Resources

Businesses invest heavily in deploying field forces to service customers and increase revenues. Field resources may expand or decrease depending on business conditions, but the central challenge remains the same. It’s critical to ensure that these field resources find their targets, deliver their message, complete their tasks, document their activities,...Read more

Any company with a direct sales force has lots at stake in efficiently deploying its sales resources. Yet few sales organizations structure sales territories with a rigor approaching even the most routine analysis used by other “deployment” functions in the firm, such as that used by supply chain departments in...Read more

An emerging software category called “Sales Performance Management,” or SPM, is providing a new level of sales management insight for firms who’ve adopted SPM systems. Interest in these systems is surging, due in part to the value they provide sales organizations confronting reorganizations and deployment changes – an increasingly common...Read more

Although experts agree on the importance of strong customer relationships, sales force management practices often result in behaviors that weaken relationships. The current use of sales contests with quantitative objectives in relation to revenue or profit margins testifies to this divergence. Sharma (1997) emphasizes the need for a better understanding...Read more

Organizations are increasingly emphasizing online sales channels over traditional offline sales channels. This research examines how training influences a salesperson's ability to manage such a technological change in the firm's sales strategy. Findings suggest that formality of training has a positive effect and voluntariness has a negative effect on the...Read more

This study examines the influence of sales management control (outcome based, behavior based, and knowledge based) on the innovativeness of sales departments. Using data from Japanese sales departments, the results indicate that sales departments tend to be innovative when salespeople are evaluated based on their behavior and knowledge rather than...Read more

Sales compensation plays a crucial role in sales force execution and growth, especially as companies seek to emerge from the market stall. In this Sales Management Association webcast, two sales compensation experts will examine current trends and best practices among firms utilizing sales compensation in today’s challenging environment. Ted Briggs,...Read more

Sales team productivity matters at IBM Software Group, where management believes “teams are where value is generated.” Building upon research that shows high performance for sales teams correlates to a high level of collaboration, IBM Software Group recently studied the role of “social software” in improving collaboration, productivity, and operational...Read more