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Several behavioral, technological, and managerial forces are dramatically and irrevocably changing the way that salespeople and sales managers understand, prepare for, and accomplish their jobs. Field salespeople, operating out of mobile virtual offices, are being empowered and becoming increasingly independent as they shift focus from selling to serving customers. Meanwhile, the sales manager's job is evolving more toward that of channel manager-overseeing a hybrid sales force serving customers in diverse electronic and field channels. A flexible, continuous learning and adapting environment is required for personal selling and sales management success in the 21st Century.
What an exciting and challenging time it is to be a salesperson or sales manager! As we speed down the information superhighway toward the new millennium, companies are trying all kinds of new ideas, sales channels, and technologies to profitably sell their products and services. The outlook for personal selling and sales management might be foretold in a highway sign: "Stay Alert: Sharp Turns Ahead." During the last decade, personal selling and sales management have changed rapidly and dramatically. But, in the words of the old carnival barker, "You ain't seen nothin' yet."
Evolutionary and revolutionary forces are relentlessly heading our way that will irrevocably change the way that salespeople and sales managers understand, prepare for, and accomplish their jobs. Salespeople are becoming independent of sales managers and moving away from "selling" toward "serving" as customer consultants and business partners. At the same time, sales managers are moving away from individual coaching and motivation of field salespeople to developing and managing a hybrid sales force comprised of both electronic and field salespeople. New ways are being explored to provide greater value added service and to develop mutually-profitable, ongoing partnerships with customers. Several behavioral, technological, and managerial forces (shown in Table 1) are inexorably influencing buyer-seller relationships and significantly changing how sales functions will be carried out as we enter the new millennium.
Behavioral Forces
Customers, like any of nature's survivors, are continuously adapting to their ever-changing environments. Therefore, it's not surprising that a major impact on personal selling and sales management is buyer behavior dynamism, including: (1) rising customer expectations, (2) consumer avoidance of buyer-seller negotiations, (3) expanding power of giant retailers, (4) globalization of markets, and (5) demassification...