Les commerciaux et les réseaux sociaux : vers de nouveaux outils de management des ventes

People working in sales forces represent in the same time a boundary and a bridge between their firm and the marketplace. However, the links they weave to take on their role are very rarely studied, even in management. However, on one hand, social networks offer a new way to enlighten the evolutions of selling activities. On the other hand, it may provide new instruments to explain sales performance. Relational marketing helps to understand that relationships are a key factor for sales, but it doesn't develop the inter-individual level. An analysis of salesperson's social behaviour suggests that interpersonal relationships have an influence on sales results. In this article, which shows a work in progress in a larger research project, we precise first the professional context and the kind of salespeople we are talking about. Next, we give a synthesis of the notions of social capital and social networks. It leads us to see social networking as an intuitive tool used for a long time by salespersons. Finally, several questions appear, with a concrete ambition: how do a salesrep act to build, develop and use his "relational portfolio" in order to optimize his interests, and his partners' ones?