The Force (Hardcover)

by David Dorsey (Author) "FRED THOMAS WAS early, but he felt late..." (more)
Key Phrases: new copier, one rep, other reps, Palm Springs, Nick Callahan, Pat Elizondo (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
Written with manic energy and uncanny insight into the guerrilla warfare of salesmanship, this day-by-day, almost novelistic chronicle tracks one Xerox sales team in Cleveland in its efforts to surpass its yearly quota selling photocopier machines. Dorsey, who spent seven years as business editor and reporter covering Xerox for the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat & Chronicle , gets it all down--the cat-and-mouse sales tactics, the relentless pressure, personal crises, family lives stretched to the breaking point. His taut narrative centers on sales manager Fred Thomas, whose disarming amiability conceals an obsession with making the sale and proving himself, and his wife Kathy, a homemaker avidly seeking more meaning in her life. Poor at communicating emotion, Fred fears Kathy's growing independence and her career interests. Based on the year Dorsey spent living with Xerox salespeople, this unusually candid probe reveals more about corporate life as a daily struggle for survival than a stack of how-to business manuals. First serial to Esquire; Fortune Book Club alternate; author tour.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal
The result of a year that Dorsey spent living with and talking to members of a Xerox sales team in Cleveland, Ohio, this work reads like "A Year in the Life of a Salesman." Dorsey wanted to show how a "top salesman-along with his team-attains certain goals over the course of a typical sales year, and what impact this effort has on the personal lives of the people involved." Fred Thomas, head of a major accounts team at Xerox, is the central figure in the book. Thomas tirelessly pursues the team's annual sales mark, and he grapples with issues such as how to advance his career without leaving sales and how to achieve a better balance between office and home life. Readers looking for a formula book on successful salesmanship will be disappointed; the book's strength lies in Dorsey's candid portrayal of the sales world. Recommended for public libraries.
--Mark McCullough, Ohio Northern Univ., Lib., Ada
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 315 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (April 26, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0679410309
• ISBN-13: 978-0679410300
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #2,076,731 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Force Hits Too Close to Home, December 9, 1996

By A Customer

It has been about two years since I first read David Dorsey's book. I was working for a large multi-national computer company and, as I read about Fred Thomas, I felt that I was reading my auto-biography.

No other book has better captured the inner torment of corporate sales. The quotas, the endless tracking of results, the hounding of sales staff to squeeze blood from stone. Parts of the book helped maintain my perspective as I went through similar Kafka-like events since then.

I would make this a must-read for anyone who has to sell to the fortune 500

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Vacuum the Carpet Twice Instead!, January 5, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Force (Paperback)

I bought "The Force" expecting a great, firsthand look at high-stress corporate selling. I also expected the book to be readable! I have tried several times to finish this book, but the repetitive prose is frustrating: How many times can I be told that Frank Pacetta is caustic, or that Fred and Kathy are at odds over whether she should return to work? How many times can I be apprised of the other characters' anxieties, and in how many different ways? Dorsey duplicates his efforts by over-explaining everything that happens, instead of letting the dialogue or actions tell the story. The narrative paraphrases the characters' inner thoughts, repeating the same old harangues. The description of Kathy's reflections on a sermon about the Parsifal myth makes a simple point again and again, yet Dorsey's rambling prose is impossible to winnow down. The prose is tightest when Dorsey explains the history of Xerox. The complex whys and wherefores behind Xerox's adoption of TQM and their deal structure resemble the characters' inner thoughts in the narrative. What this book needed to give it pacing throughout was detachment, so the reader could keep track of everyone's situations throughout the story. This book needed the linearity of facts, rather than the circularity of anxiety and rationalization.

4.0 out of 5 stars Great book, February 21, 2009

By	R Twain - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Force (Paperback)

This was a good book overall, however, two pages were missing! They werent ripped out, they just werent printed in the book. Nonetheless, the book got to me on time and in great condition. Overall, good book!