In addition to having PhDs, the book’s author team have all worked in sales roles. As a result, this textbook balances the emphasis between theory and practice, with a practical emphasis on how sales management gets done. The book’s structure helps students better understand the career progression from being a salesperson who works well with a sales manager (Part One), to becoming a sales manager (Part Two), and progressing to a sales leadership role (Part Three). Incorporating current theory with practical applications, role plays, caselets and cases, this textbook will support the instructor who is seeking to prepare students to lead high-performance sales organizations.
Lenita M. Davis, Ph.D.
Dr. Lenita M. Davis is the Director of the Center of Sales and Sales Management at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire (UW-EC). Prior to this appointment, Dr. Davis was the Executive Director of the University of Arkansas Little Rock (UALR) Professional Sales program. Dr. Davis is also the founding director of the University of Alabama Sales Program. While establishing the University of Alabama Sales program, she worked with Interact Technology to invent technology that helps professors record and critique student role plays and presentations. The system is currently used in over 30 universities and colleges. Dr. Davis is an Executive Board Member of the University Sales Center Alliance. She initiated and led the Global Sales Research Initiative for the American Marketing Association’s Sales Special Interest Group. Dr. Davis is published frequently in an array of leading journals, and her articles have been cited more than 3,000 times. She also has more than ten years of managerial experience. She worked for Procter & Gamble’s Paper Division and for James River Corporation. Dr. Davis is a proud HBCU graduate from Tuskegee University. She received her Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering, earned an MBA from Xavier University, and a Ph.D. from the University of Cincinnati. When not working, Dr. Davis and her husband, Ken, travel. They also enjoy connecting with their daughters Kiah, Martinique, and Zarri.
Andrea L. Dixon, Ph.D.
Dr. Andrea Dixon provides academic leadership for Baylor University’s Center for Professional Selling. Since 2009, Dr. Dixon has built Baylor’s sales center into one of the top programs in the country. She has been published in the Journal of Marketing, Harvard Business Review, Organizational Science, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Leadership Quarterly, European Journal of Marketing (EJM), the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management (JPSSM), Journal of Marketing Education, and other journals. Her editorial-review-board assignments include those for the EJM, JPSSM, the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, the Journal of Business-to-Business Marketing, and the Journal of Marketing Education. Dr. Dixon has received numerous teaching awards, including the Academy of Marketing Science’s Marketing Teacher Award (2008) and the Excellence in Teaching Award from the American Marketing Association’s Sales SIG (2014). In 2020, she was named the Cornelia Marschall Smith Award winner, which is presented annually to a Baylor faculty member for contributing to the learning environment through teaching, research, and service. She has served on the boards of the AMA Academic Council, National Conference on Sales Management, and Global Sales Science Institute and as the president of the AMA Sales SIG. In 2019, Dr. Dixon became the president of the University Sales Center Alliance. At Baylor, she was the Vice-Chair, Presidential Search Committee and Faculty Regent, Baylor University Board of Regents. Prior to pursuing her Ph.D. (Indiana University), Dr. Dixon worked in sales roles in Boston-area advertising and marketing research firms. Outside of work, she and her husband, Doug, enjoy traveling and time with their adult twins, Taylor Dixon and Alex Dixon, their daughter-in-law, Kimberly, and their two grandchildren.
Robert C. Erffmeyer, Ph.D.
Robert C. Erffmeyer (Louisiana State University) is Professor Emeritus of Marketing at the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. Until he retired in 2020, he was actively involved in undergraduate and MBA on-campus and distance learning efforts for more than 25 years. He founded the UW-EC Sales and Sales Management Center. He also was the founding director of the University of Wisconsin Consortium MBA Program. Beginning in 2007, Dr. Erffmeyer established the Great Northwoods’ Sales Warm-Up sales competition held annually at UW-EC. He was a visiting professor in the Asian Studies Program at Kansai Gaidai University, in Osaka, Japan, and has lectured in China and Vietnam. On two occasions, Dr. Erffmeyer was recognized with the Outstanding Faculty Award by graduate students in the University of Wisconsin Consortium MBA Program. He also received the UW-EC College of Business Creativity and Innovation Award for his work in sales education and distance learning. Dr. Erffmeyer published in outlets such as the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Marketing Education Review, Journal of Marketing Education, Industrial Marketing Management, the Journal of Business Ethics, Personnel Psychology, as well as others. He received the University of Wisconsin System Applied Research Grant and was the first recipient of the Marketing Education Review Award. During his career, Dr. Erffmeyer has served in numerous officer and board positions in the University Sales Center Alliance, the Society of Marketing Advances, and the Marketing Management Association. He served two terms as President of SMA and is a Fellow of the Marketing Management Association. Dr. Erffmeyer and his wife, Gretchen, reside in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. They enjoy traveling and biking and kayaking in the Northwoods, especially when their daughter, Hannah, joins them.
Earl Honeycutt, Jr., Ph.D.
Earl Honeycutt is Emeritus Professor of Marketing at Elon University, N.C. When he retired in 2012, he was Martha and Spencer Love Professor of Marketing and University Distinguished Scholar. Dr. Honeycutt earned his Ph.D. at the University of Georgia where his dissertation investigated sales training. Since then he taught undergraduate, MBA, and doctoral seminars as a tenured professor at UNC—Wilmington, Old Dominion University, and Elon University.
Prior to entering academia, he served as a B-52G flight officer in the United States Air Force and retired from the Air Force Reserve as a Colonel (0-6). After earning his MBA, he worked in B2B sales and marketing for an electronics division of TRW, Inc.
Dr. Honeycutt has published more than 200 articles in myriad outlets, and he received recognition for best papers from the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Marketing Education Review, and Journal of Marketing: Theory & Practice. Dr. Honeycutt has also co-authored textbooks in the areas of B2B marketing, global sales management, and cross-cultural selling.
Over the past two decades he led numerous study abroad trips for his students to Australia, Belgium, China, England, and the Philippines, and taught classes in Japan.
When not working on academic pursuits, Dr. Honeycutt, his wife Laura, their son Travis, daughter-in-law Andrea, and three grandchildren travel to Costa Rica and spend time at their home in Wrightsville Beach, N.C.
Emily C. Tanner, Ph.D.
Emily C. Tanner is Assistant Professor of Marketing for the John Chambers College of Business and Economics at West Virginia University (WVU). Her research focuses on the formation and management of marketing relationships and factors influencing the well-being of vulnerable populations. Her work has been supported by federal and WVU grants. Her research has appeared in the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, Journal of Services Marketing, and the Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing. Prior to entering academia, Dr. Tanner worked in marketing research sales and was a founder of the healthcare practice for e-Rewards, now Dynata, a marketing research company based in Dallas, Texas. There, she managed and developed a 25-person, sales- and-project management team. Dr. Tanner also has experience in consulting in strategic and marketing management. She and her husband, Ryan, reside in Morgantown, West Virginia, with their daughter, Ruby. They enjoy traveling and exploring in Almost Heaven, West Virginia.
John F. (Jeff) Tanner Jr., Ph.D.
John F. (Jeff) Tanner Jr., Ph.D. (University of Georgia) is Dean of Strome College of Business and Professor of Marketing, Old Dominion University (ODU), in Norfolk, Virginia. Prior to entering academia, Jeff spent eight years in sales and marketing for Rockwell International and Xerox. At ODU, he launched the sales program, created the Sales Slam competition, and secured a gift to endow the first collegiate School of Professional Selling & Sales Management. Prior to ODU, he served in various roles, including codirector for the Center for Professional Selling at Baylor University, the first type of center of its kind in the world. Dr. Tanner has received several awards for teaching effectiveness and research, including Distinguished Teacher from the Society for Marketing Advances and Outstanding Visiting Lecturer from ITESM in Monterrey, Mexico. He is the author or coauthor of 80-plus articles in journals such as the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, and the Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. Jeff’s research has won numerous awards, such as JPSSM’s Paper of the Year. His research and fieldwork include work in Malawi, Australia, India, Mexico, Nicaragua, France, and Colombia. He is also author or coauthor of 15 books, including the leading sales text (with Steve Castleberry), Selling: Building Partnerships, and Principles of Marketing: How Marketing Gets Done (with Mary Anne Raymond). Two of his books are for executives: The Hard Truth About Soft Selling and Analytics & Dynamic Customer Strategy: Big Profits from Big Data. Currently, Jeff serves on the board of the Hampton Roads Chamber, VersAbility (an employer of and services provider to disabled persons), and as a commissioner on the Virginia Horse Racing Commission.
