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Book Review: Sound Evidence, Dubious Conclusions: Advertising and the Public Interest

analogous to the attitude of some students of salesmanship who argue that if Brown delivers 10 presentations a month and achieves 7 sales, he is a better salesman than Smith, who acquires 10 sales in the same period by delivering 20 presentations. The value of the performance index as a criterion of success depends on the degree of satiation of the market, the difficulty of replacing departed salesmen, plus many of the limiting factors advanced by Newton. There are obviously circumstances in which a firm would prefer a sales force consisting of 60 salesmen who average 4 sales a month to 40 salesmen who average 6 sales a month. Researchers who are "from Missouri" will have many critical questions to ask about the nature and conduct of the survey. For example, the questionnaire assumes that the primary responsibility of a sales force is either to increase business from present customers or to obtain business from new customers, not both. Prospecting methods are neglected in favor of the use of the term "cold calls." Respondents are not informed of the difference between a call and a presentation. The book, after a detailed introductory chapter, discusses sales force performance findings in Chapter 2, sales force turnover findings in Chapter 3, and sales force costs as a function of turnover and compensation in Chapter 4. Chapter 5 offers guidelines in management of each of the four types of selling organizations. Chapter 6 presents the author's conclusions and his four-step approach to building and maintaining an effective sales force. The results are reasonably well related but despite the author's skill for synthesis, some of the interpretive statements seem a bit unwarranted and a few others are not immediately apparent. For example, the author's conclusions relating salesmen's age composition and performance are not evident unless the reader transposes the data of Exhibit 2.1 (page 30). The monograph makes fresh, lively reading for one who has already had considerable sales management experience or for one who doesn't need to be convinced rigorously but merely wants to see the broad picture. Little academic jargon is used and consistently the presentation is designed to express rather than impress. The tone is conversational and the author has a penchant for clarity. The book has one characteristic that deserves special mention. Explanations in the text of how to interpret tables of data are unusually clear. Broadly speaking, the study was well conceived and executed. For a curious sales researcher, the study has potential value beyond the author's objectives. The enormous data base lends itself to extrapolation, encourages new research challenges, and should surely prove useful to most of its intended audience.