Antecedents, Outcomes, and Personal Factors Used by Sales Managers to Assess the Performance of Salespeople

Abstract

How do sales managers assess the performance of salespeople? It appears from the considerable amount of research that has been done in this area that there is no clear-cut answer to this question. Much empirical research aimed at identifying explanatory variables related to the performance of salespeople has been done over the past 75 years. The cumulative results of all this research indicate that no single factor adequately explains the variations in selling effectiveness from salesperson to salesperson (Szymanski, 1988). It is therefore necessary to approach the question from the point of view of attempting to identify the key factors most likely to influence selling effectiveness and hence sales force productivity.