Search results

A 42‐question survey on usage and beliefs regarding sales force automation (SFA) was collected, along with actual sales performance data, on 1,641 sales representatives of a large international pharmaceutical company in Germany, England, and the United States. The relationships between beliefs and usage and individual sales performance were examined both within and across countries and a cost‐benefit analysis completed. Factor analysis identified five usage groupings including: Planning and territory management; Administration and external information exchange; Within company communication; Active sales tool; and Passive sales tool. Significant usage, belief, and performance differences between countries were found, with the use of SFA explaining 16.4 per cent of the variance in sales performance across countries. General findings indicated that management and representatives believed SFA to be useful. US$22.2 million in sales increases were found to be attributable to SFA usage. At the same time, non‐discounted cash flow payback periods were found to range from 6.2 to 7.4 years. Potential contributing factors and implications are discussed.

The purpose of the paper is to examine shifts in sales organizations utilized to sell services to business‐to‐business customers. The paper also examines the changes expected in personal selling and sales management.

Extant academic literature and emerging practices are examined to determine trends.

The paper suggests that the traditional service‐focused sales organization is evolving in two distinct directions. First, enhanced sales automation is resulting in a reduction in salespeople's contact with customers. Second, an enhancement in the level of customer contact is leading to a growth of customer‐focused sales organizations and an increase in global account management teams.

Additional research is needed in this area.

Changes are required in the manner in which personal selling and sales management is practiced in organizations. Firms need to make these changes or their sales forces will be less efficient and less effective.

This important area is very infrequently examined in literature. This is the first attempt to examine this area.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Is there a management team that hasn’t been seduced by the revenue‐boosting, cost‐slashing mantra “sales force effectiveness”? The phrase, used broadly to encompass both a wide range of sales force automation and related CRM (customer relations management) initiatives, as well as revamped sales‐force training and incentive systems, activity audits, customer satisfaction surveys, and personnel reshufflings, has triggered massive amounts of corporate spending in recent years – nearly $12 billion on CRM applications alone in 2002, according to Forrester Research, a figure that Forrester projects will almost double in the next five years.

The purpose of this paper is to report on research into the introduction of computer assisted sales processes (CASP) to a retail automotive sales environment. This research specifically aims to examine the effectiveness and implications for automotive dealers, their staff and customers.

Primary research was carried out at three automotive dealer groups, including semi‐structured interviews with dealer managers and sales people, postal questionnaires and focus groups with existing customers.

The study found customer perceptions of the buying experience improved when CASP was used effectively in the sales process. To achieve this it is critical to evaluate the sales force's technology readiness and orientation so that training requirements can be identified. This research found the training needs of the salespeople were seriously underestimated.

The main limitation of the research is that, due to timescales, it is a cross‐sectional study in thee different dealer groups at three different stages of CASP implementation. It would benefit from a further longitudinal research with a larger sample.

The use of CASP and other sales force automation systems is unlikely to lose pace; therefore organisations need to audit their salespeople's skills and use of their systems. Otherwise, the huge investments involved will not provide benefits to the organisation, the sales person or the customers.

This research expands on previous research into customer perceptions of the overall buying experience and contributes to sales force automation theory. It found CASP improves a sales person's effectiveness with the customer and the customer's perception of the whole buying process.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the main drivers of change in the relational approaches adopted in business-to-business (B2B) companies as an effect of the digital transformation processes boosted by COVID-19 pandemic.

The methodology includes a qualitative study based on an abductive approach. Twenty-eight semistructured interviews and two focus groups have been carried out with sales and marketing professionals from different industries.

The research defines a conceptual framework that describes what the main changes of B2B relational approach are in a context affected by the pandemic, as well as its effects. The framework is constituted by three dimensions, namely, efficiency of the interaction, coordination and digital trust, and seven subdimensions.

This research also contributes to managerial practice, defining some directions to be fulfilled in a business context affected by the COVID-19 emergency to improve efficiency, coordination and trust.

Academic literature has greatly analyzed the transformation of the B2B scenario; less studies have explored how the relational approach is changing due to the digital acceleration caused by COVID-19 pandemic.

A strong and repeating theme in sales force automation (SFA) tool research is perceived usefulness. When salespeople perceived high levels of SFA tool usefulness, they report higher intent and actual use. The authors aim to apply agency theory to the concept of perceived usefulness (from the technology acceptance model) to explain why salespeople adopt some forms of SFA and reject still others. A set of hypotheses are proposed and tested revealing that salespeople will decide to use a SFA tool because they perceive it to be useful to themselves (i.e. PU_sp) and to their management (PU_sm).

Based on responses from 105 salespeople, the SFA tools they used were categorized as either outcome‐based (i.e. helping salespeople achieve their selling outcome goals) or activity‐based tools (i.e. helping management monitor selling activities/behaviors). Regression analyses were used to test six hypotheses relating salespeople's usage of each category of tools (the dependent variable) to the salesperson perceived usefulness constructs (both PU_sp and PU_sm – the independent variables).

The findings confirm that SFA tool use (either outcome‐based or activity‐based) is a function of both forms of perceived usefulness (i.e. PU_sp and PU_sm). Furthermore, when PU_sp is high, the salesperson is more likely to use outcome‐based (versus activity‐based) SFA tools over a longer period of time.

The paper validates agency theory as a useful paradigm for understanding salesperson SFA tool adoption. Salespeople will use SFA tools that they view as useful to their productivity and that the sales manager's influence over the salesperson's use of SFA tools may not be as important. To encourage use, firms need to emphasize how a SFA tool can meet salesperson needs.

The paper is the first to hypothesize and test the relationship between perceptions of SFA tool usefulness and actual usage by considering salesperson perception of usefulness to themselves (PU_sp) and perception of usefulness to their sales manager (PU_sm).

This paper examines how perceptions about salesforce automation (SFA) systems are influenced by the perceived accuracy of the information the system provides.

Three hypotheses are tested. They are as follows. Sales people who perceive that the information is inaccurate will be less likely to: have a positive perception of the system; think that their training was helpful; and think that the system improves their productivity. Chi‐square tests are used to test the association between the perceptions of information accuracy and the statements in the hypotheses.

Negative perceptions about the accuracy of information leads to negative perceptions about other aspects of the SFA system.

This study examines the results for only one particular organization. The results may not be generalizable to other organizations. As similar data about other SFA systems become available, this study can be used as a basis for examining the effect of information accuracy on perceptions of SFA systems.

Since the company has some control over the accuracy of the information provided by the system, they should attempt to provide information that the salesforce finds useful. To enure that the proper information is provided, management must seek the user's input about what information should be provided. Additionally, the data should be cleansed and provide an indicator of the probability that a particular lead will result in a sale.

Sales force automation (SFA) is increasingly used to support customer relationships, and provides a good example of technology application on the supplier‐customer interface. While research has begun to examine SFA, understanding it from the customer viewpoint is still vague. This paper reports results of exploratory qualitative research to investigate perceptions of SFA among both salespeople and their customers in the insurance industry in Thailand. Results suggest that customers want technology to be integrated into interpersonal relationships, not to replace them. Most customers, even those with extensive IT background, are not willing to interact with technology‐based self service only. Much of the relationship with the company comes from trust in the salesperson, which is built up through the development of the relationship. This is probably more important in the relationship‐based cultures of Asia, which are strongly familiar with interpersonal service.