Why “sales force effectiveness” isn’t Available to Purchase

Is there a management team that hasn’t been seduced by the revenue‐boosting, cost‐slashing mantra “sales force effectiveness”? The phrase, used broadly to encompass both a wide range of sales force automation and related CRM (customer relations management) initiatives, as well as revamped sales‐force training and incentive systems, activity audits, customer satisfaction surveys, and personnel reshufflings, has triggered massive amounts of corporate spending in recent years – nearly $12 billion on CRM applications alone in 2002, according to Forrester Research, a figure that Forrester projects will almost double in the next five years.