ethic. Let’s unpack that.

The Xi Community.  Learn More Here.

In this sixth of a series on the character traits of successful business leaders, I identify one that might be surprising.  It is, however, incredibly powerful – humility. Humility is often misunderstood.  In this podcast, I describe it, and show how it is a powerful leadership trait.

The best business leaders have acquired a similar set of skills.  Without this set of character traits, it is difficult to lead a growing organization.  In this series, I uncover a key set of character traits for great business leaders.  This is number four – Unwavering self-control.

The XI Community.  Learn More Here.

Listen to my response to this question:

Our “A” customers do 90% of our business.  How much time or effort would you put into your “B” customers to bring them up to “A” customers?

The answer will surprise you.

The Kahle Way B2B Selling System

:  I’ve learned some lessons in my 30+ years of sales consulting.  One is this:  There is almost always a bottleneck in a company’s sales systems.  Typically, the executives are too involved with the trenches to take a big picture perspective and identify and fix the bottleneck.  In this piece, I look at three business models: Solopreneurs, small sales forces reporting to the CEO, and larger sales forces with middle management.  I identify the most common primary sales obstacles of each model, and offer a solution for each. 

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       Dave Kahle’s goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.

         Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.

       Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation.

Subscribe to Dave’s Newsletters

Check out the website

More important than the business model in the long-term success of a business is the character of the CEO.  In this series, I describe the top qualities of character that mark the successful business leaders.  This is number two – the ability and propensity to learn.

The XI Community. Learn more here.

How can I sell more when I have so much to do?”  That’s a common question with lots of different answers – all having to do with better sales time management.  Here’s one key to selling more, even when you are pressed for time.  Focus on this one thing.

The XI Community.  Learn more here.

Are outside salespeople a thing of the past? 

          For generations, outside salespeople thrived on face-to-face relationships. Their approach to the job was to get in the car and go see people. The world is full of businesses who have grown on that sales model. Until recently. The Covid lock-down has turned the world of outside salespeople upside down.  Did the outside salesperson become obsolete.  Here’s how to answer the question  for your team.

The Kahle Way(r) B2B Selling System. Learn more here.

How to Sell When Your Customers Won't See You.  Learn more

Which is more important, the business model, or the character of the CEO?  From my experience, the character of the CEO trumps everything.  In this article/podcast, I dig deeply into that idea – the ultimate success formula.

The Xi Community (Excellence & Influence)

One of the fundamental concepts in B2B selling is this:  There is a unique ‘best” selling process for every combination of markets, products and customers.  Identifying that process, and using it to unleash the power of your sales team,  is a major step in the growth of a B2B sales organization. In this podcast, we show you how.

The Sales Masters Approach to Acquiring New Customers

Blog post with diagrams:

https://www.davekahle.com/power-in-the-sales-process/

I was young, cocky and a bit full of myself when I had one of the most humbling experiences of my life, and learned a lesson that has stuck with me for decades.  Personal responsibility is easy to say, but quite a bit more difficult to actually embed into your life.

The Xi Community:  Learn More Here

Great leaders have a number of character traits in common. This is the third in a series of articles dealing with the set of character traits that great business leaders exhibit – A continuous quest for MORE.

The XI Community.

Self-delusion is becoming more widespread today and threatens to damage our lives and retard our culture. It’s time we recognized it.

A client described this situation:  Business  is flat, and he’s unable to get his sales force to promote the lines that he wants to promote, he’s unable to get them to use some of the new technology that the company wants them to use, and he’s unable to get them to prospect for new customers.  He’s faced with an experienced sales force, who for the most part, are unmanageable.   Here’s my response.

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course.  Learn more.

The Xi Community. Learn more.

Sales managers, deprived of training and solid direction, typically default to one of these styles.  Look at each, and the pros and cons of each and determine which applies to you.

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course

Sales meetings don’t have to be boring.  You can organize better sales meetings with just a little bit of revised thinking. I’ll show you one way to do that  in this podcast.

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       Dave Kahle’s goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.

         Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.

       Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation.

Subscribe to Dave’s Newsletters

Check out the website

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course 

Only about five percent of sales organizations invest in developing their salespeople.  Those that do are often the industry leaders. Creating and managing a formal program to develop your salespeople is one of your best investments.

The Excellence & Influence Community. Learn more here.

There are a lot of 100% commission sales compensation plans around. Should there be?  Think deeply about this as I respond to two questions about sales force compensation.

The New Customer Acquisition Course. 

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course

Join with me to examine a couple more of that series of words that a significant percentage of the population would rather not hear – humility and commitment.

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course

Throughout the history of mankind, successful people have been disciplined people.  At some point in their development, they have discovered the power that lies in discipline.  And they chose, with an act of willfulness and intentionality, to pursue disciplines. As a result, they rise above the pack on the basis of the strength of their wills and their ability to discipline themselves to do the right things, consistently, methodically and regularly.

Sales Leader's Course

Higher character has been recognized, across generations and cultures, as one of the ideal qualifications for positions of leadership. Until recently. We’ve discarded the idea of higher character, and are paying the price.

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course

The calls for "lower price" are becoming more frequent and frantic in this age of inflation.  How should you handle them?  Listen as I respond to three questions concerning lower prices.  You may gain a perspective you've never had before.

The Sales Leader's Excellence and Influence Course

Value-added means different things to different people. If you are going to be a true value-added seller in the 21st century marketplace, you must be flexible and capable enough to offer different things to different customers, responding to the individual customer’s definition of what is valuable to him or her. 

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course. Learn more here.

Our perspectives shape our behavior and set our character.  We can change our perspectives and thereby change our lives.

Here's my answer to two common questions:  How do you sell commodities? and What do you do when the customer is only interested in low price?

The Sales Leader's Excellence and Influence Course.  Learn more here.

It’s one of the most common laments I hear from principals and sales managers: “I wish I had a more professional sales force.”

No doubt that thought has passed through your mind at some time in the recent past.  You’re not alone, of course.  I hear it regularly from my clients. Let’s take a look at what it really means, why it is such a common malady, and what you can do about it.

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course.  Learn More Here.

What sets the best salespeople apart from the masses?  I’ve pursued that question for a lifetime.  Here’s my answer.

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       Dave Kahle’s goal is to provide sales leaders and small businesspeople with practical actionable ideas that can make an immediate impact on your sales performance.

         Dave is a B2B sales expert, and a Christian Business thought leader.  He has authored 13 books, presented in 47 states and 11 countries and worked with over 500 sales organizations.  In these ten-minute podcasts, his unique blend of out-of-the-box thinking and practical insights will challenge and enable you to sell better, lead better and live better.

       Subscribe to these ten-minute helpings of out-of-the-box inspiration, education and motivation.

Subscribe to Dave’s Newsletters

Check out the website

The Sales Leader's Excellence & Influence Course 

11 Secrets of Time Management for Salespeople

Here’s my response to this question:  How can we get inside sales to do some proactive sales activities each day?  We want our inside sales people to use some of their time to shift into the proactive mode to make outbound phone contact to existing and new business.

Check out the Sales Manager's Group in the Xi Community here.

Listen to  my reply to this question: “Q.  Dave, I’m from outside the industry, and am accustomed to what I see as a much more professional sales force than what I currently have.  Am I off-base in expecting a professional group of salespeople, as opposed to the ‘nice guys’ who don’t seem to take their professions seriously that I inherited?”

Check out the Xi Community.

The rapid change whirling around every company puts great pressure on organizations to change themselves.  Not only must the organization as a whole change, but the individuals within each organization must themselves change, learn and grow more rapidly than at any time in the past.

This ability for an organization and its people to change in response to the changing world around them may be the ultimate success skill for the Information Age.

Check out the Xi Community here.

https://www.davekahle.com/leadership-and-b2b-sales-management-groups/