Let’s face it, we’ve all turned into number nerds. Every day, we’re tracking everything from our steps and sleep to our screen time and even how many coffees we knock back. Why? Because data cuts through guesswork — it shows us what’s working and what’s not. In sales, we’re always swimming in data, from call logs and emails to deal closures and client feedback. All this data isn’t just useful — it’s essential to success.

Personalized learning is revolutionizing sales training. By making training more responsive to the needs of individual sales reps, you increase engagement and skill acquisition, leading to more effective training outcomes, crucial for staying competitive in today’s fast-paced sales environments. Personalized training can not only speed up skill acquisition but also increase proficiency levels, directly impacting sales performance and organizational success.

Transitioning from a top salesperson to an effective sales leader is more than just a promotion—it's a significant step up that demands new skills and perspectives. And it’s risky. Elevating top sales performers into sales leadership roles doesn’t naturally make them effective sales coaches. They may not possess the skills or desire to transition into leadership roles, potentially leading to misalignment and dissatisfaction.

When a company makes a mistake—such as a marketing misstep or a product failure that leads to a recall—a good apology can make a big difference in how we as customers feel about them. Things can go wrong for all kinds of reasons. On top of addressing the immediate fallout of something going wrong, a company must be prepared to explain what happened—and in many cases, apologize.

U.S. employees are increasingly struggling with mental health challenges tied to their jobs, such as depression, anxiety, and burnout. We’re professors who research how employees interact and workplace well-being. After noticing that research on mental health and work had not kept up with the increasing prevalence of mental health challenges, we reviewed existing findings on mental health and work to see how scholars can best investigate these issues going forward.

Imagine having 12 extra hours per week -- that's how much time Thomson Reuters predicts AI-powered tools will save professionals in future. A new survey of more than 2,200 professionals by the information services company found that 77 percent of professionals think AI will have a "transformational" impact on their careers in the next five years. While those surveyed work an average of 46 hours per week, more than half of respondents said they feel they do not have enough time to do everything they want to.

Being a leader isn’t about a title or a role. Instead, it’s about taking the initiative to chart new paths forward and make innovation possible. Developing this capability makes professionals very valuable, but as the Harvard Business Review notes: “Innovation requires deviation.” And deviation can be scary. Working up the courage to challenge your workplace’s status quo is a start, but it’s not quite enough.

Are you a “boss” or a “leader”? What’s the difference, anyway? The terms are often used interchangeably, but they don’t point to the same skill set at all. A boss is someone who’s focused on the day-to-day operations, prioritizing things like scheduling, hiring, firing, supply management, processes, compliance — keeping the trains running and keeping people in line. Bosses are often guilty of micromanagement. They don’t trust people to be fully functioning adults.

Differentiation often starts with marketing, but it truly comes alive in the selling process. Even if your company’s products and services are superior to all others, this means nothing if you can’t convey that to your buyers. Differentiating in sales is more than a good pitch—you need to differentiate in the right areas, adapt to your buyer’s needs, and build value.

You know the story. COVID-19 came, everyone had to sell virtually. The amount of virtual sales outreach exploded. And now, with sales teams across the globe feeling the pinch of a tight economy, it hasn’t relented. Buyers have had enough. Reply rates have plummeted, email providers are increasingly marking sales outreach as spam, and the gap between seller and buyer has never felt wider. And we haven’t even mentioned AI, which could take this to a whole new level.

While Kurlan & Associates has successfully helped thousands of companies optimize their sales functions, performance and maximize revenue generation, there have been a number of companies which, instead of getting our help, or the help of another sales consultancy, decided to do nothing. In most cases it was because they either didn’t want to upset anyone, thought they could do it themselves, or thought their mediocre growth didn’t need improvement. In other cases the fear of change was simply too paralyzing for the decision makers and they “couldn’t commit” to making the necessary changes.

A functional organization requires capable and engaged leaders at every level; from senior executives to front-line managers, engaged leaders can elevate daily operations and accelerate big-picture initiatives. Yet one of the main challenges learning and development (L&D) organizations face is tailoring training to leaders at different levels. Raising great leaders doesn’t happen by accident. It requires structured and individualized training throughout a leader’s career.

Starting a business requires a delicate balance of risk, passion, intel, research and confidence in yourself. You have to trust your instinct — and rest on the hard work you've done to prepare for business growth. You also have to weigh potential risks against the confidence and belief that you have what it takes to succeed. I know this dance well; I've started over 300 businesses.

Most of us can remember a couple of favorite ads. They’re funny, clever, thoughtful. Creativity can delight, even inspire. But does it generate business value? The short answer is yes. That conclusion came through clearly in McKinsey’s analysis of one widely recognized proxy for creativity. To have a quantitative measure that could be used to examine the linkage between creativity and business performance, we developed the Award Creativity Score (ACS)

As potential use cases for artificial intelligence continue to emerge, professionals across industries are discovering resourceful ways to leverage it to optimize their workflows. In the world of coaching, leaders are using AI to improve the efficacy and impact of their coaching methods and empower their clients to achieve their goals.

You're likely not as targeted in growing your business as you think. Most service-based business development efforts are too diffuse. You have too many vague opportunities without a clear, actionable path to increase your chances of winning any of them. Your team is smart, dedicated, and hard-working -- but their efforts aren't resulting in meaningful progress.

Let’s start with the most important stats: 75% of professionals are already using AI. This is a new trend, as 46% of professionals started using it less than six months ago. 79% of leaders agree that their company needs to adopt AI to stay competitive, but 60% of leaders worry their organization lacks a plan and vision to implement AI.

Selling often means speaking to people who've never heard of you. You might think of them as "cold leads," which is a bit impersonal. After all, they might very well become your best customers — in time. The problem is credibility. Without it, customers won't be receptive to your sales pitch.

Roger Federer is going viral. This time, it's not for a tennis victory. Rather, it's for his remarkable commencement address, which he delivered on Sunday to the 2024 graduating class of Dartmouth College. Federer's speech is an amazing case study in emotional intelligent speaking: It's funny, motivating, inspiring. It's emotionally moving. And most important, it has valuable takeaways--

HR teams play a crucial role in driving organizational success. By strategically aligning talent management with business objectives, HR professionals can unlock the full potential of their workforce and drive growth. To do this, it's essential to attract and retain top talent, as well as foster a culture of continuous improvement and innovation.