Building a Winning Sales Force: Powerful Strategies for Driving High Performance [Hardcover]

Andris A. Zoltners Ph.D. (Author), Prabhakant Sinha Ph.D. (Author), Sally E. Lorimer (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 6, 2009

Sales foce effectiveness drives every company's success, but keeping a sales organization at the top of its game is a constant challenge. As experts in the field, Andy Zoltners and Prabha Sinha have helped sales leaders around the world perfect their sales strategy, operations, and execution. Combining strategic insight with pragmatic advice from real case studies, "Building a Winning Sales Force" provides current and aspiring sales leaders with innovative yet practical solutions to many of the most common issues faced by today's sales organizations.

Editorial Reviews

Review

“…chockablock full of the nuts and bolts of sales management…extraordinarily practical and highly readable… building a sales organization or are a salesperson, it’s a must-read.”

Life Insurance Selling

“… one of the most comprehensive and practical books on designing, building, and driving a superior sales team… advice from some of the top sales professionals in the world.”

Selling Power Hiring and Recruiting Newsletter

“…give sales leaders the critical tools they need to create successful sales organizations in these tough economic times.” --Consulting magazine

“…complete sales management handbook… covers all the essential challenges sales managers face.” -- Selling Power

"One of the seven best books to read for sales"–FINS/WSJ

Review

"...provides current and aspiring sales leaders with innovative yet practical solutions to many of the most common issues faced by today’s sales organizations.”

CRM Industry.com

“If you're a sales manager or some day would like to be one, this book is for you…full of techniques…the nuts and bolts of account management.” –FINS/WSJ

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 18 and up
  
• Hardcover: 496 pages
• Publisher: AMACOM (March 6, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0814410405
• ISBN-13: 978-0814410400
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.4 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #119,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars This one is a truly a winner, March 15, 2009

By 

Daniel B. Beaulieu "Business book man" (Maine) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Building a Winning Sales Force: Powerful Strategies for Driving High Performance (Hardcover)

Building a Winning Sales Force is a true winner!
You know that one book, the one you go to over and over again. The one you give to a newly promoted sales manager as a congratulations gift? The one you count on like you count on a great mentor? Well this is the one. Now I would never say the "only sales book you'll ever need," but this one comes close and let me tell you why I think so.
* Because it is comprehensive. It covers completely every aspect of handling a sales force. From creating the team to making sure they are the most effective team they can be.
* It describes the best way to measure success.
* The best way to forecast and develop true account plans
* The best training techniques
* The best way to training programs that will work to make your team better and better.
* The most effective way to retain the best sales people once you have trained them to be the best sales force money can buy.
On and on like I said earlier this book has everything you will need to develop, manage, measure and motivate the best sales force you can ever hope to have.
And you know as important as all of this is, there are other books that have this kind of information, But what this book has that those others do not have are things like a chapter on avoiding complacency which focuses on making sure your sales team is motivated, read passionate in both good times and in bad.
Or the chapter on aligning your sales and marketing efforts, which I have come to appreciate over my years of consulting has always been a problem ; but these writers address it straight on using great real life examples from some of the great marketing companies of the world to prove their theories.
These are just some of the things that I can say about this book, but my space is limited. Okay I know that I recommend a lot of books but this one is for everyone, actually especially those of you who don't buy or read too many books. Even though I read this one from cover , that's just me, that's what I do but for those of you who don't do that, then think of it as a plan, a blueprint for what you have to do to be successful.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive and practical approach to managing a sales force, May 11, 2009

By 

Mark Deo "Mark Deo" (Torrance, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Building a Winning Sales Force: Powerful Strategies for Driving High Performance (Kindle Edition)

This book is a very comprehensive and practical approach to managing a sales force. The authors do a fine job of articulating: Training, planning, motivation, and tracking positive results.
I really enjoyed the insight into the 5 Sales Effectiveness drivers. The concept is important for accountability and is basic, straightforward and easy to understand. This train of thought provides a good blueprint and structure for the Sales Manager who is willing to step back and reorganize. If a sales manager can accept working to change the organizational structure for the better, well, that's half the battle.
* Definer drivers - set up the organizational structure and salesperson roles.
* Sharper drivers - hiring, training, and coaching practices - affect salespeople directly.
* Enlightener, Exciter, and Controller drivers - affect the activities performed by the sales force.
I recommend this book as a good foundation for Management and Sales.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive, well written, and well outlined! Need I say more about this sales management textbook to entice you to get it?, May 9, 2009

By 

Jeff Lippincott "JLIPPIN" (Princeton, NJ USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Building a Winning Sales Force: Powerful Strategies for Driving High Performance (Hardcover)

Wow! What a comprehensive well-written and well-outlined book on sales management. I usually steer clear of posting book reviews on Amazon for books on straight sales. That doesn't mean I don't read them, but I don't usually see fit to recommend many of them. Of the nearly 500 reviews I have posted on Amazon as Jeff Lippincott I have only posted two others besides this one that related to straight sales. See The Road Warrior's Guide to Sales Management - Taking the Stress out of Managing Salespeople and Perspectives on Increasing Sales. I recommend them and the instant one being reviewed.

This book is heavy and thick. It is split into three sections as follows:

>>A blueprint for sales force excellence
>>Improving the top sales effectiveness drivers
>>Addressing common & challenging sales management issues

If you are a small business founder or owner, or in charge of sales at your company, or hope to be a sales manager in the future, then do yourself a favor and consider reading this book and the other two I cite herein above. Three books on a subject can make you an expert. And these three books are all good. 5 stars!

PS. I encourage you to examine the Search Inside feature that Amazon offers for this book. There you can take a look at the Table of Contents for this wonderful book and see exactly what its contents include.