Book excerpt: The sales force is a company's main engine for driving revenue, one that often requires change to stay competitive and achieve desired results. To improve sales performance, many organizations seek out a 'Silver Bullet'. Transformation is not a one-time, check-the-box event, but a rigorous, ongoing process. Unfortunately, there is no one-off solution to the hard work of transformation. There is, however, a methodology derived from the authors' combined decades of work and their qualitative and quantitative research on sales force transformation. This book provides a practical approach to effect significant, measurable and sustainable transformation in your sales organization. 7 Steps to Sales Force Transformation will help readers determine if their sales organizations need a transformation and if so, how to assess their sales organization's readiness through the analysis of six 'levers' of successful sales transformations. It also guides readers through a series of tasks, analyses, and decisions that will lead to a successful transformation. In particular, the authors will show you how to clarify your sales transformation vision and sell it to upper management, detail methods on how to deploy your vision, offer advice on how to sustain transformation through leadership and communication, and outline current trends that will impact future sales transformation. This book is targeted at anyone who has control over a sales organization or who wants to transform a sales team, including sales managers, sales executives, CEOs, COOs, and others who advise or influence those stakeholders, such as associates at consulting and private equity firms. Through original quantitative research, the authors' own experiences transforming sales organizations, and the lessons learned by a host of sales professionals they interviewed, you will understand how to transform and modernize your sales force to achieve your desired sales results and provide your customers with better service and value.