Resources

Judging sales managers’ effectiveness is not a simple matter. The sales management role – like the sales positions it manages – grows ever more complex, demanding, and diverse. In many firms, sales managers’ responsibilities change more dynamically than any other comparable management position, often in response to urgent realignments of...Read more

As a companion piece to the Sales Process Mapping Best Practices for Sales Management article, we’ve developed this Powerpoint presentation.  It provides examples of how leading sales organizations communicate sales process issues in an effective way. Non-members can view an abbreviated version of the slide presentation through the Sideshare viewer...Read more

Process mapping is a critical skill for the effective sales manager. Essential to the effort of managing sales processes for consistency, quality, and through-put, sales process mapping provides a common vision and shared language for improving business results.

Thomas N. Ingram, Raymond W. LaForge, and Charles H. Schwepker, Jr. Enhancing the moral behavior of salespeople is increasingly important, but dif cult, in today’s fast-paced and complex selling environment. Sales organizations need to emphasize ethical codes of conduct, but must also address the potential impact of all sales management...Read more

Hiring the right people is one of the most important tasks that managers have.  When it comes to hiring salespeople, the stakes are particularly high.  A great hire can make a critical difference both in terms of revenues and the morale of a sales force.  A hiring mistake is costly...Read more

Tom Knight Axiom Consulting Partners Sales forces find it more difficult than ever to get their message heard in a cluttered and competitive marketplace.  In the consumer packaged goods industry alone, 60,000 new products were introduced to grocery store buyers since 2000 – each with presentation materials that average 16...Read more

Andris A. Zoltners, Prabhakant Sinha, and Sally E. Lorimer This paper presents a Sales Force Effectiveness Framework that organizes the complexities of sales organizations, providing a holistic approach to de ning and assessing sales force effectiveness. Sales practitioners can use the framework to diagnose sales force issues and develop multidimensional...Read more

Dawn R. Deeter-Schmelz, Daniel J. Goebel, and Karen Norman Kennedy This study builds on previous research concerning sales manager  selection by examining the characteristics of effective sales managers from two perspectives—that of sales managers and sales representatives. Results of this exploratory study indicate that sales representatives assess the effectiveness of...Read more