If you sincerely believe that “the customer is king,” the second most important person in this kingdom must be the one who has a direct interaction on a daily basis with the king. MICHAEL BON CHAIRMAN & CEO, FRANCE TELECOM Chapter Consultant: Paulette Turner, Sales Operations Business Unit Executive, IBM Corporation | 001-032_Dal9e_c1 9 19 05 2 47 PM Page 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO SELLING AND SALES MANAGEMENT If you sincerely believe that the customer is king the second most important person in this kingdom must be the one who has a direct interaction on a daily basis with the king. Michael Bon Chairman CEO France Telecom Chapter Consultant Paulette Turner Sales Operations Business Unit Executive IBM Corporation LEARNING OBJECTIVES After studying this chapter you should be able to Describe the major changes taking place in selling and the forces causing these changes. Define sales management. Describe the sales management process. Discuss the competencies required to be a successful manager. SELLING AT DELL COMPUTER Marty Sedlacek is an account executive at Dell Computer. Dell s roots are in the mail-order business which did not include outside salespeople like Marty. It relied instead on PR advertising and direct mail targeted individuals and small companies and was all about getting the phone to ring. Today however 90 percent of Dell s sales are to corporate and government customers most of whom have a complex continuing relationship with Dell that probably began with a visit from someone like Marty. Marty is married has a 9-month-old son and lives in new four-bedroom house in Round Rock Texas. Although he lives within 7 minutes of the office Marty spends more time in airplanes than he does in his car. In a normal week he leaves Austin on the 7 07 . flight to O Hare rents a car at the airport dives into a 4-day schedule of sales calls and flies home Friday night. I don t want to be doing this job forever Marty says but he is not 1 001-032_Dal9e_c1 9 19 05 2 47 PM Page 2 2 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION TO SELLING AND SALES MANAGEMENT complaining. In fact just the opposite. He s 32 years old. He has topped his quota 22 months straight. Last winter he and his wife unwound for a week in the Canadian Rockies all expenses paid. This spring he s shooting for the trip to Costa Rica and
