Salespeople characteristics, sales managers’ activities and territory design as antecedents of sales organization performance

The impact of characteristics of salespeople, activities of sales managers and territory design are investigated as antecedents of sales organization performance among Canadian salesforces. Based on MANOVA analysis of responses from 102 field sales managers, more effective sales organizations have salespeople who are more motivated, employ managers who direct more and are more satisfied with the design of their territories. Sales managers must adopt better people and communication skills to train and direct their salespeople who are expected to provide better service and establish long‐term relations with their customers.