>

>SELECT SalesManID, xmonth, V
>  FROM dbo.SalesTemp  AA
>   UNPIVOT (V FOR XMONTH IN (Jan, Feb, Mar)
>           ) XDATA
>

Exactly, thanks very much.

The UNPIVOT (as well as the CROSS APPLY) will usually generate execution plans that are much better than the "older" approach

I inherited some code last year with a table that had several million rows and about 50 columns, and it initially used the "older" approach. It took minutes to run. Changed it to use UNPIVOT and it ran in seconds.