---

The objective of this study is to provide a metric that helps to assess the solution readiness status of a firm´s sales force. Sales are often considered as part of a marketing strategy. It will be analyzed to what extent this perspective is justified and how this is influenced by the emergence of solutions. Besides, an overview about the sales marketing interface will be given to raise the awareness of this topic. Furthermore, this study will increase the understanding of the reader about applied metric concepts in marketing departments that can be found in existing firms today. It will be demonstrated how shareholder value influenced the design and why these metrics are not aligned with the latest study of firm value.

---

Julien Schnerrer is engaged in the telecommunication industry for many years. After his early engineering career, he held various positions in B2B marketing and sales at the telecommunication industry. While working, Julien Schnerrer studied ´International Management´ at the ´Hochschule für Oekonomie und Management´ in Berlin, Frankfurt and Stuttgart. Today, the author is working as a Product Line Manager for a leading vendor in the telecommunication market that has successfully managed the turnaround from a product to a solution seller. This study was highly influenced by his daily observations derived in a real economy environment - often contradictory to theoretical opinions and thoughts. Further, the writing of this study has been highly supported by Dr. Jan Lakotta, ESCP Europe.

---