Introduction to Special Issue: Sales and Innovation

The special issue of Journal of Product Innovation and Management focuses on sales and innovative strategies involved in the new product development (NPD) process. The challenge of commercializing new products successfully has motivated firms searching for ways to involve the sales force in their NPD process. A few notable exceptions on salesperson adoption of new products are the studies by some researches. The goal of this special issue is to better understand the role of a company's sales force in the product innovation process and salespersons' ability to sell newly developed products. Salespeople who sell new products have contact with lead users, and lead users most of the time. Salespeople not only get involved in facilitating product adoption in the market but also help to get voice from the market and help their company to keep innovating effectively.