How do middle market companies recruit, develop, organize, deploy, and compensate their sales forces? How do sales, service, and marketing interact in mid-sized companies? How important is technology in their selling process? Where do executives feel their sales teams are most in need of improvement? A new study by the National Center for the Middle Market (at The Ohio State University Fisher College of Business), Prof. Greg Marshall (Crummer Graduate School of Business, Rollins College) and the American Marketing Association provides data and insight into sales force effectiveness. The study, “The Force Is with You: Building a Highly Effective Sales Organization,” is available on the NCMM website at

http://www.middlemarketcenter.org/research-reports/sales-force-effectiveness.

The U.S. middle market comprises approximately 200,000 companies with annual revenues between $10 million and $1 billion; collectively, these account for about a third of private GDP and employment, and a plurality of new job creation. The study, based on a survey of 400 executives, reveals the most prevalent sales organization practices and differences associated with rapid growth or increased salesforce effectiveness.