The role of sales has evolved over the last decade, mostly driven by technological and social changes. One major shift is the growth in importance and in size of the inside sales function. Inside sales are sales that are conducted remotely or virtually using one or more Information Technology (IT) tools without the traditional in-person interaction. Despite the growing importance of inside sales, studies that show the key determinants and practices that can improve inside sales success are rare and have tended to focus on determinants affecting individual salesperson performance. Moreover, existing approaches to customer acquisition in inside sales often rely on subjective intuition, expert suggestions and gut feeling, which often hurts the chances of qualifying and converting leads to sales, and eventually diminishes inside sales success. This research aims to address such shortcomings by: 1) investigating the key dimensions and determinants of inside sales success by summarizing the existing body of knowledge using a systematic review and meta-analysis; and 2) develop comprehensible lead conversion models that integrate the interplay of relevant determinants in the lead conversion process. This doctoral research aims to: (1) Synthesize the literature and draw a big picture of B2B sales success by providing practitioners and scholars with a comprehensive state-of-the-art understanding of the determinants of B2B sales success and their significance in inside sales. (2) Identify and validate several key lead engagement factors crucial for inside sales success. (3) Demonstrate the potential of data-driven analytics by collecting multiple historical datasets from several companies representing different industries. This includes investigating and discovering new insights that will improve lead conversion outcomes, which contributes to the literature on the ongoing discussion of effective sales pipeline management. (4) Provide sales practitioners with comprehensible lead conversion models that integrate industry specific behavior and performance of salespeople, characteristics of leads and/or prospects, and workflow strategy aspects. This will help sales practitioners to better understand problems and opportunities in lead management, take proactive actions, and improve their sales success.

Social media have transformed business commerce and consumer communication, yet organizational leaders lack clear strategies for using social media platforms to their advantage. The purpose of this qualitative multicase study was to explore social media marketing strategies for increasing sales. The relationship marketing conceptual framework grounded this study. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 5 organizational leaders from 5 different organizations in the San Francisco, California, Bay Area and a review of participants’ documents including marketing materials, social media posts, and published sales reports. Data analysis included coding, categorization, and identification of major themes. The thematic assessment approach revealed 5 major themes from participants’ responses that aligned with findings from the literature review. Themes included identifying the target audience, developing a customer roadmap to convert prospects to consumers, managing customer relationships to increase brand loyalty, and developing key performance indicators to measure the success of social media campaigns. Study findings may increase local organizational leaders’ knowledge of social media strategies that they can use to increase brand awareness, brand loyalty, and sales for their organizations. Implications for social change include the opportunity for local leaders to increase sales, which could lead to more jobs and improved economies in local communities.

El texto completo de este trabajo no está disponible en el Repositorio Académico UPC por restricciones de la casa editorial donde ha sido publicado. / It has been found that the main causes of insufficient sales of different small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) is the low conversion rate of quotes into sales, which entails poor business performance and low economic impact. Therefore, a marketing methodology called inbound marketing is planned, which is modified and adapted to the case study. In contrast, tools such as ABC classification, workflow, and inbound marketing have been used as a structure of the proposed methodology to solve the problem. The implementation of this methodology resulted in an increased efficiency of quote development and an enhanced performance ratio thereof. In conclusion, it is possible to measure the financial impact of the methodology implementation which has been beneficial for the company under study. Business performance in the last month of implementation improved by 10%.

Herd sires are an important investment for beef cattle producers in the Southeast United States of America (USA). For producers, bull selection decisions are critical to introduce new and compatible genetics into their cow herd. The impact of bull selection affects the cow herd and many calf crops when heifers by these herd sires are retained for breeding replacements. The objective of this study was to determine the relationships over time between bull sale prices and individual performance and measures of genetic merit for bulls sold in the state of Alabama, Mississippi, and North Carolina. The study was conducted using data from Beef Cattle Improvement Association (BCIA) and Beef Cattle Improvement Program (BCIP) bull sales from 1974 to 2011. All sales maintained a core set of qualifications. These were used in a hedonic pricing model to analyze their impact on the actual sale price for each bull.

No description available.

<p>Sammanfattning</p><p>Denna uppsats syftar till att utvärdera företaget Securitas Aroundios säljutbildning och</p><p>coachning utifrån de berörda anställdas perspektiv i Linköping. Det är av vikt för företaget att</p><p>få en uppriktig återkoppling från de anställda rörande utbildningen och coachningen. Ingen</p><p>tidigare utvärdering har skett där utomstående parter varit delaktiga. Genom att utföra en</p><p>utvärdering kan ett företag se om något behöver åtgärdas eller förändras.</p><p>Denna uppsats bygger på en kvalitativ undersökning där de anställda på Securitas Aroundio i</p><p>Linköping intervjuades. Samtliga intervjuer skedde på Aroundios huvudkontor i Linköping</p><p>den 5 maj 2008. Samtliga av respondenterna gav sitt medgivande till att intervjuerna spelades</p><p>in och i samband med detta fördes även anteckningar. Intervjufrågorna utgick från en</p><p>semistrukturerad intervjuguide, vilken behandlade undersökningsområdena bestående av</p><p>säljutbildningen och coachningen hos Aroundio.</p><p>Resultatet som erhölls från intervjuerna indikerar att Aroundios säljutbildning och coachning</p><p>upplevs som adekvat. Detta grundas på att samtliga parter generellt sett är nöjda med</p><p>säljutbildningen och coachningen. Slutsatsen är att Securitas Aroundio uppfyller deras mål</p><p>med utbildningen och coachningen, då företaget ger säljarna de verktyg de behöver för att</p><p>kunna arbeta självständigt och det stöd de behöver i sitt arbete.</p> / <p>Summary</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate Securitas Aroundio’s sales training and coaching</p><p>from the view of the firm’s employees. It is of great importance for Securitas Aroundio to</p><p>receive an honest opinion about their sales training and coaching. No previous evaluation has</p><p>been made by external researchers. By continuous evaluation of a firms sales training and</p><p>coaching, the firm can get an awareness of matters that need to be changed or fixed.</p><p>This thesis is based on a qualitative approach where the employees at Securitas Aroundio in</p><p>Linköping were interviewed. All interviews took place at Aroundio’s headquarters in</p><p>Linköping on the 5th of May 2008. All of the respondents gave consent for the recording of</p><p>the interviews. Also notes were taken during the interviews. The questions asked during the</p><p>interviews were based on a semi structured interview format, dealing with the two areas of the</p><p>investigation, Aroundio’s sales training and coaching.</p><p>The result indicates the sales training and coaching provided by Securitas Aroundio is</p><p>adequate. This statement is based on the overall satisfaction of the employees concerning the</p><p>sales training and coaching provided by the firm. The overall indication is that the salespeople</p><p>are provided with the tools and support they need to work autonomously. In conclusion,</p><p>Securitas Aroundio’s goals with the sales training and coaching are being met.</p>

Sammanfattning Denna uppsats syftar till att utvärdera företaget Securitas Aroundios säljutbildning och coachning utifrån de berörda anställdas perspektiv i Linköping. Det är av vikt för företaget att få en uppriktig återkoppling från de anställda rörande utbildningen och coachningen. Ingen tidigare utvärdering har skett där utomstående parter varit delaktiga. Genom att utföra en utvärdering kan ett företag se om något behöver åtgärdas eller förändras. Denna uppsats bygger på en kvalitativ undersökning där de anställda på Securitas Aroundio i Linköping intervjuades. Samtliga intervjuer skedde på Aroundios huvudkontor i Linköping den 5 maj 2008. Samtliga av respondenterna gav sitt medgivande till att intervjuerna spelades in och i samband med detta fördes även anteckningar. Intervjufrågorna utgick från en semistrukturerad intervjuguide, vilken behandlade undersökningsområdena bestående av säljutbildningen och coachningen hos Aroundio. Resultatet som erhölls från intervjuerna indikerar att Aroundios säljutbildning och coachning upplevs som adekvat. Detta grundas på att samtliga parter generellt sett är nöjda med säljutbildningen och coachningen. Slutsatsen är att Securitas Aroundio uppfyller deras mål med utbildningen och coachningen, då företaget ger säljarna de verktyg de behöver för att kunna arbeta självständigt och det stöd de behöver i sitt arbete. / Summary The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate Securitas Aroundio’s sales training and coaching from the view of the firm’s employees. It is of great importance for Securitas Aroundio to receive an honest opinion about their sales training and coaching. No previous evaluation has been made by external researchers. By continuous evaluation of a firms sales training and coaching, the firm can get an awareness of matters that need to be changed or fixed. This thesis is based on a qualitative approach where the employees at Securitas Aroundio in Linköping were interviewed. All interviews took place at Aroundio’s headquarters in Linköping on the 5th of May 2008. All of the respondents gave consent for the recording of the interviews. Also notes were taken during the interviews. The questions asked during the interviews were based on a semi structured interview format, dealing with the two areas of the investigation, Aroundio’s sales training and coaching. The result indicates the sales training and coaching provided by Securitas Aroundio is adequate. This statement is based on the overall satisfaction of the employees concerning the sales training and coaching provided by the firm. The overall indication is that the salespeople are provided with the tools and support they need to work autonomously. In conclusion, Securitas Aroundio’s goals with the sales training and coaching are being met.

Thesis (doctoral)--Université de Genève, 1994. / Material type: Dissertations. Includes bibliographical references (p. 305-323) and index.

This master thesis focuses on the issue of practical implementation of Solution Selling philosophy in general and of its principles in particular. It also covers topics of the sales function in a company, sales workforce and related problems with hiring and differentiating between sales positions, theoretical background of Solution Selling and discussion about its topicality and ability to address needs of modern economic environment. Empirical part is based on three case studies of such companies as VMware, Cisco and DuPont and example of business model of IBM Corporation, which successfully uses Solution Selling as a core for its operational activities. Results of findings are provided in the end of practical part and in general conclusions.

Digitization has made major changes in how companies work internally and externally. Both markets and customers’ demands are completely different nowadays. The salesperson acts in the middle of markets, customers and companies and tries to adapt and achieve good results. The purpose of this study is to analyse important competencies and characteristics required of a salesperson to sell digital solutions. Additionally, the purpose is to identify the conditions that will support the salespersons to sell digital solutions. The objective of the study is to improve the sales process of digital solutions. The process from the first customer contact to the quotation will only be studied in this survey due to delimitations. A qualitative method is applied with an iterative approach where the data collection consists of a literature study, participant observation, unstructured and semi-structured interviews. The data collection were processed with thematic analysis. The literature study includes a deeper study of Digital Solution Sales, Value Co-Creation and Team selling. Most of the interviews were executed with employees at ABB, a world leader company in power and automation technology. Three of ABB:s costumers participated in the data collection as well.