Sales Management

Named to the longlist for the 2021 Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award in the Sales & Marketing category In this smart, practical, and research-based guide, Harvard Business School professor Frank Cespedes offers essential sales strategies for a world that never stops changing. The rise of e-commerce. Big data. AI. Given these trends (and many others), there's no doubt that sales is changing. But much of the current conventional wisdom is misleading and not supported by empirical data. If you as a manager fail to separate fact from hype, you will make decisions based on faulty assumptions and, in a competitive market, eventually fall behind those with a keener grasp of the current selling environment. In this no-nonsense book, sales expert and Harvard Business School professor Frank Cespedes provides sales managers and executives with the tools they need to separate the signal from the noise. These include how to: Hire and deploy the right talent Pay and incentivize your sales force Improve ROI from your training programs Create a comprehensive sales model Set and test the right prices Build and manage a multichannel approach Brimming with fascinating examples, insightful research, and helpful diagnostics, Sales Management That Works will help sales managers build a great sales team, create an optimal strategy, and steer clear of hype and fads. Salespeople will be better equipped to respond to changes, executives will be able to track and accelerate ROI, and readers will understand why improving selling is a social as well as an economic responsibility of business.

Boost sales results by zeroing in on the metrics that matter most “Sales may be an art, but sales management is a science. Cracking the Sales Management Code reveals that science and gives practical steps to identify the metrics you must measure to manage toward success.” —Arthur Dorfman, National Vice President, SAP “Cracking the Sales Management Code is a must-read for anyone who wants to bring his or her sales management team into the 21st century.” —Mike Nathe, Senior Vice President, Essilor Laboratories of America “The authors correctly assert that the proliferation of management reporting has created a false sense of control for sales executives. Real control is derived from clear direction to the field—and this book tells how do to that in an easy-to-understand, actionable manner.” —Michael R. Jenkins, Signature Client Vice President, AT&T Global Enterprise Solutions “There are things that can be managed in a sales force, and there are things that cannot. Too often sales management doesn’t see the difference. This book is invaluable because it reveals the manageable activities that actually drive sales results.” —John Davis, Vice President, St. Jude Medical “Cracking the Sales Management Code is one of the most important resources available on effective sales management. . . . It should be required reading for every sales leader.” —Bob Kelly, Chairman, The Sales Management Association “A must-read for managers who want to have a greater impact on sales force performance.” —James Lattin, Robert A. Magowan Professor of Marketing, Graduate School of Business, Stanford University “This book offers a solution to close the gap between sales processes and business results. It shows a new way to think critically about the strategies and tactics necessary to move a sales team from good to great!” —Anita Abjornson, Sales Management Effectiveness, Abbott Laboratories About the Book: There are literally thousands of books on selling, coaching, and leadership, but what about the particulars of managing a sales force? Where are the frameworks, metrics, and best practices to help you succeed? Based on extensive research into how world-class companies measure and manage their sales forces, Cracking the Sales Management Code is the first operating manual for sales management. In it you will discover: The five critical processes that drive sales performance How to choose the right processes for your own team The three levels of sales metrics you must collect Which metrics you can “manage” and which ones you can’t How to prioritize conflicting sales objectives How to align seller activities with business results How to use CRM to improve the impact of coaching As Neil Rackham writes in the foreword: “There’s an acute shortage of good books on the specifics of sales management. Cracking the Sales Management Code is about the practical specifics of sales management in the new era, and it fills a void.” Cracking the Sales Management Code fills that void by providing foundational knowledge about how the sales force works. It reveals the gears and levers that actually control sales results. It adds clarity to things that you intuitively know and provides insight into things that you don’t. It will change the way you manage your sellers from day to day, as well as the results you get from year to year.

Packed with examples and anecdotes, Sales Management. Simplified. offers a proven formula for prospecting, developing, and closing deals—in your time, on your terms. Why do sales organizations fall short? Every day, expert consultants like Mike Weinberg are called on by companies to find the answer - and it's one that may surprise you. Typically, the issue lies not with the sales team but with how it is being led. Through their attitude and actions, senior executives and sales managers unknowingly undermine performance. Weinberg tells it straight by calling out the problems plaguing sales forces and the costly mistakes made by even the best-intentioned sales managers. The good news is that with the right guidance, results can be transformed. In Sales Management. Simplified., Weinberg teaches managers how to: Implement a simple framework for sales leadership Foster a healthy, high-performance sales culture Conduct productive meetings Put the right people in the right roles Retain top producers and remediate underperformers Point salespeople at the proper targets Blending blunt, practical advice with funny stories from the field, Sales Management. Simplified. delivers the tools every sales manager needs to succeed. Managing sales doesn’t have to be complicated, and the solution starts with you!

Sales Management is a complete and practical handbook for all involved in the field of selling. It is an essential source book, a complete sales management course and a consultant's detailed plan in one volume. The sales manager needs all the skills and qualities of the salesperson in order to get things done by effective management of an often quite diverse team of people. The emphasis in his or her role is on planning, controlling, monitoring, managing and motivating their sales force. Step-by-step, the book provides detailed guidance to the practicalities of organization and management, including selection, training, motivation, communication and control. The author also gives in-depth analysis to such vital topics as forecasting and sales promotions, the use of planning and control forms and alternative sales distribution methods, such as franchising. It will be key reference and reading for every practising sales manager at area manager level and above in large corporations, and the field or local manager in smaller companies with less structured organizations.

In many FMCG companies, the challenges for the sales function are to develop effective sales strategies and to deliver excellent sales operations in order to support the achievement of business targets. The purpose of this book is to provide a practical guide to sales management through the analysis of its key components: route to market, sales strategy, key performance indicators, organizational models, sales force management, customer business planning, order to cash, and sales and operations planning. For each of these topics, the content of this book is a balance of theory, practical tips, and useful tools, keeping in mind not only the “what,” but also the “how” of the implementation. The reader will learn how to map sales channels, assess a customer base, design a sales strategy, build a sales scorecard, and organize a sales team’s frontline and back ofi ce. The book also covers how to structure trade category plans, customer business plans, and customer negotiation plans and how to optimize the sales team’s contribution to the company’s key fundamental processes. It concludes with an overview of the future challenges of sales management.

As the president of a major sales company and experienced sales management trainer, author William Miller provides sales managers a proven method for successfully managing both sales processes and salespeople. Packed with specific, field-tested techniques, ProActive Sales Management teaches readers how to: motivate a sales team; get their sales team to prospect and qualify; create a proactive sales culture; effectively coach and counsel up and down the sales organization; reduce reports to one sheet of paper and 10 minutes a week; forecast with up to 90 percent accuracy; and take A players to A+ levels. Today’s sales managers have to be quicker than ever, being more proactive about hiring the best performers and retaining them while multitasking with managing complex sales processes in order to close more and more deals. Packed with all new metrics and tactics for making the numbers in today’s sales environment, ProActive Sales Management is an invaluable resource for this brand of highly in-demand leaders.

The performance difference between the top salespeople in the world and the rest is smaller than you may think. Learn where you can elevate your game today and reach unprecedented new heights. Did you know that the 80/20 rule applies to the world of sales too? Eighty percent of all sales are made by only twenty percent of salespeople. How are they raking in so much money though, and how can others join them? Sales trainer extraordinaire Brian Tracy has spent years studying the world’s best salespeople and their methods to discover that the difference between the top 20 and the bottom 80 boils down to only a handful of critical areas in which the top professionals perform better than their peers. In this compact and convenient guide, Tracy shares 21 tried-and-true techniques that can help any salesperson gain that winning edge. In Sales Success, you will learn how to: Set and achieve clear goals Develop a sense of urgency and make every minute count Know your products inside and out Analyze your competition Find and quickly qualify prospects Understand the three keys to persuasion Overcome the six major objections, and much more! Packed with proven strategies and priceless insights, Sales Success will get you planted firmly on the path to success, making more money than you thought possible and greater career satisfaction than you ever believed you would find.

Updated throughout with new vignettes, boxes, cases, and more, this classic text blends the most recent sales management research with real-life "best practices" of leading sales organizations. The text focuses on the importance of employing different sales strategies for different consumer groups, and on integrating corporate, business, marketing, and sales strategies. It equips students with a strong foundation in current trends and issues, and identifies the skill sets needed for the 21st century.