Ruff: 
There  are  two  unique  points  that  should  strongly  beconsidered when figuring out how to move sales per-formance  and  sales  results  to  the  next  level.  First, performance change programs must incorporate a cus-tomer survey that is customized for the program, andperformance change programs should also examine thesuccess  factors  from  the  customer’s  perspective.Second, the program must incorporate into each casestudy  the  “best  practices”  of  your  top  salespeople.  Inother words, we must leverage the insights of an orga-nization’s  best  people  in  order  to  help  others  within the company.
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So,  as  I  end  this  book,  I  can’t  help  but  wonder  what  a  thirdgeneration  of  performance  change  might  look  like.  The  goodnews? I don’t have to worry about it until the second generationgrows up and comes of age. Good luck, and may all of you becomevalue creators!
Dick CanadaHanover, New HampshireAugust, 2001
Contact: Dick CanadaE-Mail: rcanada@indiana.eduKelley School of BusinessIndiana University Bloomington, IN 47405812-855-8878
or
The Institute for Global Sales StudiesKelley School of BusinessIndiana Universitywww.bus.indiana.edu/globalsales
or
The Dartmouth Group, Ltd.10333 N. Meridian Street,  Ste. 230Indianapolis, IN 46290317-573-4844www.dartmouthgroup.com
notes
NOTE FOR PREFACE1.  Neil  Rackham  conducted  the  study  at  Xerox.Rackham is a preeminent sales researcher who studied35,000  sales  calls  in  23  countries  over  a  period  of  12years. He is the author of over fifty research and tech-nical  papers,  and  his  works  have  been  translated  intothirteen languages. 
NOTES FOR CHAPTER 11. Conversation with the author.
2. Conversations between the author and Neil Rackhamduring August 2000.
3.  Jamie  Comstock  and  Garry  Higgins,  “AppropriateRelational  Messages  in  Direct  Selling  Interaction:Should  Salespeople  Adapt  to  Buyers’  CommunicatorStyle?”  Journal  of  Business  Communication, 34,  no.  4(1990):  401–418.  Comstock  and  Higgins  studied  100advertising  buyers  from  100  different  companies  in  amedium-sized city in the Florida panhandle. Participantswere selected to provide a proportional representation ofbusinesses within the community. Buyers were predom-inantly  male  (67  percent)  and  Anglo  (79  percent).Observations by The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., and con-versations with the Indiana University Institute for SalesStudies confirm Comstock and Higgins’s findings.
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4. Ibid. 
5. Ibid.
6.  The  Dartmouth  Group,  Ltd.,  field  observations  of  salespeoplewho “give information versus seek information” and their resultingsuccess on sales calls.
7. Robert B. Miller and Stephen E. Heiman with Tad Tuleja, StrategicSelling (New York: Warner Books, 1986) and Neil Rackham’s studyof 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over a period of 12 years. Millerand Heiman and Rackham diverge on the specific characteristics ofcoaches, but both emphasize their importance. 
8.  Miller  and  Heiman,  Strategic  Selling, chap.  12,  “Your  Coach:  AKey to the Other Buying Influences,” 208–213. 
9. Miller and Heiman argue that the coach can be found anywhere:in your organization, in the buying organization, or outside both. InStrategic  Selling they  discuss  the  criteria  for  a  good  coach  on  pp.83–87.  They  define  the  coach’s  role  as  “to  provide  information,direction, guidance—and in many cases access to the other BuyingInfluences.  But  the  Coach  doesn’t  do  your  selling  for  you [emphasistheirs]” (215–216). 
10. Miller and Heiman, Strategic Selling.
11. Stephen E. Heiman and Diane Sanchez with Tad Tuleja, The NewConceptual Selling (New York: Warner Books, 1999), Neil Rackham,SPIN®Selling (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988), and Achieve-Global,Professional Selling Skills IV, further support this point. 
12. Neil Rackham’s study of 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over aperiod of 12 years, cited in SPIN® Selling, 61.
13. Neil Rackham and John Carlisle, “The Effective Negotiator—Part I: The Behavior of Successful Negotiators,” Journal of EuropeanIndustrial Design Training 2, no. 6 (1978): 6–11.
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NOTES FOR CHAPTER 21.  POOPS  Matrix for  September  7,  2000  through  September  28,2000,  Undergraduate  Career  Services,  Kelley  School  of  Business,Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47405.
2.  National  Collegiate  Sales  Competition  (NCSC)  Event,  BaylorUniversity,  Center  for  Professional  Selling,  Waco,  TX  76798,February  25–26,  2000.  Baylor  University  Center  for  ProfessionalSelling, National Collegiate Sales Competition (NCSC) Event, P.O.Box 98007, Waco, TX, 76798, telephone 254-710-4246. 
3. Conversation between the author and Jonathan Walsman, for-mer  account manager, Xerox Corporation, Indianapolis, IN, June26, 2000.
4. Argyris and Schon first proposed double-loop learning theory inC.  Argyris  and  D.  Schon,  Increasing  Leadership  Effectiveness (SanFrancisco:  Jossey-Bass,  1976).  Double-loop  learning  is  a  theory  ofpersonal change, or how an individual learns to change underlyingvalues and assumptions. Double-loop learning incorporates “theoryof action,” a perspective first outlined by Argyris & Schon in Theoryin Practice (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1974). “Theory of action” (orwhat people think they do) takes the perspective that human beingsare actors and that an individual’s behavior is part of and is informedby his or her theory of action. 
An important contrast to the theory of action is an individual’s “the-ory-in-use” (what people actually do, as opposed to what they thinkthey do). Bringing what people think they do (theory of action) andwhat they actually do (theory-in-use) into congruence is a primaryconcern of double-loop learning. Typically, interaction with othersis necessary in order to identify the conflict between the two. 
There are four basic steps in applying action theory: (1) discoveryof  the  espoused  theory  of  action  and  actual  theory-in-use,  (2)  the
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invention  of  new  meanings  for  each,  (3)  the  production  of  newactions, and (4) generalization of results. 
In double-loop learning, assumptions underlying current views arequestioned and hypotheses about behavior are tested publicly. Theend result should be increased effectiveness in decision making andbetter acceptance of failures and mistakes.
See www.hfni.gsehd.gwu.edu/~tip/argyris.html
5. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field studies of sales topperformers.
6. “Sales U? Companies Want Graduates Who Can Sell Now,” TheWall Street Journal, October 12, 1999, A-1.
7. Conversations between Neil Rackham and the author.
8.  Rosann  L.  Spiro  and  Barton  Weitz,  “Adaptive  Selling:Conceptualization, Measurement and Nomological Validity,” Journalof Marketing Research, February 1990. Dr. Spiro is also a coauthor ofa  best-selling  sales  management  textbook,  William  J.  Stanton,Rosann Spiro, and Richard Buskirk, Management of a Sales Force, 9thed.  (Homewood,  IL:  Irwin,  1995),  which  also  cites  her  and  Dr.Weitz’s  original  study  (p.  252).  Dr.  Weitz  is  also  coauthor  withStephen  B.  Castleberry  and  John  F.  Tanner,  Jr.,  of  the  college textbook  Selling:  Building  Partnerships, 3d  ed.  (New  York:  Irwin/McGraw-Hill, 1998).
9. Rackham’s studies, later published in SPIN® Selling (New York:McGraw-Hill,  1988),  debunked  this  myth.  He  discovered  thatwhether a question was open or closed wasn’t as important as thetype of question within each category. 
10.  “Sales  U?”  A-1  and  class  syllabi  submitted  at  the  AmericanMarketing  Association  Nineteenth  Annual  Faculty  Consortiumon Professional Selling and Sales Management, Orlando, Florida,July 1999. 
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11.  Presentation  by  Jon  Hawes,  Director,  Fisher  Institute  forProfessional  Selling  at  the  University  of  Akron,  at  the  AmericanMarketing Association Nineteenth Annual Faculty Consortium onProfessional Selling and Sales Management, Orlando, Florida, July1999. The University of Akron also offers a minor (18 credits) anda certificate (15 credits) in sales.
12. Selected colleges and universities are from “Sales U?” A-1 andclass  syllabi  submitted  at  the  American  Marketing  AssociationNineteenth Annual Faculty Consortium on Professional Selling andSales Management, Orlando, Florida, July 1999. 
13. “Sales U?” A-1.
14. Ibid.
15.  William  J.  Stanton,  Rosann  Spiro,  and  Richard  Buskirk,Management of a Sales Force, 9th ed. (Homewood, IL: Irwin, 1995).Also, The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field studies of top per-formers. Top performers tended to have solid interpersonal skills,but there didn’t seem to be an initial correlation between investiga-tive  skills  and  interpersonal  skills  or  adaptive  skills,  leading  us  toconclude that selling skills needed to be developed, i.e., people werenot born with them. Although the observations by the DartmouthGroup,  Ltd.,  were  field  observations  and  not  formal  studies,  thisinference meets the test of reasonableness. 
16.  Observations  by  the  Dartmouth  Group,  Ltd.,  personnel,including Mike Navel, Tricia Wilson, Mark Slaby, Susan Woods,and Gina Shupe.
17.  Conversations  between  the  author  and  Neil  Rackham  duringAugust 2000.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER 31.  Conversation  between  the  author  and  Don  Argay,  Manager,Training & Development, Eli Lilly Pharmaceutical Division, 1993,
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at Eli Lilly corporate offices in Indianapolis, Indiana. Eli Lilly’s salesorganization called on physicians and used a customized sales pro-gram developed especially for Eli Lilly. 
2.  Sales  researcher  Neil  Rackham  found  that  strategically  cus-tomized training programs were likely to be nearly twice as effec-tive as off-the-shelf, generic programs. (IKON seminar in Atlanta,Georgia in October 1996.) 
3.  I  joined  Xerox  in  1971,  when  its  national  training  facility  waslocated at the Sheraton Hotel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. In June of1971, I participated in the first version (PSS-1) of this continuallyevolving program (which as of this writing is in its fourth revision).In the mid-1970s, when I became a sales manager, I began teachingPSS to Xerox’s new hires. 
4.  In  research  conducted  by  Neil  Rackham  in  1984–1985,  evenpeople who were well trained in communication style techniquescouldn’t identify the buyer’s style when they watched videos of realsales calls.
5. One study, however showed no correlation between the seller’scommunication style and the style buyers said they prefer. JamieComstock and Garry Higgins, “Appropriate Relational Messagesin  Direct  Selling  Interaction:  Should  Salespeople  Adapt  toBuyer’s Communicator Style?” Journal of Business Communication34,  no.  4  (1997):  401–418.  Comstock  and  Higgins  studied  100advertising  buyers  from  100  different  companies  in  a  medium-sized city in the Florida panhandle. Participants were selected toprovide  a  proportional  representation  of  businesses  within  thecommunity.  Buyers  were  predominantly  male  (67  percent)  andAnglo (79 percent).
6.  Neil  Rackham  studied  35,000  sales  calls  in  23  countries  over  aperiod  of  12  years  and  developed  a  behaviorally  based  programbased on this research.
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7.  Neil  Rackham’s  study  at  Xerox,  cited  in  Neil  Rackham  andRichard  Ruff,  Managing  Major  Sales (New  York,  HarperBusiness,1991), 128–130.
8. Interview between The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., personnel andthe author in 1999.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER 41. Rackham’s conclusion: “It’s more important that your key ideasget to the decision-maker than that you should present them in per-son.”  Rackham’s  study  of  35,000  sales  calls  in  23  countries  over  aperiod of 12 years is cited in his Major Account Sales Strategy (NewYork: McGraw-Hill, 1989), 19–20, 34.
2.  The  Dartmouth  Group,  Ltd.,  field  study  observations,1995–1999. 
3. Neil Rackham labels objective criteria as “hard” in Major AccountSales Strategy.
4. www.salesdoctors.com/diagnosis/3value3.htm.
5.  The  Dartmouth  Group,  Ltd.,  memorandum  by  Susan  Woodsdated December 9, 1998.
6. Ibid.
7.  Tom  Fee  of  Sales  Process  Solutions,  Inc.,  “Their  [customers’]responsibilities  to  themselves  and  their  stakeholders  (employees,stockholders, customers, etc.) have become their [customers’] over-riding concern.” www.salesdoctors.com/diagnosis/3rel.htm, fall 1999.
8. Lecture given by Neil Rackham during a sales management classat Indiana University on April 12, 2000. 
9. Discussion with Dr. Richard Ruff in August 2000. 
10. Neil Rackham, “Why Bad Things Happen to Good Products,”Journal of Product Innovation Management, May 1998. 
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11. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., behavioral analysis studies at theMEDSTAT Group, 1999–2000.
12. The phrase “don’t let enthusiasm get in the way” is from conver-sations between the author and Neil Rackham during August 2000.
13. Neil Rackham’s study of 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over aperiod of 12 years, cited in Rackham, Major Account Sales Strategy,116. When customers told salespeople that the reason the salespeo-ple had lost the business was price, 64 percent of the time price was-n’t  the  main  reason.  More  important  factors  were  the  risks  andpenalties that the customer feared would come from buying from aparticular vendor. 
14. Conversations between the author and Dr. Richard Ruff duringDr.  Ruff’s  visit  to  the  Kelley  School  of  Business  at  IndianaUniversity,  April  5–7,  2000,  and  Neil  Rackham’s  study  of  35,000sales  calls  in  23  countries  over  a  period  of  12  years,  cited  inRackham, Major Account Sales Strategy, 116. 
15. Ibid.
16.  Private  conversations  between  Neil  Rackham  and  the  authorduring visits to the Institute for Global Sales Studies at the KelleySchool of Business at Indiana University and Neil Rackham’s studyof 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over a period of 12 years, citedin Rackham, Major Account Sales Strategy, 124.
17. Deep-seated concerns are also discussed in Stephen E. Heimanand  Diane  Sanchez  with  Tad  Tuleja,  The  New  Conceptual  Selling(New  York:  Warner  Books,  1999);  Neil  Rackham,  SPIN® Selling(New York: McGraw-Hill, 1988); and Kevin Davis and Kenneth H.Blanchard,  Getting  Into  Your  Customer’s  Head:  The  Eight  Roles  ofCustomer Focused Selling (New York: Times Books, 1996).
18. Strategic Marketing Class, August 1991 at Amos Tuck School ofBusiness Administration at Dartmouth College.
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19. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field observations of topperformers, 1990–2000.
20. Conversations between the author and Neil Rackham in August2000.
21. Ibid. 
22. Ibid. 
23. Ibid. 
24.  Neil  Rackham’s  talk  to  the  M426  Sales  Management  Class  atIndiana University, April 12, 2000. 
25.  Private  conversations  between  the  author  and  Neil  Rackhamduring Rackham’s visits to the Institute for Global Sales Studies atthe  Kelley  School  of  Business  at  Indiana  University,  and  NeilRackham’s study of 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over a periodof 12 years, cited in Rackham, Major Account Sales Strategy, 116. 
26.  The  Dartmouth  Group,  Ltd.,  field  studies  of  top  performersinclude  observations  of  sales  calls  across  many  industries,  such  astelecommunications,  office  products,  office  furniture,  computersoftware,  publishing,  health  care,  financial  services,  and  bankingfrom 1990 through 2000. Our field behavioral studies have includedindustry leaders like Xerox, Westinghouse, Eli Lilly, McGraw-Hill,and Herman-Miller distributor reps. Our observations of top per-formers indicate that they offer solutions later in the sales call thanaverage or subpar performers.
27.  Rolf  B.  White,  ed.,  The  Great  Business  Quotations (New  York,Dell, 1986), 131.
28. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd. observations during a behavioralanalysis study with Union Federal Bank, conducted by Mike Naveland  Tracey  Welch  in  1998–1999  with  Union  Federal  Bank  smallbusiness lenders. 
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29.  Linda  Richardson,  Stop  Telling,  Start  Selling:  How  to  UseCustomer-Focused Dialogue to Close Sales (New York: McGraw-Hill,1997), and Stephen E. Heiman and Diane Sanchez with Tad Tuleja,The New Conceptual Selling (New York: Warner Books, 1999), 182:“Good questions can motivate and sustain your customer’s interest,stimulate her thinking and modify her attitudes.”
30. Conversations with Neil Rackham suggest that salespeople aremore likely to ask lots of questions when they believe the purposeis  to  understand  rather  than  persuade.  Neil  Rackham’s  study  of35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over a period of 12 years, cited inNeil  Rackham,  The SPIN® Selling  Field  Workbook (New  York:McGraw-Hill, 1999), 169.
31. Thomas N. Ingram with Raymond W. Laforge and Charles H.Schwepker, Jr., Sales Management: Analysis and Decision Making, 3d ed.,The Dryden Press Series in Marketing, (Orlando, FL: HBJ, 1997).
32. Wilson Learning and IKON Office Solutions, 1995, 9.
33.  “Selling  at  the  Speed  of  Change  (as  Business  Changes,Salespeople Must Change)” Sales & Marketing Management, 151, no.11 (1999): S22.
34. John F. Monoky, “7 Attributes of Successful Sellers,” IndustrialDistribution 83, no. 3 (1994): 58.
NOTES FOR CHAPTER 51.  Sales-skill-based  programs  usually  contain  probing  models  andtechniques  for  uncovering  and  developing  client  needs.  In  somecases,  negotiation  behaviors  are  taught  in  a  company’s  basic  salestraining  program,  but  normally  these  skill  behaviors  are  coveredlater, in the advanced training modules. 
2. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year study included a multina-tional office products company, 1990–2000. Many of its managers
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were not sufficiently familiar with their company’s basic sales skillprogram to effectively coach and reinforce it.
3.  Neil  Rackham’s  study  at  Xerox,  cited  in  Neil  Rackham  andRichard  Ruff,  Managing  Major  Sales, (New  York:  Harperbusiness,1991), 129–130.
4. Learning International, Sales Coaching: The Key to Leading a High-Performance Team (Stamford, Conn.: Learning International, 1994),10. This covers research conducted among leading sales organiza-tions worldwide between 1992 and 1994.
5.  This  notion  was  documented  in  Rackham  and  Ruff,  ManagingMajor Sales.
6. Neil Rackham’s study of 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries over aperiod  of  12  years,  cited  in  Rackham  and  Ruff,  Managing  MajorSales, 13–14.
7. For further details on this finding, refer to Neil Rackham, SPIN®Selling (McGraw-Hill, 1988).
8. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field studies of top per-formers  (1990–2000).  Also  confirmed  by  the  Institute  for  GlobalSales Studies, Indiana University, “Role Play Effectiveness in M430Professional  Selling  Classes;  1995–2000;  Persuasion  ExercisesBetween Sellers & Buyers.” See also Stephen E. Heiman and DianeSanchez  with  Tad  Tuleja,  The  New  Conceptual  Selling (New  York:Warner Books, 1999), 33.
9. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field studies of top per-formers. Also confirmed by the Institute for Global Sales Studies,Kelley  School  of  Business,  Indiana  University,  “Role  PlayEffectiveness  in  M430  Professional  Selling  Classes;  1995–2000;Persuasion Exercises Between Sellers & Buyers.”
10. The Dartmouth Group, Ltd., ten-year field studies of top per-formers  (1990–2000).  Also  confirmed  by  the  Institute  for  Global
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Sales Studies, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University, “RolePlay Effectiveness in M430 Professional Selling Classes; 1995-2000;Persuasion Exercises Between Sellers & Buyers.” 
11. Neil Rackham’s research on 35,000 sales calls in 23 countries overa period of 12 years, cited in Rackham, SPIN® Selling, 132–133.
12. Ibid., 33.
13.  Learning  International,  Sales  Coaching,  2. “[But]  data  gatheredduring  our  most  recent  research,  conducted  among  leading  salesorganizations worldwide between 1992 and 1994, revealed an alarm-ing  finding:  Few  sales  managers  do any  real  coaching  at  all.”  Theresearch  was  conducted  by  Learning  International  (now  AchieveGlobal) among leading sales organizations worldwide between 1992and 1994. 
14. Ibid., 10: “Most participants could easily describe the attributesof  a  good  coach—and,  indeed,  there  was  widespread  agreementabout  what  those  attributes  are.  There  was  very  little  agreement,however, about the process the sales coach uses to be effective.” 24:“In addition, most participants acknowledged that there’s a large gapbetween what sales coaching should be and what it is.”
15. Ibid., 24: “Many organizations do not consider sales coaching tobe a separate sales management discipline; instead, the sales man-ager’s own sales experience is thought to be an adequate source ofsales wisdom, strategies for improvement, and motivation.” 
16. Ibid., 25: “The sales managers learned and applied selling strate-gies that worked in a marketplace that no longer exists. Often, theirexperience in that marketplace is not relevant when trying to helpsalespeople deal with today’s sales challenges.” 
17. Ibid., 26: “Yet salespeople say the coaching they receive is still toobasic to help them meet their customers’ escalating demands.” 
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18. Ibid., 27: “Salespeople agreed that support and encouragementare important but feel that constructive feedback on their skills andperformance is equally critical.” 
NOTES FOR CHAPTER 61.  Margaret  McKegney,  “Dell  Adapts  Well  to  Online  Sales,”Advertising Age International, May 2000, 26.
2. Ibid. 
3.  Jeffrey  Gitomer,  “Here’s  Proof  E-Commerce  Is  a  Winner,”Birmingham Business Journal, March 17, 2000, 15.
4. Chad Kaydo, “You’ve Got Sales,” Sales and Marketing Management151, no. 10 (1999): 28. 
5. Ibid. 
6. Ibid. Applied began testing the customer extranets with 12 clientsin March 1999 and opened them to all customers in June 1999. ByAugust 1999, more than 100 clients had registered to use the service.
7. Ibid. 
8. Russ Banham, “The B-to-B Virtual Bazaar,” Journal of Accountancy190, no. 1 (2000): 26.
9. Ibid. PlasticsNet.com also offer users access to raw and manufac-tured materials through online exchanges and online catalogs. 
10. “Consultative sales benefit a great deal from a salesperson’s inti-mate knowledge of a customer’s specific operations, knowledge thatwould  be  hard  to  match  or  replace  electronically.”  Neil  Rackhamand  John  De  Vincentis,  Rethinking  the  Sales  Force (New  York:McGraw-Hill, 1999), 120. 
11. “Dell to Detroit: Get into Gear Online!” The Wall Street Journal,December 1, 1999, B4.
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12.  Publishing  Trends  Conference,  New  York,  November  1999,quoted in Publisher’s Weekly, November 29, 1999, 25. 
13.  Bill  Gates,  with  Collins  Hemingway,  Business  @  the  Speed  ofThought, Using a Digital Nervous System (Warner Books, 1999),  90.
14. “By some estimates, at least half of today’s selling positions willbe gone by 2004.” Harvard Management Update 4, no. 1 (1999): 11,quoting Neil Rackham and John De Vincentis.
15. Kaydo, “You’ve Got Sales.” 
16. Ibid. 
17. Ibid. 
18.  Alf  Nucifora,  “Are  You  Preparing  for  the  E-BusinessRevolution?”  Business  Journal (Central  New  York),  vol.  14,  no.  6(2000), 20.
19. Ibid.
20. Cisco@speed, The Economist, June 29, 1999, 12.
21. Kaydo, “You’ve Got Sales.” 
22. Ibid. 
23. Ibid.
24. Cisco@speed, The Economist.
25. Kaydo, “You’ve Got Sales. 
26. McKegney, “Dell Adapts Well to