Building a Winning Sales Management Team: The Force Behind the Sales Force

First-line sales managers (FLMs) play a key role in helping a sales organization drive profitable revenue growth in an ever-changing business environment. But although directly responsible for managing and driving sales force performance, FLMs often don't get enough time, attention, and resources from sales leaders. "Building a Winning Sales Management Team" shows just how important FLMs are to sales organizations--and what happens when companies underinvest in these key players.

Authors of four previous books on sales management, Zoltners, Sinha and Lorimer show in "Building a Winning Sales Management Team" just how companies can nurture successful FLMs and improve sales force productivity. The book has dozens of real-life examples of how investing in first-line management paid off in a big way. In developing the book, the authors collaborated with leaders from some of the world's top companies. The authors also draw on their cumulative experience as sales and marketing consultants, faculty members at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management, and business speakers and writers to produce fresh, completely original insights on sales force effectiveness.

"Building a Winning Sales Management Team" shows in detail exactly how companies can improve FLM performance. The authors reveal eight key drivers for defining, creating and enabling a successful first-line sales management team, and show how FLMs are critical facilitators of change. The book also includes a self-assessment tool to help organizations determine the right priorities to start improving sales management team performance.

ANDRIS A. ZOLTNERS is a Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management and a co-founder of ZS Associates. For over 30 years, he has served the business community as a professor, consultant, speaker, and author on marketing and sales force performance. 

PRABHAKANT SINHA is a co-founder of ZS Associates where he has consulted on sales effectiveness for more than 200 firms in North America, Europe, and Asia. He is a former Kellogg faculty member who continues to teach sales executives at Kellogg and the Indian School of Business.

SALLY E. LORIMER is a business writer and former Principal of ZS, where she consulted with hundreds of first-line sales managers and leaders on strategies for enhancing sales effectiveness.