Factors for a successful sales force during the corporate life cycle

The organisations, like all living organisms, have a lifecycle and undergo very predictable and repetitive patterns of behaviour as they grow and develop. Although companies devote considerable time and money to managing their sales forces, few focus much on how the sale forces needs to change over the life cycle of an organisation. In this article, the authors explain how, at each stage, company can best tackle the relevant issues and get the most out of their sales forces, how to develop the best sales force structures for each of the four stages of the business life cycle. Specifically, companies must alter four factors over time: the roles that the sales force and selling partners play, the size of the sales force, the sales force’s degree of specialization, and how salespeople apportion their efforts among different customers, products and activities.