The Oxford Handbook of Strategic Sales and Sales Management is an unrivalled overview by leading academics in the field of sales and marketing management. Sales theory is experiencing a renaissance driven by a number of factors, including building profitable relationships, creating/delivering brand value, strategic customer management, sales and marketing relationships, global selling, and the change from transactional to customer relationship marketing. Escalating sales and selling costs require organisations to be more focused on results and highlight the shifting of resources from marketing to sales. Further the growth in customer power now requires a strategic sales response, and not just a tactical one. The positioning of sales within the organisation, the sales function and sales management are all discussed. The Handbook is not a general sales management text about managing a sales force, but will fill a gap in the existing literature through consolidating the current academic research in the sales area. The Handbook is structured around four key topics. The first section explores the strategic positioning of the sales function within the modern organisation. The second considers sales management and recent developments. The third section examines the sales relationship with the customer and highlights how sales is responding to the modern environment. Finally, the fourth section reviews the internal composition of sales within the organisation. The Handbook will provide a comprehensive introduction to the latest research in sales management, and is suitable for academics, professionals, and those taking professional qualifications in sales and marketing.

While there are numerous cookbook approaches to sales management, very little is available on training executive sales managers how to think and manage their sales teams strategically. Until now. Drawing from the experiences and research of its team of sales powerhouses, Strategic Sales Leadership delivers an action-oriented approach to improving sales organization results. Succinct and accessible, this breakthrough book helps sales executives candidly assess their existing situation and identify the critical issues, as well as integrates relevant sales research and best practices from the illustrious author team. Ultimately, the book equips sales executives with the tools to develop an effective action plan to improve sales organization results.

The challenges facing today's sales executives and their organizations continue to grow, but so do the expectations that they will find ways to overcome them and drive consistent sales growth. There are no simple solutions to this situation, but in this thoroughly updated Second Edition of Sales Growth, experts from McKinsey & Company build on their practical blueprint for achieving this goal and explore what world-class sales executives are doing right now to find growth and capture it—as well as how they are creating the capabilities to keep growing in the future. Based on discussions with more than 200 of today's most successful global sales leaders from a wide array of organizations and industries, Sales Growth puts the experiences of these professionals in perspective and offers real-life examples of how they've overcome the challenges encountered in the quest for growth. The book, broken down into five overarching strategies for successful sales growth, shares valuable lessons on everything from how to beat the competition by looking forward, to turning deep insights into simple messages for the front line. Page by page, you'll learn how sales executives are digging deeper than ever to find untapped growth, maximizing emerging markets opportunities, and powering growth through digital sales. You'll also discover what it takes to find big growth in big data, develop the right "sales DNA" in your organization, and improve channel performance. Three new chapters look at why presales deserve more attention, how to get the most out of marketing, and how technology and outsourcing could entirely reshape the sales function. Twenty new standalone interviews have been added to those from the first edition, so there are now in-depth insights from sales leaders at Adidas, Alcoa, Allianz, American Express, BMW, Cargill, Caterpillar, Cisco, Coca-Cola Enterprises, Deutsche Bank, EMC, Essent, Google, Grainger, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Intesa Sanpaolo, Itaú Unibanco, Lattice Engines, Mars, Merck, Nissan, P&G, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Salesforce, Samsung, Schneider Electric, Siemens, SWIFT, UPS, VimpelCom, Vodafone, and Würth. Their stories, as well as numerous case studies, touch on some of the most essential elements of sales, from adapting channels to meet changing customer needs to optimizing sales operations and technology, developing sales talent and capabilities, and effectively leading the way to sales growth. Engaging and informative, this timely book details proven approaches to tangible top-line growth and an improved bottom line. Created specifically for sales executives, it will put you in a better position to drive sales growth in today's competitive market.

You invest considerable time and money in managing your sales force. And if your company’s like many, you’re finding it increasingly difficult to ensure handsome returns on your investment in sales. This concise volume gives you the insights you need—from the preeminent thinkers whose work has defined the field, to the rising stars who will redefine the way we think about business

2018 Axiom Business Book Award Winner, Silver Medal Straightforward advice for taking your sales team to the next level! ​If your sales team isn’t producing the results expected, the pressure is on you to fix the situation fast. One option is to replace salespeople. A better option is for you to optimize your performance as a sales leader. In The Sales Manager’s Guide to Greatness, sales management consultant Kevin F. Davis offers 10 proven and distinctly practical strategies, skills, and tools for overcoming the most challenging obstacles sales managers face and moving your team ahead of the pack. This book will help you: Learn the 6 sales rep instincts that can cripple your management effectiveness, and replace these instincts with a more powerful leadership mindset – true sales leadership begins with improving the leader within Stop getting bogged down by distractions, become more proactive, and find more time to coach, lead, and inspire your salespeople Get every salesperson on your team to be more accountable and driven to achieve breakthrough sales results Master the 7 keys to hiring great salespeople Create a more customer-driven sales team by blending the buyer’s journey into your sales process Speed up the improvement of your team by mastering the 7 keys to achieving better coaching outcomes Excel at the most challenging coaching conversation you face – how to solve a sales performance problem that is caused by a rep’s lousy attitude Attain higher win-rates by intervening as a coach at the most critical stages of a buying cycle, quickly identify opportunities at risk, and coach more deals to the close Discover why so many salespeople fail at sales forecasting and how to impress your company’s upper management by submitting more accurate forecasts And much more… You can apply the strategies outlined in this book immediately to take control of your time and priorities as a sales manager, become more strategic, deliver high-performance coaching that grows revenues, and ultimately drive your team to greatness.

Packed with case studies, Sales Management. Simplified. offers a proven formula for prospecting, developing, and closing deals—in your time, on your terms. Why do sales organizations fall short? Every day, expert consultants like Mike Weinberg are called on by companies to find the answer - and it's one that may surprise you. Typically, the issue lies not with the sales team but with how it is being led. Through their attitude and actions, senior executives and sales managers can unknowingly undermine performance. Weinberg tells it straight by calling out the problems plaguing sales forces and the costly mistakes made by even the best-intentioned sales managers. The good news is that with the right guidance, results can be transformed. In Sales Management. Simplified., Weinberg teaches managers how to: Implement a simple framework for sales leadership Foster a healthy, high-performance sales culture Conduct productive meetings Put the right people in the right roles Retain top producers and remediate underperformers Point salespeople at the proper targets Blending blunt, practical advice with funny stories and examples from the field, Sales Management. Simplified. delivers the tools every sales manager needs to succeed. Managing sales doesn't have to be complicated, and the solution starts with you!

Named to the longlist for the 2021 Outstanding Works of Literature (OWL) Award in the Sales & Marketing category In this smart, practical, and research-based guide, Harvard Business School professor Frank Cespedes offers essential sales strategies for a world that never stops changing. The rise of e-commerce. Big data. AI. Given these trends (and many others), there's no doubt that sales is changing. But much of the current conventional wisdom is misleading and not supported by empirical data. If you as a manager fail to separate fact from hype, you will make decisions based on faulty assumptions and, in a competitive market, eventually fall behind those with a keener grasp of the current selling environment. In this no-nonsense book, sales expert and Harvard Business School professor Frank Cespedes provides sales managers and executives with the tools they need to separate the signal from the noise. These include how to: Hire and deploy the right talent Pay and incentivize your sales force Improve ROI from your training programs Create a comprehensive sales model Set and test the right prices Build and manage a multichannel approach Brimming with fascinating examples, insightful research, and helpful diagnostics, Sales Management That Works will help sales managers build a great sales team, create an optimal strategy, and steer clear of hype and fads. Salespeople will be better equipped to respond to changes, executives will be able to track and accelerate ROI, and readers will understand why improving selling is a social as well as an economic responsibility of business.

"Coaching is the universal language of learning, development, and change." Imagine a workplace without fear, stress, or worry. Instead, you're acknowledged as a valued, contributing team player who doesn't sacrifice priorities, values, happiness, or your life for your job. Sound ludicrous? Consider this is a reality in many thriving organizations. Most leadership books don't apply to sales leadership. Sales leaders are uniquely and indispensably special and need to be coached in a way that's aligned with their role, core competencies, and individuality to achieve their personal goals and company objectives. What if you can successfully coach anyone in 15, 5, or even 60 seconds using one question? Sales Leadership makes delivering consistent, high-impact coaching easy. For busy, caring managers, this removes the pressure and misconception that, "Coaching is difficult, doesn't work, and I don't have time to coach." Since most managers don't know how to coach, they become part of the non-stop, problem-solving legion of frustrated Chief Problem Solvers who habitually do others' work, create dependency, and nourish the seed of mediocrity. Great business leaders shift from doing people's jobs to developing them by learning the language of leadership coaching. In its powerful simplicity, Sales Leadership delivers a chronological path to develop a thriving coaching culture and coaching leaders who develop top performing teams and sales champions. Using Keith's intuitive LEADS Coaching Framework™, the coaching talk tracks for critical conversations, and his Enrollment strategy to create loyal, unified teams, you will inspire immediate change. Now, coaching is easily woven into your daily conversations and rhythm of business so that it becomes a natural, healthy habit. In his award-winning book, Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions, Keith was the first Master Certified Coach to share his personal coaching playbook that is now the standard for coaching excellence. Ten years later, and one million miles traveled, he reveals the evolution of sales leadership and coaching mastery through his experiences working with Fortune 5000 companies and small businesses worldwide. In the first book ever titled Sales Leadership, you'll master the ability to: Ask more questions, give less advice, and build trust and accountability to rely on people to do their job. Reduce your workload and save 20 hours a week on unproductive and wasteful activities. Shatter the toxic myths around coaching to eliminate generational gaps and departmental silos. Achieve business objectives, boost sales faster, and retain more customers. Create buy-in around strategic change and improve daily performance metrics. Assess company readiness and ensure implementation of a successful and sustainable coaching initiative and create a healthy, happy workplace. "People create the mindset, mindset shapes behavior, behavior defines culture, and ultimately, culture determines success. That's why the primary business objective is: To Make Your People More Valuable."

This is a comprehensive guide for penetrating new accounts, differentiating ones solution during the sales cycle, and closing large deals. Based on extensive interviews with over 1,000 key information technology decision makers and top technology salespeople, the book provides state of the art technology sales strategies and advanced tactics for senior salespeople who want to learn the secrets of top performers. Readers will find advice on how to win over C-level I.T. executives and senior business leaders in finance, operations, manufacturing, human resources, marketing, sales, and engineering; discover how I.T. organisational structure impacts company decision maker: determine how to gain strategic account control based upon the people, process, and politics of selling to complex businesses; and learn to conduct persuasive sales calls with sales linguistics, the study of how the customers mind uses and interprets language, and much more.

"The best sales book of the year" — strategy+business magazine That gap between your company’s sales efforts and strategy? It’s real—and a huge vulnerability. Addressing that gap, actionably and with attention to relevant research, is the focus of this book. In Aligning Strategy and Sales, Harvard Business School professor Frank Cespedes equips you to link your go-to-market initiatives with strategic goals. Cespedes offers a road map to articulate strategy in ways that people in the field can understand and that will fuel the behaviors required for profitable growth. Without that alignment, leaders will press for better execution when they need a better strategy, or change strategic direction with great cost and turmoil when they should focus on the basics of sales execution. With thoughtful, clear, and engaging examples, Aligning Strategy and Sales provides a framework for diagnosing and managing the core levers available for effective selling in any organization. It will give you the know-how and tools to move from ideas to action and build a sales effort linked to your firm’s unique goals, not a generic selling formula. Cespedes shows how sales efforts affect all elements of value creation in a business, whether you’re a start-up seeking to scale or an established firm looking to jump-start new growth. The book provides key insights to optimize your firm’s customer management activities and so improve selling and strategy.