Sales Force Involvement in CRM Information Systems: Participation, Support, and Focus

Firms make significant investments in customer relationship management (CRM) information systems with the intention of making better marketing decisions. These efforts have been facilitated by technologies supporting collection and analysis of customer and competitor information. Firms will not get the best out of their CRM information systems when sales forces are not involved in the process of gathering information. This paper reports findings from a study assessing the involvement of sales forces in firms' information gathering activity. Specifically, the participation of salespeople in the gathering of marketplace information, the support provided, and the focus of information gathering efforts were examined.