PERFORMANCE IMPLICATIONS OF THE SALES FORCE STRATEGIES OF LTL GENERAL FREIGHT CARRIERS

The current investigation of the sales force strategies of the LTL (less-than-truckload) general freight carriers in a deregulated environment develops answers to the following set of questions: What are the distinguishing characteristics of the sales force strategies being pursued in the new environment? What are the performance outcomes associated with each sales strategy? What techniques can be used by managers within the context of existing strategy to improve their sales force performance? The study results show that the three identified sales force strategies used by the LTL carriers had distinct performance differences. While the firms in one strategy cluster (identified as Innovative and Aggressive) had higher overall sales force turnover, they also had the most productive sales force--as measured in revenues per account and revenues per mile travelled. In contrast, firms in another cluster (identified as Focus) had the lowest overall turnover rates, but a relatively unproductive sales force. A key contribution of this paper is its ability to use the comprehensive information about each strategy as well as direct measures of its outcome in making specific recommendations for improving sales force performance within the constraints of a given strategy.

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  • Accession Number: 00490015
  • Record Type: Publication
  • Files: TRIS
  • Created Date: Dec 31 1989 12:00AM