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The article presents abstracts from National Conference in sales management. Michael J. Swenson, of Brigham Young University discussed "Integrating Personal Selling Into the Sales Management Course." The paper "A Realistic Sales Management Course," is discussed by Eugene E. Teeple from University of Central Florida. This paper describes attempts at adding realism to the sales management course. Methods are described which help students see how the sales management topics apply to them in their job search after graduation. "Using Instructional Objectives in Professional Selling," by Liane Holliday Willey explores the possibility of managing the educational reforms through the development of instructional objectives. "Selling Styles: An Analysis of Potential Moderating Factors," by James T. Strong analyzes two widely divergent selling styles namely "hard sell" and "soft sell," when potentially moderating factors are considered. "Incorporating Decision Support Systems Into the Classroom Experience," by John M. Lanasa discusses the complexity of decision making.

This article presents abstracts of the papers presented at the National Conference on Professional Selling and Sales Management. The paper "Emphasis on the Individual Can Lead to a More Effective Sales Motivation Program," by Helen Vassallo, John Lanasa and Campbell focuses on the motivation factors of sales personnel. Sales managers need to be able to understand the fundamental factors that motivate sales personnel. Sales motivation is unique in the way that it can be directly tied to the performance of the sales department. Therefore, if the sales department is not performing, the results will be vividly displayed in the sales revenue. If the person needs to be structured and disciplined, the sales manager must be willing to pay close attention to the person. Another paper "The use of Career Stages as a Sales Force Motivational Tool," by James B. DeConinck, and Jerry M. Kopf also focuses on the motivation factors. Motivating salespeople is an important part of the sales manager's job. Prior research on motivating salespeople has found that motivation is a multiplicative function of a salesperson's expectancies, instrumentalities, and valences. These studies have shown that factors such as self-esteem, a challenging job, task variety and complexity, and leadership style are correlated with motivation.

The Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) has encouraged linking classroom theory with real-world business practices (Porter and McKibbin, 1988). AACSB stresses that "student learning is the central activity of higher education" (2008: 59). This paper reflects the efforts of two marketing professors to develop a sequential course integration that links classroom theory with real-world practices. This was accomplished using an undergraduate marketing research class to collect primary data. The data was channeled to student teams in an MBA marketing strategy class as part of their situation analyses in the development of marketing plans for a client. This mirrors sound businesses practices followed by industry. Additionally, it provides a model to which students can relate and gives the students an added sense of purpose knowing a client will use their findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Differential Effects of Retail Sales Training," by Duane P. Bachmann. The study demonstrated the effectiveness of a sales training seminar in changing salespeoples' attitudes and showed that retail sales training has a differential effect on the attitudes of retail commissioned salespeople based upon both age and experience.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Predicting Success in Sales Selection Through Discrimination Analysis," by John Lanasa. In this study the author evaluated seventy-one salesman and developed a discriminant function to product to which group the individual candidate would belong. The discriminant scores predicted 97% accurately in group membership. This technique can be used to assist the sales manager in selection by providing a barometer to which new personnel can be measured.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Intrinsic Reward Orientation and Improved Sales Performance," by William C. Johnson. The purpose of this paper was to examine the role that intrinsic rewards play in improving sales performance. Specifically, literature on intrinsic selling was reviewed. Salespeople with an intrinsic reward orientation are more creative when encountering novel sales situations and inherently more interested in their work than individuals with an extrinsic reward orientation. Implications were drawn regarding the application of these findings to improving sales performance.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Broaden the Content of the Selling Message," by Martin R. Schlissel. In the future, a flexible marketplace will provide non-traditional business opportunities increasingly in the solution of business and social problems. The salesman's message will emphasize the continuity and image of the firm primarily. Product features will be of secondary importance. Research has shown that this strategy is effective, but firms must develop strong images.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Integrating Sales and Marketing Activities With Respect to Minority Segments," by Monle Lee and Ernest F. Cooke. The purpose of writing this paper is to examine one aspect of marketing management as it relates to minority market segments. The Asian-American market is used to illustrate the points made in this paper including the fact that even this sub-culture does not represent a homogeneous market.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Rhetorical Sensitivity: Implications for Sales Communication Research," by James J. Kellaris. This paper introduces the concept of rhetorical sensitivity to the sales communication research literature. Rhetorical sensitivity represents an alternative perspective from which the verbal behavior of the salesperson can be studied.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Selecting and Training Salespersons for International Marketing Positions," by Hudson P. Rogers, Alphonso O. Oghuehi, and Fred R. Endsley. The objective is to assure hirees to function more efficiently and effectively in the overseas environment. The study indicates that technical competence, interpersonal skills, family situation and environmental variables influence a salesperson's successful job performance overseas.

The article presents an abstract to the paper ""More Mileage From Sales Meeting"," by Robert J. Baewadt. This article focuses on the pragmatic issues faced by a meeting planner when trying to choose and effectively use sales meeting facilities. It points out that the sales meeting site is an integral part of the total program's success.

The article presents an abstract to a paper on a survey of women in nontraditional sales jobs. The paper is written by Michael McDonald and William B. Smith. The purpose of this article is to summarize results of a survey administered to sales women actively working in seven industries.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "The Customer Service Ethic: Foiling the Ghost of Willy Loman," by Frank J. Seibold. The purpose of the paper is to raise customer service to a high ethical plane. With ethical conduct broadly defined as avoiding injury to customers, the research hypothesis states that symbolically in personal selling operations, Willy Loman's ghost of non-professionalism is foiled by practitioners rendering quality customer service-the customer service ethic.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Organizational Commitment, Overall Job Satisfaction, and Satisfaction with Specific Aspects of Work: Do These Constructs Overlap or Discriminate Among Themselves?," by Pavlos Michaels. The Michaels' (1986) model of hypothesized antecedents of organizational commitment and job satisfaction comprises the theoretical framework of this research. Factor analytic and LISREL procedures are employed to determine the discriminability of the constructs of concern. Implications for empirical and theoretical research, as well as for practitioners are drawn.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Balanced Relationships as a Determinant of Industrial Source Loyalty," by Michael H. Morris, Ramon A. Avila and Joseph D. Chapman. Little attention has been paid in the literature to the concept of source loyalty in industrial markets. Loyalty is hypothesized to be more likely where a balance exists in the power/dependence relationship between the buyer and seller organizations. Three scenarios were developed to test this hypothesis and the buyers did choose the balanced relationship more often.

The article presents abstract to the paper "Motivating Sales Personnel with Incentives: Factors Affecting Their Proper Use and Implementation," by Charles E. Pettijohn, Linda S. Pettijohn and Albert J. Taylor. The article examined the factors that affect incentive based compensation programs that are commonly used to motivate sales personnel. To enhance incentive based compensation programs these factors can be understood.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Evaluation of the Inclusion of Personality Test in the Industrial Salesforce Selection Process," by David J. Good, Dr. James E. Ricks, and Dr. Jack L. Sterrett. The study was conducted to define the major characteristics that should be tested to select successful sales personnel and insure maximum utilization of sales training.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "A Study of Selling Productivity for a Consumer Goods Company's Salesforce," by Bobby Davis. The purpose of this study was to analyze the nature of a consumer goods company's selling job and to identify factors that should be considered in implementing a selling strategy that would maximize sales force productivity.

The article presents an abstract to the paper "Development of an Individual Quota Model," by David J. Good, Rawlie R. Sullivan, and E. James Randall. This article proposes that a lack of theoretical and empirical research has been accomplished in the development of quota models for sales organizations.