One of the more interesting developments in sales force management is the use of customer feedback to improve the performance of salespeople. Most of these programs are relatively new and go by a variety of names, such as 360-degree feedback, customer-conscious compensation, and customer satisfaction rewards . Organizations that have adopted this assessment strategy believe salespeople can benefit from feedback collected from the customers they serve. Information collected can also be used by the company to improve customer service.

The use of customer-driven evaluation programs is on the increase because of the rising regard for the role of sales at many companies. Tom Mott, a consultant with Hewitt Associates, says, “Salespeople who were volume pushers are now becoming the manager of their company’s relationship with the customer.” Tom points out that customer feedback is likely to reflect on the performance of the salesperson and the performance of the company. If problems surface in either area, customer dissatisfaction may need attention.
Data collection methodology is not uniform at this point. Some companies use telephone surveys while others use mailed questionnaires. IBM has experimented with a series of in-person meetings that bring together corporate customers, their IBM sales representatives, and the salesperson’s boss.
Some salespeople have not welcomed the use of customer evaluations. Maryann Cirenza, senior account executive at Teleport Communications Group (TCG) of New York, said that she felt betrayed when she saw the questionnaire the company was sending to her customers.
One of the questions asked, “Does your sales rep know your industry?” Maryann said, “I thought the company was checking up on me.” Later, her anger subsided when she learned the survey was not simply a monitoring system but a trial run for a new compensation plan. After field testing the surveys, TCG used customer feedback to set bonuses. MaryAnn Cirenza was actually rewarded for good customer service by earning a bonus of about 20 percent of her base pay.
Greg Buseman, an IBM salesperson, believes the shift to compensation through customer feedback has improved personal selling at his company. He now spends more time understanding the customer’s business and learning to be a problem solver for his clients. 50 

Questions

1. Should the customer be given a major voice in determining how salespeople are performing? Explain.
2. Should sales force compensation be linked to customer feedback? What are the advantages and disadvantages of this approach?
3. Assume you are a sales manager preparing to develop and implement a customer feedback system. How might you gain support for this system from members of your sales force? What data collection method would you use?
4. Research indicates that customers rank “understanding of our business” as an important criterion used to evaluate salespeople. Why is this criterion ranked so high?