Ramon AvilaRamon A. Avila (Ph.D., Virginia Tech University) is the George and Frances Ball Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Marketing at Ball State University. Before coming to Ball State, he worked in sales with the Burroughs Corporation. He has held two viiting professorships at the University of Hawaii and the Kelley School of Business at Indiana University. Dr. Avila was awarded the 2009 University Sales Center Alliance Distinguished Sales Educator. He has also earned Ball State's Outstanding Faculty Award and Leavey Award for innovation in the classroom with his advanced selling class. Dr. Avila was presented the 1999 Mu Kappa Tau's Outstanding Contributor to the Sales Profession and was only the third recipient of this award. He has also received the University's Outstanding Service award, the University's Outstanding Junior Faculty award and the College of Business Professor of the Year. He also earned the Dean's Teaching award every year since its inception in 1987. His primary research is in personal selling and sales management. His work has appeared in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, the Journal of Management, Industrial Marketing Management, the Marketing Management Journal and the Journal of Marketing Theory & Practice. In addition to this text, he is the co-author of THE PROFESSIONAL SELLING SKILLS WORKBOOK and SALES MANAGEMENT: ANALYSIS AND DECISION MAKING. Read More Read Less