cover image Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up: A Maverick's Guide to Motivating Yourself and Your Team

Don't Fire Them, Fire Them Up: A Maverick's Guide to Motivating Yourself and Your Team

Frank Pacetta. Simon & Schuster, $23 (288pp) ISBN 978-0-671-86949-6

Xerox sales executive Pacetta, writing with freelancer Gittines, presents an excellent primer on the rugged discipline of selling. Introducing readers to the frenetic world of push-and-pull sales (``kill the other guy before the other guy kills you''), the authors transcend the fatuous ``Attila the Hun'' mindset with superb observations about leadership, teamwork, success and customers, along with shining comments on time management, goals, evaluating problems and cultivating sales personnel. A voice from the trenches who is not above taking cues from Dirty Harry (``I never give much credence to advice from people whose ass is the same shape as their chairs''), Pacetta paints a vivid landscape of ``cold-call' combat. Don't be put off by the convoluted subtitle. (Jan.)