A Contingency Approach to Specializing an Industrial Sales Force

Abstract

Psychographic, sociocultural and functional specialization are three alternative forms of deploying sales forces currently used by firms in combination with the traditional bases of specialization. Despite their usage, these forms have received little recognition and acceptance in the marketing literature. Because there is no single best form of specialization for all firms, this article proffers a contingency model of specialization whereby the optimal form(s) of specialization is dependent on the accurate analysis of twelve situational variables.