Strategic Sales Management is designed to provide operating sales executives and managers with the best tools, techniques, and concepts for improving the total effectiveness of the sales force. The goal is to help participants transform their sales forces into high-performing sales teams. Participants will gain a sharper understanding of the critical role played by line sales managers and learn how they can become agents of change who can stimulate outstanding sales force performance. In addition, participants will develop a better appreciation of the need for a more integrative approach to developing comprehensive marketing strategies through closer ties between marketing and sales.

• Line executives and managers with direct responsibility for a firm's selling efforts.
• Staff executives and managers with direct responsibility for providing support and technical services for a firm's selling efforts. 
• Those in non-marketing functions who desire to gain further understanding of their organizations' sales functions.

• Become a more effective sales executive and manager through an enhanced comprehension of the relationships among strategy, sales management systems, performance metrics, and selling behaviors.
• Gain a deepened knowledge of sales management systems designed to support field sales managers.
• Improve performance through clarification of the roles in implementing marketing strategies. (Specifically, field sales managers)
• Recognize the challenges and opportunities inherent in building a customer-responsive, enterprise-focused sales organization.
• Recognize the impact of the Internet and the effect that e-commerce has on a firm’s selling activities.
• Return to the workplace with a strengthened toolkit for managerial actions that can effectively influence the behavior of the sales force.
• Understand sales management as only one element in an integrated go-to-market strategy and broad marketing strategy.
• View Customer Value Proposition (CVP) as a central business skill and competitive advantage.

• The Changing Nature of Sales and the Transformation of the Sales Process 
  – Changes that are affecting the sales process
  – Effectively managing the process
  – Implications for sales management



• Developing the Successful Sales Force 
  – Nature of professional selling 
  – The selection process 
  – Developing the successful salesperson 



• Motivating the Sales Force to Better Performance 
  – Non-financial and financial incentives 
  – Measurement systems 
  – Aligning sales performance with strategic objectives and goals
  – Performance appraisal 



• The Role of Field Sales Managers 
  – Management style and sales force performance 
  – Manager-salesperson interface 
  – Building the climate for high performance 



• The Role of the Sales Force in the Marketing Mix 
  – The marketing mix
  – Marketing strategy formulation
  – Alignment between marketing strategy and sales tasks
  - Understanding the need for performance metrics that link the enterprise 



• The Sales Force as an Element in Implementing Strategy 
  – Lead generation, sales automation tools, and sales management systems
  – The impact of e-commerce and the Internet on the changing role of the sales force
  – The role of the sales force in building long-term and profitable customer relationships

• Manager, Operations
• Physician Liaison Manager
• Region Manager
• Senior Vice President, Marketing/Business Development
• Vice President, Sales and Marketing

Leadership Practices Inventory (LPI)©: With key indicators identified in the 360-degree LPI assessment process and peer and faculty coaching, executives will return to the workplace with a clear view of their personal leadership styles and pathways for heightening the performance of their sales teams.

Q. As a sales manager, I doubt whether I have the resources to act strategically. Can this program help?
A. There are many different approaches to effecting change in your organization, some of which may not be entirely dependent on the allocation of resources. Strategic Sales Management will help you explore these other possibilities.

Paul W. Farris
Landmark Communications Professor of Business Administration, The Darden School, University of Virginia.

Joseph W. Harder
Associate Professor of Business Administration, The Darden School, University of Virginia.

Neil Rackham
Member of McKinsey & Company's Sales and Channel Management Group; Distinguished Research Fellow, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University; Chairman of the Advisory Board, To Market Partners, a market strategy and sales force effectiveness consultancy.

Robert E. Spekman
Tayloe Murphy Professor of Business Administration and Area Coordinator, Marketing, The Darden School, University of Virginia.