This article draws on UK data obtained from a useable sample of 673 'independent contractors' active in the field of direct sales franchising. This is a low-cost, low-entry barrier business opportunity, which, at any one time, facilitates 500,000 individuals in the UK, mostly women, experiencing...

Highlights two major directions in the character of the personal selling function — the first is the increasing professional nature of industrial selling, the second is growing managerial orientation within selling. Notes the selling process is evolving and broadening in ways which can make...

Proposes an increasing role for the salesforce in the new product development process. Describes how the sales job itself has been evolving toward one of relationship building with customers, and how marketplace and economic changes such as globalization and large debt have caused firms to look...