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Albert Dunlap

Al Dunlap is an original: an outspoken, irascible executive with an incredible track record of injecting new life into tired companies. The business media have coined a new verb–“to dunlap”–when describing a fast company turnaround. In April 1994 he became CEO and chairman of Scott Paper, which had lost $277 million in 1993, was on credit watch for excessive debt, and whose stock had been comatose for seven years. In a mere nineteen months, Scott had record earnings, the stock had increased in value by $6.5 billion (over 200 percent), and Dunlap merged Scott with Kimberly-Clark in a stock swap that valued Scott at $9 billion and created the second largest consumer-products company in the United States.

Mean Business combines Dunlap’s colorful personal history–his working-class background, employment, friendship with such people as Sir James Goldsmith and Kerry Packer, his views on why too many executives think of themselves as corporate royalty–and his provocative ideas on management and leadership. His specific, tested program on how to evaluate and choose a management team, get the lowest costs from suppliers, improve the balance sheet, and develop a real strategy make this an invaluable book.

The controversy about corporate performance and how to achieve it is near the boiling point, as executives face the hard fact of business life: What is good or even excellent today won’t be satisfactory tomorrow. Mean Business is absolutely essential for both companies in trouble as well as those at the top of their game.

Colleen Francis

Put an end to boom and bust sales cycles – once and for all!

Do your company’s sales results lurch between highs and lows – with the end of each quarter reduced to a mad scramble to meet quota? For many sales organizations, the pattern is commonplace and unshakeable. Nonstop Sales Boom explains how to break this unhealthy cycle and achieve strong, steady results – every quarter, from every member of the team.

The secret is to broaden the focus from merely closing deals to actively nurturing the four critical stages of client engagement: Attraction: Fill the funnel with lucrative prospects; Participation: Turn them into customers faster; Growth: Invest in valued clients; and Leverage: Turn customers into referral generators.

When companies concentrate on only one or two of these areas, their results become erratic. With the field-tested strategies in Nonstop Sales Boom, readers will learn how to systematically attract a regular flow of prospects and move them smoothly through the pipeline.

Packed with enlightening examples of sales disasters and standouts, this practical guide brings balance to the selling process, reliability to revenues, and booming sales all year long.

Lee B. Salz

It’s the revolving door on sales teams. Executives hire who they believe to be great salespeople, but the results never come – and the salespeople are let go. This perpetual cycle eradicates profits, makes revenue targets pipe dreams, and has sales leaders pulling out their hair in frustration.

Despite these issues, executives continue to try to “hire great salespeople.” That three-word expression is exactly what “Hire Right, Higher Profits” is all about. Sales management strategist, Lee Salz shows you how to stop the vicious cycle by treating hiring decisions as you would any other investment.

He begins the book by challenging readers with the $25,000 Revenue Test which most executives fail. Then, he hits readers between the eyes with the statement “there are no great salespeople” and offers proof of it! He also cautions those executives – who view the competition as their primary sales talent source – of its risks.

But Salz doesn’t stop there! He challenges executives to shift their perspective from hiring salespeople to investing in revenue. Each salesperson represents a revenue investment made by the company with the core objective of receiving a fast, high return on it – no different than when companies invest in sales strategies, tactics, and ideas to grow revenue.

“Hire Right, Higher Profits” teaches executives how to determine what type of revenue investment is needed, evaluate revenue investment candidates and get a fast, high return on the investment made in their new salespeople. In this widely-acclaimed book, you learn how to:

  • Shift your executive team’s perspective from hiring salespeople to investing in revenue
  • Identify the factors that affect revenue investment performance – the causes of salesperson success and failure in the role
  • Scrutinize a salesperson’s resume to get to the truth
  • Assemble a screening program to adeptly evaluate investment candidates so you select the right ones
  • Avoid the common mistakes executives make when they recruit salespeople from the competition
  • Protect the revenue investment through structured sales onboarding and enablement
  • Design sales onboarding curriculum to get a fast, high return on the new revenue investments
  • Assess revenue investment performance both during and post-onboarding

 

“Hire Right, Higher Profits” is a step-by-step, practical guide teaching you how to implement the revenue investment concept in your company – impacting both the top and bottom lines. It’s a fun, educational read that is chock-full of stories as you learn how to build a world-class sales force. The methodology presented in the book can be implemented in any company, in any industry, of any size. The book is not based on scientific studies, but rather on real-world, field-tested sales management practices that Lee Salz has developed and used for over twenty years. Whether you are a seasoned executive or new sales manager, this book has everything you need to hire right.