Where we have been, where we are, and where we are heading: a perspective on sales research

Abstract

As the new Editor of the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, I have a vision of what I would like to achieve during my tenure and how the journal can support sales scholars and practitioners around the world. One of these notions is that I would like to provide a short editorial at the beginning of each issue that offers publishing advice, avenues for future research, or some perspective on the field that could add value to our readers, as well as engage individuals that may not be as familiar with what we are accomplishing within the sales discipline. To realize this goal, I plan to invite someone in the field to coauthor each editorial that has expertise in a specific area that is outside of my realm. For the second half of this editorial, Dr. Maria Rouziou joins me with expertise and insight on “Women in Sales.” The purpose of this article is to briefly discuss where we have been as a field and research discipline and where we are heading. As we are all getting back face-to-face, I have started networking and talking to more scholars in our field once again. Through these interactions, I have had a very profound realization–somehow, I became one of the ‘more seasoned’ researchers in our field (to put it nicely)! It seems like yesterday that I was attending AMA and the New Horizons Conference as a young doctoral student and meeting other young scholars such as Nick Lee, Stephanie Boyer, Nick Panagopoulos, Stacey Schetzsle, Chris Plouffe, Gabe Gonzalez, and many others. Surprisingly, many of these first interactions were 20 years ago and now, these are the individuals who have helped shape the field and are thought leaders in the direction we are moving. Although many young scholars see a bright and vibrant sales research field today, that was not always the case (as those mentioned above can attest). Many of us entered the field as ‘strategy’ or ‘relationship marketing’ researchers for fear of being considered ‘a sales gal/guy’ (a term I heard more than once and not in a positive light) and pigeon-holed as someone with limited research potential. While this may seem odd today for current early career scholars, believe me when I say that sales has not always been viewed in the same manner. As evidenced in Williams and Plouffe’s (2007, p. 417) 20-year content analysis, a great deal of sales research was being published but “of the articles appearing in the study time period, JM, JMR, and MS published a mere 10% of the total.” It was not uncommon to hear faculty both within and outside of the marketing discipline critique the field for being atheoretical or more vocational in nature. This state of affairs extended beyond research into academic curriculum as well. Sales courses, programs, and centers have flourished within universities and colleges throughout the United Stated and become apparent at a global level over the past few years. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, there were just a handful of these selling-focused programs. Today, however, many sales programs are the backbone of marketing departments and the heart of business colleges (and other areas). The same can be said for academic research conferences and sales competitions. There was a time when sales research was coupled with relationship marketing conference tracks with no independent focus; and, only one major sales competition existed with a few minor regional competitions. Now, the field is replete with both conferences and competitions, arguably, to a point where we have become slightly fragmented and are forced to now allocate time and financial resources across so many available options. It is interesting to compare the state of academic affairs to that of practice in the field using a similar timeframe. In the early 2000s, we heard the cry of disintermediation and how the internet would be the death of the salesperson. We quickly discovered, following the advent of the internet and CRM-based technologies, that salespeople have become more important in relationship-building and a solid sales methodology was paramount. As the sales focus grew for educational intent, so did the attention given to sales within the research domain. While negative stereotypes still existed (and probably always will), the professional role of salespeople became even more apparent. Here again today, we hear the concerns of digital marketing and the fear of AI displacing salespeople. However, I believe that most of us are mindful that the more prominent technology becomes in the field, the more important the human touch of the salesperson becomes. Looking at recent trends and projections in the marketplace, the U.S. News and World Report (2021) suggests that the growth in new and specialized products will lead to increased hiring of sales representatives. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects a 3.7% employment growth for sales representatives between 2021 and 2031. While there is expected growth in practice, it will not come without challenges and increased expectations. As offered by the State of Sales Annual Report from Salesforce.com (2022), salespeople will be expected to: (1) maximize performance impact by achieving more difficult sales targets with fewer resources, (2) meet rising buyer expectations, (3) boost