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Thursday, May 28th, 2020
The research review aims to help readers keep up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research. This selection of published research is from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts include three themes that focus on sales performance, customer management, and sales behavioural studies. Sales Performance…
Tuesday, May 26th, 2020
How a relationship-based group coaching model can improve performance. As a salesperson and subsequent sales leader with more than two decades of experience, on-the-job learning has provided me with valuable insights and business management skills. However, given the rapidly evolving business environment, I realised the need to embark upon a continuous learning path. On learning about the SAP Master’s programme,…
Tuesday, May 26th, 2020
Research led to the creation of a “Success Guide to Leading A Cross-Functional Team”. My aim with this research is to help cross-functional team leaders garner better team performance by providing an easily consumable, repeatable set of recommended behaviours and actions to help guide them to success. Team leaders can utilize the knowledge provided from these research findings for guidance,…
Tuesday, June 25th, 2019
Royal Caribbean Cruises have been presented with the APS Investor in Sales award for passing the professional registration assessment. Professional registration with the APS demonstrates a commitment to ethical selling and the Investor in Sales award is granted to sales teams when more than 50 percent pass an exacting test. So far, more than 130 salespeople in the company’s pan-European…
Tuesday, June 25th, 2019
The Association of Professional Sales held its first meeting in francophone Africa on 19 June. The inaugural event in Dakar, Senegal, featured a presentation by Emmanuel Delvaux, Global Sales and Marketing Director, Schlumberger. Delvaux, who also doubles as International Development Manager of the APS, discussed “The art of negotiation: what challenges for a win-win approach?” Meanwhile, in the UK, the…
Tuesday, June 25th, 2019
Edenred UK recently launched Connect Incentive, an SaaS-based incentives platform designed to drive performance through their channel or internal sales and customer service teams. The platform enables incentive programmes to be set up in minutes rather than weeks or months, removing admin challenges, and making them more cost-effective to run because they don’t need a costly IT project to get…
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
These pages aim to keep readers up to date with recently published research on sales-related topics. The review highlights short abstracts of academically peer-reviewed research from a range of academic journals. In this edition, the abstracts focus on three themes: sales performance; customer management, and sales-related behavioural studies. Sales performance Salespeople’s ability to learn impacts value-based selling approaches This paper…
Friday, March 22nd, 2019
This project from 2016 explores how to create a sales control system designed to deliver a company’s key objectives. Introduction Sales is no longer an independent isolated function within an organisation, but is an integral and cross-functional part of a company’s strategy (Storbacka et al 2011). Sales now not only executes the strategy, but helps create and drive the strategy…
Friday, September 22nd, 2017
Introduction Working most of my career for global companies like PWC, IBM and SAP, I have been confronted with solutions and services of rising complexity, which are sold and delivered to increasingly knowledgeable customers in a competitive and transforming global environment. The daily activities of my sales team in direct relation with its customer are central: they are understanding the…
Friday, September 22nd, 2017
Decades of research now point to emotional intelligence as the critical factor that sets star performers apart from the rest of the pack. Peter Salovey and John D Mayer coined the term “emotional intelligence” in 1990, describing it as “a form of social intelligence that involves the ability to monitor one’s own and others’ feelings and emotions, to discriminate among…
Friday, April 28th, 2017
Jeb Blount (author), Anthony Iannarino (foreword) The sales profession is in the midst of a perfect storm. Buyers have more power more information, more at stake, and more control over the sales process than any time in history. Technology is bringing disruptive change at an ever–increasing pace, creating fear and uncertainty that leaves buyers clinging to the status quo. Deteriorating…
Friday, April 28th, 2017
Mark Weinberg Why do sales organisations fall short? Every day, expert consultants like Mike Weinberg are called on by companies large and small to find the answer – and it’s one that may surprise you. Typically, the issue lies not with the sales team – but with how it is being led. Through their attitude and actions, senior executives and…
Friday, April 28th, 2017
Luis R. Gomez-Mejia (author), Pascual Berrone (contributor), Monica Franco-Santos (contributor) This research-oriented textbook focuses on the relationship between compensation systems and overall firm performance. In contrast to more traditional compensation texts, it provides a strategic perspective to compensation administration rather than a functional viewpoint. The text emphasizes the role of managerial pay, its importance, determinants, and impact on organizations. It…
Sunday, April 23rd, 2017
In our previous article in this series, “The classic performance dilemma”, we presented a brief outline of the properties of effective sales performance measurement systems. In this follow-up article, we focus on a widespread practice in sales organisations: the use of sales targets or goals. We highlight the key issues associated with performance targets and offer guidelines to minimise their…
Sunday, April 23rd, 2017
The old saw states that a poor workman blames his tools. These days, it could also be said that a successful sales manager credits his tools for guiding his success, but to use the tools available to them, sales managers need help. Manual systems for managing commissions and other sales processes don’t capture data in a form that allows fast…
Sunday, January 29th, 2017
Joe Morone, Karen Benjamin and Marty Smith This book is aimed at CEOs and sales leaders who feel their organisations have not yet won their fair share of their potential market. Co-author Joe Morone tells readers: “You have great products and services. You’ve amassed a dedicated team. You have loyal clients realising tangible success with your offerings. But improving sales…
Sunday, January 29th, 2017
Are sales force incentives linked to drug sales volumes the best way to motivate individual reps? With the performance of the sales force directly linked to the bottom line, ensuring representatives are well motivated and incentivized is a critical ingredient in any company’s financial health. Yet, with the huge amount of change reshaping the pharma landscape – from digital to…
Sunday, January 29th, 2017
How do we achieve a balance between input and output measures to manage sales performance effectively? Lucy is what many people would call a “high achiever”. She had always been focused on delivering the best service for her clients and always supportive of her colleagues and her organisation. Lucy always looked forward to Christmas time. It typically marked the completion…
