Your textbook title includes the word service. Service refers to making a contribution to the welfare of others. Why? It is time to make the bold statement that salespeople exist to help others.

In recent years we have seen the worst of American business. Gallup (one of America's leading pollsters) has found that some categories of salespeople's jobs are the lowest-rated job categories for perceived honesty and ethical standards. Chances are, the majority of students have a negative attitude about salespeople.

We can correct this image by illustrating the wonderful things professional salespeople do. This edition emphasizes helping others through the application of the Golden Rule of Personal Selling. This simple sales philosophy is based upon treating others unselfishly, as you would like to be treated.

ABC's of Selling is written by a salesperson turned teacher. For eight years I worked in sales with Colgate, Upjohn, and Ayerst. As an academic, I have taught selling to thousands of college students, businesspeople, and industry sales personnel, developing and using the strategies, practices, and techniques presented in this textbook. Moreover, each year I continue to spend time in fieldwork with sales personnel. In my classes and programs, I stress "learning by doing" examples and exercises and videotape role playing of selling situations. This book is the result of these experiences.

When students ask me why I moved out of sales, I always reply, "I really haven't. I'm just selling a different product in a different industry." We are all selling, whether it's a product, an idea, our parents, a friend, or ourselves--as when interviewing for a job.

ABC's of Selling was conceived as a method of providing ample materials that allow readers to construct their own sales presentations after studying the text. This allows the instructor the flexibility of focusing on the "how-to-sell" approach within the classroom. Covering the basic foundations for understanding the concepts and practices of selling in a practical, straightforward, and readable manner, it provides students with a guide to use in preparing sales presentations and role-playing exercises.

The title should help you understand the philosophy of this book. A student of sales should understand the fundamentals--the Basics--of personal selling. All of them. I do not advocate one way of selling as the best route to success! There are many roads to reaching one's goals.

I do feel a salesperson should have an assortment of selling skills and should be very knowledgeable, even an expert, in the field. Based on the situation, the salesperson determines the appropriate actions to take for a particular prospect or customer. No matter what the situation, however, the basic fundamentals of selling can be applied.

There is no place in our society for high-pressure, manipulative selling. The salesperson is a problem solver, a helper, and an advisor to the customer. If the customer has no need, the salesperson should accept that and move on to help another person or firm. If the customer has a need, however, the salesperson should and must go for the sale. All successful salespeople I know feel that once they determine that the customer is going to buy someone's product--and that their product will satisfy that customer's needs--it is their job to muster all their energy, skill, and know-how to make that sale. That is what it's all about!

It is my sincere hope that after the reader has studied this book, he or she will say, "There's a lot more to selling than I ever imagined." I hope many people will feel that this material can help them earn a living and that selling is a great occupation and career.

At the end of the course, I hope all the students will have learned how to prepare and give a sales presentation by visually, verbally, and nonverbally communicating their message. I know of no other marketing course whose class project is so challenging and where so much learning takes place.

Finally, I hope each student realizes that these new communication skills can be applied to all aspects of life. Once learned and internalized, selling skills will help a person be a better communicator throughout life.

The publisher and I worked hard to ensure that ABC's of Selling would provide students with the basic foundation for understanding all major aspects of selling. The chapters in the text are divided into four parts:

Selling as a Profession. Emphasizes the history, career, rewards, and duties of the professional salesperson and illustrates the importance of the sales function to the organization's success. It also examines the social, ethical, and legal issues in selling.

Preparation for Relationship Selling. Presents the background information salespeople use to develop their sales presentations.

The Relationship Selling Process. At the heart of this book, this part covers the entire selling process from prospecting to follow-up. State-of-the-art selling strategies, practices, and techniques are presented in a "how-to" fashion.

Time and Territory Management: Keys to Success. The importance of the proper use and management of one’s time and sales territory is given thorough coverage.

New Emphasis. Unselfish and ethical service to the customer underscores the new Golden Rule of Personal Selling--a sales philosophy of unselfishly treating others as you would like to be treated without expecting reciprocity. This is how to build longterm relationships with customers.

The Tree of Business Life Icon. Beginning with Chapter 3, The Tree of Business Life icon is used to remind the reader of one of the main themes of the book. This theme emphasizes that by providing ethical service you build true relationships. This section was developed in hopes of having the reader consider how a salesperson would incorporate ethical service into the chapter’s topic.

The Golden Rule Icon. The Golden Rule Icon appears in each chapter to help reinforce the Tree of Business Life. The combination of the Golden Rule and the "Tree" guidelines for business and selling forms the core theme of this textbook. Unselfishly treating prospects/customers as you would like to be treated without expecting something in return results in ethical service which builds true long-term relationships. If you think about it, this is how you build true personal friendships. Why not build your business relationships on this rock?

Video Cases. Cases 2.1, 2.2, 4.3, 5A.5, 7.3, 10.3, 12.4, and 13.3 can be use independently or with eight of the videos accompanying this book. Each of the eight cases highlights a tough ethical dilemma often faced by sales personnel in today’s competitive marketplace.

Sales Call Role-Plays and Videos. The first three of the four role-plays in Appendix A have videos created incorporating our selling process. The two people featured in the three role-plays completed my selling course. The professional selling materials in Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 do a great job in illustrating. Actually used in my classes by hundreds of students, these role-plays are created from information used by today's top sales forces.

Sell Yourself on a Job Interview. This all-time favorite roleplay is in Appendix B with other experiential exercises. For years I have used this student pleaser in both my personal selling and sales management classes. When students see themselves on video they quickly realize what needs to be done for a professional interview. You have to try this exercise one time!

ACT! Customer Contact. Using software to maintain contact with customers and prospects is a necessity in the 21st century.

Student Application Learning Exercises (SALES). Chapters directly related to creating the role-play have SALES that aid students in better understanding how to construct this popular class project. These were first used in Professor Futrell's classes in the fall of 1997. Students unanimously felt they were great in helping them correctly construct their role-plays.

Sales Careers. Career information has been expanded throughout so students will better understand that there are sales jobs in all organizations--business, service, and nonprofit.

Selling Experiential Exercises. These end-of-chapter exercises help students to better understand themselves and/or the text material. Many can be done in class or completed outside and discussed in class.

Selling Globally Appendix. Many of these new box items were written by friends and colleagues from countries around the world.

Technology in Selling. A central theme within each chapter shows the use of technology and automation in selling and servicing prospects and customers.

Many reality-based features are included in the ninth edition to stimulate learning. One major goal of this book is to offer better ways of using it to convey sales knowledge to the reader. To do this, the book includes numerous special features:

Photo Essays. The book features many photographs accompanied by captions that describe sales events and how they relate to chapter materials.

Chapter Topics and Objectives. Each chapter begins with a clear statement of learning objectives and an outline of major chapter topics. These devices provide an overview of what is to come and can also be used by students to see whether they understand and have retained important points.

Sales Challenge/Solution. The text portion of each chapter begins with a real-life challenge sales professionals face. The challenge pertains to the topic of the chapter and will heighten students' interest in chapter concepts. The challenge is resolved at the end of the chapter, where chapter concepts guiding the salespersons' actions are highlighted.

Making the Sale. These boxed items explore how salespeople, when faced with challenges, use innovative ideas to sell.

Selling Tips. These boxes offer the reader additional selling tips for use in developing their role-plays.

Artwork. Many aspects of selling tend to be confusing at first. "What should I do?" and "How should I do it?" are two questions frequently asked by students in developing their roleplays. To enhance students' awareness and understanding, many exhibits have been included throughout the book. These exhibits consolidate key points, indicate relationships, and visually illustrate selling techniques.

Chapter Summary and Application Questions. Each chapter closes with a summary of key points to be retained. The application questions are a complementary learning tool that enables students to check their understanding of key issues, to think beyond basic concepts, and to determine areas that require further study. The summary and application questions help students discriminate between main and supporting points and provide mechanisms for self-teaching.

Key Terms for Selling/Glossary. Learning the selling vocabulary is essential to understanding today's sales world. This is facilitated in three ways. First, key concepts are boldfaced and completely defined where they first appear in the text. Second, each key term, followed by the page number where it was first introduced and defined, is listed at the end of each chapter. Third, a glossary summarizing all key terms and definitions appears at the end of the book for handy reference.

Ethical Dilemma. These challenging exercises provide students an opportunity to experience ethical dilemmas faced in the selling job. Students should review Chapter 2's definition and explanation of ethical behavior before discussing the ethical dilemmas.

Further Exploring the Sales World. These projects ask students to go beyond the textbook and classroom to explore what's happening in the real world. Projects can be altered or adapted to the instructor’s school location and learning objectives for the class.

Cases for Analysis. Each chapter ends with brief but substantive cases for student analysis and class discussion. These cases provide an opportunity for students to apply concepts to real events and to sharpen their diagnostic skills for sales problem solving. Comprehensive cases are found in the back of the book.

As you see, the publisher and I have thoroughly considered how best to present the material to readers for maximizing their interest and learning. Teacher, reviewer, and student response to this revision has been fantastic. They are pleased with the readability, reasonable length, depth, and breadth of the material. You will like this edition better than the previous one.

McGraw-Hill/Irwin has spared no expense to make ABC's of Selling through Service the premier text in the market today. Many instructors face classes with limited resources, and supplementary materials provide a way to expand and improve the students' learning experience. Our learning package was specifically designed to meet the needs of instructors facing a variety of teaching conditions and for both the first-time and veteran instructor.

ProSelling Video. Several hours of student role-plays, exercises, examples of selling techniques, and industry sales training programs show students how to prepare their role-plays and how course content relates to the sales world.

Inc. Business Resources Video Package. A new feature from Inc. demonstrates key features of relationship selling.

Instructor's Manual. Loaded with ideas on teaching the course, chapter outlines, commentaries on cases, answers to everything-- plus much more--the Instructor's Manual is a large, comprehensive time-saver for teachers.

Test Bank. The most important part of the teaching package is the Test Bank. We gave the Test Bank special attention during the preparation of the ninth edition because instructors desire test questions that accurately and fairly assess student competence in subject material. Prepared by Dr. Thomas K. Pritchett, Dr. Betty M. Pritchett of Kennesaw State College, and myself, the Test Bank provides hundreds of multiple-choice and true/false questions. Professor Tom Pritchett also uses the book for his selling classes. Each question is keyed to chapter learning objectives, has been rated for level of difficulty, and is designated as either factual or application so that instructors can provide a balanced set of questions for student exams.

Instructor CD-ROM A course preparation CD including:

A PowerPoint Presentation. A state-of-the-art program offering hundreds of lecture slides. These slides can be customized for any course. They are great!

Computerized Test Bank. The Computerized Test Bank allows instructors to select and edit test items from the printed Test Bank and to add their own questions. Various versions of each test can be custom printed.

Electronic Version of the Instructor’s Manual.

Course Website. At http://www.mhhe.com/futrell07, you can access downloadable versions of instructor support materials, as well as a student tutorial and student self-assessment quizzes.

ACT! Express Software. For many businesspeople, staying in touch with prospects, customers, clients, vendors, and suppliers--people outside the company--is critical to success. And that success depends on managing those contacts for highly productive business relationships.

Included with this textbook is ACT!™ Express, a tool that will help students entering the business world. Based on the best-selling ACT! contact management system, ACT! Express shows students how to become more productive--resulting in better business relationships and greater business opportunities.

Whether in sales, a small or start-up company, a consulting practice, a professional services firm, or another business setting, students will become more proficient at effectively managing their contacts.

But what is a contact manager?

A contact manager will help the student manage all of the tasks and information critical to building effective business relationships such as these:

-Finding and contacting prospects.
-Following up with prospects and clients.
-Sending product information, proposals, and quotes.
-Scheduling meetings.
-Generating correspondence.
-Managing customers' postsale activities and requests.
-Keeping a history of previous customer interactions.
-Generating reports of activities and client/account status.

Effective contact management means making the most of contacts with prospects, customers, clients, vendors, and suppliers. ACT! Express includes the following features:

-Complete contact and calendar managment. Seventy predefined fields for contact information, notes, tasks, schedules, history, and more.
-Search capabilities. Quickly locate any information in the database by name, ZIP code, phone number, or keyword.
-Groups. Sort contacts into groups by company, interests, or other commonalities.
-Activity reminders. Set alarms for upcoming activity reminders.
-Basic e-mail functions. Send and track e-mail correspondence-- and attach e-mails directly to specific contact records.
-Basic contact reporting. Easily generate basic reports such as Activity History, Task List, Source of Referrals, and more.
-Built-in word processor. Includes prewritten letters that can be easily personalized.
-Data synchronization with Palm Powered™ Handhelds. Take contact information, notes, and history anywhere.

Students who become proficient with ACT! Express may want to explore more advanced functions available in the full ACT! contact management system.

Students desiring more information about either ACT! Express or ACT! are encouraged to visit www.act.com/students.

Working with the dedicated team of professionals at McGraw- Hill/Irwin, who were determined to produce the best personal selling book ever, was a gratifying experience.

In overseeing this revision, Sponsoring Editor Barrett Koger and Editorial Coordinator Amy Luck offered ideas for improvements to the ninth edition package. Jeremy Chesharek and Mary Reeg oversaw the selection of new photographs for this edition. Project Manager Kristin Bradley ably guided the manuscript and page proofs through the production process.

Another group of people who made a major contribution to this text were the sales experts who provided advice, reviews, answers to questions, and suggestions for changes, insertions, and clarifications. I want to thank these colleagues for their valuable feedback and suggestions:

-Marilyn Besich, MSU Great Falls College of Technology
-Rochelle R. Brunson, Alvin Community College
-Michael Fox, Eastern Arizona College
-Joe M. Garza, University of Texas--Pan American
-Jeff Gauer, Mohawk Valley Community College
-Alicia Lupinacci, Tarrant County College
-Thomas O. Marpe, Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota
-Craig A Martin, Western Kentucky University
-Don McCartney, UW Green Bay
-Jim Muncy, Valdosta State University
-Hieu Nguyen, University of Texas at Arlington
-Barbara Ollhoff, Waukesha County Technical College
-Joan Rossi, Pittsburg Technical Institute
-Eric Soares, California State University--Hayward
-Dennis Tademy, Cedar Valley College
-Brian Tietje, California Polytechnic State University
-Suzanne Tilleman, Montana State University
-George W. Wynn, James Madison University

I also want to again thank those people who contributed to earlier editions, because their input is still felt in this ninth edition. They were Ramon A. Avila, Ball State University; Duane Bachmann, Central Missouri State University; Ames Barber, Adirondack Community College; John R. Beem, College of DuPage; Dawn Bendall-Lyon, University of Montevallo; Milton J. Bergstein, Pennsylvania State University; Chris Brandmeir, Highline Community College; Karen Bilda, Cardinal Stritch University; Marjorie Caballero, Baylor University; Michael Cicero, Highline Community College; Norman Cohn, Milwaukee Tech; Gerald Crawford, University of North Alabama; William H. Crookston, California State University--Northridge; Frances DePaul, Westmoreland Community College; Gary Donnelly, Casper College; Sid Dudley, Eastern Illinois University; Dennis Elbert, University of North Dakota; Earl Emery, Baker Junior College of Business; O.C. Ferrell, Colorado State University; Greg Gardner, Jefferson Community College; Myrna Glenny, Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising; Ric Gorno, Cypress College; Kevin Hammond, Community College of Allegheny County; John Hawes, University of Akron; Deborah Jansky, Milwaukee Area Technical College; Albert Jerus, Northwestern College; Donna Kantack, Elrick & Lavidge; Craig Kelley, California State University--Sacramento; Dennis Kovach, Community College of Allegheny County; Deborah Lawe, San Fransicsco State University; James E. Littlefield, Virginia Polytechnic Institute & State University; Lynn J. Loudenback, New Mexico State University; Leslie E. Martin, Jr., University of Wisconsin--Whitewater; Brian Meyer, Mankato State University; Ken Miller, Kilgore College; Herb Miller, University of Texas--Austin; Harry Moak, Macomb Community College; Dick Nordstrom, California State University--Fresno; James Ogden, Kutztown University; Becky Oliphant, Stetson University; Roy Payne, Purdue University; Robert Piacenza, Madison Area Technical College; Alan Rick, New England Institute of Technology; John Ronchetto, University of San Diego; Jeff Sager, University of North Texas; Donald Sandlin, East Los Angeles College; Camille P. Schuster, Xavier University; Richard Shannon, Western Kentucky University; Dee Smith, Lansing Community College; Robert Smith, Illinois State University; Ed Snider, Mesa Community College; Eric Soares, California State University--Hayward; William A. Stull, Utah State University; Dennis Tademy, Cedar Valley College; Robert Tangsrud, Jr., University of North Dakota; Albert J. Taylor, Austin Peay State University; James L. Taylor, University of Alabama; Ruth Taylor, Southwest Texas State University; Robert Thompson, Indiana State University; Brian Tietje, California Polytechnic State University; Rollie Tilman, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; John Todd, University of Tampa; Glenna Urbshadt, British Columbia Institute of Technology; Bruce Warsleys, Trend Colleges; Dan Weilbaker, Northern Illinois University; Timothy W. Wright, Lakeland Community College; and George Wynn, James Madison University.

I would also like to thank the many Texas A&M students who have used the book in their classes and provided feedback. Thanks also to the many instructors who call me each year to discuss the book and what they do in their classes. While we have never met face-to-face, I feel I know you. Your positive comments, encouragement, and ideas have been inspirational to me.

In addition, salespeople and sales managers have provided photographs, selling techniques, answers to end-of-chapter exercises and cases, and other industry materials that enrich the reader’s learning experience. They include the following:

Kim Allen, McNeil Consumer Products Company; Alan Baker, Noxell Corporation; Michael Bevan, Parbron International of Canada; Richard Ciotti, JC Penney Company; John Croley, The Gates Rubber Company; Terry and Paul Fingerhut, Steamboat Party Sales, Inc., Tupperware; Bill Frost, AT&T Communications; Steve Gibson, Smith Barney; Gary Grant, NCR; Jerry Griffin, Sewell Village Cadillac--Sterling, Dallas; Martha Hill, Hanes Corporation; Debra Hutchins, Sunwest Bank of Albuquerque; Mike Impink, Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA); Bob James, American Hospital Supply Corporation; Morgan Jennings, Richard D. Irwin, Inc.; Patrick Kamlowsky, Hughes Tool Company; Cindy Kerns, Xerox Corporation; Alan Killingsworth, FMC Corporation; Santo Laquatra, SmithKline Beecham; Stanley Marcus; Gerald Mentor, Richard D. Irwin, Inc.; Jim Mobley, General Mills, Inc.; George Morris, The Prudential Insurance Company of America; Vikki Morrison, First Team Walk-In Realty, California; Greg Munoz, The Dow Chemical Company; Kathleen Paynter, Campbell Sales Company; Bruce Powell, Richard D. Irwin, Inc.; Jack Pruett, Bailey Banks and Biddle; Emmett Reagan, Xerox Corporation; Bruce Scagel, Scott Paper Company; Linda Slaby-Baker, The Quaker Oats Company; Sandra Snow, The Upjohn Company; Matt Suffoletto, International Business Machines (IBM); Ed Tucker, Cannon Financial Group, Georgia.

For the use of their selling exercises and sales management cases, I am especially grateful to these people:

-Gerald Crawford, Keith Absher, Bill Stewart, University of North Alabama
-Dick Nordstrom, California State University--Fresno
-Jeffrey K. Sager, University of North Texas
-George Wynn, James Madison University

Special thanks to my assistants at TAMU--Brian Gibbs for the fantastic PowerPoints, crosswords, and website, along with Elijah Davidson for help with various parts of the textbook and learning package.

Finally, I wish to thank the sales trainers, salespeople, and sales managers who helped teach me the art of selling when I carried the sales bag full time. I hope I have done justice to their great profession of selling.

I hope you learn from and enjoy the book. I enjoyed preparing it for you. Readers are urged to forward their comments on this text to me. I wish you great success in your selling efforts. Remember, it’s the salesperson who gets the customer’s orders that keeps the wheels of industry turning. America cannot do without you.

Charles M. Futrell
c-futrell@tamu.edu
http://futrell-www.tamu.edu