Five Sales Force Structures That Create Results

There are four fundamental sales force structures: generalist, market-based, product-based, and activity-based. These four structures are contrasted in the sales force structure cube shown in Figure 4-5. A fifth structure, the mixed organization, is a hybrid of two or more of the four fundamental types. Each structure is described below.

Figure 4-5. Alternative Sales Force Structures.

Generalist Sales Force Structure

In a generalist structure, each salesperson sells the firm's entire product line to all accounts and prospects in a defined geographic area. A generalist structure is appropriate when ...

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