Coaching To Win: A Systematic Approach To Achieving Productivity Through Coaching

The strategic business plan for any organization is very specific regarding sales force objectives and activities.  Therefore, those responsible for the human capital of the sales function  must be prepared to work directly with their sales employees, in an effort to meet management agreed upon goals, to gain market share, and to continuously improve overall performance.  Over the years, the task of managing sales employees has been varied and undefined.  Managing has been referred to as “the art of getting things done through people.”  For decades, experts have included planning, organizing, staffing, influencing or commanding, and controlling as the systematic way of making things happen.  Recently, this commanding function has been dropped in preference to leading.  It has been proven that coaching is more effective than the old approach of using fear and intimidation to achieve sales management objectives.  This paper focuses on the need for these sales supervisors/managers to change their previously used tactics and embrace a new, proactive approach of “Coaching” their sales employees.  This new approach is described in detail below and will help unlock the mysteries of becoming a viable and proactive sales supervisor.  It will also give supervisors the tools needed to meet the needs of management and create a more productive, independent sales force. “Coaching” is becoming the leading preference for supervisors and managers, because it is proving to be more effective than previous used conventional methods.  Coaching is the art of continually assessing and developing sales people, so they can be empowered to do their jobs well!  Often, the conventional methods included command functioning tactics of fear and intimidation to motivate sales personnel.  By using the “Coaching” approach, supervisors and managers have more control of their sales staff and of achieving their management goals.  By developing a coaching relationship, which includes encouragement, listening, counseling, providing positive feedback, being supportive, resourcefulness, thinking with the future in mind, and modeling, these supervisors can give rise to a foundation where sales employees will be energized, aligned, and collectively mobilized to achieve and sustain customer satisfaction and trust.  In so doing, sales employees will also be empowered to meet management’s strategic goals.

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To Delegate Or Not To Delegate? That Is The Question Of Pricing Authority

Journal of Business & Economics Research (JBER) ◽

10.19030/jber.v4i2.2635 ◽

2011 ◽

Vol 4 (2) ◽

Author(s):

Ulku Yuksel ◽

Catherine Sutton-Brady

Keyword(s):

Firm Performance ◽

Empirical Research ◽

Sales Force ◽

Point Of View ◽

Font Size ◽

Sales Personnel ◽

Force Perception ◽

Research Outcomes ◽

Institutional Marketing ◽

Price Authority

The burning issue of delegating pricing authority to the sales force is of interest to marketing academics as well as practitioners in a wide variety of consumer, industrial and institutional marketing situations. There are many studies which examine the decision to delegate ultimate pricing authority (PA) to the sales force. Additionally the marketing literature encompasses many theoretical rationales for giving sales personnel authority to set prices. Conversely there are also empirical research outcomes that debate the opposite scenario, asserting that giving salespeople the highest degree of pricing authority engendered the lowest sales and profit results. It is difficult to find any study which has investigated or explored this issue from the salesperson’s point of view. In this study, we examine the perception of the sales force on the price authority they have been given. Supported by the sales motivation theory, we, specifically, examine the sales force perception of the decentralized (delegated) price authority to them and perceived firm performance.

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Mavenness And Salespeople Success: An Empirical Investigation

Journal of Applied Business Research (JABR) ◽

10.19030/jabr.v28i5.7232 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 28 (5) ◽

pp. 903 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Dale T. Eesley ◽

Phani Tej Adidam

Keyword(s):

Empirical Investigation ◽

Sales Force ◽

Insurance Company ◽

Sales Managers ◽

Font Size ◽

Salesperson Performance ◽

Control Variables ◽

Confirmatory Factor ◽

And Training ◽

Three Factor

The sales literature has examined many characteristics of highly successful salespeople but as yet has not evaluated the concept of mavenness in the context of sales. Mavens are persons who have a passionate desire to freely share their expertise and knowledge for the benefit of others. This paper develops a three-factor measure of mavenness that measures levels of expertise, passion and the desire to share knowledge, and tests if higher levels of mavenness are associated with superior salesperson performance. The scale was administered to a sample of 122 salespersons in a large insurance company. Data on salesperson performance as well as other control variables were collected from archival records. Confirmatory factor analysis provided satisfactory support for the scale. Mavenness and the control variables were regressed on salesperson performance. All three factors of mavenness were highly significant. Sales managers can improve the selection and training of their sales force by using the scale to find candidates with high levels of mavenness. Although the concept of mavenness is not new, no attempt to measure this trait has been made previously. Furthermore, this trait has not before been tested to see if high levels of mavenness are associated with superior salesperson performance.

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SALESPEOPLE MOTIVATION AS KEY FACTOR IN ACHIEVING SALES MANAGEMENT GOALS IN HOTEL INDUSTRY

Tourism and hospitality management ◽

10.20867/thm.12.2.14 ◽

2006 ◽

Vol 12 (2) ◽

pp. 155-169

Author(s):

Darko Lacmanović

Keyword(s):

Sales Management ◽

Hotel Industry ◽

Working Hours ◽

Sales Force ◽

Three Dimensions ◽

Sales Managers ◽

Job Commitment ◽

Sales Personnel ◽

Key Factor ◽

And Performance

Sales management acitivities such as monitoring, directing, evaluation and rewarding represents useful ways for increasing the salesperson job satisfaction and organizational commitment. Motivating the sales effort ussually include three dimensions: intensivity, persistence and choice. By inspiring salespeople on greater job commitment, sales managers keep managerial tools to stimulate latent sales efforts and performance. Rewarding system based on »straight« salary result in unmotivated sales personnel who, in that case, connect their work engagement solely with realization of working hours not with realization of sales volume. Segmentation of sales force, grouping the salespersons according to their motivation needs and offering them diverse rewarding systems per each group, presents inovative approach to challenges of motivation the salespeople.

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Barriers to the use of mobile sales force automation systems: a salesperson’s perspective

Journal of Systems and Information Technology ◽

10.1108/jsit-09-2014-0068 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 17 (2) ◽

pp. 121-140 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Jaakko Sinisalo ◽

Heikki Karjaluoto ◽

Saila Saraniemi

Keyword(s):

Mobile Devices ◽

Single Channel ◽

Sales Force ◽

Structured Interviews ◽

Content Type ◽

Sales Personnel ◽

Tablet Pcs ◽

Sales Force Automation ◽

Automation Systems ◽

The Impact

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the barriers associated with the adoption and use of mobile sales force automation (SFA) systems from a salesperson’s perspective. Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative investigation of two business-to-business companies was conducted. Data collected from ten semi-structured interviews with directors or sales managers were analyzed to understand the main barriers to SFA system adoption. Findings – The study confirms the existence of three barriers (customer knowledge, quality of information and the characteristics of mobile devices) to a mobile SFA system use and identifies two additional barriers: lack of time and optimization issues. Research limitations/implications – The explorative nature of the study and the qualitative method employed limit the generalizability of the results. The propositions could be further validated and tested with a wider population. Practical implications – Organizations wishing to speed the adoption of a mobile SFA system should evaluate the importance and significance of the five identified barriers to adoption, and plan how to overcome them. It is important for the providers of the mobile SFA systems to focus on developing systems that can exploit the different characteristics of each channel and, in parallel, overcome the inherent limitations of any single channel. The content of an SFA system should be customizable for each type of mobile device. Originality/value – Ever increasing mobility has led to a rise in the use of smartphones and tablet PCs (tablets) in business and the consequent growth in the use of SFA systems. Although SFA systems have been studied for roughly 30 years, little is known of the impact of newly developed mobile devices on sales management and sales personnel.

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Sales Force Automation Usage and Performance

Customer Relationship Management and the Social and Semantic Web - Advances in Electronic Commerce ◽

10.4018/978-1-61350-044-6.ch011 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 171-188

Author(s):

Jason Wai Chow Lee ◽

Osman Mohamad ◽

T. Ramayah ◽

Joyce Ong Sheau Ching

Keyword(s):

Sales Force ◽

Future Research ◽

Salesperson Performance ◽

Record Keeping ◽

Sales Personnel ◽

Sales Force Automation ◽

Administrative Efficiency ◽

Technology Adoption Model ◽

Efficiency Control ◽

And Performance

This chapter examines the relationships between SFA usage and sales performance among IT salesforce by adopting the technology adoption model (TAM). Data was collected from 150 IT sales persons in a questionnaire survey to examine the relationships between SFA usage (organizing, route plan, presenting and reporting, informing, support, processing and record keeping) and salesperson performance (efficiency, administrative efficiency, control and communication efficiency). Findings from multiple regression analyses indicate that route plan, organizing, presenting, reporting and processing have significant relationships with salesperson performance. The study suggests strongly the significant role of appropriate SFA usage in enhancing the performance of sales personnel in the IT industry. Implications and suggestions for future research on SFA are also presented.

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Organizational Impacts of New Communication Technology

Managing Telecommunications and Networking Technologies in the 21st Century ◽

10.4018/978-1-878289-96-4.ch013 ◽

2001 ◽

pp. 234-257

Author(s):

Patricia J. Carlson ◽

Beverly K. Kahn ◽

Frantz Rowe

Keyword(s):

New Technology ◽

Sales Force ◽

Cultural Bias ◽

Sales Representative ◽

Actual Behavior ◽

Cultural Research ◽

Strategic Goals ◽

Areas Of Interest ◽

Industry Sectors ◽

The U.S

This study tests the multicultural applicability of Huber’s technological imperative framework by comparing the effects of the adoption of a new telecommunication technology, cellular phones, on the behavior of the sales force in several industry sectors in France and the U.S. The study investigates three areas of interest. First, the study finds that, though the sales strategies are the same in both countries, the actual behavior of the sales force to attain these strategic goals differs. Second, a comparison of these differences with the variables in Huber’s theory shows that the differences in the variables are consistent with the sales representative behavior in the two countries. Third, the study asks what effect the use of cell phones has had on sales force behavior. Analysis on all the data combined shows the predicted results of new technology adoption—a shortening of decision-making time occurs in both countries. When the data is stratified by country, however, changes in variables in the U.S. support Huber’s theory, those from France do not. These results indicate a cultural bias in the generation of theory that has important implications for cross-cultural research.

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Delegating Pricing Authority to the Sales Force: The Effects on Sales and Profit Performance

Journal of Marketing ◽

10.1177/002224297904300203 ◽

1979 ◽

Vol 43 (2) ◽

pp. 21-28 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

P. Ronald Stephenson ◽

William L. Cron ◽

Gary L. Frazier

Keyword(s):

Sales Force ◽

Research Results ◽

Marketing Literature ◽

Sales Personnel ◽

Theoretical Support ◽

Profit Performance

A long-standing marketing question is whether sales personnel should be given authority to set prices. The marketing literature contains theoretical support for the practice. This article, however, presents research results that argue the opposite. Among a sample of 108 firms, those giving salespeople the highest degree of pricing authority generated the lowest sales and profit performance.

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The use of survival analysis to examine sales force turnover of part-time and full-time sales employees

International Journal of Research in Marketing ◽

10.1016/0167-8116(90)90015-f ◽

1990 ◽

Vol 7 (2-3) ◽

pp. 109-119 ◽

Cited By ~ 10

Author(s):

Ronald Hoverstad ◽

William C. Moncrief ◽

George H. Lucas

Keyword(s):

Survival Analysis ◽

Sales Force ◽

Full Time ◽

Part Time ◽

Sales Employees

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Salesperson performance: role of perceived overqualification and organization type

Marketing Intelligence & Planning ◽

10.1108/mip-06-2017-0108 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 36 (1) ◽

pp. 79-92 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Basant Purohit

Keyword(s):

Control System ◽

Sales Force ◽

Control Mechanisms ◽

Job Fit ◽

Salesperson Performance ◽

Content Type ◽

Sales Personnel ◽

Perceived Overqualification ◽

The Impact

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of perceived overqualification (POQ) on salesperson performance. Design/methodology/approach In total, 120 usable samples were collected from surveying sales representatives and their sales supervisors from 48 different Indian pharmaceutical firms. Findings The results indicated that sales personnel with POQ perform well: in prospector and analyzer type organizations as compared to in defender and reactor type organizations, and when controlled by the outcome-based control system than when controlled by the behavior-based control system. Practical implications This study suggests that “person-job” fit criteria used in personnel selection should also consider environmental variables (organization type and control mechanisms) for better job outcomes. The results of the study would enable an organization to assess whether its reward systems and levels are getting the desired impact from sales personnel with different levels of POQ in terms of salesperson performance. Originality/value Using “person-job” fit theory, this study examined the role of organization type and sales force control system as moderators of “POQ – Salesperson Performance” relationships and explains how organizations can benefit from enhancing sales performance of salespersons with POQ.

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BRAND MANAGEMENT IN THE SERVICE SECTOR

Knowledge International Journal ◽

10.35120/kij31062047s ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 31 (6) ◽

pp. 2047-2053

Author(s):

Suzana Stojanović ◽

Marko Janković ◽

Dejan Dimitrijević

Keyword(s):

Service Sector ◽

Brand Management ◽

Company Strategy ◽

Management Objectives ◽

Doing Business ◽

Provision Of Services ◽

Strategic Goals ◽

A Company ◽

Basic Prerequisite

Consumers are the most valuable asset of any company and knowing their needs is a basic prerequisite for a successful company strategy, which directly affects the overall business result. The operations of the company today are all the more uncertain because of the changes that are ongoing and which should go to meet. What are characteristics of doing business today is that more and more companies are engaged in the provision of services and they are the most profitable organizations of the world. The brand of a company represents a strategic tool and a competitive advantage because the most valuable assets of each company are intangible assets. Each brand should offer consumers something unique, which would give them confidence. Consumers represent a benchmark of the value of a brand because it depends on which brands survive and which disappear from the market. Strong brands, when maintained properly, give companies longevity, as well as "potential for immortality," so the brand management process is aimed at increasing brand value over time, which can be measured. Brand management objectives should be aligned with the company's strategic goals. Thus, no company can allow long-term investment in the brand to show a measurable business result, which enables profitability and reliability. It influences consumers by increasing the total created and delivered the value they receive by buying and using products and services. Depending on the extent to which brands to increase the value of consumers, and consumer affect the growth of purchasing volume.

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