Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 - (Page 5)

EDITOR’S LETTER WWW.SALESANDMARKETINGMANAGEMENT.COM GROUP PUBLISHER DANIEL J. CORCORAN (646) 654-5107 (646) 654-7367, Fax Daniel.Corcoran@nielsen.com ADVERTISING SALES National Sales Director JASON WAFALOSKY (610) 792-2481 Jason.Wafalosky@nielsen.com Las Vegas Travel Sales Manager PETER V. EDMUNDS (714) 963-3499 Peter.Edmunds@nielsen.com Account Executive MIKE GANGEL (646) 654-5318 Mike.Gangel@nielsen.com Doing less isn’t as easy as it sounds When the pressure starts to build, many people have the same kind of reaction: restlessness and the urge to do more, do something, do anything. The intention is to mitigate the problem by working harder (or faster, or better), but it’s often a self-defeating strategy. While it does scratch that itch to make some kind of progress against your myriad tasks, is “getting something done” really the best strategy? Not if you subscribe to the less-is-more theory developed by this month’s cover executive, Mahan Khalsa, VP of the FranklinCovey Sales Performance Group. According to Mahan, trying to do too much is the very reason why so many people end up in bad situations in the first place. For your sales team, it often starts with pressure to hit ever-higher numbers and the erroneous assumption that to sell more, you need to do more: make more calls, send more proposals, schedule more appointments, etc. For sales leaders, it’s an even bigger pressure cooker because you have to worry not only about the numbers, but also about developing the team’s incentive plans, managing the travel budget, scheduling the necessary training and equipping the sales force with PDAs, laptops and a mobile CRM system. While it might seem at times that you have a million things to do—and in today’s crazy world, you actually might—the fact of the matter is that you can’t do them all at once. Mahan believes the best way to make progress is to identify the top few tasks that are most likely to deliver positive results and tackle them first. His strategy, which is described in greater depth in the Cover Story starting on page 20, provides the dual benefits of positive reinforcement and proper resource distribution. So the next time you feel overwhelmed, give it a try and find out for yourself. And if you happen to be available on May 16 and can make it to the New England area, be sure to check out the Mid-Sized Business Strategy Summit 2008, developed for senior level executives at companies with revenues of $50 million to $500 million (www.tlsummits.com/midsized2008/index.html). The Sales & Marketing Management gang will be well-represented at the Boston event; I myself will be in attendance, while Ann Garrett (CEO of The Marketing Studio and frequent S&MM Webinar contributor) and Ralph Oliva (director of the Institute for the Study of Business Markets and former S&MM cover executive) are both among the featured presenters. It should be a great event, and I hope to see you there! MARKETING Group Marketing Director/Travel and Performance Group SHEREEN ABUZOBAA (703) 488-2809 Shereen.Abuzobaa@nielsen.com Marketing Director/Travel and Performance Group ROBERT KUWADA (646) 654-5159 Robert.Kuwada@nielsen.com Senior Marketing Manager JENNIFER PEPPER-STAM (646) 654-7263 Jennifer.PepperStam@nielsen.com PRODUCTION Group Production Director BERRYL SCHIFFER (646) 654-7302 Berryl.Schiffer@nielsen.com Production Director PHYLLIS JEFFERSON Production Manager JAY KAPLAN (646) 654-7297 Phyllis.Jefferson@nielsen.com (646) 654-7310 Jay.Kaplan@nielsen.com Sales & Marketing Management is published by Nielsen Business Media, Inc. Nielsen Business Media President: GREG FARRAR Senior Vice President, Human Resources: MICHAEL ALICEA Senior Vice President, Finance: DEREK IRWIN Senior Vice President, Entertainment: GERRY BYRNE Senior Vice President, Marketing & Media: SABRINA CROW Senior Vice President, Travel & Performance: SABRINA CROW Senior Vice President, Retail: DAVID LOECHNER Senior Vice President, Online Media: LINDA MCCUTCHEON Senior Vice President, Building Design: JOE RANDALL Senior Vice President, Central Services: MARY KAY SUSTEK Vice President, Licensing & Events: HOWARD APPELBAUM Vice President, Manufacturing & Distribution: JENNIFER GREGO Vice President, Audience Marketing: JOANNE WHEATLEY FINALIST FOR THE 2005 JESSE H. NEAL NATIONAL BUSINESS JOURNALISM AWARD FOR BEST SINGLE ISSUE, AND WINNER IN 2004 FOR BEST REGULARLY FEATURED DEPARTMENT WINNER OF NATIONAL AND REGIONAL EDITORIAL AWARDS AT THE 27TH ANNUAL AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BUSINESS PUBLICATION EDITORS AWARDS COMPETITION 2004 WINNER OF TWO REGIONAL DESIGN AWARDS FROM THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF BUSINESS PUBLICATION EDITORS Michael T. McCue Editor-in-Chief michael.mccue@nielsen.com MARCH/APRIL 2008 SALES&MARKETING MANAGEMENT www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com 5 http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com http://www.tlsummits.com/midsized2008/index.html http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008

Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Brian Tracy University Sales Marketing Management Cover Story: Lessons From the Master Maximum Mobility Training Technology Incentives/Motivation Travel/Meetings Book Excerpt - Value Merchants The Way I See It - End the Discounting Habit

Sales & Marketing Management - March/April 2008

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