Abstract:
Nowadays, sales force formation follows a certain managerial process. This implies that sales force formation is not as easy as it may be thought of, like bringing any person and making him sell whatever products or services the company provides. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to see how the Lebanese companies establish, direct, control, and evaluate their sales forces. And in order to collect the required data for this research, two sources are used: first, interviews conducted with a sample of Lebanese managers; second, many business books and journals. The three main parts in sales management which are thoroughly explained in this research are developing, directing, and controlling and evaluating the sales force. Each part in turn deals with minor issues. Developing the sales force includes recruiting, selecting, and training the sales force. Directing the sales force consists of establishing sales territories, setting sales quotas, developing compensation plans, and motivating the sales force. The third part deals with controlling the sales force and evaluating their performance. The results of this research indicate that most of the studied Lebanese firms either do not have or only follow some steps of the sales force formation process, while the remaining few firms follow a professional managerial process in developing, directing, controlling, and evaluating their sales forces, either because they are subsidiaries of foreign companies or are supported by international firms. Finally, in order for the Lebanese companies to survive and gain foot hold in the market, they should devote much time and effort to form effective sales forces who are the only ones that generate revenues to their companies.
