Sales Management

The book seeks to debate some of the key management questions as they apply to the sales function. For example, what is the role of selling in a marketing context? What effects do alternative sales strategies, salespeople and sales management practices have on company growth and profitability? How can the sales function be effectively controlled and evaluated? The approach is to consider previous work in this area, to evaluate what does or does not work and to present sound concepts and recent empirical evidence. Although consideration of the sales function may not be a neglected area by practitioners its true importance is not adequately reflected in most marketing courses. The book is intended to be followed in a sequential manner as a course but each chapter should be sufficiently robust to stand on its own as a self-contained learning unit. For this reason each chapter opens with specific learning objectives and ends with a summary, a list of key terms, a selection of questions and a discussion topic with questions. References are included at the end of each chapter.