This paper presents a Sales Force Effectiveness Framework that organizes the complexities of sales organizations, providing a holistic approach to defining and assessing sales force effectiveness. Sales practitioners can use the framework to diagnose sales force issues and develop multidimensional solutions, either when responding to external and internal events or when striving to improve. Sales researchers can use the framework to discover ways to expand their research focus to benefit practitioners. The framework is supported by an inventory of sales force effectiveness issues from sales leaders and recent academic publications.
Zoltners et al. (2008) studied this question.