Sales Management Demystified (Paperback)

~ Robert Calvin (Author)
Key Phrases: sales force compensation, sales force organization, present sales trends, Hewitt Associates, Hiring the Best, Job Descriptions (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

BUILD and manage a SALES FORCE that's worth sell-ebrating

Understanding that a sales force is only as successful as its management is the first step to improving overall sales performance. The rest can be found inside this hands-on guide that shows, step-by-step, how to train and retain a team of top sales professionals.

Sales Management Demystified addresses every step of the process--including hiring, training, compensation, organization, deployment, forecasting, motivation, and performance management. Sales managers at every level and students of sales management will find helpful strategies and tactics for molding a team into an effective, cohesive unit. Featuring real-world examples, end-of-chapter quizzes, and a final exam, this incredibly useful guide will help you get the best from your sales force and put your career on the fast track.

This fast and easy guide offers

• Ideas for sourcing, screening, and selecting the best candidates
• Tips for training salespeople in product, customer, and competitor knowledge, and in selling skills
• The model for choosing the most successful sales force organization and deployment
• Monetary and nonmonetary methods to reward positive sales force action and results
• Performance management techniques that evaluate results, actions, skills, knowledge, and personal characteristics

Simple enough for a novice but challenging enough for a veteran manager, Sales Management Demystified is your shortcut to developing a successful sales team.

About the Author

Robert J. Calvin is an adjunct professor of entrepreneurship and marketing at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, where he teaches executive education courses in sales force management. He is the president of Management Dimensions, Inc., an international consulting firm specializing in sales and sales management training. Calvin's previous book, Sales Management, won the Soundview Award for one of the 30 best business books in 2001.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill; 1 edition (April 23, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0071486542
• ISBN-13: 978-0071486545
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #491,070 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Comprehensive and Very Readable Guide to Sales Force Management, May 29, 2007

By	Charles M. Cohon (Morton Grove, IL United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Sales Management Demystified leaves no stone unturned for both newly promoted and experienced sales managers. For the newly promoted sales manager, Calvin's book is a front-to-back, comprehensive self-teaching guide to creating, hiring, training, compensating, organizing, motivating and evaluating a sales force. The experienced sales manager will find this book to be an excellent resource and reality check for any task at hand, such as planning a sales meeting, restructuring a sales channel, or dealing with sudden, unexpected turnover in the sales force.

Whether reading this book front-to-back or using it as a resource to research a particular sales problem, sales managers will appreciate Calvin's conversational tone and reader-friendly formatting. I especially liked the way each chapter's subtopic got its own distinct subheading, which made it easy to pick up the book and quickly find a discussion of any sales management problem currently at hand.

If you are only going to read one sales force management book this year, I'd strongly recommend that it should be Sales Management Demystified.

Charles M. Cohon
President
Prime Devices Corporation

4.0 out of 5 stars Roadmap to sales management, November 5, 2009

By	Jader P. Volkmer "Datavision" (Brazil) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Amazon Verified Purchase

This reading is helping me a lot to fix some concepts and practices I've already know about the sales process structure. More than this, give a complete roadmap for this process, starting on hiring salespeople and addressing many issues from this on.

5.0 out of 5 stars EXCELLENT!, April 17, 2008

By	L. Kenny (The Thumb of Michigan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This was a wonderfully written book that will help anyone who is in charge of a sales force, from a retail store to a cafe to car sales. I am teaching Small Business classes, and this is a new "must read" for any sales manager. If you are currently a salesperson who wants to manage, read this book and sell the concept to your company!