It may seem strange to include a chapter on the direct sales force in a book on channel strategy. In some peoples' minds, the sales force is the anti-channel - the last vestige of traditional 'pound the pavement' thinking in an exciting new world of Internet commerce, customer databases and technology-driven direct marketing channels.

The truth is that sales forces are alive and well. They perform a critical function in most organizations - a function that no other channel can perform as well or even adequately. A sales force is still the only channel that can sell complex products and solutions into large, key accounts with a high degree of control over the sales process. Not everyone makes those kinds of sales, but for companies that do, a sales force is an indispensable part of the channel mix.

While sales forces are just as important as they've always been, there is no question that they are undergoing fundamental change. Today's sales force is generally a smaller, more focused and more specialized organization than its 'do everything and be everything' forebears. Likewise, today's sales rep is more likely to have a targeted list of important, key accounts than a territory of hundreds or thousands of prospects. Further, many companies have developed new rules to constrain the activities of their sales reps, such as 'No selling in accounts under $200,000'. This is all a real departure from the traditional do it all! role of the field sales force.

The reason...