Determinants and antecedents of sales organization effectiveness

The fundamental objective of this paper was to identify and analyze the main antecedents of sales organization effectiveness in order to offer the guidelines for improving the standard sales practice. In addition to the customary challenges of achieving anticipated sales results, rising pressures of the contemporary business environment underscore the importance of establishing a more effective sales organization. The aim of the empirical research was to identify the sources of effectiveness of sales organizations based on the comparison between two groups of organizations, namely, the relatively high and low performing ones. The concept of sales performance was observed through five distinct factors: sales management activities, sales force characteristics, sales organization design and sales force effectiveness with regard to the sales outcome of these organizations and their behavior. The analysis of the results led to the conclusion that the most important sources of sales effectiveness are the activities of sales managers targeted towards monitoring and rewarding. Moreover, sales managers in relatively more effective organizations reported much higher satisfaction with the design of sales territories. Sales people in effective companies are highly motivated and committed to the organization. In addition, they are also considerably better at achieving high levels of outcome performance. The research presents an addition to a number of similar studies conducted worldwide but, more importantly, it contributes to the exceptionally small number of sales management studies carried out in Croatia. For a more complete analysis it would be necessary to include the variables of the external environment and examine the potential moderating impact of product type and industry on the overall sales effectiveness.