Abstract (EN)

Sales teams can often make or break the success of a new luxury brand or product. As competition between retailers and brands grows, it becomes increasingly important to stimulate the sales team's motivation for higher sales performance and stronger commitment to their own organization. In Luxury Sales Force Management, Michaela Merk examines the strategies that allow managers from luxury organizations to win their sales team's hearts and minds, enabling higher sales performance. Based on new research into luxury sales teams worldwide, Merk explores how salespeople's relationships with brands they sell emerge, how they can be characterized and what top management should do to strengthen these in order to use the sales force–brand relationship as a strategic tool. Merk shows that these relationships have the power to increase salespeople's selling motivation, their commitment to both the organization and its brands, and ultimately the success of the company.