An Exploratory Study of the Relative Effectiveness of Different Types of Sales Force Mentors

Abstract

This paper presents the findings of an exploratory study investigating the effects of mentoring in a sales setting. Salespeople who had manager mentors inside the organization where they work had high performance and a low intention to leave. Those with peer mentors inside the organization also had a low intention to leave but lower performance. Salespeople with mentors outside the organization where they work had high performance but also a high intention to leave. Finally, salespeople with no mentor had relatively low performance and a high intention to leave. These results suggest that manager mentors inside the organization produce the best combination of results. Study results also raise serious questions about the effects of peer mentoring and mentors outside the organization. The findings suggest two important hypotheses for testing: (1) that peer mentors produce low turnover intentions and high commitment in poor performers, and (2) that mentors outside the organization produce high turnover intentions and low commitment in high performers.

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