Salespersons occupy a vital position in most organizations yet they tend not to hold their profession in high esteem. According to the author of this book, unless salespersons take pride in their work, they are unlikely to perform to the best of their abilities. This, in turn, is bound to affect the organization in terms of both its growth and its profit. Pingali Venugopal approaches the sales management function from the motivational dimension in order to revive the lost vocational esteem in the sales profession. Divided into two sections, this book - takes an integrated view of management decisions, both strategic and operational, and works out each as a motivator for the salespersons; - emphasizes the need for managers to motivate salespersons, beyond the commonly used monetary incentives; - highlights the importance of behavioural transactions that have to take place for a sale to be successful; - develops a framework to integrate the sales management function with the marketing mix so that there are no overlaps; and - stresses the need to devise appropriate training programmes for salespersons.
Pingali Venugopal, Associate Director, XLRI, Center for Global Management and Responsible Leadership, and Professor (Marketing), has teaching, industry, consulting, and research experience in the Marketing function in the Indian context for over 33 years. He has done his Post Graduate Programme and Doctorate from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. He has been a Marketing Faculty at XLRI, Jamshedpur, since 1994 and the Dean of the Institute from 2004 to 2010. He has also been a Visiting Faculty to leading institutes in India including the Indian Institutes of Management in Ahmedabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, and Indore and international institutes including American University of Armenia and Educatis University Switzerland. He has taught courses such as Marketing Management, Sales and Distribution Management, Agricultural Input Management, and Marketing Research at these institutes. Prior to joining academics, he has worked in Marketing Department of Coromandel Fertilisers and Nagarjuna Fertilisers and Chemicals Ltd for a period of 10 years. While at Coromandel, he was also involved in the launch of their cement brand.
Venugopal’s research and publication cover different marketing topics, and he has authored seven books covering the areas of marketing and Indian economy. His books Sales and Distribution Management: An Indian Perspective and Marketing Management: A Decision Making Approach have been adopted as texts in several business schools including the Indian Institutes of Management. On the invitation of Government of India, he prepared the report on Input Management, State of Indian Farmer―A Millennium study wherein he evaluated the impact of the policy measures on the Indian farmers from Independence to 2000. After the formation of Jharkhand, he was part of the steering committee of the Jharkhand Development Report prepared for the Planning Commission. As part of the report he also prepared the agricultural plan for the newly formed state. He is on the Board of Tata Metaliks, Advisor to Kerzon Consultants, and on the Academic Committee of National Institute like National Institute of Agricultural Extension Management, Hyderabad and National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur. He has also been involved as an expert for programs conducted by some agri-business companies such as Zuari, UPL, and PI industries.
