The effect of sales force control systems and sales experience on salesperson performance

Abstract

The implications of the effect of sales force control systems on salesperson output performance has not been consistently established. The purpose of this research is to measure how sales force control systems affect the salesperson's output performance while investigating how the role of sales experience influences the proposed consequence. Both total sales experience and the sales experience in the current organization are taken into account. Survey data (n=177) collected from salespeople working in Finnish consultative sales organizations is analyzed using hierarchical regression analysis. The data is analyzed with both confirmatory factor analysis and exploratory factor analysis.

The findings of the research state that sales experience gathered while working in the organization has a positive effect on salesperson output performance, when independently measured. The results provide insight for understanding that sales force control should be treated as a more hybrid than unidimentional phenomenon in the context of this research. Also, this research finds that a hybrid combination of process and capability control has a significant, yet negative effect on salesperson performance.

The results implicate that sales management is complex area of research and involves many different aspects of the relationship between the sales manager and the salesperson. Even though the existing literature supports the notion of the traditional output vs process vs capability control systems, this thesis demonstrates a prevalence of a more hybrid form of sales force control.