Sales & Marketing Management - January/February 2008 - (Page 22)

b if you want to improve, train your brain By Izabella Iizuka Advanced sales education pays big-time dividends 22 SALES &MARKETING MANAGEMENT JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2008 y the time you reach a sales manager position, you’ve earned your stripes in the business. You could pitch a St. Bernard on a beach vacation in August and close the deal in 30 minutes (tops), so you know how to get the job done. But you aren’t just a salesperson any more, with your own set of goals and targets to achieve. You now have a team to develop, and that job requires a completely different skill set than the one that propelled your ascension into the ranks of management. What’s an eager, successful sales professional— but one with limited management experience— to do when facing this next great challenge? Get help, that’s what. Your sales record and job history are proof that you’re savvy, motivated and accustomed to winning, so all you need is some guidance to help you redirect those same skills into the challenge of managing a sales team. “Sales is a growing profession, and the nature of the selling process is changing all the time,” says Ralph Oliva, executive director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets at Penn State University’s Smeal College of Business. “Even seasoned professionals need to update their skills, understand the changing nature of the people their teams are selling to, the complexity of buying cycles and the needs of an ever-smarter but evermore-confused buying audience.” Wesley J. Johnston, director of Georgia State University’s Center for Business and Industrial Marketing in the J. Mack Robinson College of Business, agrees with Oliva. He says success in any sales-related role brings to mind that famous Nike TV slogan: “There is no finish line.” “Selling is like golf: You will never be perfect but you can always get better,” Johnston explains. “Even the pros lose their swing at times, and it is good to get coaching when that happens.” “While the sales profession is getting more attention from academia than ever before, it’s not as though the sales function has been completely ignored in the classroom,” according to Christopher K. Lemley, managing director of the Professional MBA Program and a marketing instructor at Georgia State. “The academic community has been paying attention to the sales area for many years, but there has definitely been an www.salesandmarketing.com www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - January/February 2008

Sales & Marketing Management - January/February 2008
Contents
Editor's Letter
Brian Tracy University
Sales
Marketing
Management
Cover Story: Everything Happens in Vegas
Boosting Your Brain
Loyalty Goes Global
Swell Your Sales
Training
Technology
Incentives/Motivation
Travel/Meetings
Excerpt
The Way I See It

Sales & Marketing Management - January/February 2008

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