The Big Questions on Chief Sales Officers’ Minds

THE BIG QUESTIONS ON CHIEF SALES OFFICERS’ MINDS

FOR INFORMATION ON OBTAINING RESEARCH SUPPORT OR SUBMITTING A WORKING PAPER

GO TO “ACADEMIC RESEARCH” ON MAYS.TAMU.EDU/SALES Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

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‘82 Dr. Eli Jones, Ph.D

Dean and Professor of Marketing

THE RESEARCH VISION

Today’s CEOs and other top executives are challenged to d r ive org an i z at i ona l performance while navigating more market and technological turbulence and competitive intensity than ever before. Private and public companies are facing performance pressures by their myriad stakeholders, as the drive to topline growth gets harder and harder.

To deliver sales, margins, and net income consistently in this challenging environment, CEOs rely on formal and informal “Chief Sales Officers” to help focus their companies on a few areas that provide the most customer value, and to align resources to build relationships and trust with these customers.

The research mission of the Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute is to advance knowledge and insights across industries in sales leadership to facilitate best-inclass execution.

As a sales insights curator, the Institute will enable practical knowledge application of empirically-tested concepts.

Empowering senior executives – understand fundamental problems, provide solutions, and discover new directions that enable Chief Sales Officers and CEOs to instill customer focus and grow sales, margins, and net income.

Creating world-class scholars – nurturing top scholarship through a combination of expert mentorship, data, and research support from leading organizations and a community built on Aggie core values: Respect, Excellence, Leadership, Loyalty, Integrity, and Selfless Service.

Empowering the research community – serve as a sales leadership knowledge platform that brings together top researchers from various universities around the world to pursue the most challenging and interesting inter-disciplinary problems faced

by Chief Sales Officers and CEOs and work toward the advancement of the field by generating original knowledge.

In this highly-competitive business environment, achieving more with fewer resources is incredibly challenging. Our unique blend of theory and practice helps sales organizations embrace challenges armed with knowledge and insights that matter the most.

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THE BIG QUESTIONS ON CHIEF SALES OFFICERS’ MINDS

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SALESFORCE AND STRATEGIC PLANNING

KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT

SALES FUNCTION EFFECTIVENESS

DIGITAL SELLING

SALESPERSON EFFECTIVENESS

SALESFORCE COMPENSATION

SOCIAL IMPACT OF SELLING

SALES IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL FRONTLINE 5

BIG QUESTION

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SALESFORCE AND STRATEGIC PLANNING 6

The most profitable firms have clearly defined strategies for decisionmaking and resource allocation processes. Effective implementation of these strategies is crucial for salesforce profitability.

1.1. Role of Salesforce in Firm Strategy

1.4. Interplay between Salesforce and Business Functions

No matter how valuable a firm’s products or services are, long-term growth lies in the ability to create, implement, and execute a profitable sales strategy.

An effective and profitable salesforce must work collaboratively with many other divisions of a company.

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How does a firm effectively implement and disseminate its strategic planning through its entire organization?

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What is the role of the sales division in executing a profitable strategy?

1.2. Interplay between Salesforce and the C-Suite An effective and profitable salesforce meets the goals and enacts the vision, of a company’s CSuite executives.

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What strategies should executives use to manage and encourage salespeople to meet a companies goals and vision?

1.3. Interplay between Salesforce and Customers

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What strategies should salespeople use to understand, manage and help other aspects and business divisions of a corporation?

1.5. Quantifying Sales Strategy Effectiveness Accurately quantifying the effectiveness of a firm’s sales strategy is vital to profitability and illuminates the need for improvements, adjustments and/or compensation.

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How can firms better measure, monitor, and increase the effectiveness of their sales strategy?

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How does a firm create and update sales strategy?

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What is the return on an effective sales strategy in the form of account profitability?

An effective and profitable salesforce must constantly create value for a firm’s customers.

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What strategies should salespeople use to manage and create value for both old and new customers?

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BIG QUESTION

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KEY ACCOUNT MANAGEMENT 8

Key Account Management is a vital process that helps sustain and expand a firm’s relationships with important customers and accounts.

This process requires multiple departments to work closely together to maintain and further develop these relationships.

2.1. Aligning Interfirm and Intrafirm Key Account Management Networks

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How does a firm go about finding, creating, and selling new customers and opening new key accounts?

There are multiple ways a firm can align their inter- and intra- networks to improve the profitability of their Key Accounts.

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What is the return on a relationship-first strategy-in the form of account profitability?

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How does the interplay between these networks drive seller profitability?

2.4. Formal Information Sharing in Key Account Team Effectiveness

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Do the structural or functional attributes of these networks have a greater effect on the profitability of these key accounts?

2.2. Effect of Internal and External Collaboration on Key Accounts Collaboration, both inside and outside of the firm, plays an important role in successfully managing key accounts and customers.

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How does collaboration increase the effectiveness of managing a large account portfolio?

What is the link between internal and external collaboration, and how does it affect business relationships and key account performance?

2.3. Key Account Profitability Key Account profitability begins with the development of the key account customer relationship. A firm’s profitability is attributable to relationships and customers much more than to products. To best understand and accurately measure key account profitability, a firm must pursue and cultivate meaningful customer relationships.

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To successfully manage key accounts, firms must ensure all necessary parties have adequate access to information about the customers’ needs and advantages.

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What strategies should managers use to encourage a team member’s formal information sharing?

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How can a manager increase a key account team’s effectiveness to, increase the profitability of that account?

2.5. Selling and Managing Key Customers In B2B markets the success of a firm’s Key Account Management team depends not only on selling new clients but also on how account teams are structured and how they interact with and manage their customers.

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What is the best way for a firm to familiarize itself with its key client’s biggest problems and goals?

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What is an appropriate balance of selling new clients and managing old ones?

How can firms better measure, monitor, and increase the effectiveness of their key accounts and their necessary management?

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BIG QUESTION

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SALES FUNCTION EFFECTIVENESS 10

The ability of a company’s salespeople to work together to succeed at every stage of the customer buying process, as well as earn new business, is vital to the firm’s overall growth and success.

3.1. Salesperson’s Intraorganizational Relationships

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How can firms better measure, monitor, and increase the effectiveness of their sales management control systems?

Organizations are most effective when all facets of the firm are working collectively towards the same goal. Salespeople should be concerned with knowing their colleagues, as well as other aspects of the business.

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How does a firm go about creating, reviewing, and updating the processes and frameworks of its sales management control systems?

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What is the most effective way to integrate salespeople into other aspects of the business?

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How should the marketing and sales departments work together to increase sales?

3.2. Team-Based Selling Team-based selling is a sales strategy that involves at least two members of a salesforce working together to win business through collaboration and ingenuity. This form of selling is a fundamental aspect of account-based selling and can provide tremendous returns if accomplished effectively.

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3.4. Sales Managers Empowering Leadership Sales managers who include their salesforce in the decision-making process and allow their salespeople the opportunity to influence goal setting are more likely to increase effective sales functions. By empowering and allowing salespeople to capitalize on their own experiences, judgment, and expertise, a manager increases a salesperson’s self-efficacy, motivation, and commitment to the firm.

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What is the link between a manager’s leadership style and salesperson performance?

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How does a firm improve the leadership skills of its sales managers?

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What is the return on team-based selling in the form of profit and sales outcomes?

How can a firm increase the opportunities for a salesperson’s growth and judgment?

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What individual-level, company-level, environment-level, and product-level factors increase salesperson buy-in for a team-based selling strategy?

How can a manager increase trust between themselves and their salesforce?

3.5. Sales Strategy Effectiveness

What is the return on a team-based selling strategy in the form of salesperson motivation and behavior?

3.3. Sales Management Control Systems Sales management control systems are designed to help align the activities of salespeople with the firm’s organizational objectives. The implementation and proper use of a comprehensive control system allows salespeople to fully understand their purpose and goals.

An effective sales strategy is the key foundation of a profitable salesforce.

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How can firms better measure, monitor, and evaluate their sales strategy?

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What is the link between an effective sales strategy and a profitable salesforce?

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BIG QUESTION

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DIGITAL SELLING 12

Digital selling is an ever-changing and ongoing process of leveraging digital channels to find, engage, and connect with current and prospective customers. Effective digital selling builds relationships through online platforms and helps convert online connections into offline sales.

4.1.E-Commerce

4.3. Sales Digitization

Even though more and more firms are enhancing their B2B e-commerce channels, outbound and direct sales still account for the majority of salesperson’s commission, and companies still, achieve higher revenues streams from inperson closing of larger account deals. However, understanding and incorporating both methods of sales is important for profitability in today’s technology-driven world.

Due to the rise of technology, sales divisions now have the technology-based capability to perform many sales activities previously performed by human capital.

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How can a firm improve the use of its current technology?

4.4. Technology in Selling

How can a firm successfully implement new e-commerce channels?

Technology plays a major role in supporting all aspects of a firm’s selling functions.

The more effort a salesforce puts into generating sales, the more likely they are to feel expeirience frustration reduced productivity. An effective way to accelerate and consolidate the many jobs of a salesforce is to implement salesforce automation software.

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What is the link between sales digitization and a sales division’s performance?

What is the best way to effectively incorporate both traditional and e-commerce-based methods of selling within a sales strategy?

4.2. Adoption of Salesforce Automation Applications

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How can firms better measure, monitor, and increase the effectiveness of their sales automation applications and software?

How does a firm go about creating, reviewing, and updating the processes and frameworks of its salesforce automation applications?

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What individual-level, company-level, environment-level, and product-level factors increase the effectiveness of technology in selling?

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How can a company maintain the healthy balance between tried-and-tested approaches to selling and technologically innovative approaches to selling?

4.5. Mapping the Customer Journey By mapping the customer journey phase-by-phase, and aligning each phase with a sales goal, a firm can maximize customer retention and overall profitability.

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What is the best way to map a customer’s sales journey?

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Are there way to mitigate risks and increase customer retention at certain steps throughout the mapping process?

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BIG QUESTION

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SALESPERSON EFFECTIVENESS 14

Salespeople are the primary channel that firms use to communicate the value of their complex and differentiated offerings to their customers. As a result, it is not surprising that increasing salespersons’ effectiveness is a top research priority.

5.1. Salesperson Motivation Salespeople are the primary channel that firms use to communicate the value of their complex and differentiated offerings to their customers.

As a result, it is not surprising that increasing effectiveness is a top research priority.

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How can firms better measure, monitor, and increase salesperson motivation?

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What is the link between monetary or non-monetary incentives and salesperson motivation?

5.2. Salesforce Training Training is a critical factor in running a successful organization. Whether employing new salespeople, introducing a new product, or changing a business process, the salesforce must be effectively trained for a firm to reach new heights and achieve its goals.

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5.4. Selling Innovation and Solutions Innovators understand that developing new technology or a new idea is important, but without effectively selling it to customers, it means nothing.

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How can salespeople maintain a balance between tried-and-tested approaches and innovative approaches to selling?

5.5. Salesperson Effort and Emotional Intelligence Achieving a firm’s success potential in sales is directly proportional to the emotional intelligence of its salesforce. Competent salespeople understand why emotion is important and can make sense of how customers are responding to what they are saying.

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What is the return on sales training in the form of salesperson motivation and behavior?

What is the link between a salesperson’s emotional intelligence and performance?

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What is the return on sales training in the form of sales outcomes?

How does a firm improve the self-efficacy and awareness of its employees?

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What individual-level, company-level, environment-level, and product-level factors increase salesforce training effectiveness?

Is the initial socialization process of new employees a key factor in increasing emotional intelligence in the workplace?

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Is increasing motivation and empathy a critical factor in increasing emotional intelligence?

5.3. Salesperson Voluntary Turnover Great salespeople do more than drive profitable revenue for their employers. They are the front lines of customer-interface, create brand recognition, and add value in multiple other ways.

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What individual-level, company-level, environment-level, and product-level factors increase salesforce turnover?

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BIG QUESTION

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SALESFORCE COMPENSATION 16

Appropriate sales compensation plans create value within a salesforce and organization and allow a firm to achieve results while encouraging positive achievements and behaviors.

6.1.Self-Selected Incentives/ Rewards Sales employee performance increases substantially under rewards programs with self-selected incentive schemes.

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How can firms better measure and monitor the effectiveness of self-selected incentives?

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What is the link between monetary or noncompensatory self-selected incentives and salesperson retention?

6.2. Specialized Personal Incentives Specialized personal incentives are cash rewards granted to salespeople for meeting interim performance goals within the regular sales quota period. Research shows that salespeople experience a boost in sales performance by earning these specialized personal incentives.

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How can firms better measure and monitor the effectiveness of specialized personal incentives and rewards?

What is the link between these types of personalized incentives and salesperson efficacy and retention?

6.3. Group vs. Individual Incentives

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How does a firm go about creating fair group incentives?

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What is the return on effective group sales strategy and incentive programs in the form of account profitability?

6.4. Pay-for-Performance Compensation Programs In addition to concerns of managerial control and motivation, sales management should be concerned with their employees’ perceptions of the level of fairness of compensation plans. Perceptions of management fairness are key to salespeople’s acceptance of pay-for-performance compensation plans.

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How can firms better measure and monitor the fairness and validity of pay-for-performance compensation programs?

6.5. Sales Contests Sales contests are used as motivational programs in which incentives are offered to salespeople based upon their profitable results.

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How can a manager effectively use sales contests to increase a sales division’s effectiveness?

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How does a firm create, market, and implement sales contests?

For group incentives to work better than individual incentives, the informational feedback group members receive matters. Group members need to be able to observe each other’s true effort rather than only the overall output.

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How can firms better measure, monitor, and increase the effectiveness of their group sales strategy through incentivization?

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BIG QUESTION

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SOCIAL IMPACT OF SELLING 18

In today’s global climate, corporations and sales organizations have the opportunity to become transformational leaders through their involvement with a vast array of different social areas and issues.

7.1.Nonprofit Sales Selling is just as important in a not-for-profit setting as it is in a traditional incorporated company.

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How can nonprofit organizations better measure, monitor, and increase the effectiveness of their donations, fundraising, and necessary management?

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How does a nonprofit find, create, and sell new donors and open new key partnerships?

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What is the return on a relationship-first strategy, in the form of nonprofit profitability?

7.2. Social Media Utilization in Sales In today’s business environment, strategic use of social media can help maximize a company’s sales productivity.

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What individual-level, company-level, environment-level, and product-level factors increase the effectiveness of the use of social media in selling?

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How can a company maintain a healthy balance between tried-and-tested approaches to selling and more innovative social media-based approaches to selling?

7.3. Diversity in Sales Companies that understand the importance of increased diversity in their salesforce are more likely to have financial returns above their respective national industry medians.

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What does the implementation of diversity programs look like for a sales organization?

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How does a firm go about creating, reviewing, and updating the frameworks of its diversity initiatives?

7.4. Sustainability and Corporate Responsibility Companies that integrate social responsibility into their business operations are well placed for healthy financial returns on their investments.

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What is the best way to publicize and implement a corporate responsibility plan?

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How can a company maintain a healthy balance between key stakeholders’ desire for aboveaverage returns and social responsibility?

7.5. Ethics in Selling Given that unethical sales behavior is a by-product of various complex decisions and constant change within the business environment, companies must focus on prioritizing ethical practices within their sales structures.

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How do ethical sales tactics have a positive influence on salespeople’s wellbeing and selfesteem?

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What is the best way for a company’s sales strategy to propel both itself and its customers closer to their respective goals?

How does a firm effectively get the entire company on board with diversity and inclusion initiatives?

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BIG QUESTION

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SALES IN THE ORGANIZATIONAL FRONTLINE 20

Organizational Frontlines are the means through which a company directly interacts with its customers and promotes, facilitates, or enables value creation, and ultimately, profitability. Advances in frontline technologies are changing how organizations and customers interact to exchange value.

8.1. Digital Frontlines

8.4. Challenges Facing Frontlines

Without commited frontline sales managers, no salesforce can ensure that the shift to modern digital skills manifests into real action and profitability.

Every day, frontline leaders encounter critical leadership moments that define the success of their teams and the organization. The impact of these challenges and decisions can be profound and affect stakeholder expectations, organizational interests, and customer demands.

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What is the most effective way for a sales organization to design branding, advertising, and sales media for digital frontlines?

How should companies sufficiently train frontline managers and structure frontline employees’ roles to create the most value for customers?

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What are some opportunities and obstacles a frontline may face when a company implements automation technologies in order to lower costs?

How is key account profitability affected by the introduction of digital sales channels?

8.2. Frontline Service Employees Since frontline employees directly interact with customers, sales managers should take notice of their engagement, success, and contribution.

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What is the correlation between positive sales employee engagement and successful customer engagement?

8.3. Interplay between Consumers and Organizational Frontlines Knowing how consumers think, react, and behave is a necessity for profitability in any sales organization.

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How do consumers respond to strategic changes at the organizational frontline?

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Are there ways a salesforce frontline can change consumers’ pre-determined perception of a company?

8.5. B2B Selling It is important, especially in B2B selling, for frontline employees to knowledgeably sell differentiated solutions that add value to corporate buyers.

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What is the best way to map a customer’s sales process journey?

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What is the value of frontline inside selling in a B2B environment?

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RESEARCH ADVISORY BOARD

Senior Vice President of Sales

Senior Vice President

Insperity

Dell Technologies

ROSS ASTRAMECKI

BILL CLARK

Associate Dean for Graduate Programs

President

J. Vaughn and Evelyne H. Wilson Professor in Business

Lamar University

Deputy for Faculty Research

DR. WILLIAM L. CRON

Texas Christian University

DR. KENNETH EVANS

Senior Vice President of Sales

Townsend Family Distinguished Professor of Marketing and Area Chair of Marketing

J.B. Hunt Transport Service

University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

SPENCER FRAZIER

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DR. RAJDEEP GREWAL

Vice President of Sales

Dean, Mays Business School Professor of Marketing

The Reynolds and Reynolds Company

Lowry and Peggy Mays Eminent Scholar Texas A&M University

DR. ELI JONES

KEITH HILL

Frances Ridge Gay MBA Professor of Marketing

AT&T Professor of Marketing

University of Missouri

Professor, Design and Innovation

Co-Director of MSM-Business Analytics Program

Case Western Reserve University

DR. DETELINA MARINOVA

DR. JAGDIP SINGH

Research Director, Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

Vice President of Human Resources

Joe Foster ‘56 Chair in Business Leadership

Sewell Automotive Companies

Professor of Marketing Presidential Impact Fellow

DR. HARI SRIDHAR

Texas A&M University

JOE STALLARD

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AFFILIATE TEAM Assistant Professor of Marketing

Assistant Professor

Director, Sales Leadership Center Casrson College of Business, Washingon State University

Daniels College of Business, University of Denver

DR. YASHAR ATEFI

DR. BITTY BALDUCCI

Carl DeSantis Associate Professor of Marketing

Associate Professor of Marketing UMSL College of Business Administration, University of Missouri – St. Louis

Florida State University College of Business, Florida State University

DR. WILLY BOLANDER

DR. FRANK Q. FU

Assistant Professor of Marketing

Associate Professor of Marketing Director of Operations, Sales and Customer Insights Center

McCoy College of Business, Texas State University

Neeley School of Business, Texas Christian University

DR. ADITYA GUPTA

DR. ZACHARY HALL

Assistant Professor of Marketing

Professor and Director School of Marketing and Innovation

McCombs School of Business, The University of Texas

DR. SEBASTIAN HOHENBERG 24

Muma College of Business, University of South Florida

DR. DOUGLAS E. HUGHES

Assistant Professor of Marketing

Faculty Fellow of John Merrill Endowed Professorship in Consultative Sales

Center for Professional Selling

Associate Professor of Marketing

Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University

DR. STEPHANIE M. MANGUS

DR. FRED MIAO

College of Business, University of Texas at Arlington

Associate Professor of Marketing

Associate Professor

College of Business, Clemson University

Hankamer School of Business, Baylor University

DR. RYAN MULLINS

DR. KEITH RICHARDS

Associate Professor of Marketing

Assistant Professor of Marketing

UC Davis Graduate School of Management, University of California, Davis

University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Business, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

DR. SUNIL KUMAR SINGH

DR. OLIVIER RUBEL

Assistant Professor of Marketing Darla Moore School of Business, University of South Carolina

DR. CHEN ZHOU 25

FACULTY AND STAFF Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

Dean, Mays Business School Professor of Marketing

Assistant Director

Lowry and Peggy Mays Eminent Scholar

DR. ELI JONES

WENDY CASTRO

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

Associate Director

Executive Professor

Senior Lecturer

ANDREW LORING

BRIAN MOLHUSEN

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

Program Coordinator

Director Clinical Professor Associate Department Head Mays Teaching Fellow

GLYNNA NICKLE

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DR. JANET PARISH

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute

Assistant Professor of Marketing

Assistant Professor of Marketing

DR. AMALESH SHARMA

HUANHUAN SHI

Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute Research Director Joe Foster ‘56 Chair in Business Leadership Professor of Marketing

DR. HARI SRIDHAR

Presidential Impact Fellow

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PARTNERS

FOUNDING PARTNERS

PARTNERS

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RESEARCH PROCESS METHODOLOGY

The development of the 2020 – 2023 research priorities followed a multi-stage process conducted in 2019.

The Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute: •

Analyzed sales-related research articles published over the last ten years by the Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Professional Selling & Sales Management, and Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science.

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Analyzed over 100 recent and relevant sales practitioner publications, blogs, white pages, and online journals.

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Synthesized all of these articles and publications and selected 200 that contained solutions and analyses about the most relevant problem domains in the current sales industry climate.

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Surveyed and interviewed members of our partner companies and research advisory board to identify pressing sales challenges and current critical industry issues.

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Summarized findings and feedback into the preceding research priorities document.

These resulting priorities enable the Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute to engage in its mission: creating a platform for collaboration of sales educators and researchers to teach career and life skills and to further knowledge creation.

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FOR INFORMATION ON OBTAINING RESEARCH SUPPORT OR SUBMITTING A WORKING PAPER

GO TO “ACADEMIC RESEARCH” ON MAYS.TAMU.EDU/SALES Reynolds and Reynolds Sales Leadership Institute 31