Problem - Decision makers shape the structure of the sales function, but it is unclear how they go about it and why. The rationale for making certain decisions need to be analyzed in order to understand why different decision makers apply different sales strategies. Topic - The Swedish prefabricated wooden house industry consists of many actors with no clear market leader. The sales force seems to mainly consists of external sales agents (manufacturers' representatives, also called reps), though some manufacturers also employ direct sales agents at the manufacturing company. Prefabricated wooden houses corresponded to 86% of all building permits requested during 2015. Purpose - This thesis aims to explore decision-makers' rationale behind the organization of manufacturers' sales forces in the Swedish prefabricated wooden house industry. Method - Semi-structures interviews with decision makers at manufacturing companies in the Swedish prefabricated wooden house industry have been conducted in order to fulfill the purpose of this study. The empirical findings are then analyzed based on theory that has been collected through partly inductive, partly deductive approaches. Main results - Decision makers use different arguments to justify their strategies. Many different rationale applied translates into no clear pattern besides the one that there seems to be no clear pattern. Arguments for a rationale decision are given without analytical proof for an assumption. Some interviewees are in essence for an integrated sales force, though might also work with reps.

Background: Given the situation that todays’ companies establish deeper relationships with their clients, focusing on long- term collaboration and emphasis on mutual cooperation, the communication with the clients is increasingly based on one-to- one communication. Personal selling is described in literature as one tool of the communication mix. This tool of one-to one communication has become very important. Several companies spend 8-15% of their net sales on personal selling to communicate directly with their clients, supporting them in evaluating specific needs and thus be able to offer the right product. The B2B environment is highly complex in its various characteristics. In regards to personal selling, the characteristics of intercultural aspects, B2B Relationships and Relationship Marketing has been chosen. The usage of personal selling could improve B2B Relationships. Research Question: How companies use and manage personal selling to strengthen B2B relationships? What are the cultural differencesregarding to the country of operation? Purpose: The purpose of this master thesis is to identify how personal selling can influence and strengthen B2B relationships. In this evaluation, the authors like to examine the differences in personal selling management according to the country of operation. The objective is to arrive on implications for B2B companies, especially in the IT sector. Method: The study uses an inductive research approach. The target is to arrive on new insights whether personal selling improves business- to business relations. Within the qualitative research method four case- studies of B2B IT companies from Brazil and Sweden will be evaluated. Through semi- structured personal interviews primary data will be obtained from each company. Through the conduction of the interviews in two countries, the impact of cultural aspects will be evaluated simultaneously. Theoretical Framework: The study evaluates literature about Cultural Aspects, Relationship Marketing, B2B Marketing and Sales Management in order to gain knowledge in accordance to the thesis’ research topics. B2B Markets are characterized by its complexity. The study uses those B2B characteristics which are influences by personal selling. Findings & Conclusion: Through the evaluation of the case studies in two countries, it can be outlined that personal selling has a positive impact on the establishment of long-term business relation, increase market recognition and leads to mutual business cooperation with the customer, that is necessary for future business development and product development according to customer and market demands. Understanding hereby the cultural background of the client is evaluated as an advantage on the direct communication and establishment of business relation.It is thus suggested to focus on personal selling, while providing technical advance solutions that require a high demand on communication.

The increasing competition and the predicted changes in the retail sector are pressurising marketers to be more competitive in order to ensure that their brands are amongst the leading brands. Marketers need to constantly develop innovative marketing strategies to create brand awareness, as well as to stimulate demand for specific brands. An important tool in this regard is the marketing communication mix, of which sales promotion is one of the most effective elements in the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector. It is the responsibility of marketers to select the most appropriate sales promotion technique for a specific market segment or, more specifically, to select the most appropriate technique to effectively encourage the desired effect on the consumer buying behaviour. The South African Generation Y cohort (individuals born between 1986 and 2005) accounts for 40 percent of the total South African population and the black Generation Y portion represents 84 percent of the total South African Generation Y cohort. Those involved in attaining a tertiary qualification are likely to represent the future ‘Black Diamonds’ who represent South Africa’s growing prosperous African middle class that have experienced a 39 percent yearly growth rate in their spending power. Therefore, the black Generation Y student cohort is a very attractive market segment and it is critical to determine what sales promotion techniques are preferred by this specific market segment. The purpose of this study was to analyse the black Generation Y students’ attitudes towards different sales promotion techniques on low involvement products, since low involvement products tend to be more responsive to sales promotion techniques. For this study, the target population comprised black Generation Y students registered at the 23 South African registered public HEIs. From the sampling frame, a non-probability judgment sample of one traditional university and one university of technology in Gauteng was selected. Thereafter, a non-probability convenience sample of 600 black students from the selected HEIs aged between 18 and 24 years was drawn. A self-administered questionnaire was hand delivered to the lecturers and distributed to the respondents during one lecture period. The questionnaire requested respondents to indicate on a six-point Likert scale their attitudes towards four sales promotion techniques on 20 items as well as to provide certain demographic data. The findings of this study indicate that black Generation Y students have an overall positive attitude towards the sales promotion techniques measured in this study and that these techniques are suitable for inducing specific consumer buying behaviours concerning low involvement products. Furthermore, the findings indicate that buy one get one free and free sample offers are the most preferred sales promotion techniques and are more likely to exert an influence on consumer buying behaviours than the other sales promotion techniques. Insights gained from this study will help both marketers and retailers to understand current black Generation Y consumers’ attitudes towards sales promotion techniques, as well as to understand which sales promotion techniques are preferred and most likely to influence specific consumer buying behaviours. / Thesis (MCom (Marketing management))--North-West University, Vaal Triangle Campus, 2013

Sales management control and sales force performance has received substantial attention by researchers in the past decades. Researchers have been investigating the construct of sales control, its antecedents and its consequences on both the individual sales person and on sales force performance. This research project analyses how and why the sales control systems are implemented the way they are. The basis for this approach is drawn from the organisational or management control literature which treats behaviour and outcome approaches as dimensions rather than categories. Organisational control also treats the control system as a process which consists of a set of stages or sub processes being objective setting, planning, monitoring, feedback and correcting. With the growing importance of relationship selling and key account management it can no longer be assumed that all the sales people will operate at the same hierarchical level within an organisation nor that they will be subject to one and the same control system. Therefore an in depth analysis of how sales force control processes are implemented for different types of sales functions, ranging from customer acquisition, small to medium account management to strategic and global account management, is needed. The research project included 17 preliminary interviews across different organisations, from which one organisation was selected on the basis that it contains a large international sales force of about 2.500 people consisting of a very wide range of sales functions. The analysis of this organisation included 100 plus interviews of 66 sales managers and sales people across all types of sales functions over a two year period. The findings show that the inability to measure certain inputs and outputs does not deter a sales organisation to adopt their sales control strategy within a functional sales team. When some measures are not available or are unreliable, sales managers find other ways to measure them being it through some locally developed tools or through more qualitative approaches. The method used to obtain certain measures does impact the level of the sophistication of the actual control process or strategy. When there is a need to control sales people who operate as a team of employees from different departments the sales managers can no longer individually develop some local tools to measure inputs and outputs. The findings show that team based selling requires accurate data but also globally agreed rules and procedures in order to operate successfully. This enables us to conclude that the inability to measure certain inputs and outputs is a determining variable for the implementation of client sales teams. With regard to sales force control strategies the research uncovered that within the category of the hybrid sales control approach there are four types of sales control sub approaches. The choice of which control to use is dependent on the size of the customers or opportunities the sales people work with and the selling approach which is either hunting or farming. This shows that while farming can be relabelled as key account management, hunting remains a major sales activity requiring not only different selling approaches it also requires different types of sales control processes than for farming. All of these findings indicate that several types of sales control systems can operate across one single organisation and that the main determining variables are the sales approach and the type of accounts the sales person is managing. This challenges current beliefs or assumptions that all sales people operate at the same hierarchical level within an organisation and that they all operate under one single sales control approach. Future research on sales force control will need to take these findings into account when designing their approach to study control systems within organisations.

The purpose of this study was to identify and analyze sales people's perceptions of performance appraisal criteria in a telecommunications corporation. The study was prompted by the perceived disillusionment of the sales people with the current performance appraisal criteria. The perceptions of 67 sales people were assessed using a questionnaire developed by the researcher. One-way analysis of variance procedures (ANOVA) were used to determine if there were statistically significant differences in premise and telemarketing sales people's perceptions of performance appraisal criteria. Findings indicated that there were no statistically significant difference in premise and telemarketing sales people's perceptions of the 38 performance appraisal criteria statements. Findings did not indicate a statistically significant difference in premise and telemarketing sales people's perceptions of the performance criteria statements, the attitude or satisfaction statements, and the peripheral issue statements. Based on this study, the sales people appear to have clear perceptions of the performance appraisal criteria.

To meet global competition many companies have reorganized work process systems, eliminated management levels, formed employee work groups and implemented variable compensation systems. This study investigated the effect of group incentives on individual sales performance in two specialty shops located in a large metropolitan hotel. Two questions were addressed: What effect would adding a group bonus plan have on individual employee's sales performance who had previously received hourly wages in one shop; and, what effect would changing an individual incentive plan to a group plan have on the individual employee's sales performance in the other shop. In one shop 5 of 7 employees' productivity increased: in the other, 1 of 3 subjects' productivity increased. Contingencies in both shops are analyzed and suggestions offered for future research.

The purpose of this study was to determine the extent of the relationship between four measures of educational experience, a measure of job performance, and six dimensions of job satisfaction for a population engaged in outside sales.

Small retailers are searching for a basis of competitive advantage to compete against larger retailers. The independent sales representative (rep) may represent such a basis. Little is known about how the role of reps and their performance is perceived by suppliers and retailers. We do not know what is expected from reps, if the reps' performance meets suppliers and retailers expectations, or whether met expectations lead to a basis of competitive advantage. Primarily, the study was designed to identify the role and contributions reps in the interactions between the supplier and retailer in the channel of distribution.

The purpose of this study is to determine which of three forecasting methods provides the most accurate short-term forecasts, in terms of absolute and mean absolute percentage error, for a unique set of data. The study applies three forecasting techniques--the Box-Jenkins or ARIMA method, cycle regression analysis, and multiple regression analysis--to quarterly sales tax revenue data. The final results show that, with varying success, each model identifies the direction of change in the future, but does not closely identify the period to period fluctuations. Indeed, each model overestimated revenues for every period forecasted. Cycle regression analysis, with a mean absolute percentage error of 7.21, is the most accurate model. Multiple regression analysis has the smallest absolute percentage error of 3.13.

The study investigated the predictive validity of the California Psychological Inventory (CPI) as a tool for sales selection. Two analyses were conducted. Study 1 consisted of 20 male home improvement representatives. The average net and gross closing ratios for a six month period were used as the criteria. The results indicted that none of the CPI scales differentiated between poor and good performers when correlated with the secondary criterion of gross closing ratios. These findings were contrary to a previous concurrent validity study. Study 2 investigated month to month retention/separation for 61 home improvement representatives, to determine if the CPI differentiated between short and long term success. Phi coefficients showed no statistical significance between retention/separation and the CPI profile score over time.