Sales & Marketing Management - May/June 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 Talking shop with an old competitor During a recent Webinar presentation, I talked a bit about my pre-college years and why I had no intention of making a career in sales, which is what I thought you did if you weren’t going to college. At the time, I thought I was taking my first steps toward a distinguished career as a psychiatrist, or possibly a novelist. (Ah, the best-laid plans of mice and men …) In fact, my parents went so far as to caution me about the life-draining role many salesmen had to perform: The Guy with the Expense Account. He would roll into town every six months or so, take people out to dinner and stay out late buying everyone drinks. Everyone loved when that guy came to town because he was the life of the party. While that might sound like a pretty good job to an 18-year-old, my dad warned me about how fast these men burned out and how hard it was for them to maintain a normal family life. Young men would eagerly rush off to start their new jobs as salesmen, but when my Dad ran into them a few years later, he said it looked like they’d aged decades rather than a few scant seasons. Obviously, given my role on this publication, I’ve changed my tune quite a bit; I now have a healthy appreciation for salespeople and the work they do. However, my mini-epiphany didn’t occur when I became editor-in-chief of Sales & Marketing Management, but rather during my previous role as the director of marketing for a healthcare IT company. As fate would have it, one of our fiercest competitors was EDS, whose chief sales officer, Bobby Grisham, is on the cover of this issue. Although EDS is many times larger than the company I worked for (which no longer exists, having been gobbled up by larger competitors), and despite the fact that we only competed with EDS in a single market, many of the things Bobby said during our discussion reminded me of those days: extra-long sales cycles, IT solutions that affected every aspect of the customer’s business operations, multiple face-to-face meetings with CEOs of national health plans the process was a far cry from the glad-handing and arm-twisting I thought salesmen needed to do to be succesful! I realized then that modern salespeople aren’t the life of the party. They’re the solvers of problems, and they’re valued for their knowledge and insight, not their corporate credit card. Suddenly, sales sounded like a pretty good way to make a living. And who knows? Had I known then what I know now, maybe my picture would be on the cover of this magazine, rather than here on page 5! 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 MARKETING Marketing Director/Travel and Performance Group ROBERT KUWADA (646) 654-5159 Robert.Kuwada@nielsen.com Marketing Associate JENNIFER GINSBERG (646) 654-7210 Jennifer.Ginsberg@nielsen.com PRODUCTION Group Production Director BERRYL SCHIFFER (646) 654-7302 Berryl.Schiffer@nielsen.com Production Manager JAY KAPLAN (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 MAY/JUNE 2008 SALES&MARKETING MANAGEMENT www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com 5 http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com http://www.salesandmarketingmanagement.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Sales & Marketing Management - May/June 2008

Sales & Marketing Management - May/June 2008 Contents Editor's Letter Brian Tracy University Smart Sales Sales Strategy Smart Marketing Marketing Strategy Smart Management Management Strategy The Minister of Culture Become a Value Merchant Incentives/Motivation Streamlining Business Travel Book Excerpt The Way I See It

Sales & Marketing Management - May/June 2008

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