A qualitative exploration of the determinants of salespersons' performance in financial services organisations

The importance of effective and high-performing salespeople is well acknowledged by companies operating in business-to-business (B2B) markets. The salesperson is responsible for creating demand for an organisation’s products and services, resulting in revenue, the life-blood of a firm. However, although this topic has received considerable attention in the last few decades, researchers are still grappling with the key managerial and actionable outcomes of research that can assist organisations improve the performance of their salespeople. It is therefore important to possess an informed view on the determinants of sales performance of these B2B sales professionals. The research study focuses on B2B salespersons' performance based on the views of senior sales executives from major Australian financial services companies. Using data collected from focus groups on B2B salespersons' characteristics and performance, the study provides a re-examination on how well do existing models and theory adequately represent individual sales performance. In particular, the study identifies the key "drivers" of individual sales performance, and concludes that sales performance is becoming increasingly influenced by organisational and external factors, aimed at encouraging and driving the salesperson’s behaviour towards agreed and desired outcomes.