Customer Reviews

Sales Management

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Companies of the old and new economies often suffer the same ailment: sales teams that dont produce. Writer Robert Calvin tells sales managers what they must do to cure this disease. Calvins book  which is as concise as an effective sales pitch  gives you a thorough blueprint for building or rebuilding your sales team. The book is filled with questionnaires and lists, including a sample performance evaluation and a rundown on what not to say to a potential hire. Calvin argues that managers often neglect training, which alone should take up 40% of their time. We [...] highly recommend this potential Bible for sales managers, which makes it clear that you must be more critical of your sales forces achievements in areas such as prospecting, closing and even personal demeanor. A word of warning: Calvin is as ruthless as The Weakest Link television show in asserting that poor performers must be eliminated and he doesnt even wink.

Calvin succinctly packages sales and sales management processes into this book in a way that enables the reader to PUT IT TO USE!! The references, lists, worksheets, and key points will be invaluable to you. Keep it in your briefcase to refer to on a daily basis - it has so many key points and reminders that you will find relevant pages to earmark to make you more effective against your day-to-day sales goals.

I've been reading a bunch of books on this topic lately, and this one is excellent (you wouldn't believe how bad some of them are).

It is fairly dense and not childish or cute at all. But it is very well-written, with each sentence saying what it says, and the next sentence saying the next thing that should be said.

Those of you looking for that rare book that is smart but accessible should give this one a try. I get the impression that if you got a sales management job, took a copy of this book to work, and just did what it says to do, every day, you'd be well above average at your job.

*******

Postscript to McGraw-Hill: The awful cover illustration probably cost you thousands of sales. This book is NOT about a guy with a tiny head standing at a cash register, glowing or otherwise. Your audience for Sales Management books is NOT guys with tiny heads standing at cash registers, glowing or otherwise.

The new economy has presented the sales manager with a whole new series of challenges. Author Robert J Calvin explains that during these tumultuous times where technology has shortened the life cycle of products and services, lengthened the time it takes to sell them, leveled the playing field between vendors and customers, and created customers that demand more thereby creating more aggressive competition, the sales manager needs a plan for success. This book lays out a detailed plan for sales managers to follow to ensure success in these times. It begins with three assumptions:
· A sales force is no better than its management.
· A sales manager's job is to get work done through other people.
· A manager's job is to make heroes not be one.
With these assumptions in mind, the author focuses on certain topics essential for the sales manager's success:
· Creating the Sales Force. Learn to carefully choose and plan a sales force for constantly changing needs. This team will need to be confident and enthusiastic to maximize performance.
· Strategy and the company. Sales forces must be structured according to the company's needs and their structural organization.
· Perfecting the Program. Sales managers must utilize regular performance reviews that set standards for success, motivate toward success, and of course, measure success. This is essential in facilitating excellence.

I am working as a senior sales manager and think that the book is excellent and I highly recommmend it to every sales manager.
Other sales management are normally full of some theory and concept. However, this book by professor Robert J. Kevin is Super Super Super practical with many valuable and sensible tactics. I especially appreciate the chapter of staff motivation and recruiting. It is very useful and practical for managers to perform these duties effectively and efficiently. I believe that this book can help corporate to increase greatly this profitability by means of excellent sales management

The book is very important to refresh our thinkings about Sales.
There are a lot of ideas ( no new ideas ) that will help us to revival our Sales strategies and ways to manage our Sales Depts.

In nine easy-to-read chapters, Calvin is able to present a great framework for professional sales managers to review their thinking and organize their thoughts. Each chapter captures the essence of its subject, and then presents a number of good ideas that add to any parctitioner. Each chapter is summarized through a creative and insightful list of the top 10 mistakes that sales managers do in this area. These lists alone are worth what I paid for the book. I find it to be a book that is capable of contributing to the knowledge of both academics and professionals alike.

This book gives a new dimension how to increase the effectiveness of sales activities nowadays. W.Stanton and R. Spiro wrote a books-management of a sales force, which gives a very clear basic understanding of managing a sales force. But your book gives a new idea how to make the force more effective.

While this book may have some useful information, it is not very interesting at all. At no point during my reading, did this book EVER catch my attention. I had to read it for a class, and only got through the first chapter.