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A great deal has been written about the importance of marketers evolving into more relationship‐oriented selling practices. It is unclear however, the degree to which this evolution has impacted on the coaching practices of sales managers. Reports a survey of 143 sales managers engaged in business‐to‐business sales which indicates that coaching activities have been influenced by the need to build relationships with customers. In turn, this orientation will affect a number of new organizational concerns.

Sales quotas typically “drive” sales organizations. As such, the ability of the sales organization, both individually (the salesperson) and the group (the total collection of the sales professionals), to accomplish its quota has a significant impact on the performance of the sales and marketing organization, as well as the entire firm. Within the context of this use, quotas represent a critical sales goal, although very little is actually known about their strategic or operational use within marketing organizations. The purpose of this paper is to investigate quotas from a strategic and operational perspective to provide additional insight into understanding sales quotas. Specifically, this manuscript investigates the consequences of failing to achieve quota and the relationship between these consequences and salesperson performance, salesperson income, and the firm’s annual sales revenue. In addition, the relationship between these variables and quota difficulty, and quota performance are explored.

Examines the relationships between the frequency of expert system use and the system′s hardware, access location, and features. Also examines the relationship between the expert system′s hardware and access location. The study is empirical, using a survey of marketing executives who work within marketing organizations employing expert systems. The findings include that the hardware type appears to influence the frequency of expert systems use. Daily use is dominated by mainframe computers, while weekly and monthly use is dominated by the microcomputers. Further, the frequency of expert system use increases with access availability and decreases as the expert system becomes less available. The dominant feature of these expert systems is the ability to perform what‐if‐analysis. When access location and hardware type are examined, the dominant hardware is the microcomputer. Further, particular hardware types tend to dominate specific access locations.

Because salespeople operating under an outcome‐based control system are likely to be motivated by self‐interest, sales quotas are believed to drive salespeople to perform unethical behavior, particularly if this behavior is deemed necessary to achieve quota. Accordingly, this article examines the relationship between perceived quota difficulty and moral judgment. Two factors potentially moderating this relationship, ethical climate and consequences for not making quota, are also considered, as well as the influence of market attractiveness and self‐efficacy on quota difficulty. The analysis indicates a significant relationship between quota difficulty and moral judgment when salespeople foresee negative consequences for failing to achieve quota. Further, self‐efficacy and market attractiveness affected perceived quota difficulty. Implications of the study are offered.

The value of long‐term relationships has become a widely studied variable in marketing. This article investigates two important characteristics of salespeople (consideration of future sales consequences and customer‐oriented selling) and their effects on the usage of long‐term relationships. In turn, associations between a long‐term relationship orientation, and a preference for long‐term compensation are explored. The findings suggest managerial and research implications for structuring of reward systems and potential tools for recruiting, selection and assignment of salespeople based on these characteristics.

The purpose of this paper is to determine if transformational leadership has an effect on business‐to‐business salespeople's trust in the organization, whether trust in the organization affects moral judgment and if moral judgment in turn affects salesperson performance, specifically “world‐class” sales performance.

Through the utilization of a national survey of 345 business‐to‐business salespeople, this study explored linkages between transformational leadership, trust in the organization, moral judgment and world class sales performance using structural equation modeling.

Results suggest that transformational leadership can be used to influence sales performance through trust in the organization and salesperson moral judgment.

The paper furthers the understanding of transformational leadership and its impact on salespeople. The interaction of three variables (transformational leadership, trust in the organization, and the moral judgment of the salesperson) and their ability to relate to world class sales performance provide an interesting strategic guide for sales organizations, as well as a meaningful set of managerial tools that can assist in constructing a performance driven sales organization. These constructs have not been simultaneously investigated prior to this research.

A great deal has been written recently in the practitioner press about the strategic importance and usage of social media. However, as practitioners only release limited information about the internal advantages such a tool provides, research in this emerging field remains extremely limited about its usage in the sales area. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to propose and empirically assess a model of social media usage among business‐to‐business (B2B) salespeople.

A survey of 273 B2B salespeople was conducted and then analyzed using structural equation modeling.

Results support the hypothesized model suggesting that age negatively affects social media usage, while social media norms positively affect it. Social media usage positively affects sales performance. Customer‐oriented selling was not found to be positively related to social media usage, but does have a positive effect on sales performance.

This study was conducted by e‐mail, and as a result, there might be an existing bias towards respondents who already embrace some usage of an online communication method, indicating overall usage, acceptance, and application of social media may be lower than reported. A potential research agenda offers opportunities for both theoretical development and empirical assessment in social media research.

The findings provide an important foundation to advance academic sales research and demonstrate a needed understanding of how to operationally utilize social media to improve outcome performance.

This is one of the few studies empirically examining social media usage among B2B salespeople.

The variables impacting marketers’ motivation to work smarter are examined. These influencing variables are the manager’s venturesomeness, job challenge, effort and skill results, as well as self‐esteem. The model is empirically tested using 273 responses to a questionnaire distributed to marketers using a purchased, national mailing list. The empirical tests were done using a structural equations approach and maximum likelihood estimation. The results indicate that the motivation to work smarter is directly and positively impacted by the manager’s job challenge, effort and skill results, and venturesomeness. The manager’s self‐esteem has positive, indirect impacts on the motivation to work smarter through each of the manager’s venturesomeness, effort and skill results, and job challenge. Based on these results, recommendations on how marketers can be encouraged to work smarter are made.

Although chiefly anecdotal, reports that performance is enhanced through technology has encouraged many marketers to adopt computer systems. To examine this issue, 183 industrial marketing executives familiar with computers were surveyed. The results suggest that, properly managed, computer usage enriches individual marketer productivity and, in turn, organizational performance. Because managers can direct this productivity through organizational activities and investments, these findings suggest a number of key implications for marketers and researchers interested in utilizing and/or expanding applications of computer technology.

Examines the value of expert systems in marketing organizations through a national mail survey of 117 marketing executives. All the examined respondents reported the successful use of expert systems in their organizations. The results indicate that while expert systems provide operational benefits (e.g. they assist in making decisions more quickly), they also present new problems (e.g. increased security needs) that the adopting organization must consider. Based on these results, discusses implications for managers regarding the encouragement of the adoption and use of expert systems. Also presents questions concerning expert systems which require additional investigation.