By doing this, everyone wins; these authors have made an excellent discovery in presenting this material to the reader/student. Critique of "Stars in the Making"

For all of the attributes of Harris' article, there are some fair critiques that could be made of the article from several points-of-view. With this in mind, these critiques are offered not as a means of saying that Harris' article is not well written from several points-of-view, but rather that there are some improvements that could be made to the article from a strictly objective perspective.

To begin, while it may seem like nitpicking, the article begins with a statement to the effect that salespeople need handholding. While the spirit of this statement may be correct, the actual nature of the need is not properly revealed. Handholding implies that salespeople will be led down a path and protected from anything that will adversely affect them; true, those who lead salespeople have a responsibility to look out for their people and likewise to allow their salespeople to grow, take chances, and in some cases, fail. Not that sales leaders want their representatives to be failures, but by giving them the chance to test the waters so to speak, the aspiring salesperson can learn from their mistakes and grow as professionals. Holding their hands may not do the trick. The handholding statement is contradicted a few paragraphs later when the motivating and helping of salespeople is detailed, so perhaps it was a well intentioned, if not confusing, attempt to cover both sides of the topic.

Another critique of the article lies in the extensive, actually somewhat excessive, use of quotes from professional salespeople. While real-world accounts and experiences add depth to the article, and add credibility, the...

The discussion of some of the high end benefits that the salespeople of Bausch & Lomb receive may be entertaining, but it could also be discouraging to someone who works for a smaller firm or is in fact struggling in their sales efforts.
Lastly, in terms of critiques, the author talks of succeeding in sales as simply the matter of getting the customer to buy the product; however, success in sales is much more than that. As other authors like David Lill have written, the entire relationship building process with a potential client, and clients over the long-term is just as important as the sale itself. This is the part that is missed by Harris.

Suggested Changes to Harris' Article

To conclude, some suggested changes to Harris' article can be made, again with the understanding that the article is quite good in some areas, but could likewise benefit from a few changes, identified as follows:

TAKE a MORE WHOLISTIC APPROACH to SALES- Harris needs to take a better look at how the sales process in many cases is a relationship building process, which would make salespeople more effective.

USE MORE REALISTIC EXAMPLES- the article could contain examples of smaller companies, to give the reader a better look at the majority of the companies in existence.

GIVE SALESPEOPLE MORE FREEDOM- as was detailed earlier, handholding should not be the case all of the time; salespeople need the freedom to grow, and even to fail, as a means of learning lessons and becoming better at what they do.

These few changes, in closing, would make the article much better.