Developing a benchmark for company‐wide sales capability

Abstract

Purpose -Based on a broad set of indicators of individual and company capabilities, this research sets out to establish a meaningful, straightforward benchmark of sales performance for a cross-industry group of 19 companies, based on the perceptions of their salespeople.Design/methodology/approach -The establishment of the benchmark involved the completion of questionnaires by 426 salespeople across 19 companies.Findings -The research identified some areas for development common to most companies in the survey.Research limitations/implications -Although comprehensive, this survey needs to be repeated over time to maintain the benchmark. Benchmarking can be helpful to many companies trying to improve their sales capability.Originality/value -This is a practical case study of a benchmarking approach to developing the sales function in a number of organisations.

High-performance teams and job involvement: exploring the linkage to augment quality in Indian education and research

“…In the contemporary era, benchmarking techniques are commonly used as a tool for development in various fields (Sweet et al , 2007). They are now widely accepted and used for quality improvement in both manufacturing as well as service industries, including the education sector, however, with varying style and intensity.…”