Today's sales managers and executives face a tight economy, increasing sales costs, aggressive competition, and more demanding customers. As a result, managing and motivating a sales force has never been more difficult - or more important. That is why we wrote The Complete Guide to Accelerating Sales Force Performance. The book is a comprehensive source of knowledge, ideas and techniques for improving sales force effectiveness in today's rapidly changing environment. It is based on in-depth analysis and insights from more than 25 years of teaching, research, and consulting with hundreds of companies in more than 50 countries. The Complete Guide to Accelerating Sales Force Performance is a practical, hands-on guide to sales management. It is a must-have for every sales professional who wants to be on the cutting edge of critical strategic thinking for sales force management. How is this book different from other sales management books? The Complete Guide to Accelerating Sales Force Performance provides step-by-step instructions for addressing many critical issues directly related to increasing sales force productivity. It is educational like a textbook, but it also offers immediate, hands-on guidance. It is advisory like a sales manager manual, but its scope is much greater. It gives a salesperson a deeper understanding of the sales force. It reveals the practical knowledge that one needs to effectively manage a successful selling organization. It is a meld of science and practice. Who should read this book? This book is a valuable reference guide for any sales management professional - a Vice President of Sales, National Sales Director, Regional or District Sales Manager, or a salesperson who wants to advance professionally. It allows the reader to tap into the latest thinking on almost any sales management topic. In addition, the book can be used as a step-by-step guide to addressing many common sales management problems. Finally, the book provides numerous explicit, practical tools that a sales management professional can easily adapt and implement in his/her own organization. This book is also valuable to a Divisional President or Business Owner who leads a company with large sales force investments. The book includes numerous strategic insights that are of great value to business leaders working to align sales force behavior with corporate goals. Finally, this book can be valuable to graduate business students who wish to explore the management of a selling organization while in school. The text has been used successfully in both the MBA and executive-level sales force management programs at the Kellogg Graduate School of Management at Northwestern University.