THE STRATEGIC ROLE OF THE SALES TEAM IN INCREASING THE COMPETITIVENESS OF THE FIRM

The strategic role of the sales team is the central point of discussion when it comes to increasing the competitiveness of the company as a whole as sales contribute to the revenue needed to develop a competitive organization. The main objective of this paper was to identify the relationships that may arise between the various strategic roles that can be attributed to the sales team and the level of competitiveness of the firm. The data used for this research was collected from August to December 2018 as part of a wider research approach. The tool used to collect the data was the questionnaire, which was applied to 784 sales managers of companies that were currently active in Romania. In order to achieve the set objective, a multiple linear regression model was developed using the IBM SPSS 20 software program. In this way, both negative and positive relationships emerged between the strategic sales team's roles and competitiveness company. Finally, it was established that sales teams that focused on differentiated sales and niche sales had a positive and significant influence on the competitiveness of the firm, while those based on low-cost sales had a significant influence, but negative on the competitiveness of the firm.