Unravelling Criteria for Assessing the Performance of Salespeople: A Causal Analysis |
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| Authors: | Ramon A. Avila Edward F. Fern O. Karl Mann |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Ramon A. Avila is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Ball State University. He hearned his Ph.D. from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. His research interests include identifying and motivating successful salespeople, turnover issues in sales forces, and sales force performance evaluation. He has published in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Mid-American Journal of Business, and presented papers at numerous conferences such as: AMA educators', Academy of Marketing Science, and the Atlanta Marketing Association.;2. Edward F. Fern received his Ph.D. from Ohio State University. He is Associate Professor at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Dr. Fern has published in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Marketing, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and Advances in Consumer Research and has presented papers before the American Marketing Association Educators' and Service Conferences. He spent ten years with the Transcontinental Music Corporation as a sales manager. He is a member of the American Marketing Association and the Association for Consumer Research. Current research interests include factors that enhance the performance of salespeople.;3. O. Karl Mann (Ph.D., Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University) is an Assistant Professor of Marketing at Tennessee Technological Institute, Cookville, TN. Prior to pursuing an academic career, Dr. Mann was a chemical engineer for the Mobil Oil Corporation. His recent publications have appeared in the Journal of Business Research, AMA Educators' Proceedings, Pi Sigma Epsilon's National Educators' Proceedings in Sales Management, and Mathematical Models of Attitude Change. Research interests include sales management, industrial marketing, and quantitative methods in marketing. |
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| Abstract: | AbstractIn the past, academic research on sales force performance has used either objective performance data or subjective managerial ratings to measure sales performance. Consistent with corporate practices, objective and subjective performance measures were used in this research project. The relationships among three components of performance: specific task behaviors, specific goal achievement and overall performance were examined. A casual analysis suggests that managerial evaluations of overall sales performance are influenced by their perceptions of specific selling behaviors and the degree to which sales people attain specified performance goals. |
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