The author proposes an analytical framework for assessing the costs of various sources of salesforce turnover (promotions, voluntary leaving, firing, and uncontrollable turnover) for salespeople with given characteristics (age, tenure, education, etc.). The main costs of salesforce turnover are taken into account, especially the costs of separation, recruiting and selection, training, vacant territory, and skill differential, as well as operating costs. Because the proposed procedure can be applied to any subgroup of salespeople, managers can use it to select the salesforce segments that are the most promising in terms of cost savings and can design specific turnover-reducing programs for those segments. The procedure is illustrated with a case study.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AllisonP. D. (1974), “Inter-Organizational Mobility of Academic Scientists,” paper presented at 69th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, Montreal.
2.
AndersonRolph E., HairJoseph F., and BushAlan J. (1988), Professional Sales Management.New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
3.
BluedornA. C. (1982), “The Theories of Turnover: Causes, Effects, and Meaning,” in Research in the Sociology of Organizations, BacharachSamuel B., ed. Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, Inc., 1, 75–128.
4.
BuschPaul, and BushRonald F. (1978), “Women Contrasted to Men in the Industrial Salesforce: Job Satisfaction, Values, Role Clarity, Performance, and Propensity to Leave,”Journal of Marketing Research, 15 (August), 438–48.
5.
CawseyT. F., and WedleyW. C. (1979), “Labor Turnover Costs: Measurement and Control,”Personnel Journal, 58 (February), 90–5.
6.
DalrympleDouglas J. (1985), Sales Management: Concepts and Cases, 2nd ed. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
7.
DaltonD. R., TodorW. D., and KrachhardtD. M. (1982), “Turnover Overstated: The Functional Taxonomy,”Academy of Management Review, 7, 117–23.
8.
DarmonRené Y. (1982), “Identifying Profit-Producing Sales Force Members,”Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 2 (November), 14–23.
9.
DreherGeorge F. (1982), “The Role of Performance in the Turnover Process,”Academy of Management Journal, 25 (March), 137–47.
10.
FlamholtzE. (1974), Human Resource Accounting.Encino, CA: Dickenson.
11.
FutrellCharles M., and ParasuramanA. (1984), “The Relationship of Satisfaction and Performance to Sales Force Turnover,”Journal of Marketing, 48 (Fall), 33–40.
12.
JohnstonMark W., and FutrellCharles M. (1989), “Functional Salesforce Turnover: An Empirical Investigation Into the Positive Effects of Turnover,”Journal of Business Research, 18 (March), 141–57.
13.
JohnstonMark W., FutrellCharles M., ParasuramanA., and SagerJ. (1988), “Performance and Job Satisfaction Effects on Salesperson Turnover: A Replication and Extension,”Journal of Business Research, 16 (January), 67–83.
14.
JohnstonMark W., Rajan VaradarajanP., FutrellCharles M., and SagerJeffrey (1987), “The Relationship Between Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction, and Turnover Among New Salespeople,”Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 7 (November), 29–38.
15.
JolsonMarvin A., DubinskyAlan J., and AndersonRolph E. (1987), “Correlates and Determinants of Sales Force Tenure: An Exploratory Study,”Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 7 (November), 9–27.
16.
KellerR. T. (1984), “The Role of Performance and Absenteeism in the Prediction of Turnover,”Academy of Management Journal, 27 (March), 176–83.
17.
KemenyJohn C., SchleiferArthurJr., Laurie SnellJ., and ThompsonGerald L. (1972), Finite Mathematics With Business Applications, 2nd ed. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 224–9.
18.
KerberKenneth W., and CampbellJames P. (1987), “Correlates of Objective Performance Among Computer Salespeople: Tenure, Work Activities, and Turnover,”Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 7 (November), 39–50.
19.
LucasGeorge A., ParasuramanA., DavisRobert A., and EnisBen M. (1987), “An Empirical Study of Salesforce Turnover,”Journal of Marketing, 51 (July), 34–59.
20.
MangioneT. W. (1973), “Turnover: Some Psychological and Demographic Correlates,” in The 1969–1970 Survey of Working Conditions, QuinnR. P., and MangioneT. W., eds. Ann Arbor: Research Center, University of Michigan.
21.
MartinT. N., PriceJ. L., and MuellerC. W. (1981), “Research Note on Job Performance and Turnover,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 66 (February), 116–9.
22.
MirvisP. H., and LawlerE. E. (1977), “Measuring the Financial Impact of Employee Attitudes,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 62 (February), 1–8.
23.
MobleyW. H. (1982a), Employee Turnover: Causes, Consequences and Control.Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company.
24.
MobleyW. H. (1982b), “Some Unanswered Questions in Turnover and Withdrawal Research,”Academy of Management Review, 7 (January), 114.
25.
MobleyW. H., GriffethR. W., HandH. H., and MeglinoB. M. (1979), “Review and Conceptual Analysis of the Employee Turnover Process,”Psychological Bulletin, 86 (May), 493–522.
26.
MobleyW. H., HornerS. O., and HollingsworthA. T. (1978), “An Evaluation of Precursors of Hospital Employee Turnover,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 63 (August), 408–14.
27.
ParasuramanA., and FutrellCharles M. (1983), “Demographics, Job Satisfaction, and Propensity to Leave of Industrial Salesmen,”Journal of Business Research, 11 (March), 33–48.
28.
PavalkoR. M. (1970), “Recruitment to Teaching: Patterns of Selection and Retention,”Sociology of Education, 43, 340–53.
29.
PedersenK. G. (1973), The Itinerant Schoolmaster.Chicago: University of Chicago.
30.
Sales and Marketing Management (1987), “1987 Survey of Selling Costs,”136(February 16).
31.
SpencerD. G., and SteersR. M. (1981), “Performance as a Moderator of the Job Satisfaction-Turnover Relationship,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 66 (August), 511–4.
32.
SteersR. M., and MowdayRichard T. (1981), “Employee Turnover and Post-Decision Accommodation Processes,” in Research in Organizational Behavior, CummingsL. L., and StawB. M., eds. Greenwich CT: JAI Press, Inc., 3, 235–81.
33.
StumpfS. A., and DawleyP. K. (1981), “Predicting Voluntary and Involuntary Turnover Using Absenteeism and Performance Indices,”Academy of Management Journal, 24 (March), 148–63.
34.
TuggleF. D. (1978), “An Analysis of Employee Turnover,”Behavioral Science, 23 (January), 32–7.
35.
WeeksD. A., and StarkM. J. (1972), Salesmen's Turnover in Early Employment.New York: The Conference Board.
36.
WeitzBarton A. (1979), “A Critical Review of Personal Selling Research: The Need for Contingency Approaches,” in Critical Issues in Sales Management: State of the Art and Further Research Needs, AlbaumGerald, and ChurchillGilbert A.Jr., eds. Eugene, OR: College of Business Administration, University of Oregon, 76.
37.
WellsD. L., and MuchinskyP. M. (1985), “Performance Antecedents of Voluntary and Involuntary Managerial Turnover,”Journal of Applied Psychology, 70 (June), 329–36.
38.
WilliamsonNicholas C. (1983), “A Method for Determining the Causes of Salesperson Turnover,”Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, 3 (May), 26–35.
