The IT Revolution has a side-effect for sales that is not unimportant. It fosters appreciation for sales managers. It is an open secret that salespeople did not have the best reputation in days past. They were and continue to be considered windbags, self-promoters or sometimes even dubious characters. This perception is a major problem not only for salespeople but also for businesses. After all, the salespeople are the direct links between product and customers. If they have a poor image, that fact has definite consequences for the product.

Then comes the problem of envy within the company. In good times good salespeople earn a great deal of money, a very great deal of money. Not all other employees at a company viewed or view these big earnings kindly, although they are usually not thinking about the demanding hours involved for sales and its employees.

Against this backdrop, it is important to make proactive use of the renaissance of sales made possible through the IT Revolution to improve the level of appreciation for salespeople within the company. Salespeople are the ambassadors of a company and communicate the benefits of its product and services. The better support they receive, the lighter their burden of reporting duties and the more time they can invest in customer relationships, the greater sales success the company will enjoy. People buy from people.

Success depends on companies being able to use IT for optimally extracting, evaluating, and implementing the knowledge possessed by sales employees and by customers. Companies have to consider how best to support this process. What products give salespeople the best possible support in their work instead of perhaps even creating obstacles for them? How does a company obtain the current information through these channels that it needs to develop its business processes and business models in line with the market? In the past, much was said in reference books on management and marketing about the significance of customer loyalty and optimum customer relationships. Now the task is to apply the right knowledge—and IT-assisted sales are crucial to doing so.