Sales Management Analysis and Decision Making

The sixth edition of Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making has several

important strengths. The authors teach sales management courses and interact with

sales managers and sales management professors on a regular basis. These interactions

with practicing professionals and students ensure that the text covers the appropriate

sales management topics and employs effective pedagogy. This new edition continues

what has been effective in previous editions, but contains changes that improve content

and pedagogy. The key strengths of the sixth edition include:

• The 10 modules and paperback format from the previous edition are maintained.

This makes it easy for professors to cover the text in a semester or quarter, and still

have sufficient time to use active learning exercises throughout the course. All of the

important sales management topics are addressed and students can purchase the text

for much less than a typical hardcover sales management book.

• All new Opening Vignettes are used to introduce each module. These vignettes generate

student interest by presenting examples of current sales management practice in

leading firms.

• Revised "Sales Management in the 21st Century" boxes and new sales executives

have been added in our Sales Executive Panel.

• The introduction of an important trend—the move from an administrative to an

entrepreneurial perspective—has been introduced in Module 1. The turbulent environment

facing most sales organizations requires that sales managers act more as

entrepreneurs and less as administrators to be successful.

• New or expanded coverage of important topics such as customer relationship management

(CRM); outsourcing the salesforce; and key differences among sales leadership,

management, and supervisory activities can be found throughout the text.

• Role-play exercises for Ethical Dilemmas and the short cases are included at the end

of each module. These role plays give professors the opportunity to involve students

actively in exploring complex ethical and sales management situations.

• New or updated exercises in the Building Sales Management Skills section can now

be found at the end of each module. Many of these exercises require the use of the

Internet, but all involve students actively in the learning process.

LEVEL AND ORGANIZATION

This text was written for the undergraduate student enrolled in a one-semester or onequarter

sales management class. However, it is sufficiently rigorous to be used at the

MBA level.

A sales management model is used to present coverage in a logical sequence. The text

is organized into five parts to correspond with the five stages in the sales management

model.

Part One, "Describing the Personal Selling Function," is designed to provide students

with an understanding of personal selling prior to addressing specific sales management

areas. We devote one module at the beginning of the text to this topic.

Part Two, "Defining the Strategic Role of the Sales Function," consists of two modules;

one discusses important relationships between personal selling and organizational

strategies at the corporate, business, marketing, and sales levels. This module focuses on

how strategic decisions at different organizational levels affect sales management decisions

and personal