An antecedent and contingent outcome model of fail fast strategy in sales force management

Sales practice and scholarship have each called for optimizing the manner in which sales managers strategically interject themselves in the sales process. As a unique approach that reflects the high incidence rate of failure within sales, managers may strategize for salespeople to fail fast as an agile implementation of intelligent failure. Fail fast strategy allows managers to intervene early on in the business-to-business sales process in order to optimize resources and exert greater control over failures within their sales teams. With this strategy in mind, the following questions remain: Does fail fast strategy have a beneficial or deleterious effect on salesperson behaviors? What organizational- and individual-level factors direct a sales manager's strategic attention toward failing fast? The authors use an attention-based view to theorize the drivers of fail fast strategy, as well as investigate the moderating effect of sales force resources on the relationship between fail fast strategy and salesperson extra-role behaviors. The authors test the model using survey data of 274 business-to-business sales managers. The conceptualization, operationalization, and theory around fail fast strategy contribute to a better understanding of failing fast in sales. The results provide contributions to theory and practice as well as guidance for future research opportunities.