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Conference Announcement and Call for Abstracts

Second Biennial Conference on Enhancing Sales Force Productivity

Co-sponsored by the Institute of Innovation Research, Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel, Germany, and the Marketing Science Institute (MSI), Cambridge, MA

in collaboration with the International Journal of Research in Marketing (IJRM)

May 23-25, 2008

Sales Management is still regarded as an art by some practitioners. Marketing scholars are called to investigate the quality, quantity, deployment and motivation of sales force effort. As the management of customer accounts and relationships becomes more complex and demanding, practitioners are putting renewed emphasis on optimizing the productivity of sales force investments. In response, new theoretical and empirical research to improve our understanding of evolving sales management issues as well as models, metrics, and methodologies to aid sales force management decisions are urgently needed.

Following up on the success of the first conference in this series at the University of Missouri-Columbia in April 2006, the Institute of Innovation Research at Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel, Germany, in collaboration with IJRM, is hosting the second biennial Conference on Enhancing Sales Force Productivity, May 23-25, 2008, in Kiel, Germany. Scholars and practitioners with research interests in this area are invited to submit papers for presentation at this conference. Research based on economic theories as well as normative, methodological, and empirical research papers related to this area are all welcome. Papers accepted for presentation at the Special Conference will also be considered for publication in a related Special Section of the International Journal of Research in Marketing on the same topic to appear in 2009 (see separate Call for Papers for the Special Section). However, all researchers who are interested in the subject of improving sales management are invited to attend the conference, whether or not they submit papers for consideration by the IJRM Special Section. Examples of topics suitable for this conference include:

• Sales force strategy and organization
• CRM strategies and optimal sales resource allocation
• ROI of sales force automation investments
• Role and ROI of sales force effort in companies’ promotion mix
• Long-term effects of personal selling
• Forecasting sales and goal-setting
• Optimal design of selling teams
• Optimal design of sales force compensation plans
• Competition and gaming
• Dynamic effects and ROI of sales force motivation programs
• Models for enhancing marketing-sales integration
• Coordination of interfaces between operations and the sales force
• Optimal strategies for sales force recruiting, training, and promotion

Submission of Abstracts

Please submit 1200-word abstracts of papers for presentation (by email as a Word document or file) to the Conference Co-Chair, Sönke Albers (see below for contact details) by December 1, 2007. Abstracts which arrive by this deadline will be peer reviewed through a double-blind process and authors of those papers that are accepted for presentation at the conference will be informed by January 20, 2008. Please indicate with your submission whether you would like your paper to be considered for the Special Section of IJRM on the same topic.

Conference Details

The conference site is Kiel Institute of the World Economy at Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel, Germany. The Conference will begin with a reception on Friday, May 23 evening followed by dinner and a keynote address by a top sales executive. The conference will proceed all day on Saturday, May 24, with a special dinner event that same evening. The conference will continue on the morning of Sunday, May 25, ending at noon with a box lunch.

More information about the Conference Program, Registration, the Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel and the conference venue, lodging, travel options, etc., will be available at the Conference website:

City of Kiel, Germany

Well-known for its international sailing events, Kiel is a lively town located in the north of Germany at the Baltic Sea coast. It is about a 1-hour drive from Hamburg International Airport. In addition to regular transportation back and forth to the airport, a comfortable and frequent shuttle van service is provided for the participants.

Registration Fee and Deadline

The conference registration fee is €250. This fee will cover the reception and dinner event on Friday; lunch and special dinner event on Saturday; box lunches on Sunday, and the conference material.

Doctoral Students

With the generous support of the Marketing Science Institute, registration fees for up to 12 doctoral students, who are either authors/coauthors of papers (first priority) or just attendees (second priority), will be waived. Some financial support for doctoral students’ travel to and stay in Kiel is also available. Any doctoral student who wishes to request this registration fee waiver and/or travel support should submit a brief "statement of interest," (about 400 words) with a resumé and recommendation from her/his faculty advisor to albers@bwl.uni-kiel.de by December 1, 2007.

Hotel Accommodations

Conference attendees will be staying either at the Maritim Hotel Bellevue Kiel, Bismarckallee 2, D-24105 Kiel, +49-431-3894-0, www.maritim.de or Hotel Kieler Yacht Club, Hindenburgufer 70, D-24105 Kiel, +49-431-8813-0, . A special room rate of €76 (Maritim) or €105 (Kieler Yacht Club) per day has been arranged for this conference (rate includes breakfast). Please make your hotel reservations directly online or by calling the hotel no later than April 15, 2008. To receive the conference rate, please make sure to mention the "Sales Conference". Both hotels are within walking distance of the conference site. If you are interested in more inexpensive accommodation, a list of budget hotels can be provided upon request.

Conference Co-Chairs and Contact Information:

Sönke Albers
Professor of Innovation, New Media, and Marketing
Christian-Albrechts-University at Kiel
24098 Kiel
Germany
Phone: +49-431-880-1542
Fax: +49-431-880-1166
E-mail: albers@bwl.uni-kiel.de

Murali K. Mantrala
Sam M. Walton Professor of Marketing
College of Business
University of Missouri
438 Cornell Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
USA
Phone: +1-573-884-2734
Fax : +1-573-884-0368
E-mail: mantralam@missouri.edu

Manfred Krafft
Professor of Marketing
Institute of Marketing
University of Münster
Am Stadtgraben 13-15
48143 Münster
Germany
Phone: +49-251-83-250-25
Fax: +49-251-83-250-24
E-mail: mkrafft@uni-muenster.de

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