Behavioral Self-Management as a Supplement to External Sales Force Controls

Salesforce control systems tend to focus on outcomes rather than behaviors. The use and effectiveness of behavior-based control systems is limited, particularly with industrial sales-people, who generally operate in the field much of the time where their behavior cannot be closely observed or supervised by management. The authors propose Behavioral Self-Management (BSM) as a means of controlling the methods salespeople use to achieve results. Specific BSM techniques applicable to selling and strategies for encouraging salespeople to engage in self- management are reviewed.