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Sales Management

This 11th edition of Sales Management continues the tradition of blending the most
recent sales management research with the real-life “best practices” of leading sales
organizations and sales professionals.
Refecting today’s emphasis on analytics and customer experience (CX), this edition
focuses on the importance of employing different data-based selling strategies for dif-
ferent customer groups, as well as integrating corporate, business, marketing, and sales-
level strategies and plans. Sales Management includes coverage of the current trends and
issues in sales management, along with real-world examples from the contemporary
business world that are used throughout the text to illuminate chapter discussions.
The new 11th edition includes:

• Emphasis on data-driven decision making, ethics, the use of artifcial intelligence,


the customer experience, leadership, sales enablement technology, and new commu-
nication technologies;
• Updated end-of-chapter cases with application questions and role plays, along with
skill-building experiential exercises with discovery investigations and focused role
plays, which place students in the role of sales manager;
• Updated ethical dilemmas for students to practice ethical decision making;
• Revised ‘Sales Management in Action’ boxes;
• Multiple vignettes embedded in each chapter featuring sales management profession-
als and well-known companies discussing key topics from that chapter.

This text is core reading for postgraduate, MBA, and executive education students
studying sales management. An updated online instructor’s manual with solutions to
cases and exercises, a revised test bank, and updated PowerPoints is available to adopters.

Thomas N. Ingram is a Department Chair Emeritus and Professor of Marketing


Emeritus at Colorado State University, USA.
Raymond W. LaForge is the Brown-Forman Professor of Marketing Emeritus at
University of Louisville, USA.
Ramon A. Avila is the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Marketing
Emeritus and the founding director of the Center for Professional Selling at Ball State
University, USA.
Charles H. Schwepker, Jr. is the Randall and Kelly Harbert Distinguished Marketing
Professor at University of Central Missouri, USA.
Michael R. Williams is the American Floral Services Chair in Marketing and Professor
of Marketing at Oklahoma City University, USA, and Professor of Marketing Emeritus
at Illinois State University, USA.
Sales Management
Analysis and Decision Making

11TH EDITION

Thomas N. Ingram
Raymond W. LaForge
Ramon A. Avila
Charles H. Schwepker, Jr.
Michael R. Williams
Designed cover image: ipopba

Eleventh edition published 2024


by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158

and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

© 2024 Thomas N. Ingram, Raymond W. LaForge, Ramon A. Avila, Charles H. Schwepker Jr.,
and Michael R. Williams

The right of Thomas N. Ingram, Raymond W. LaForge, Ramon A. Avila, Charles H. Schwepker
Jr., and Michael R. Williams to be identifed as authors of this work has been asserted in
accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form
or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without
permission in writing from the publishers.

Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks,


and are used only for identifcation and explanation without intent to infringe.

Every effort has been made to contact copyright-holders. Please advise the publisher of any errors
or omissions, and these will be corrected in subsequent editions.

First edition published by Routledge 2003


Tenth edition published by Routledge 2019

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data


Names: Ingram, Thomas N., author.
Title: Sales management : analysis and decision making / Thomas N. Ingram,
Raymond W. LaForge, Ramon A. Avila, Charles H. Schwepker Jr., Michael R. Williams.
Description: Eleventh edition. | Abingdon, Oxon ; New York, NY : Routledge, Taylor & Francis
Group, 2024. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifers: LCCN 2023025546 (print) | LCCN 2023025547 (ebook) | ISBN 9781032426341
(hbk) | ISBN 9781032426358 (pbk) | ISBN 9781003363583 (ebk)
Subjects: LCSH: Sales management.
Classifcation: LCC HF5438.4 .I54 2024 (print) | LCC HF5438.4 (ebook) |
DDC 658.8/1—dc23/eng/20230906
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023025546
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2023025547

ISBN: 978-1-032-42634-1 (hbk)


ISBN: 978-1-032-42635-8 (pbk)
ISBN: 978-1-003-36358-3 (ebk)

DOI: 10.4324/9781003363583

Typeset in Galliard
by Apex CoVantage, LLC

Access the Support Material: www.routledge.com/9781032426358


B r ie f C o n t e n t s

Preface xv
About the Authors xxi

Chapter 1. Changing World of Sales Management 1

Part 1. Describing the Personal Selling Function 13


Chapter 2. Overview of Personal Selling 15

Part 2. Defning the Strategic Role of the Sales Function 37


Chapter 3. Organizational Strategies and the Sales
Function 39
Chapter 4. Sales Organization Structure, Salesforce
Deployment, and Forecasting 71
Appendix 4. Developing Forecasts 109

Part 3. Developing the Salesforce 123


Chapter 5. Acquiring Sales Talent: Recruitment and
Selection 125
Chapter 6. Continual Development of the Salesforce:
Sales Training 161

Part 4. Directing the Salesforce 193


Chapter 7. Sales Leadership, Management, and
Supervision 195
Chapter 8. Motivation and Reward System
Management 221

Part 5. Determining Salesforce Effectiveness and


Performance 249
Chapter 9. Evaluating the Effectiveness of the
Organization 251
Chapter 10. Evaluating the Performance of
Salespeople 279
Glossary 313
Notes 323
Index 341

v
C o n t e n t s

Preface xv
About the Authors xxi

Chapter 1. Changing World of Sales Management 1


Challenges in the Sales Organization
Environment 1
Sales Management Responses 2
Create Customer Value 3
Increase Sales Productivity 4
Improve Sales Leadership 4
Best Sales Organizations 6
Effective Sales Managers 7
Sales Management Process 7
Describing the Personal Selling Function 7
Defning the Strategic Role of the Sales
Function 8
Developing the Salesforce 9
Directing the Salesforce 9
Determining Salesforce Effectiveness and
Performance 10
Chapter Format 10
Concluding Statement 11
Sales Executive Panel 11

Part 1. Describing the Personal Selling Function 13


Chapter 2. Overview of Personal Selling 15
Hard Work Leads to Sales Success 15
The Role of Personal Selling in Marketing 16
The Signifcance of Personal Selling 16
Types of Sales Jobs 17
Key Roles of Salespeople 17
Trust-Based Relationship Selling Process 19
Selling Foundations: Knowledge, Skills, and
Trust-Building 19
Selling Strategy 22
Personal Selling Approaches 23

vii
viii Contents

Themes in Sales Professionalism 27


Complexity 27
Collaboration 27
Accountability 28
Sales Career Insights 28
Summary 30
Making Sales Management Decisions 34
Case 2.1: Food Services, Inc. 34
Case 2.2: Integrated Technology Specialists, Inc. 35

Part 2. Defning the Strategic Role of the Sales Function 37


Chapter 3. Organizational Strategies and the
Sales Function 39
Integrating Multilevel and Multiproduct
Strategies at Red Bull 39
Organizational Strategy Levels 40
Corporate Strategy and the Sales Function 41
Corporate Mission 41
Defnition of Strategic Business Units 42
Objectives for Strategic Business Units 42
Corporate Strategy Summary 44
Business Strategy and the Sales Function 44
Business Strategy Types 44
Business Strategy Summary 46
Marketing Strategy and the Sales Function 46
Advantages and Disadvantages of
Personal Selling 46
Target Market Situations and
Personal Selling 48
Marketing Mix Elements and
Personal Selling 49
Integrated Marketing Communication 50
Marketing Strategy Summary 51
Sales Strategy Framework 51
Organizational Buyer Behavior 51
Buying Situation 53
Buying Center 53
Buying Process 54
Buying Needs 55
Sales Strategy 55
Account Targeting Strategy 56
Customer Experience and Relationship Strategy 56
Selling Strategy 58
Sales Channel Strategy 58
The Internet 59
Distributors 59
Contents ix

Independent Representatives 60
Team Selling 61
Telemarketing 63
Trade Shows 64
Channel Confict 64
Summary 65
Making Sales Management Decisions 68
Case 3.1: My Home Superstores 68
Case 3.2: Global Tracker Technologies 69

Chapter 4. Sales Organization Structure, Salesforce


Deployment, and Forecasting 71
Improved Territory Design at New Balance 71
Sales Organization Concepts 72
Specialization 72
Centralization 74
Span of Control versus Management
Levels 74
Line versus Staff Positions 74
Selling Situation Contingencies 76
Sales Organization Structures 78
Geographic Sales Organization 78
Product Sales Organization 79
Market Sales Organization 80
Functional Sales Organization 81
Strategic Account Organization 81
Identifying Strategic Accounts 82
Organizing for Strategic Account Coverage 82
Comparing Sales Organization Structures 84
Salesforce Deployment 85
Allocation of Selling Effort 86
Salesforce Size 90
Designing Territories 94
Procedure for Designing Territories 96
Using Technology 99
“People” Considerations 99
Summary 101
Making Sales Management Decisions 105
Case 4.1: Containers Inc. 105
Case 4.2: Websites Unlimited 106

Appendix 4. Developing Forecasts 109


Forecasting by Sales Managers 109
Types of Forecasts 109
Uses of Forecasts 111
Top-Down and Bottom-Up
Forecasting Approaches 112
x Contents

Forecasting with Regression Analysis 117


Using Different Forecasting Approaches
and Methods 118

Part 3. Developing the Salesforce 123


Chapter 5. Acquiring Sales Talent: Recruitment
and Selection 125
Filling a Talent Gap at Moneris 125
Importance of Recruitment and Selection 126
Introduction to Salesforce Socialization 127
Recruitment and Selection Process 128
Planning for Recruitment and Selection 128
Recruitment: Locating Prospective
Candidates 133
Selection: Evaluation and Hiring 140
Legal and Ethical Considerations in
Recruitment and Selection 150
Key Legislation 150
Guidelines for Sales Managers 150
Ethical Issues 151
Summary 153
Making Sales Management Decisions 157
Case 5.1: Searching for Sales Talent 157
Case 5.2: Stuck in a Time Warp? 158

Chapter 6. Continual Development of the Salesforce: 161


Sales Training
Improving Performance Through Sales Training
at Paychex, Medical Solutions and Visa 161
Role of Sales Training in Salesforce
Socialization 162
Sales Training as a Crucial Investment 163
Managing the Sales Training Process 164
Assess Training Needs 164
Sales Technology 172
Set Training Objectives 172
Evaluate Training Alternatives 173
Design the Sales Training Program 180
Perform Sales Training 181
Conduct Follow-Up and Evaluation 182
Ethical and Legal Issues 184
Summary 186
Making Sales Management Decisions 190
Case 6.1: Sales Training at Natural Feeling
Soap 190
Case 6.2: A Sales Call on Fixall Hardware:
A Harbinger for Sales Training? 191
Contents xi

Part 4. Directing the Salesforce 193


Chapter 7. Sales Leadership, Management, and
Supervision 195
Sales Leadership: Navigating Turbulent Times 195
Situational Sales Leadership Perspectives 197
Sales Leadership Styles 198
Sales Leadership Relationships 199
Power and Sales Leadership 200
Sales Leadership Infuence Strategies 202
Sales Leadership Communications 204
Important Sales Leadership Functions 205
Coaching Salespeople 205
Conducting Sales Meetings 209
Promoting Ethical Behavior 210
Summary 213
Making Sales Management Decisions 217
Case 7.1: What Happened to Oliver? 217
Case 7.2: Seventh Level Technologies, Inc. 217

Chapter 8. Motivation and Reward System Management 221


Cash Incentives May Get Attention, but
Salespeople Eventually Stop Listening 221
Motivation and Reward Systems 223
Optimal Salesforce Reward System 224
Types of Salesforce Rewards 224
Financial Compensation 225
Straight Salary 225
Straight Commission 226
Performance Bonuses 228
Combination Plans (Salary Plus Incentive) 229
Determining Appropriate Financial
Compensation Levels 230
Nonfnancial Compensation 230
Opportunity for Promotion 231
Sense of Accomplishment 231
Opportunity for Personal Growth 231
Recognition 232
Sales Expenses 233
Additional Issues in Managing Salesforce
Reward Systems 236
Sales Contests 236
Team Compensation 238
Global Considerations 239
Changing the Reward System 239
Guidelines for Motivating and Rewarding
Salespeople 241
xii Contents

Recruitment and Selection 241


Incorporation of Individual Needs 241
Information and Skills 241
Job Design 242
Building Self-Esteem 242
Proactive Approach 242
Summary 242
Making Sales Management Decisions 246
Case 8.1: Kenco Supply 246
Case 8.2: Purity Products 247

Part 5. Determining Salesforce Effectiveness and Performance 249


Chapter 9. Evaluating the Effectiveness of the
Organization 251
The Backbone of High Performing Sales
Organizations: Acquiring and Utilizing
the Right Data 251
Sales Organization Audit 253
Sales Organization Effectiveness Evaluations 256
Sales Analysis 256
Cost Analysis 262
Proftability Analysis 265
Productivity Analysis 268
Improving Sales Organization Effectiveness 269
Benchmarking 269
Six Sigma 270
Ethical Issues 271
Concluding Comments 272
Summary 272
Making Sales Management Decisions 276
Case 9.1: National Distributing 276
Case 9.2: GSW Technology Group 277

Chapter 10. Evaluating the Performance of Salespeople 279


Sales Metrics are a Must, but Moving the
Needle on Performance Requires Management
of Salespeople and their Activities 279
Purposes of Salesperson Performance
Evaluations 281
Salesperson Performance Evaluation
Approaches 281
Key Issues in Evaluating and Controlling
Salesperson Performance 284
Criteria for Performance Evaluation 286
Performance Evaluation Methods 293
Performance Evaluation Bias 300
Contents xiii

Evaluating Team Performance 300


Using Performance Information 303
Salesperson Job Satisfaction 305
Measuring Salesperson Job Satisfaction 305
Using Job Satisfaction Information 306
Summary 307
Making Sales Management Decisions 311
Case 10.1: Western Windows and Doors 311
Case 10.2: XFinity Molding 312

Glossary 313
Notes 323
Index 341
P r e fa c e

Our objective in writing the 11th edition of Sales Management: Analysis and Decision
Making was to continue to present comprehensive and rigorous coverage of contempo-
rary sales management in a readable, interesting, and challenging manner. Findings
from recent sales management research are blended with examples of current sales man-
agement practice into an effective pedagogical format. Topics are covered from the
perspective of a sales management decision maker. This decision-making perspective is
accomplished through a chapter format that typically consists of discussing basic con-
cepts, identifying critical decision areas, and presenting analytical approaches for im-
proved sales management decision making. Company examples from the contemporary
business world are used throughout the text to supplement chapter discussion.

STRENGTHS OF THIS EDITION


The 11th edition of Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making continues what has
been effective in previous editions, but contains changes that improve the content and
pedagogy in the book. The authors teach sales management courses, are involved in sales
management research, and interact with sales managers and professors on a regular basis.
These activities ensure that the text covers the appropriate sales management topics and
employs the most effective pedagogy. The key strengths of the 11th edition include:
• The 10 chapters and paperback, hardback, and ebook formats from the previous
edition have been maintained. This makes it easy for professors to cover the text in a
semester or quarter, and still have suffcient time to use active learning exercises
throughout the course. Students can purchase the 11th edition for much less than
the cost of a typical hardcover sales management book.
• New Opening Vignettes generate student interest in the chapter content by provid-
ing recent examples of leading sales organizations employing the chapter material.
• “Sales Management in Action” boxes include new sales executives or updated per-
sonal comments that reinforce important sales management concepts in each
chapter.
• Revised “Ethical Dilemma” boxes provide students the opportunity to address impor-
tant ethical issues facing sales managers with many set up as role-play exercises.
• Revised chapter cases with related role plays put students in the role of a sales
manager in a specifc sales organization situation. The cases require students to
analyze the situation, decide on the appropriate action, and then implement their
decisions through role-play scenarios.
• New and revised pedagogy is available in the “Developing Sales Management
Knowledge” and “Building Sales Management Skills” activities at the end of each
chapter.
• All chapters have been updated to incorporate the latest fndings from sales manage-
ment research and the best practices from leading sales organizations. Topics receiving
new or expanded coverage include: sales cycle and opportunity forecasting; social net-
working, digital and artifcial intelligence in recruitment and selection; ethics in
xv
xvi Preface

selection; use of buyer personas, virtual reality and artifcial intelligence in sales train-
ing; leadership skills, infuence tactics and coaching.

LEVEL AND ORGANIZATION


This text was written for the undergraduate student enrolled in a one-semester or one-
quarter sales management class. However, it is suffciently rigorous to be used at the MBA
level.
A sales management model is used to present coverage in a logical sequence. The text
is organized into fve parts to correspond with the fve stages in the sales management
model.
Part One, “Describing the Personal Selling Function,” is designed to provide stu-
dents with an understanding of personal selling prior to addressing specifc sales man-
agement areas. We devote one chapter at the beginning of the text to this topic.
Part Two, “Defning the Strategic Role of the Sales Function,” consists of two chap-
ters. One discusses important relationships between personal selling and organizational
strategies at the corporate, business, marketing, and sales levels. This chapter focuses on
how strategic decisions at different organizational levels affect sales management deci-
sions and personal selling practices.
The second chapter in this part investigates alternative sales organization structures
and examines analytical methods for determining salesforce size, territory design, and
the allocation of selling effort.
Part Three, “Developing the Salesforce,” changes the focus from organizational
topics to people topics. The two chapters in this part cover the critical decision areas in
the recruitment and selection of salespeople and in training salespeople once they have
been hired.
Part Four, “Directing the Salesforce,” continues the people orientation by discussing
the leadership, management, and supervisory activities necessary for successful sales man-
agement and examining important areas of salesforce motivation and reward systems.
Part Five, “Determining Salesforce Effectiveness and Performance,” concludes the
sales management process by addressing evaluation and control procedures. Differences
in evaluating the effectiveness of the sales organization and the performance of sales-
people are highlighted and covered in separate chapters.

PEDAGOGY
The following pedagogical format is used for each chapter to facilitate the learning
process.
• Learning Objectives. Specifc learning objectives for the chapter are stated in behav-
ioral terms so that students will know what they should be able to do after the
chapter has been covered.
• Opening Vignettes. All chapters are introduced by an opening vignette that typically
consists of a recent, real-world company example addressing many of the key points
to be discussed in the chapter. These opening vignettes are intended to generate
student interest in the topics to be covered and to illustrate the practicality of the
chapter coverage.
• Key Words. Key words are highlighted in bold type throughout each chapter
and summarized in list form at the end of the chapter to alert students to their
importance.
• Boxed Inserts. Each chapter contains two boxed inserts titled “Sales Management in
Action.” The comments in these boxes are provided by members of our Sales
Executive Panel and were made specifcally for our text.
• Figure Captions. Most fgures in the text include a summarizing caption designed to
make the fgure understandable without reference to the chapter discussion.
Preface xvii

• Chapter Summaries. A chapter summary recaps the key points covered in the chapter
by restating and answering questions presented in the learning objectives at the
beginning of the chapter.
• Developing Sales Management Knowledge. Ten discussion questions are presented at
the end of each chapter to review key concepts covered in the chapter. Some of the
questions require students to summarize what has been covered, while others are
designed to be more thought-provoking and extend beyond chapter coverage.
• Building Sales Management Skills. Application exercises are supplied for each chapter,
requiring students to apply what has been learned in the chapter to a specifc sales
management situation. Several of the application exercises require data analysis.
Many chapters also have an Internet exercise to get students involved with the latest
technology. Role plays are also included in most chapters.
• Making Sales Management Decisions. Each chapter concludes with two short cases.
Most of these cases represent realistic and interesting sales management situations.
Some require data analysis. Most are designed so that students can role-play their
solutions.

CASES
The 18 short cases at the end of the chapters can be used as a basis for class discussion,
short written assignments, or role plays. These are designed to help bring the material in
each chapter to life for students by illustrating how chapter concepts can be applied in
practice.

SUPPLEMENTS
Instructor’s Resources
The Instructor’s Resources (www.routledge.com/9781032426358) deliver all the tra-
ditional instructor support materials in one handy place. Electronic fles are provided
for the complete Instructor’s Manual, Test Bank, and chapter-by-chapter PowerPoint
presentation fles that can be used to enhance in-class lectures.
Instructor’s Manual
The Instructor’s Manual for the 11th edition of Sales Management: Analysis and
Decision Making contains many helpful teaching suggestions and solutions to text
exercises to help instructors successfully integrate all the materials offered with this text
into their class. Each chapter includes the following materials designed to meet the
instructor’s needs.
• Learning objectives
• Chapter outline and summary
• Ideas for student involvement
• Possible answers to review sections in the text, Developing Sales Management
Knowledge, Building Sales Management Skills and the end of chapter cases
• Ideas for how to incorporate the role-play exercises found in the text into the class-
room setting, as well as suggestions for conducting the role plays
(The Instructor’s Manual fles are located at: www.routledge.com/9781032426358)
Test Bank
The revised and updated Test Bank, with over 100 new questions, includes a variety of
multiple choice and true/false questions, which emphasize the important concepts
presented in each chapter. The Test Bank questions vary in levels of diffculty so that
xviii Preface

each instructor can tailor testing to meet their specifc needs. The Test Bank fles are
located at: www.routledge.com/9781032426358.
PowerPoint Presentation Slides
This package brings classroom lectures and discussions to life with the Microsoft
PowerPoint presentation tool. Extremely professor-friendly and organized by chapter,
these chapter-by-chapter presentations outline chapter content, and generally include a
link to a short related video. The eye-appealing and easy-to-read slides are, in this new
edition, tailored specifcally to the Sales Management text from the Ingram author
team. The PowerPoint presentation slides are available at: www.routledge.com/cw/
www.routledge.com/9781032426358.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
We are delighted to publish the 11th edition of Sales Management: Analysis and Decision
Making with Routledge. Our hope is that this is one of many editions we work on
together. A great deal of credit for this edition should go to all of the wonderful people
at Routledge. Their expertise, support, and constant encouragement turned an extremely
diffcult task into a very enjoyable one. We are thankful for the expertise and support of
the many publishing professionals who have worked with us on previous editions of this
book. In particular, we appreciate the efforts of Harry Briggs, Rob Zwettler, Mike
Roche, and Becky Ryan. We would also like to thank our senior editor, Sophia Levine,
editorial assistant, Rupert Spurrier, and senior production editor, Cathy Hurren, for
their work on the 11th edition of this book. Without their efforts this edition would not
have seen the light of day. However, we also want to thank the many individuals with
whom we did not have direct contact but who assisted in the development and produc-
tion of this book.
We are also very appreciative of the support provided by our colleagues at Colorado
State University, the University of Louisville, Ball State University, University of
Central Missouri, and Oklahoma City University.
Thomas N. Ingram
Raymond W. LaForge
Ramon A. Avila
Charles H. Schwepker, Jr.
Michael R. Williams
To Jacque
—Thomas N. Ingram

To Susan, Alexandra, Kelly, and


in memory of my Mom and Dad
—Raymond W. LaForge

To Terry
—Ramon A. Avila

To Laura, Charlie III, Anthony, Lauren, my Mom,


and in memory of my Dad, “Big C”
—Charles H. Schwepker, Jr.

To Marilyn, Aimee and Royce, Kerri, Bart and Gage,


and in memory of my Mom and Dad
—Michael R. Williams
A b o u t t h e A u t h o r s

Thomas N. Ingram (Ph.D., Georgia State University) is the Department Chair


Emeritus and Professor of Marketing Emeritus at Colorado State University. Before
commencing his academic career, Tom worked in sales, product management, and sales
management with ExxonMobil. Professor Ingram has received numerous awards for
contributions to sales research and teaching, including the Lifetime Achievement Award
from the American Marketing Association Selling and Sales Management Special
Interest Group. He has also been honored as the Marketing Educator of the Year by
Sales and Marketing Executives International (SMEI), as a Distinguished Sales Educator
by the University Sales Center Alliance, and as the frst recipient of the Mu Kappa Tau
National Marketing Honor Society Recognition Award for Outstanding Scholarly
Contributions to the Sales Discipline. Tom has served as the Editor of Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales Management, Chair of the SMEI Accreditation Institute, and
as Editor of the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice. Professor Ingram’s published
work has appeared in Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales Management, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
among others. One of his co-authored articles which appeared in the Journal of
Marketing was recognized by the American Marketing Association Selling and Sales
Management Special Interest Group as one of the “Top Ten Articles of the 20th
Century” in the sales discipline.
Raymond W. LaForge (DBA, University of Tennessee) is the Brown-Forman Professor
of Marketing Emeritus at the University of Louisville. He is the founder of the
Marketing Education Review; has co-authored Marketing: Principles and Perspectives,
5th ed. (2007); Professional Selling: A Trust-Based Approach, 4th ed. (2008); Sell,
7th ed. (2024); The Professional Selling Skills Workbook (1995); Strategic Sales Leadership:
Breakthrough Thinking for Breakthrough Results (2006); and co-edited Emerging Trends
in Sales Thought and Practice. His research is published in many journals, including the
Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Decision Sciences, Journal of the
Academy of Marketing Science, International Journal of Research in Marketing, and
Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management. Buddy has received numerous awards,
including the Outstanding Sales Scholar Award from Mu Kappa Tau, a Special
Recognition Award from the American Marketing Association Sales Interest Group, a
Top Thirteen Faculty Favorite Award from the University of Louisville, the Distinguished
Scholar Award from the Research Symposium on Marketing and Entrepreneurship, the
Distinguished Sales Educator Award from the University Sales Center Alliance, the
Undergraduate Teaching Award from the College of Business, the Beta Alpha Psi
Outstanding College of Business Faculty Award, and the American Marketing Association
Sales Interest Group Lifetime Achievement Award. He has also been inducted into the
Direct Selling Education Foundation Circle of Honor.
Ramon A. Avila (Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) is the
George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor of Marketing Emeritus and the found-
ing director of the Center for Professional Selling, and earned his bachelor’s degree and
MBA from Ball State University. He completed his Ph.D. at Virginia Polytechnic

xxi
xxii About the Authors

Institute and State University in 1984. He joined the Ball State faculty in 1984. Before
coming to Ball State, he worked in sales with the Burroughs Corporation. Dr. Avila was
presented with Mu Kappa Tau’s Outstanding Contributor to the Sales Profession in
1999 and is the only the third person to receive this award. Dr. Avila has also received
the University’s Outstanding Faculty award in 2001, the Outstanding Service award in
1998, the University’s Outstanding Junior Faculty award in 1989, the College of
Business’s Professor of the Year, and the Dean’s Teaching award every year it was given
from 1987 to 2002. Dr. Avila has presented numerous papers at professional confer-
ences and has been the program chair and the director for the National Conference in
Sales Management, and has published research in Journal of Marketing Research,
Journal of Euromarketing, Industrial Marketing Management, Journal of Management,
Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management,
and Journal of Marketing Education. He has done consulting with major corporations,
including AT&T, Burroughs, Honeywell, Indiana Gas, Indiana Michigan Power,
Indiana Bell, and Midwest Metals. Dr. Avila served on the editorial review boards of four
business-related journals and served as the associate editor for the Mid-American Journal
of Business.
Charles H. Schwepker, Jr. (Ph.D., University of Memphis) is the Randall and Kelly
Harbert Marketing Professor at the University of Central Missouri. He has experience in
wholesale and retail sales. His primary research interests are in sales management, per-
sonal selling and marketing ethics. Dr. Schwepker’s articles have appeared in the Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Public Policy
and Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Service
Research, International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, and Journal
of Business Ethics, among other journals, and various national and regional proceedings.
Edited books in which his articles have appeared include Marketing Communications
Classics (2000), Environmental Marketing (1995), The Oxford Handbook of Sales
Management and Sales Strategy (2011) and the Handbook of Unethical Work Behavior
(2013). He has received several honors for both teaching and advising, including the
Hormel Teaching Excellence award, Byler Distinguished Faculty Award and the Alumni
Foundation Harmon College of Business Administration Distinguished Professor
award. Dr. Schwepker received the James Comer award for best contribution to selling
and sales management theory awarded by the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales
Management and three “Outstanding Paper” awards at the National Conference in Sales
Management, among others. He is on the editorial review boards of the Journal of
Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice, Journal
of Business & Industrial Marketing, Journal of Relationship Marketing, and Journal of
Selling, served as special issue editor for the Journal of Selling, and has fve times won an
award for outstanding reviewer. Dr. Schwepker is a co-author of Sell, 7th ed. (2024).
Michael R. Williams (Ph.D., Oklahoma State University) is the American Floral
Services Chair in Marketing and Professor of Marketing at Oklahoma City University.
His previous academic associations include Emeritus Professor of Marketing at Illinois
State University, where he was a founding Director of the Professional Sales Institute.
Prior to his academic career, Dr. Williams established a successful 30-plus-year career in
industrial sales, market research, and sales management and continues to consult and
work with a wide range of business organizations. He has co-authored Sell, 7th ed.
(2024); Professional Selling: A Trust-based Approach, 4th ed. (2011); The Professional
Selling Skills Workbook (1995); and a variety of executive monographs and white papers
on sales performance topics. Dr. Williams’ research has been published in national and
international journals including Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management,
International Journal of Purchasing and Materials Management, Journal of Business
and Industrial Marketing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Marketing Theory &
Practice, Marketing Management Journal, Quality Management Journal, Journal of
Engineering Education, Journal of Selling and Major Account Management, and Journal
of Industrial Technology. His work has also received numerous honors, including AMA’s
Marvin Jolson Award for Best Contribution to Selling and Sales Management, Outstanding
About the Authors xxiii

Article for the Year in Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing, the AACSB’s
Leadership in Innovative Business Education award, the Marketing Science Institute’s
Alden G. Clayton competition, and the Mu Kappa Tau Marketing Society recognition
award for Outstanding Scholarly Contribution to the Sales Discipline. He has also
received numerous university, college, and corporate teaching and research awards
including Old Republic Research Scholar, the presentation of a seminar at Oxford’s
Brasenose College, Who’s Who in American Education, and Who’s Who in America. Dr.
Williams served as Program chair and Conference Director for the National Conference
in Sales Management, special issue co-editor for Journal of Business Research, and contin-
ues to serve in leadership roles as an advisor and board member for sales and sales man-
agement organizations.
Sales Management
Analysis and Decision Making
Chapter

CHANGING WORLD OF
SALES MANAGEMENT
1
Personal selling is an important component of the marketing strategies for many
firms, especially those operating in business-to-business markets. The 500 largest
U.S. salesforces employ over 24 million salespeople, with the 200 largest manu-
facturing salesforces consisting of over 504,000 salespeople. Each manufactur-
ing salesperson produces an average of about $10.8 million in annual sales and
supports over 21 other jobs in their company.1 These statistics illustrate the large
size and significant impact of personal selling in today’s business world.
Sales Management is concerned with managing a firm’s personal selling func-
tion. Sales managers are involved in both the strategy (planning) and people
(implementation) aspects of personal selling, as well as evaluating and improving
personal selling activities. Research indicates that sales managers can increase
profitable sales growth by 5 percent to 20 percent or more by moving from average
to excellent salesforce effectiveness.2 Sales managers are involved in a variety of
activities and must be able to interact effectively with people in the personal
selling function, with people in other functional areas in their firm, and with
people outside their company, especially customers and other business partners.
Most sales organizations employ sales managers at various levels within the
sales or­ga­ni­za­t ion. These sales managers have different titles and may not have
direct responsibility for specific salespeople, but all perform sales management
activities that affect the salespeople in a sales or­ga­ni­za­t ion. Illustrative titles for
sales managers include chief sales officer, vice president of sales, divisional sales
manager, regional sales manager, sales leader, branch manager, area director, and
field sales manager.
Our objective in this chapter is to introduce the exciting world of sales man-
agement. We begin by identifying challenges in the sales organization environ-
ment and suggesting effective sales management responses to these challenges.
Then, the characteristics of the best sales organizations and most effective sales
managers are discussed. We conclude by presenting a general sales management
model that provides a framework for the book, describing the format of each
chapter, and introducing the members of our Sales Executive Panel. The goal is to
“set the stage” for your journey into the dynamic and exciting world of sales
management.

CHALLENGES IN THE SALES ORGANIZATION


ENVIRONMENT
Sales organizations operate in a complex and turbulent environment. Political,
social, and economic trends in the global business environment and rapid
advances in technology have produced an extremely competitive marketplace.
Many of these changes have had an especially significant impact on organiza-
tional purchasing. The purchasing and supply function has increased in impor-
tance at many firms, because it is viewed as an effective way for firms to lower
costs and increase profits. Therefore, organizational buyers are more demanding,
better prepared, and more skilled. Sales organizations must understand this situ-
ation to be able to generate business with new customers and to keep and expand
business with existing customers.

DOI: 10.4324/9781003363583-1 1
2 Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management

Several signifcant changes in the organizational purchasing process are directly rel-
evant to sales organizations. Organizational buyers have higher expectations in terms of
customized products and services that solve their problems and improve their business
performance. More organizations are using a formalized purchasing process, with more
individuals from different functional areas and management levels involved at different
stages of the process. Many buyers do not want to talk to a salesperson until they have
gathered the relevant information about their purchasing situation and expect sales-
people to provide information and insights they do not have. The net result is a much
longer purchasing process.3
The costs of maintaining salespeople in the feld are escalating, and a longer purchas-
ing process increases selling costs even more. Thus, a critical challenge for sales organi-
zations is to increase sales while decreasing selling costs. Sales organizations must fnd
effective ways to facilitate the emerging buying process of organizational buyers in a
manner that generates proftable sales growth. Achieving this objective typically requires
many sales organizations to make appropriate adjustments to their personal selling
process and in sales management practices.

SALES MANAGEMENT RESPONSES


Sales organizations are responding to these challenges in different ways. Many frms are
implementing a marketing orientation with the sales organization viewed from a more
strategic perspective. Market-oriented frms typically develop customer-centric cultures
and focus efforts more toward customers rather than just products. Market segmenta-
tion and prioritizing customers within target markets becomes increasingly important.
Sales is also viewed more as a core business process rather than a tactical activity. This
strategic perspective considers the sales organization as critical in delivering value to
customers and generating profts for the frm. Salespeople, sales managers, and other
business functions need to change many of their activities to be successful in imple-
menting a more strategic role.4
One emerging approach guiding many frms is to create and implement a sales
enablement perspective. The sales enablement area is in the early stage of its develop-
ment, so there is no universally accepted defnition. However, most discussions of a
comprehensive sales enablement program include several key elements:

• A buyer-focused function driven by a frm’s top-level executives.


• An alignment of the steps in the sales process to deliver value at each stage of the
buying process.
• An integration and coordination of the efforts of executives, sales managers, sales-
people, and personnel from other business functions that directly impact customers
to create value in all interactions with buyers.
• An incorporation of the appropriate training, technology, performance metrics, and
reward programs to guide and support the execution and achievement of sales
enablement and sales organization objectives.

There is substantial evidence that frms creating and executing a sales enablement func-
tion perform better than frms without them. Recent research documents that organi-
zations with sales enablement practices in place for more than two years report a
7-percentage point improvement in win rates and are 48 percent more likely to experi-
ence high buyer engagement in the sales process.5
Sales enablement is beginning to develop as a discipline. The Sales Enablement
Society (www.sesociety.org) was established in 2015 as a volunteer organization of pro-
fessionals from diverse industries, companies, and business functions. Refecting the
increasing interest in sales enablement, the Society has rapidly grown to 11,000 members
in 59 regional chapters in 29 different countries. The organization provides a variety of
networking opportunities for members. The major purpose is to increase the knowledge
base and identify the best practices for a successful sales enablement function. One
ongoing effort is to establish an offcial defnition of sales enablement.
Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management 3

Sales Management Responses FIGURE 1.1

Incr
lue eas
Va eS
er al
m

es
to
ate Cus

Pro
Sales

ductivit
Management
Responses
Cre

y
Improv
e Sales Leadership

Many sales organizations are responding to the challenges facing them by making changes in their sales
operations.

Firms employing a comprehensive sales enablement function are making dramatic


changes in their sales operations and transforming most aspects of sales management.
Others are focusing on improving a few sales management areas to increase sales
organization effectiveness. As indicated in Figure 1.1, these sales management responses
emphasize ways to create customer value, increase sales productivity, and/or improve
sales leadership.

Create Customer Value


Many sales organizations are moving from an emphasis on merely selling products to
solving customer problems and adding value to customer businesses over the long
term. The key is to identify value as defned by the customer and then to create, com-
municate, and deliver this value. For example, RS Medical sells physician-prescribed
home electrotherapy devices. Salespeople typically focused on the key features of
their products when meeting with physicians, because they thought this information
was of most interest to the physicians. However, the physicians had more interest in
information that would help improve their practice as a business. Once RS Medical
salespeople identifed what was really of value to physicians, they began to educate
physicians on how to make their practices more effcient and more proftable by using
RS Medical products. The value provided by this approach led to an increase in
device sales for RS Medical.6
Changes in the business environment often result in changes in how customers
defne value. Salespeople and sales managers must identify the new value defnitions and
deliver the value desired by customers. For example, customers of Minnesota Thermal
Science (MTS), an operating unit of Pelican Products, used to be most interested in the
technology of pharmaceutical packaging. The introduction of strict and costly regula-
tions in the pharmaceutical industry drove many frms to become more interested in
ways to reduce their costs. MTS salespeople responded to this change in value and
began to present a much stronger business case for their packaging solutions, such as
showing customers how their packaging and distribution costs could be reduced by
using MTS packaging.7
The importance of creating customer value is likely to increase in the future. But,
how customers defne value is likely to change as well. The most successful sales organi-
zations will be those that are able to identify how their customers defne value over time
and then communicate and deliver this value to them. Changes in value creation will
typically require changes in many aspects of sales management.
4 Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management

Increase Sales Productivity


Even as sales organizations try to create more value for customers, sales managers are
under pressure to increase sales productivity. The basic role of a sales organization has
typically been to sell with sales managers and salespeople normally evaluated and
rewarded for growing sales volume. Generating sales is still important, but the proft-
ability of these sales is increasingly more important. Therefore, the focus for sales manag-
ers has moved from sales volume only to sales productivity. Sales productivity includes
the costs associated with generating sales and serving customers and emphasizes produc-
ing more sales for a given level of costs. Sales managers must “do more with less” by
being more effective and more effcient throughout the sales organization.
Many sales organizations are employing different types of technology to increase
sales productivity. Improvements in existing technologies, the development of new
technologies, and the opportunity to integrate different technologies provide many
opportunities to automate some of the tasks currently performed by salespeople and
sales managers. The use of salesforce automation (SFA), customer relationship manage-
ment (CRM), and data analytics tools represent effective technologies for increasing
sales productivity. The rapid development of artifcial intelligence (AI) and more effec-
tive use of social media are especially likely to have important impacts on sales produc-
tivity in the future.
Existing and emerging AI technology products are expected to drive sales productivity
improvements. AI technologies analyze data and learn from the ongoing data-analysis
process to provide better results and guidance for salesperson and sales management
actions.8 AI applications can free salespeople and sales managers from spending time on
many different tasks, such as providing price quotes, creating sales reports, data input to
CRM systems, sales forecasting, and prescriptive insight for personalized sales presenta-
tions. By performing different tasks, AI technology can act as an effcient assistant for
salespeople and sales managers.
Take prospecting as an example. Many salespeople spend large amounts of time
identifying sales leads, qualifying the leads, prioritizing the prospects, and then making
an appointment to talk with the prospect. This is a time-consuming process. Conversica
(www.conversica.com) offers an AI virtual Sales Assistant product that promptly
responds to website inquiries, personalizes every message, asks questions to qualify the
lead, and then sets up a time for a salesperson to call the prospect.9 This use of AI
automates many of the prospecting tasks with the salesperson only directly involved
when a qualifed prospect has been identifed and an appointment established. The time
a salesperson has saved by not having to be involved in most of the prospecting process
can be used more productively, because the salesperson can spend more time interacting
with qualifed prospects, engaging in the sales process, and generating more sales.
The use of social media in sales organizations has increased signifcantly in recent
years. Many salespeople are engaged in social selling, using social media to identify,
understand, engage, and network with prospects and customers. Studies indicate that
the best performing salespeople are involved in social selling.10 Social selling is also being
integrated with other technologies, such as CRM and AI, to increase sales productivity.
For example, SAP has integrated social media with a variety of other technologies to
identify and pursue selling opportunities by listening, learning, and engaging with
prospects and customers throughout the sales process. This approach has produced large
sales increases and efforts to continuously improve social selling efforts in the future.11
The pressure for sales organizations to increase sales productivity is likely to intensify
in the future. Emerging technologies are expected to provide new avenues for creating
customer value in cost effective ways. The challenge is to increase sales in a proftable
manner by always looking for ways to get “more bang for the sales buck.”

Improve Sales Leadership


Traditionally, sales organizations have utilized hierarchical, bureaucratic organization
structures with a top-down approach to controlling and directing salespeople. In such
structures, sales managers operate at different levels with direct supervisory control for
Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management 5

the level below and direct accountability to the management level above. In these
structures, sales managers are responsible for the performance of salespeople who report
to them and they use various types of controls and incentives to produce desired results.
These hierarchical structures can be reasonably effective in stable business environ-
ments, but don’t always allow an effective level of responsiveness in a complex, dynamic
environment. To be competitive in a rapidly changing, unpredictable business environ-
ment, more progressive sales organizations have been “fattening” the hierarchy and
empowering salespeople to make decisions in the feld. The need to have responsive,
empowered salespeople has changed the role of sales managers and their relationships
with salespeople. Sales managers today must not only be managers and supervisors, but
increasingly, they must be leaders.
As sales managers take on more leadership roles, they must focus more on collabora-
tion rather than relying strictly on control mechanisms to achieve desired results. This
means not only collaborating more with salespeople and customers, but also various
functional areas within the organization such as marketing, customer service, and pro-
duction to deliver competitive, timely solution in the marketplace. As noted by Maria
Valdivieso de Uster, the director of marketing and sales practice for leading consulting
frm McKinsey and Company, marketing and sales both have valuable insights about
customers and collaboration is needed to better serve those customers. She says that
marketing and sales leaders need to work together as equals since failure to collaborate
is outmoded and detrimental to performance.12
Sales leaders develop their people more through coaching than criticism. Prior to
entering college, most students have engaged in team sports and other goal-directed
group activities. As a result, students have some idea of what it takes to have a successful
(or not) team and the role of coaching in team success. While coaching styles vary, all
good coaches have one thing in common: they know what they are talking about, and
they know how to impart knowledge to individuals and to the entire team. According
to CSO Insights, the research division of consulting frm Miller Heiman, coaching is
one of the key best practices for global sales success.13 Miller Heiman notes that
employee development is ingrained in the culture of leading sales organizations.
Training, coaching, and development is not limited to new employees or to correct
performance problems. In the best sales organizations, it is an ongoing activity aimed at
maximizing individual and team performance.
Sales leaders readily accept that an empowered salesforce is superior to one that must
wait for direction in a fast-moving business environment. When salespeople are granted
more decision-making authority, they can be more responsive to customers. Empowered
salespeople are typically more satisfed with their jobs and more motivated than those
who work under tight controls. By empowering salespeople, sales leaders are sharing
managerial responsibility and helping prepare the next generation of managerial talent.
Most importantly, empowered salespeople can be a key ingredient in felding a world-
class salesforce.14
Contemporary sales leaders collect and share information about customers and best
practices rather than withholding it from others in the organization. This requires that
sales leaders must be adept at analyzing complex information and distilling it into
understandable language for use in researched, planned, customized, customer-focused
encounters.15
As sales managers take on more leadership responsibilities, they must recognize
individual differences in salespeople rather than treating them all the same. This is a
balancing act, as group norms, policies, procedures, and processes play a key role in
productive sales organizations. However, sales leaders must fnd ways to coach, train,
and motivate individuals as part of their jobs. An example of this practice is to develop
and implement personal improvement plans for each salesperson with mutually agreed
upon sales targets, activities, and sales competency goals.16
When sales managers take on more leadership roles in addition to their managerial
duties, dramatic results can occur. For example, BMC, a global leader in software solu-
tions, noticed that their sales growth was slowing. The company also observed that
traditional sales techniques such as emailing and calling on prospects without prior
contact (cold calling) were becoming less productive. Further, software purchasing
6 Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management

decisions were no longer being made strictly by information technology personnel, but
by multi-functional teams across customer organizations. BMC realized that buying
power was shifting to new audiences, and that their sales teams were not always in
contact with key decision-makers. BMC adopted the LinkedIn Sales Navigator program
to automate and organize the front-end phase of its sales process of identifying and
researching potential clients. As a result, BMC’s salespeople were better prepared for
sales calls, more credible in their initial contacts, and more productive in generating
revenue. Within a year, BMC doubled the number of contacts with prospective custom-
ers and established a new market in Latin America.17
As sales managers expand their roles more into leadership, there is a trend to move
from administrative activities to more of an entrepreneurial orientation throughout the
sales organization. Sales managers and salespeople need to view themselves as entrepre-
neurs, with the sales function driving value creation and innovation within their frms.
It is common knowledge that successful entrepreneurs are not bound by conventional
thinking. They are visionaries who detect evolving patterns and market opportunities
and develop creative responses to changing environments.18
In recent years, sales managers with a leadership orientation have successfully imple-
mented new technologies and processes despite signifcant resistance to change.
Notable examples include the widespread use of automation in customer relationship
management systems (CRM), the integration of social selling into business-to-business
selling, and the rapid growth of sales enablement. As we look to the future, the best
sales organizations will continue to embody an entrepreneurial perspective focusing on
innovation, value creation, empowerment, strategy, technology, and collaboration.

19
BEST SALES ORGANIZATIONS
Sales consulting frms and academic researchers have studied the best sales organiza-
tions to identify the practices that make them successful now and position them for
success in the future. A synthesis of this research indicates that the best sales organiza-
tions tend to:
• Create a customer-driven culture throughout the sales organization and align sales
operations with business and marketing strategies.
• Base market offerings on customer needs and deliver favorable customer
experiences.
• Focus on customer value in sales messaging to minimize price-based competition.
• Learn the “why” behind lost customers and lost sales to improve the future wins.
• Ensure that the sales culture supports continuous development of salespeople and
sales leaders.
• Train and coach the right skill sets, leveraging best practices of top performers to
improve all others. Continually assess attributes of top sales performers.
• Recruit, hire, and retain the best talent for specifc sales situations.
• When salespeople leave the organization, consistently determine why and take appro-
priate action.
• Develop and implement personalized performance improvement plans for all person-
nel in the sales organization.
• Use technology appropriately to learn about customers, build market intelligence,
and enable salesperson and sales manager success.
• Integrate sales with other functional areas, especially marketing and customer
service, to deliver maximum customer value.
• Develop an adaptable structure and formalize a relationship-building sales process
dedicated to continuous improvement.
It is clear the best sales organizations address all stages of the sales management
process. There is no secret recipe that will lead to high performance. The coordination
Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management 7

of numerous activities is required to dramatically improve sales organization performance.


For example, Avnet, one of the world’s largest distributors of information technology,
has invested heavily in capabilities and tools that impact customer relationships. Avnet
introduced the “always on” digital design service tool that lets customers evaluate
various confgurations and the related costs. The service proved successful for more
than 700 projects in reducing customer design and purchase processes by two to fve
weeks. As a result, Avnet is rolling out the service worldwide. These enhanced service
capabilities have strengthened Avnet’s customer relationships and been instrumental in
internal restructuring and realignment across all departments so that the entire company
is now focused on customer outcomes.20

EFFECTIVE SALES MANAGERS


Sales managers work with the systems and processes and interact with the people
involved in making a sales organization successful. Research indicates that the most
effective sales managers possess specifc skills and focus on particular activities. The
most important sales management skills are: communication and listening skills; human
relations skills; organization and time management skills; industry, company, product,
and general business knowledge; coaching, motivating, and leadership skills; and honest
and ethical tendencies.21
In addition to these general skills, the best sales managers focus on a number of
specifc activities in their interactions with salespeople:22
• Prepare their sales team for constant change by being a role model and mentoring
salespeople.
• Earn the trust of salespeople by being dependable and competent, and exhibiting
integrity.
• Give salespeople continuous feedback in a positive manner.
• Build enthusiasm throughout the sales team.
• Get involved by being accessible to salespeople and visible to customers.
• Grow and develop salespeople by emphasizing continuous job improvement and
career development.
As you can see, sales management is a complex and constantly evolving feld. The
most effective sales managers possess a variety of skills and are involved in many different
activities. We now present a sales management model that captures all aspects of sales
management and provides a framework for the remainder of the book.

SALES MANAGEMENT PROCESS


The sales management model presented in Figure 1.2 illustrates the major stages in the
sales management process. This model is valuable to sales organizations and provides
the basic framework for the study of sales management. We discuss the components of
each stage in the sales management process and indicate how the remaining chapters in
the book address the important areas of sales management.

Describing the Personal Selling Function


Because sales managers are responsible for managing the personal selling function,
they must thoroughly understand it. This text therefore devotes a chapter to that
subject before discussing sales management activities. Chapter 2 (Overview of Personal
Selling) provides background information about the personal selling function with an
emphasis on customer dialogue, value, and relationships. This discussion captures the
key changes in personal selling being implemented by many companies. These
changes have a direct impact on sales management activities as examined throughout
the text.
8 Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management

FIGURE 1.2 Sales Management Model

Describing the
Personal Selling
Function

Determining
Defining the
Developing the Directing the Salesforce
Strategic Role of the
Salesforce Salesforce Effectiveness and
Sales Function
Performance

The four major stages of the sales management process and an understanding of personal selling are the
focus of the book.

Defning the Strategic Role of the Sales Function


Many frms in the contemporary business world consist of collections of relatively
autonomous business units that market multiple products to diverse customer groups.
These multiple-business, multiple-product frms must develop and integrate strategic
decisions at different organizational levels. Chapter 3 (Organizational Strategies and the
Sales Function) discusses the key strategic decisions at the corporate, business, market-
ing, and sales levels and the basic relationships between these decisions and the personal
selling and sales management functions. Corporate- and business-level strategic deci-
sions typically provide guidelines within which sales managers and salespeople must
operate. This is especially true for frms focusing on a CRM strategy. By contrast, per-
sonal selling is an important component of marketing strategies in specifc product
market situations. The role of personal selling in a given marketing strategy has direct
and important implications for sales managers.
Strategic decisions at the corporate, business, and marketing levels must be translated
into strategies for individual accounts. We discuss the major elements of a sales strategy:
account targeting strategy, relationship strategy, selling strategy, and sales channel
strategy. Because personal selling is typically important in organizational marketing
situations, we provide an explanation of organizational buyer behavior as a foundation
for the development of sales strategies.
Sales strategies are designed for individual accounts or groups of similar accounts.
Therefore, an account targeting strategy is needed to identify and classify accounts into
useful categories. Then, the type of relationship, the desired selling approach, and the
most productive mix of sales channels are determined for each account category. These
decisions result in an integrated sales strategy for each targeted account and account
group.
The development and integration of corporate, business, marketing, and sales strate-
gies establishes the basic strategic direction for personal selling and sales management
activities. However, an effective sales organization is necessary to implement these
strategies successfully. Chapter 4 (Sales Organization Structure, Salesforce Deployment,
and Forecasting) presents the basic concepts in designing an effective sales organization
structure: specialization, centralization, span of control versus management levels, and
line versus staff positions. Different decisions in any of these areas produce different
Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management 9

sales organization structures. The appropriate structure for a frm depends on the spe-
cifc characteristics of a given selling situation. If strategic account selling programs are
used, specifc attention must be directed toward determining the best organizational
structure for serving these major accounts.
Closely related to sales organization decisions are decisions on the amount and allo-
cation of selling effort. We present specifc methods for making salesforce deployment
decisions. Because the decisions on selling effort allocation, salesforce size, and territory
design are interrelated, they should be addressed in an integrative manner. A number of
different analytical approaches can assist in this endeavor, but “people” issues must also
be considered.

Developing the Salesforce


The sales strategy, sales organization, and salesforce deployment decisions produce the
basic structure for personal selling efforts and can be considered similar to the “machine”
decisions in a production operation. Sales managers must also make a number of
“people” decisions to ensure that the right types of salespeople are available and have
the skills to operate the “machine” structure effectively and effciently.
Chapter 5 (Acquiring Sales Talent: Recruitment and Selection) discusses the key activities
involved in planning and carrying out salesforce recruitment and selection programs.
These activities include determining the type of salespeople desired, identifying pro-
spective salesperson candidates, and evaluating candidates to ensure that the best are
hired. Legal and ethical issues are important considerations in the recruitment and
selection process. The ramifcations of this process for salespeople’s subsequent adjust-
ment to a new job (socialization) are also examined.
Chapter 6 (Continual Development of the Salesforce: Sales Training) emphasizes the
need for continuous training of salespeople and the important role that sales managers
play in this activity. The sales training process consists of assessing training needs, devel-
oping objectives, evaluating alternatives, designing the training program, carrying it out,
and evaluating it. Sales managers face diffcult decisions at each stage of the sales train-
ing process, because it is not only extremely important but also expensive, and there are
many sales training alternatives available.

Directing the Salesforce


Hiring the best salespeople and providing them with the skills required for success is one
thing; directing their efforts to meet sales organization goals and objectives is another.
Sales managers spend a great deal of their time in motivating, supervising, and leading
members of the salesforce.
Chapter 7 (Sales Leadership, Management, and Supervision) distinguishes between
the leadership, management, and supervisory activities of a sales manager. Leadership
activities focus on infuencing salespeople through communication processes to attain
specifc goals and objectives. Management activities include all aspects of the sales
management process, such as recruiting, selecting, and training salespeople. Supervisory
activities are concerned with day-to-day control of the salesforce under routine operat-
ing conditions. Key issues and problems in sales leadership, management, and supervi-
sion are discussed.
Chapter 8 (Motivation and Reward System Management) presents several content
and process theories of motivation that attempt to explain how individuals decide to
spend effort on specifc activities over extended periods of time. Sales managers can
use these theories as a foundation for determining the best ways to get salespeople to
spend the appropriate amount of time on the right activities over a period of time.
These theories provide the basis for specifc salesforce reward systems. Both compensa-
tion and non-compensation rewards are examined. The advantages and disadvantages
of different compensation programs are investigated, as well as methods for sales
expense reimbursement. Specifc guidelines for developing and managing a salesforce
reward system are suggested.
10 Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management

Determining Salesforce Effectiveness


and Performance
Sales managers must continually monitor the progress of the salesforce to determine
current effectiveness and performance. This is a diffcult task, because these evaluations
should address both the effectiveness of units within the sales organization and the
performance of individual salespeople.
Chapter 9 (Evaluating the Effectiveness of the Organization) focuses on evaluating
the effectiveness of sales organization units, such as territories, districts, regions, and
zones. The sales organization audit is the most comprehensive approach for evaluating
the effectiveness of the sales organization as a whole. Specifc methods are presented for
assessing the effectiveness of different sales organization units with regard to sales,
costs, proftability, and productivity. Skill in using these analyses helps a sales manager
to diagnose specifc problems and develop solutions to them.
Chapter 10 (Evaluating the Performance of Salespeople) changes the focus to evalu-
ating the performance of people, both as individuals and in groups. These performance
evaluations are used for a variety of purposes by sales managers. Specifc criteria to be
evaluated and methods for providing the evaluative information are examined, and the
use of this information in a diagnostic and problem-solving manner is described. A
method for measuring salesperson job satisfaction, which is closely related to salesper-
son performance, is presented as well.

CHAPTER FORMAT
Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making was written for students. Therefore,
its aim is to provide comprehensive coverage of sales management in a manner that
students will fnd interesting and readable. Each chapter blends recent research results
with current sales management practice in a format designed to facilitate learning.
At the beginning of each chapter, “Objectives” highlight the basic material that the
student can expect to learn. These learning objectives are helpful in reviewing chapters
for future study. An opening vignette then illustrates many of the important ideas to be
covered in the chapter, using examples of companies in various industries to illustrate the
diversity and complexity of sales management. Most of the companies described in the
vignettes are well known, and most of the situations represent real actions by these frms.
Key words in the body of each chapter are printed in bold letters, and fgures and
exhibits are used liberally to illustrate and amplify the discussion in the text. Every
fgure contains an explanation so that it can be understood without reference to the
text.
Each chapter contains two boxed inserts entitled Sales Management in Action. The
examples in both boxes have been provided specifcally for this textbook by sales execu-
tives from various companies whom we recruited to serve as a Sales Executive Panel. To
ensure that the textbook includes the latest practices from leading sales organizations,
each executive was asked to provide specifc examples of “best practices” in their
company. Backgrounds of each executive are provided at the end of this chapter.
Sales managers are confronted with various ethical issues when performing their job
activities. Many of these ethical issues are addressed in the Ethical Dilemma boxes that
appear in the remaining chapters. You will be presented with realistic ethical situations
faced by sales managers and asked to recommend appropriate courses of action.
A chapter summary is geared to the learning objectives presented at the beginning of
the chapter. Understanding Sales Management Terms lists the key words that appear
in bold throughout the chapter. Developing Sales Management Knowledge presents
10 questions to help you develop an understanding of important sales management
issues and relationships. Building Sales Management Skills consists of exercises in
which you can apply the sales management knowledge learned in the chapter. Making
Sales Management Decisions includes two interesting case situations that allow you
Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management 11

to make important sales management decisions. If you understand sales management


terms, develop sales management knowledge, and build sales management skills, you
will be prepared to make successful sales management decisions.

CONCLUDING STATEMENT
This brief overview of contemporary sales management and summary of the contents
and format of Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making set the stage for your
journey into the dynamic and exciting world of sales management. This should be a valu-
able learning experience as well as an interesting journey. All the information contained
in this textbook should prove very relevant to those of you who begin your career in
personal selling and progress through the ranks of sales management.

SALES EXECUTIVE PANEL


Justin Coaxum is a technical sales director for Microsoft. He graduated from the
University of Central Missouri in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in business adminis-
tration with a major in marketing. Justin’s career has focused on business-to-business
software sales with an emphasis on cloud technology.
Paul Martin is a Recruiting Manager for State Farm Insurance®, the leading auto and
home insurer in the United States. He has been in the insurance industry for 29 years
and is currently responsible for recruiting entrepreneurial-minded candidates to become
future State Farm agents. Paul has a Finance/Economics degree from Rockhurst
University and a Master’s degree in Business Administration from St. Louis University.
He holds CPCU and CLF designations.
John Schwepker is the Vice President of Sales for Abstrakt Marketing Group, one of
the fastest-growing marketing companies in the country. He has a diverse background
of working for Fortune 500 companies and privately held companies as well as being an
entrepreneur. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in marketing at Southeast Missouri State
University as well as an MBA from the University of Phoenix and has over two decades
of sales and sales management experience. John has been instrumental in helping
Abstrakt grow by over 882 percent in the eight years he has been there. Abstrakt has
made the Inc. 5000 Fastest-Growing Companies eight times in their 13-year history.
John grew up in St. Charles, Missouri, eventually moving to Los Angeles, California, to
train for the Olympics and then back to St. Louis. In 2008, John sold his imaging busi-
ness, where he was the Vice President of Sales and Marketing, to Cintas, where he
became the General Manager, then National Business Development Manager for the
Document Imaging Division. John is now the Vice President of Executive Sales for
Abstrakt Marketing Group responsible for growing the outbound sales division within
the organization. John resides in Lake St. Louis, Missouri, with his wife, Sheila, and
has three grown children, Chris, JJ, and Jake.
Troy Secchio is the Vice President of Sales with Kraft Tool Company, a manufacturer of
high-performance concrete and construction hand tools. Troy has been in executive
management, focused on industrial sales, for over 33 years. Throughout his career, Troy
has provided leadership in key areas of sales and marketing, including management of
national strategic sales, directing both inside and outside sales, and setting corporate
sales and marketing strategy. His successful experience in accounting, people, and
product management has honed his leadership skills, enabling him to develop relevant
value propositions that truly impact customer relationships, through value-added results.
Troy is an alumnus of the University of Texas at Arlington with a B.S.B.A. in marketing.
Corey Vance is Business Development Leader for Central States Industrial (CSI), spe-
cializing in hygienic materials and equipment for the food, dairy, and beverage industries.
12 Chapter One Changing World of Sales Management

He manages over 150 accounts, mostly in the North Central Region of the United
States. Prior to this he was Midwest Industrial Sales Manager at Delfn Industrial
Vacuums and National Sales Manager, feld construction, at Paul Mueller Company. He
graduated from the University of Central Missouri in 2015 with a Bachelor of Science in
business administration with a major in marketing.

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