The Sales Manager’s Success Manual

Author: Wayne M. Thomas
Pub Date: 2007
Your Price: $24.95
ISBN: 0814480500
Format: Hardcover

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Table of Contents

Preface ix
Acknowledgments xii
Part I Taking Your Team to Market 1
Chapter 1 Going to Market: Leadership and Responsibility 3
ìThe Ultimately Accountable JobÖî 4
It Takes a Leaderóand Sometimes a Lucky Break 4
Realities 5
Going to Market 6
The Path of Least Resistance 12
Chapter 2 The Sales Force 15
How to Assess Your New Team 16
Sales Channel Sizing and Company Profitability 21
In Pursuit of Rewards: Chocolate, Sex, and Money 24
Chapter 3 Sales Environment 29
Type 1 or Type 2 Situations 30
Why Good Salespeople Make Bad Decisions 34
Chapter 4 Sales Control and Policies 45
Sales Controls 45
The ìArtî of Forecasting 48
Thin-Slicing, a Productivity Tool 54
How a Super Salesman Avoided Common Decision Traps 63
Chapter 5 Channels 67
Role of Partners 68
Alliances Can Position You 69
Thin-Slicing in a Sales Channel 69
The 80/20 Rule 73
Chapter 6 Product/Market Match 75
Role of Sales 75
Unwrinkling Southern California 77
Chapter 7 Competition 83
Learning from the Fosbury Flop 83
History Repeats Competitive Ebbs and Flows 87
Chapter 8 The Customer 93
Loyalty Costs More Now 94
How to Avoid Being the Designated Loser 95
Chapter 9 The Market 103
Sales Is Only the Messenger 103
The Great Market Shift in 100 CE 105
Part II Personal Coaching 109
Chapter 10 Facts-in-the-Futureô 111
Consider the Odds, Charlie Brown 111
Predictable Surprises 111
Change Accelerates 113
Anticipating the Future 114
Chapter 11 The Truth About Statistics, or Why You Need a BS (Bad Statistics) Filter 117
A Short History of Bad Numbers 118
Champagne Secret 120
The Illusory Link 121
Chapter 12 The Gullibility Factor 127
ìHow Gullible Are We?î 128
What Are Best Practices? 129
Dotcom Euphoria 131
Caution: No Silver Bullets for Sales! 132
IBM’s Success Environment 132
Examine the Evidence 133
Application to a Forecasting Gap 134
Exponential Sales Growth 135
Additional Insights 136
Chapter 13 Intuition 141
Intuition Is Experience, Not Magic 142
Experience in Action 143
Intuition Is Mainstream 143
Improve Your Intuition 146
ìRoundsî for Team Intuition 146
CSI: Seeing the Invisible 147
Intuition Is Knowing What Will Happen 148
Test Your Intuition 148
Chapter 14 How Much Information Is Enough? 151
Spam Slicing 152
Information: Less Is Often More 152
A Lesson Learned from Betting on Horses 153
Chapter 15 Mind Games 155
The Availability Heuristic 156
Processing Biases 157
Lonely at the Top 158
A CEO’s Advice 159
Public Stress 159
Drowning by Hanging onto an Anchor 160
You Take It, You Own It 161
Overconfidence 162
Chapter 16 Walk a Mile in the CFO’s Shoes 165
Where Does the CEO Stand? 166
The CFO’s Viewpoint 166
Sales Takes No Action 168
Classic Goof 168
Chapter 17 The Brain of a Sales Manager 171
Brain Science 172
We Have Dog Brains!?! 172
Mr. Spock as Role Model? 173
Mental Imaging 174
As We Thinketh 174
Why Goals Work 175
There Are No Limits 176
Chapter 18 Evolution in Sales Management 179
Making Your Age Work for You 180
CIA Advice for Continuing Career Success 184
Superwoman and Other Dysfunctional Models 184
Chapter 19 The CEO and Sales Force Success 189
Evolved and Unevolved CEOs: Hurd vs. Fiorina at HP 190
Predictability 192
Predictable Failure 193
Chapter 20 Perception Sticks Like Glue 195
Iceberg Perceptions 196
Perceiving the Risks 197
Flexibility and Success 198
Know the Truth 199
Chapter 21 FAQs: Frequently Asked Questions 203
Hiring 203
Overconfidence 204
Changing Territories 206
CEO 206
Learning 208
Loss Reviews 209
Earnings and Tenure 210
Decision Making 210
Best Wishes for Success 212
Notes 213
Bibliography 219
Index 221

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