Abstract
In an age when advancing technology has dramatically increased the speed at which goods and services can be produced and distributed and has facilitated the ease with which organisations can communicate, it is still the level of human performance that is the most variable factor in the efficient functioning of a firm with its customers. Sales operations represent this link, between a firm and its customers, at its most direct point of contact. Sales operations are where the action in business takes place and represent a vital revenue-generating function. Today, sales operations represent not only personal selling but also a range of customer contact positions including telephone sales, customer service or technical advisers as well as traditional salespeople. The Internet and other forms of electronic communication will have a significant effect on the way sales operations are managed and this will represent one of the great challenges for the sales manager of tomorrow. Despite the crucial importance of sales operations to the firm, courses in business management and in marketing seem at best to marginalise the subject of sales, and at worst to ignore it altogether. By contrast, in practice it is quite different, with leading companies being fully aware that sales operations, linking the firm with its customers, is an area that needs to be carefully monitored and exceptionally well managed if the enterprise is to succeed.
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© 1998 Bill Donaldson
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Donaldson, B. (1998). The Role of Selling and Sales Management in Marketing. In: Sales Management. Studies in Marketing Management. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26354-7_1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-26354-7_1
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