The document summarizes the results of a study identifying the 50 best companies to sell for among the largest U.S. sales forces. It discusses the methodology, focusing on compensation, training, and career mobility. The top 25 manufacturing and top 25 service companies are ranked, with companies tied in certain spots listed alphabetically. Company profiles provide information on compensation packages, training programs, career opportunities, and total scores.

1. 50
®
BEST
COMPANIES
TO SELL FOR NOW

2. Selling Power’s Research Team Identifies
Companies with the Most to Offer Salespeople
For the tenth year, the corporate research issues of career mobility, we look at such lyzed, and scored in order to maintain
team at Selling Power magazine has iden- essential details as frequency of perfor- complete confidentiality for each com-
tified and ranked the best companies to mance reviews, turnover in the sales pany’s data. Each company is given an
sell for among the largest sales forces in force, and the number of people pro- overall score in the three categories and
50
the United States. moted each year from the sales ranks. compared to the selected companies in
The focus primarily remains on compa- Next, all information is compiled, ana- two general industries: manufacturing
nies with sales forces of 500 or more and service. Selling Power ranks the top
salespeople. An extensive questionnaire 25 manufacturing companies and the top
was sent to the top sales executives, train- 25 service companies to complete the list
ing managers, and HR managers to of the top 50 companies to sell for.
request key data important to prospective The 50 best companies to sell for rep-
employees looking to enter the sales pro- resent a wide variety of subindustries,
fession. In addition, independent research including software/systems, food/bever-
added to the information database. age, household, health, construction,
Each year we examine the data, focus- information/communications, hospitali-
ing on three key categories: compensa- ty, transportation, and financial services.
tion, training, and career mobility. As expected, our detailed rating system
Companies that were unable to verify placed the top companies extremely close to
vital details within each category were one another, with 24 manufacturing compa-
excluded from the ranking. nies and 22 service companies tied in the
Within the category of compensation, rankings. In these instances, the companies
the corporate research team looks at aver- were placed in alphabetical order.
age starting salaries, incentive pay plans, The ranking spread remained fairly
availability of company cars, and other ben- consistent in both the manufacturing and
efits packages, such as health and wellness. service industries compared to last year.
In the area of training, we examine the Anyone entering the sales field should
time companies invest in both initial begin his or her efforts by taking a good
selling-skills training and product-knowl-
edge training programs. To assess the TO SELL FOR NOW look at these top companies to sell for.
– SELLING POWER EDITORS
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 43

3. COMPENSATION CAREER TOTAL
RANK COMPANY PACKAGE TRAINING MOBILITY POINTS
Hilti The 10 Largest Sales Forces of the Best-Rated Manufacturing Companies
COMPANY NUMBER OF WORLDWIDE ANNUAL SALES 50 BEST
HIGHLIGHTS RANK COMPANY SALESPEOPLE EMPLOYEES ($ MILLIONS) RANKING
COMPENSATION
TRAINING
CAREER MOBILITY
TOTAL POINT SCORE:
44 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010

4. COMPENSATION CAREER TOTAL
RANK COMPANY PACKAGE TRAINING MOBILITY POINTS
Heartland Payment Systems The 10 Largest Sales Forces of the Best-Rated Service Companies
COMPANY NUMBER OF WORLDWIDE ANNUAL SALES 50 BEST
HIGHLIGHTS RANK COMPANY SALESPEOPLE EMPLOYEES ($ MILLIONS) RANKING
COMPENSATION
TRAINING
CAREER MOBILITY
TOTAL POINT SCORE:
NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010 45

5. The 50 Best Companies to Sell For Directory
Manufacturing
3M DENTSPLY International Hilti Microsoft Sanofi-Aventis
3M Center 221 W. Philadelphia St. 5400 S. 122nd East Ave. One Microsoft Way 55 Corporate Dr.
St. Paul, MN 55144-1000 York, PA 17405-0872 Tulsa, OK 74146 Redmond, WA 98052-6399 Bridgewater, NJ 08807-2854
651/733-1110 717/845-7511 1-800-879-8000 425/882-8080 908/231-4000
www.mmm.com www.dentsply.com www.us.hilti.com www.microsoft.com www.sanofi-aventis.us
Abbott Laboratories Ecolab Hormel Foods Nalco Shaw Industries
100 Abbott Park Rd. 370 N. Wabasha St. One Hormel Pl. 1601 W. Diehl Rd. 616 E. Walnut Ave.
Abbott Park, IL 60064-6400 St. Paul, MN 55102-2233 Austin, MN 55912 Naperville, IL 60563-1198 Dalton, GA 30722-2128
847/937-6100 651/293-2233 507/437-5611 630/305-1000 706/278-3812
www.abbott.com www.ecolab.com www.hormel.com www.nalco.com www.shawinc.com
Cisco Systems EMC International Business Oracle Thermo Fisher Scientific
170 W. Tasman Dr. 176 South St. Machines 500 Oracle Pkwy. 81 Wyman St.
San Jose, CA 95134 Hopkinton, MA 01748 New Orchard Rd. Redwood Shores, CA 94065 Waltham, MA 02454
408/526-4000 508/435-1000 Armonk, NY 10504 650/506-7000 781/622-1000
www.cisco.com www.emc.com 914/499-1900 www.oracle.com www.thermofisher.com
www.ibm.com
Clayton Homes Forest Laboratories Parker Hannifin Watson Pharmaceuticals
5000 Clayton Rd. 909 Third Ave. International Paper 6035 Parkland Blvd. 311 Bonnie Cr.
Maryville, TN 37804 New York, NY 10022-4731 6400 Poplar Ave. Cleveland, OH 44124-4141 Corona, CA 92880-2882
865/380-3000 212/421-7850 Memphis, TN 38197 216/896-3000 901/493-5300
www.clayton.net www.frx.com 901/419-9000 www.parker.com www.watsonpharm.com
www.ipaper.com
Dell Georgia-Pacific Group Reynolds and Reynolds Xerox
One Dell Way 133 Peachtree St. NE Johnson Controls One Reynolds Way 45 Glover Ave.
Round Rock, TX 78682-2222 Atlanta, GA 30303 5757 N. Green Bay Ave. Dayton, OH 45430 Norwalk, CT 06856
512/338-4400 404/652-4000 Milwaukee, WI 53201 937/485-2000 203/968-3000
www.dell.com www.gp.com 414/524-1200 www.reyrey.com www.xerox.com
www.johnsoncontrols.com
Service
ABF Freight System CA First Data Infogroup Northwestern Mutual
3801 Old Greenwood Rd. One Computer Associates Plz. 6200 S. Quebec St. 5711 S. 86th Circle 720 E. Wisconsin Ave.
Fort Smith, AR 72903 Islandia, NY 11749 Greenwood Village, CO 80111 Omaha, NE 68127 Milwaukee, WI 53202-4797
479/785-8700 631/342-6000 303/967-8000 402/593-4500 414/271-1444
www.abf.com www.ca.com www.firstdatacorp.com www.infousa.com www.northwesternmutual.com
ALLTEL CareerBuilder Google Insight Enterprises Sprint Nextel
One Allied Dr. 200 N. LaSalle St., Ste. 1100 1600 Amphitheatre Pkwy. 1305 W. Auto Dr. 6200 Sprint Pkwy.
Little Rock, AR 72202 Chicago, IL 60601 Mountain View, CA 94043 Tempe, AZ 85284 Overland Park, KS 66251
501/905-8000 773/527-3600 650/623-4000 480/902-1001 913/624-6000
www.alltel.com www.careerbuilder.com www.google.com www.insight.com www.sprint.com
Applied Industrial CDW Graybar Electric Iron Mountain UniFirst
Technologies 300 N. Milwaukee Ave. 34 N. Meramec Ave. 745 Atlantic Ave. 68 Jonspin Rd.
One Applied Plaza Vernon Hills, IL 60061 St. Louis, MO 63105 Boston, MA 02111 Wilmington, MA 01887-1086
Cleveland, OH 44115 847/465-6000 314/573-9200 617/535-4766 978/658-8888
216/426-4000 www.cdw.com www.graybar.com www.ironmountain.com www.unifrist.com
www.applied.com
Cintas Heartland Payment Systems Lawson Products United States Postal Service
ARAMARK 6800 Cintas Blvd. 90 Nassau St. 1666 E. Touhy Ave. 475 L’Enfant Plaza SW
Aramark Tower, 1101 Market St. Cincinnati, OH 45262-5737 Princeton, NJ 08542 Des Plaines, IL 60018 Washington, DC 20260-0010
Philadelphia, PA 19107-2988 513/459-1200 609/683-3831 847/827-9666 202/268-2500
215/238-3000 www.cintas-corp.com www.heartlandpayment www.lawsonproducts.com www.usps.com
www.aramark.com systems.com
FedEx Marriott International Yellow Book USA
Barnes Group 942 S. Shady Grove Rd. IKON Office Solutions One Marriott Dr. 2560 Renaissance Blvd.
123 Main St. Memphis, TN 38120 70 Valley Stream Pkwy. Washington, DC 20058 King of Prussia, PA 19406
Bristol, CT 06010 901/818-7500 Malvern, PA 19355-1407 301/380-3000 610/731-2500
860/583-7070 www.fedex.com 610/296-8000 www.marriott.com www.yellowbook.com
www.barnesgroupinc.com www.ikon.com
46 NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2010