Sales – Page 10

Key Account Management

The objective of key account management (KAM) is to reap the economic benefits of long-term relationships with important customers. Whereas researchers have devoted large efforts studying the reasons suppliers adopt KAM, practitioners are especially interested in organizational aspects related to the implementation of KAM. In addition, the complexity of the topic often leads researchers to examine just a single aspect or certain perspectives in more detail. Against this background, this chapter compiles important findings and systemizes them. The first section of the chapter lays the groundwork by defining KAM and connecting the KAM approach to related research areas and relevant theoretical concepts. The second and main section provides an in-depth discussion of the dimensions of KAM, including the determinants of KAM adoption, the design of KAM and its performance implications. The chapter closes with implications for managerial practice and an agenda for future research.

March 4, 2020

Sales Force Compensation: Research Insights and Research Potential

Today’s B2B selling environment is characterized by much complexity. Key drivers of this complexity include group sales efforts, multipart sales offerings and multibusiness unit participation on single deals (CFO Research Services 2010). It is timely to review the role of sales force compensation in B2B organizations. This chapter first discusses research insights on compensation elements to offer to salespeople, followed by a summary of results on how much to pay and how to balance salary versus incentive pay. Next, the chapter covers survey results on the choice to delegate pricing authority to the sales force and its impact on compensation. Finally, remaining challenges are identified, in which academic research results are sparser and therefore in which the opportunity for future research is bright.

March 4, 2020

Sales Force Performance: A Typology and Future Research Priorities

In marketing research and practice in a selling context, performance implications are often demonstrated at the individual, business unit, or company level. The purposes of this chapter are threefold. First, this chapter surveys the literature on sales force performance to evaluate how this important criterion variable has been defined, operationalized and measured. Using this survey, a typology of sales force performance measures is developed. To this end, sales force performance is categorized into topical areas along two dimensions – positive versus negative performance and behavioral versus outcome performance – which includes in-role and extra-role behavioral performance. Second, future research topics in each of those areas are identified. Third, the chapters offers brief methodological notes for exploring these new topics.

March 3, 2020

Building a Winning Sales Force in B2B Markets: A Managerial Perspective

An inventory of sales force effectiveness issues based on the input of several hundred sales leaders reveals that B2B companies face a wide array of complex sales force challenges and opportunities. Addressing these issues effectively requires broad solutions and approaches. A thinking framework for sales force effectiveness organizes the complexities that B2B sales forces face. This framework provides sales leaders with a holistic approach for assessing sales force effectiveness, diagnosing sales force issues, and developing multi-dimensional, high impact solutions. Sales researchers can use the framework to discover ways to expand their research focus to benefit practitioners.

March 3, 2020

photo on phone of online marketing graph

The Impact of the Internet on B2B Sales Force Size and Structure

Since its commercialization in the mid-1990s, the Internet has become one of the most revolutionary forces in history to hit business in general and B2B (including ‘industrial’ and ‘services’) markets in particular. Despite the importance and gravity of the Internet in the context of the B2B sales force, systematic study of the Internet’s impact on B2B sales force size and structure is sparse. Our objectives in this chapter are twofold: (1) to review and document how the Internet is used in B2B buying and selling today; and (2) to conceptualize the Internet’s evolving impact on sales force size and structure with propositions for further investigation.

March 3, 2020

Using Account Based Marketing Strategies to Accelerate Key Account Revenue Production (Ascension)

“We strayed too far from home” is one of the explanations often heard about product development initiatives that failed to result in success. But for many business-to-business firms, especially those whose roots are in manufacturing, staying close to home has become a major challenge in recent years, given the emphasis that has emerged on digital content and on services. This webinar by George Brown of B-to-B Advisors explores strategies that firms have successfully incorporated into their product development initiatives to marry their own firm’s core competencies with the messages from the market that are asking for them to move in new directions.

January 30, 2020

Chief Marketer’s B2B Outlook for 2020 – Insights on Lead Generation

Chief Marketer published their B2B Outlook for 2020, focusing especially on lead generation by B2B marketers. It includes data from a survey conducted in 2019 among 167 senior marketers (CMO, VP of marketing, director of marketing, etc.) who work for B2B companies.

January 15, 2020

Converting Value Pricing and Value Selling Capabilities into Growth and Profits (James Anderson)

Today, everyone wants to be on top of value pricing and value selling. Despite some positive results from your investments of money and time to build value selling and pricing capabilities, your organization has fallen short of its goals. Was it all hype? Or are there obstacles that your organization hasn’t fully addressed. In the interactive session lead by moderator James Anderson and panelists Todd Snelgrove and Eric Berggren, you will get 3 different perspectives on the 5 most overlooked barriers that prevent firms from becoming the customer value leader in their market.

October 18, 2018

AI Within Reach: Demystifying Artificial Intelligence and Making It Work For You (Jessica Fewless)

Whether we realize it or not, we’ve all been using artificial intelligence (AI) for years to make our daily lives easier (think Siri). But it wasn’t until recently that Sales and Marketing organizations began realizing the power of AI to drive measurable business outcomes. While surveyed marketers believe AI will be transformative, fewer than 20 percent are actually using AI-powered applications today. All that is about to change and it’ll be easier than you might think. Watch this session with Lisa Ames to see real-life examples of sales and marketing organizations using AI and learn how you can:
– Boost pipeline generation by leveraging AI-powered applications
– Improve alignment by empowering your sales team with AI-driven insights
– Overcome the pitfalls that prevent companies from using AI successfully

June 6, 2018

Impact of Digital on the Sales Force (Mike Ahearne, Thomas Steenburgh)

Experienced marketers know that their sales force can have a greater impact on results than any other element of the marketing mix. The challenge has always been to deploy limited resources efficiently and effectively. Fortunately, today’s digital technologies make it possible to scale diverse resources, enabling the sales force to manage profitability across a wide range of account types and sizes. Few question technology’s pervasive impact on selling and the sales profession. Yet many firms are not adequately positioning their sales organizations for optimal performance in the digital age. This webinar examines the relationship of digital technology and the sales function, while offering specific strategies for leadership to fully leverage technology’s impact. Professors Mike Ahearne and Thomas Steenburgh provide examples of how world class organizations leverage digital capabilities to increase profits and gain competitive advantage, and will describe the shifts sales organizations will be required to make in sales process and training investments.

May 30, 2018

ISBM Pulse: Sales

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Key Account Management

Sales Force Compensation: Research Insights and Research Potential

Sales Force Performance: A Typology and Future Research Priorities

Building a Winning Sales Force in B2B Markets: A Managerial Perspective

The Impact of the Internet on B2B Sales Force Size and Structure

Using Account Based Marketing Strategies to Accelerate Key Account Revenue Production (Ascension)

Converting Value Pricing and Value Selling Capabilities into Growth and Profits (James Anderson)

AI Within Reach: Demystifying Artificial Intelligence and Making It Work For You (Jessica Fewless)

Impact of Digital on the Sales Force (Mike Ahearne, Thomas Steenburgh)

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