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Behavior-Based and Outcome-Based Salesforce Control Systems
Abstract
The authors develop a conceptual model depicting relationships between salesforce control systems, characteristics, performance, and sales organization effectiveness as a framework for testing the propositions formulated by Anderson and Oliver (1987). The results from a study of 144 diverse sales organizations provide support for the relationship between behavior-based salesforce control systems and specific salesforce characteristics, different salesforce performance dimensions, and sales organization effectiveness. The results imply a limited role for incentive compensation in salesforce control systems. They also suggest the need for a proper blend between field sales management and compensation control and identify important avenues for future research.
... Several sales force studies have highlighted the importance of SFCS as the principal tool used by firms to pilot their salespeople and align their activities and actions with company objectives (e.g., Anderson and Oliver 1987;Darmon and Martin 2011;Jaworski and Merchant 1988;Malek et al. 2018). The SFCS is also an important antecedent of sales organization and sales force consequences (e.g., Anderson and Oliver 1987;Cravens et al. 1993;Malek et al. 2018). In the sales literature, researchers have established several types of SFCSs (e.g., Anderson and Oliver 1987;Darmon 1998;Darmon and Martin 2011;Malek et al. 2018) used in many sales force studies (e.g., Cravens et al. 1993;Malek et al. 2018;Zang et al. 2020). ...
... The SFCS is also an important antecedent of sales organization and sales force consequences (e.g., Anderson and Oliver 1987;Cravens et al. 1993;Malek et al. 2018). In the sales literature, researchers have established several types of SFCSs (e.g., Anderson and Oliver 1987;Darmon 1998;Darmon and Martin 2011;Malek et al. 2018) used in many sales force studies (e.g., Cravens et al. 1993;Malek et al. 2018;Zang et al. 2020). Surprisingly, despite authors such as Ulaga and Loveland (2014) claiming that the existing approaches for managing sales forces cannot account for the increasing complexity of B2B sales contexts, little is known about how to control salespeople in the VBS context. ...
... To control costs related directly to the salesperson, Cravens et al. (1993) propose "compensation control," a control type measured by a fixed salary percentage. This control focuses only on a salesperson's salary. ...
The purpose of this paper is to extend the literature on sales force control systems (SFCSs) by showing that they can benefit from Industry 4.0 technologies such as the Internet of Things (IoT), the business model framework, and the marketing analytics to manage salespeople in value-based selling (VBS) approach. Specifically, we suggest that each salesperson manage his/her sales business model, and based on this, we introduce the Smart SFCS (SSFCS) in VBS. Four elements of the SSFCS are presented: (1) types of SFCSs included in SSFCS, (2) components of IoT, (3) interconnection between SFCSs based on IoT, and (4) implantation conditions. In this latter element, we highlight marketing analytics’ ability to perform intelligent data analysis to effectively manage the salesperson in real time. This research addresses important theoretical issues of sales management control that have not been considered in previous studies and that can help sales managers adequately control salespeople using VBS logic.
... The two control systems differ regarding project task definition, evaluation, and the flexibility permitted to vendors. When outsourcers use behavior-based control, they guide vendors to finish project tasks by specifying detailed guidelines for each step, evaluate the vendors based on their behavior, and require them to follow well-defined activities [15], [40]. This limits the vendors' flexibility, including their flexibility to absorb valuable knowledge from big data. ...
... First, such control inhibits the flexibility of the vendor to apply the knowledge recognized from big data, given that the outsourcer clearly defines the specific objectives of each stage of the project, as well as the procedures and rules that vendors are expected to follow. In addition, outsourcers evaluate vendors on how they adhere to the prescribed procedures [15], [40]. At a low-level behavior-based control, the outsourcer prescribes relatively loose procedures and gives up evaluating vendors at non-critical stages of the project. ...
... At a low-level behavior-based control, the outsourcer prescribes relatively loose procedures and gives up evaluating vendors at non-critical stages of the project. However, at a high-level behavior-based control, the outsourcer prescribes standardized procedures and strictly examines the objective of each stage [40], [51]. Thus, high-level behavior-based control in particular inhibits the discretion and flexibility of vendors to apply the valuable knowledge recognized from big data and significantly reduces the benefits of big data accessibility. ...
Despite the growth of data-rich environments and the increase in data accessibility, studies have offered limited insights into how to lead and control information technology (IT) outsourcing projects to benefit from these trends. To address the research gap, this study investigates the effect of big data accessibility on project performance, and analyzes the moderating effects of vendors’ leadership styles and outsourcers’ control mechanisms from a vendor's perspective. Based on absorptive capacity theory, we develop five hypotheses and examine them using data from 195 IT outsourcing projects. The results show that big data accessibility has a positive effect on IT outsourcing project performance, but that the effect varies with vendors’ leadership styles and outsourcers’ control mechanisms. Specifically, the positive effect of big data accessibility is weakened by vendors’ transactional leadership and outsourcers’ behavior-based control, whereas it is strengthened by vendors’ transformational leadership and outsourcers’ outcome-based control. This study contributes to the literature by identifying distinct roles of different leadership styles and different control mechanisms in leveraging big data accessibility.
... Stathakopoulos (1996) went on to say that, a better knowledge of how controls affect salesperson-customer relationships is needed. Control repercussions should also be considered at the sales force/sales organization level (e.g., Cravens et al., 1993;Piercy et al., 1999). ...
... While using behavioural control, a manager will take into account employees' aptitude, commitment, work ethic. when assessing their performance (Cravens et al., 1993). Whereas, through rewards for attaining targeted sales performance, outcome control encourages salespeople to engage in task-oriented behaviours and foster intimate personal ties with consumers (Zang et al., 2020). ...
... Previous studies have shown that behavioural control systems have several benefits for businesses (Cravens et al., 1993). For instance, behavioural control successfully encourages an employee's intrinsic motivation to accept the responsibility of serving for the business; under this control system, employees can successfully acquire knowledge and be proficient in their jobs; and co-workers cooperate. ...
The aim of this research is to define, explain and study the influence of customer control that is the result of technological development. Technological evolution has transformed the past business practices and changed the role of customer from passive to active. This role change has the direct influence on employees. Customer being part of a business is studied in various forms such as a co-creator, co-producer, participator, enabler, coordinator, innovator and differentiator. This study is extending the role of customer to the controller. Customer control can improve social needs among employees but can also cause powerlessness, and role ambiguity. To keep employees aligned with organizational objectives, Management Control Systems (MCS) are adapted. In past, MCSs were mostly focused on the internal environment, yet the external environment such as market and customer has proved its importance. This study defined customer control as the authority given to the customer to evaluate employees. It will help to recognize the impact of customer control on employees’ behaviours such as affective commitment, job involvement and alienation. Another purpose of this research is to observe moderating effect of organizational and supervisory support. Furthermore, to investigate the impact of self-determination theory by studying its mediating role between customer control and employee behaviours. This study is conducted in two countries, Pakistan and France. The data for both studies is collected through questionnaires and analysed by using SPSS and AMOS.
... As individual-level intellectual capital, intelligence increases salespersons' information-based behavior and provides a basis for identifying competence cues [12,52]. Higher performance in terms of selling activities is obtained by salespersons who are able to display product knowledge intelligently [53,54]. Therefore, intelligence is anticipated to be positively correlated with competence. ...
... The extent to which a salesperson is knowledgeable about the technical features and capabilities of products. [12,[52][53][54] Capability ...
In social interactions, people who are perceived as competent win more chances, tend to have more opportunities, and perform better in both personal and professional aspects of their lives. However, the process of evaluating competence is still poorly understood. To fill this gap, we developed a two-step empirical study to propose a competence evaluation framework and a predictor of individual competence based on multimodal data using machine learning and computer vision methods. In study 1, from a knowledge-driven perspective, we first proposed a competence evaluation framework composed of 4 inner traits (skill, expression efficiency, intelligence, and capability) and 6 outer traits (age, eye gaze variation, glasses, length-to-width ratio, vocal energy, and vocal variation). Then, eXtreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) and Shapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) were utilized to predict and interpret individual competence, respectively. The results indicate that 8 (4 inner and 4 outer) traits (in descending order: vocal energy, age, length-to-width ratio, glasses, expression efficiency, capability, intelligence, and skill) contribute positively to competence evaluation, while 2 outer traits (vocal variation and eye gaze variation) contribute negatively. In study 2, from a data-driven perspective, we accurately predicted competence with a cutting-edge multimodal machine learning algorithm, low-rank multimodal fusion (LMF), which exploits the intra- and intermodal interactions among all the visual, vocal, and textual features of an individual’s competence behavior. The results indicate that vocal and visual features contribute most to competence evaluation. In addition, we provided a Chinese Competence Evaluation Multimodal Dataset (CH-CMD) for individual competence analysis. This paper provides a systemic competence framework with empirical consolidation and an effective multimodal machine learning method for competence evaluation, offering novel insights into the study of individual affective traits, quality, personality, etc.
... This method aligns with conventional practices in social network analysis, as evidenced by Cornwell (2009). SP, defined as the comparison of sales over two years, was assessed via a scale adapted from Cravens et al. (1993), consisting of three items. Given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the comparison was made with 2019 as the reference year. ...
... Delving into how the composition and quality of customer networks affect SME marketing strategies and outcomes could provide critical insights for optimizing customer engagement and personalization strategies. (Eggers et al., 2020a) CH_Q1 We continuously try to discover additional needs of our customers of which they are unaware (change-driving) CH_Q2 We consistently look for new business opportunities (change-driving) CH_Q3 We work to find new businesses or markets to target (change-driving) CH_Q4 We consider ourselves to be an innovative company (change-driving) CH_Q5 Our business is often the first to market with new products and services (change-driving) CH_Q6 Competitors in this market recognize us as leaders in innovation (change-driving) BO_Q1 Our strategy for competitive advantage is based on our understanding of customer needs (bootstrapping) BO_Q2 We measure customer satisfaction systematically and frequently (bootstrapping) BO_Q3 Data on customer satisfaction is disseminated at all levels in this business unit on a regular basis (bootstrapping) BO_Q4 We use connections to other firms to increase our offerings in cost-efficient ways (bootstrapping) RI_Q1 We encourage people in our company to take risks with new ideas (risk-taking) RI_Q2 We engage in risky investments ( (Cravens et al., 1993) SP_Q1 In the year 2019, the company achieved a sales volume equal to or greater than the sales unit's objectives SP_Q2 In the year 2019, the company improved its market share compared to the main competitor SP_Q3 In the year 2019, the company improved its market share compared to the sales unit's objectives Source: Authors' own work ...
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to delve into the intricate relationship between network capabilities (NCs), entrepreneurial marketing (EM) and sales performance (SP), with a specific focus on uncovering the nuanced role that ties strength (TS) plays as a mediator.
Design/methodology/approach
This research was conducted using a survey method with a population of software small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Colombia using a sample size of 164 questionnaires. The data analysis method used was the partial least squares.
Findings
The results show that EM has an impact on SP. TS mediates the influence of NC and EM. Findings highlighted the importance of networking in EM and the relationship with SP.
Practical implications
NCs emerge as a vital determinant for fostering EM within SMEs. Owners should prioritize the development and enhancement of their NCs; for example, building relationships, fostering collaborations and leveraging connections within the industry. Also, this could lead to more innovative marketing strategies, differentiating the firm in a competitive marketplace. The mediating role of TS underscores the importance of not just having network connections but building strong, meaningful relationships with customers. SMEs with high NCs should design more targeted and customized marketing strategies.
Originality/value
The value of this research lies in its intricate exploration of the complex relationships between NCs, TS and EM. This study paves the way for a deeper understanding of network dynamics and their implications within EM. It sets the stage for subsequent studies that may lead to the formulation of more sophisticated network marketing strategies tailored for EM contexts.
... According to (Cravens et al., 1993) using incentive compensation as a replacement for sales force control is dangerous. Further, Cravens et al., (1993) state that the amalgamation of sales management and reward control makes the best use of effectiveness. ...
... According to (Cravens et al., 1993) using incentive compensation as a replacement for sales force control is dangerous. Further, Cravens et al., (1993) state that the amalgamation of sales management and reward control makes the best use of effectiveness. Excessive dependence on sales force inducements connected to short-term, KPIs, can add to a culture that undercuts customer insight. ...
... Variabel Metode cost plus pricing diukur dengan Harga Jual (Selling price), Harga pokok penjualan (Cost of goods sold), Tingkat keuntungan yang diharapkan (Profit margin percentage), menggunakan 17 indikator pernyataan yang diadopsi dari (Sujarweni, 2016) dan (Cravens et al., 1993). Dimana Harga jual terdiri dari tujuh item pernyataan, sedangkan Harga pokok penjualan dan Tingkat keuntungan yang diharapkan terdiri masing-masing dari lima item pernyataan. ...
... Pengukuran Variabel Laba mengunakan Pendapatan (Revenue) dan Biaya (Expenses) dengan 10 indikator pernyataan yang diadopsi dari (Lestari dan Permana, 2017) serta (Cravens et al.,1993), dimana pendapatan dan biaya masing-masing terdiri dari lima item. Berdasarkan hasil pengujian hipotesis pada Tabel 2, berikut ini akan dipaparkan hasil temuan penelitian secara lebih mendalam, dimana dalam melakukan intepretasi hasil penelitian ini, alpha yang digunakan adalah 5%. ...
Objective of this study to analyze effect of cost plus pricing method on the increase or decrease in company profits. This research is also aimed at analyzing the concept of calculating the selling price of foreign tour products. Data was obtained by conducting direct interviews and distributing 150 questionnaires to frontline employees at Travel Agentun Jakarta. From 150 questionnaires shared to participants, only 138 were successfully filled in and processed, then analyzed using Structural Equation Models (SEM). The findings of the research are :the use of cost plus pricing method in calculating selling price of foreign tour products affects the decline in company profits so that it is irrelevant as the basis for strategic decision making of travel agencies in Jakarta, due to the difficulty in achieving the minimum number of tour participants and the profit margin limit. required, especially during the Covid pandemic 19. The research implication is that the cost plus pricing method may be irrelevant if it fails to meet minimum requirements for number of tour participants and profit margin.
... Under a behavior-based system, employees are evaluated and compensated for criteria such as commitment, effort, customer orientation, team work, the ability to solve customers' problems, friendliness, and other behaviors that improve service quality (Aggarwal & Gupta, 2005;Bowen & Schneider, 1985;Hartline & Ferrell, 1996;Reardon & Enis, 1990). By emphasizing behavioral criteria during employee performance appraisals, employees have more control over conditions, and thus their competence (Cravens, Ingram, LaForge, & Young, 1993), selfefficacy (Gist & Mitchell, 1992), job satisfaction (Oliver & Anderson, 1994), and adaptability (Hartline & Ferrell, 1996) increase. ...
... To evaluate employees' service-oriented behaviors objectively and accurately, organizations must choose managers with characteristics of honesty, fairness, and responsibility. Managers need to observe their subordinates' behaviors closely and offer considerable mentoring and timely feedback on subordinates' efforts (Cravens, Ingram, LaForge, & Young, 1993). Reward and incentive systems with desired service behaviors must be designed to guarantee successful implementation of SBE. ...
h i g h l i g h t s A cascading effect of organizational-, departmental-, and individual-level empowerment to service quality persists. Organizational and departmental empowerment influence employees through distinct intervention mechanism. The effectiveness of employees' psychological empowerment depends on organizational context. a b s t r a c t This study tests relationships among three levels of empowermentdorganizational, departmental, and individualdand simultaneously their cascading effects on frontline employees' service quality. Drawing on data from 1566 employee-supervisor pairs from 123 departments in 53 Chinese hospitality and tourism enterprises, results reveal a cascading mechanism across three levels of empowerment. Organizational empowerment climate influences employees' psychological empowerment through department psychological empowerment, and department psychological empowerment influences employees' service quality through individual psychological empowerment. Cross-level moderation analysis suggests that only within a high degree of organizational empowerment climate and service behavior-based evaluation does employees' psychological empowerment have positive effects on service quality. In response to the debate on the merits of empowerment programs in organizations, this study supports the usefulness of a cascading, contingency model of empowerment, and demonstrates full delineation of how and when empowerment across three levels influence frontline employees' service quality.
... The former refers to the quantum of sales units, revenue, market share, new accounts, and profitability, while the latter include selling skills such as adaptive selling, teamwork, effective communication, and customer orientation, as well as activities such as making sales calls, managing time and territory (Anderson & Oliver, 1987). This is consistent with several studies like Challagalla and Shervani (1996), Cravens et al. (1993), and Oliver and Anderson (1994). For a more recent period, sales performance has been measured based on the achievement of sales quotas, and a comparison of a salesperson's performance to his or her sales unit (Babakus et al., 1996;Cravens et al., 1993). ...
... This is consistent with several studies like Challagalla and Shervani (1996), Cravens et al. (1993), and Oliver and Anderson (1994). For a more recent period, sales performance has been measured based on the achievement of sales quotas, and a comparison of a salesperson's performance to his or her sales unit (Babakus et al., 1996;Cravens et al., 1993). ...
This research aims to investigate the determinants of salesperson performance with a focus on the role of customer-centric selling behaviors in the interaction with Guanxi—a measure of the quality of customer–salesperson relationship. The study examines two well-established constructs in the body of sales literature, namely customer orientation and Adaptive selling behavior to shed light on the inconclusive relationship between these antecedents and sales performance in prior works. Using a sample of 204 salespeople in the Information service industry, the authors tested several hypotheses employing the structural equation model (SEM). The results suggest that the adoption of adaptive selling and Customer-oriented behaviors may help salespeople improve performance. Moreover, Guanxi does play some role in explaining sales performance of B2B salespeople. Based on the findings, theoretical contributions and managerial implications, as well as suggestions for future research, will also be presented. In the business-to-business (B2B) context, salespeople are the critical link between a company and its customers; therefore, understanding their performance is a key concern of sales managers as well as researchers in the discipline. However, due to the complex nature of selling activities, the extant literature has not agreed upon the universal factors that may ensure salespeople’s success. The research also takes into account the China-originated construct called Guanxi, which is expected to reflect the quality of the relationship between salesperson and customer. Few prior studies have grouped guanxi with selling behaviors in an explanatory model of sales performance. Therefore, studying this interaction may provide more insights into how to improve the performance of the salesforce.
... Commercial performance is at the centre of our research. It is defined as the assessment of the contribution of commercial activities to the achievement of the objectives of the firm (Behrman & Perreault, 1982;Cravens et al., 1993). It must reflect the normative elements that characterize the behavior of a seller (for example the bank) and that make of him a 'good' or 'bad' seller in the light of the objectives and goals of the firm (Churchill et al., 2000). ...
This research deals with the links between the customer-supplier relationships and the perceived performance of the Tunisian banks. The conceptual framework sets out the theoretical foundations of the different types of relationships that may have an impact on the performance of banks and advocates the complementarity between the transactional and relational approaches so as to improve perceived performance. The results of a quantitative study about 600 customers of commercial banks in Tunisia indicate, on the one hand, the effective links between the transactional and relational approaches and the performance perceived by the customers and, on the other hand, the complementarity of both approaches in improving the performance of the Tunisian banks.
... The stage-gate approach offers an intermediate level of control that promotes new product development. An extremely high level of behavior-based control is negatively associated with new product development performance (Cravens et al., 1993). Excessive behavior-based control leads to organisational inertia, and inertia is negatively related to new product development performance (Gilbert, 2005). ...
Should the agile approach or the stage-gate approach be used to manage the new product development process in a big data environment? Although the stage-gate approach has been the dominant approach to managing new product development, the agile approach literature suggests that the stage-gate approach experiences difficulties when dealing with response uncertainty. The agile approach facilitates information processing for customer feedback by developing and deploying minimum viable products. Conflicting views on the effectiveness of these two approaches centre on their capabilities of dealing with uncertainty through information processing. The diffusion of digital technologies offers new ways to process information, but not many studies have investigated how the effectiveness of the agile and stage-gate approaches varies with different information-processing capabilities in a data-rich environment. This study categorises information-processing strategies into those that use internal or external big data and explores how these strategies interact with the stage-gate and agile approaches. To verify the research framework, we conducted an on-site survey to collect data. The sample covers 261 new product development projects. We adopted a multivariable linear regression model for the analysis. The regression results show that the agile approach should be integrated with internal rather than external big data utilisation and that the stage-gate approach should be integrated with external rather than internal big data utilisation. This finding deepens our understanding of innovation process management by exploring the integrating effects of the two approaches with the big data utilisation strategy.
... Specifically, outcome-based compensation should moderate the impact of a firm's risk-taking strategy on defensive behavior in price negotiations. Outcome-based compensation implies that salespeople are explicitly compensated based on achieved outcomes such as sales volume or profit margin (Anderson and Oliver 1987;Cravens et al. 1993). Previous studies highlight the role of outcome-based compensation for salespeople's motivation and subsequent behavior (e.g. ...
... Theoretical sampling, which is considered one of the deliberate sampling methods (Teddlie & Yu, 2007;Corbin & Strauss, 2014), requires researchers to go locations, individuals, and circumstances that would supply information on the concepts they want to learn more about. Unlike traditional sampling approaches, researchers begin the analysis immediately after collecting the initial data; the analysis leads to concepts, which produce new questions. ...
The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors influencing the behavior of Turkish manufacturing firms towards export market orientation. In this regard, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 18 export sales managers and the obtained data were analyzed using qualitative content analysis. According to the findings of the analysis, the factors that may influence firms' export market orientation practices are classified under seven themes which include organizational structure, firm characteristics, firm capabilities, export sales manager characteristics, top management characteristics, inter-firm factors, and environmental factors. The study provides important conclusions regarding which firm capabilities should be developed to increase the level of market orientation in export activities, and which characteristics and competencies of export managers and top-level executives should be emphasized. Additionally, it highlights the importance of developing trust-based cooperative relations with importers to obtain export market knowledge and provide effective responses.
... The level and objectives of sales control affect salespeople's motivation and performance (Park et al., 2023). Traditionally, sales control can range between two extremes: output-based control and behavior-based (activity) control (Cravens et al., 1993;K€ uster and Canales, 2011;Zang et al., 2020). The main difference between these two control systems concerns the nature and timing of management intervention. ...
Purpose
This study examines the interaction between sales control systems and firm level strategic orientations and their joint effects on company performance in B2B context. Independent and joint effects of market orientation (MO), innovation orientation (IO) and sales control systems (SCS) on firm performance were analyzed.
Design/methodology/approach
A quantitative research methodology is adopted to compile firm-level primary data from manufacturing companies located in an organized industrial zone. Research data were collected by face-to-face surveys from 302 sales professionals. The research model and hypotheses were tested by using partial least squares (PLS) structural equation modeling (SEM) with Smart PLS 3.0.
Findings
In addition to confirming the positive effects of MO and IO on performance, data analyses revealed that SCS exert an indirect effect on company performance which is fully mediated by MO.
Research limitations/implications
The research was limited to a developing country context and research data was collected from a convenient sample of B2B companies by a cross-sectional study. Cross-cultural and longitudinal studies may provide additional insights. Firm level strategic orientations and sales control systems must be examined together in an integrated way to explore their effects on company performance. The individual effects of these structures on business performance may manifest differently when they come together.
Practical implications
Results indicate that the sales control system setup is critical for the implementation of a market-oriented strategy. This study highlights the importance of setting a compatible sales control system to achieve organizational goals in accordance with the strategic orientations which affect the success of particular organizational strategies.
Originality/value
Although the current literature identifies the independent and joint effects of market orientation and innovation orientation on company performance, empirical studies probing the interaction of sales control systems with these constructs is very scarce. Understanding how sales control systems relate to strategic orientations will help design a more effective sales organization and improve company performance. This study contributes to the literature by promoting additional insights by linking sales control systems with market orientation, innovation orientation and company performance.
... Por otra parte, tradicionalmente se ha constatado la relación existente entre el rendimiento y la eficacia en ventas (Cravens y Ingram, 1993;Babakus, Cravens, Grant, Ingram y Laforge, 1996;Baldauf y Cravens, 1999;Grant y Cravens, 1999; Ingram, LaForge, Avila, Schwepker y Williams, 2019). ...
Se pone en valor la relevancia del uso de las nuevas tecnologías en la formación en ventas, destacando los beneficios para vendedor y empresa de la formación efectiva en ventas. Con 159 agentes del sector asegurador mexicano y el uso de ecuaciones estructurales, concluimos que, en dicho sector, las TICs juegan un papel destacable en la formación efectiva en ventas y que ésta posee efectos positivos sobre los factores personales i) ambigüedad y conflicto de rol, ii) motivación intrínseca, iii) venta adaptativa, iv) conocimientos, y v) satisfacción del vendedor. Asimismo, ejerce un efecto indirecto sobre el rendimiento y la eficacia.
... Research has worked to refine this distinction (e.g., Challagalla and Shervani 1996). Outcome control criteria are sales, market shares, accounts, profit, orders taken, customers acquired, customer churn rate, and customer satisfaction, while behavior control tools can be product knowledge, presentation quality, closing ability, technological use, and services performed (Anderson and Oliver 1987;Cravens et al. 1993;Darmon and Martin 2011;Hunter 2019;Oliver and Anderson 1994). The behavioraloutcome performance dimension in our typology reflects what firms do to motivate, measure, and reward sales force performance. ...
... Finally, this study's focus on salespeople can contribute both to sales management and to IM research in organizations in general. For many organizations, sales performance is considered critical for return on investment (Khusainova et al., 2018) because the sales function usually represents the largest proportion of a marketing budget (Cravens et al., 1993). Besides, previous studies have revealed that salespeople find themselves in situations at work where they can use influence tactics (Evans et al., 2012), and the spatial distance between salespeople and their supervisors allows greater opportunity for employing IM tactics such as exemplification . ...
Despite the growing prevalence of employee exemplification in the workplace, there is limited understanding of this assertive self-focused tactic. This study proposes to expand the exemplification research domain by exploring the emotional and behavioral conditions under which this impression management tactic is effective. Data analysis from 206 supervisor–employee dyads reveals that the indirect relationship between exemplification and individual performance through a supervisor’s liking is conditional on an employee’s emotional intelligence. Specifically, the exemplification effect on performance is sharply negative when a salesperson’s emotional intelligence is low, and it becomes insignificant when a salesperson is highly emotionally intelligent. This moderating effect is also strengthened by a supervisor’s age. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
... Prior studies show that effective salesperson behavior leads to increased salesperson and corporate performance [46,62,63]. A salesperson's customer-oriented selling behavior is the salesperson's efforts to identify and satisfy the needs of target customers to achieve long-term goals [64]. ...
This study investigates the role of value congruence and top management support on salespeople’s customer-oriented selling behavior and adaptive selling behavior. Moreover, this study has also explored the effects of salespeople’s customer-oriented selling behavior and adaptive selling behavior on sales performance and opportunistic behaviors, respectively. An online survey was administered to collect the data from salespeople in South Korea, and a total of 204 responses were undergone for formal analysis. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was conducted to test the proposed hypotheses. The results showed that salespeople’s value congruence has a significant positive effect on customer-oriented selling behavior and top management support has a significant positive effect on salespeople’s adaptive selling behavior. The salespeople’s customer-oriented selling behavior has a significant positive effect on sales performance and a significant negative effect on opportunistic behavior. Similarly, salespeople’s adaptive selling behavior has significant positive effects on sales performance and opportunistic behaviors. Based on these findings, the implications for theory and practice are discussed in detail.
... Pengukuran kinerja penjualan berbasis hasil merupakan aspek penting dalam mengukur kinerja tenaga penjualan (Anderson & Oliver, 1987 ;(Cravens et al., 1993). Tenaga penjual menggunakan upaya dan keterampilan mereka untuk memperoleh hasil yang menjadi tanggung jawab mereka dan hasil ini mewakili dimensi kinerja hasil. ...
Dewasa ini, semakin banyak pekerjaan yang menyoroti pentingnya jaringan sosial dalam mengukur dinamika internal untuk organisasi penjualan, dimana jejaring sosial sering diartikan sebagai pola interaksi antar pribadi yang kompleks dari suatu ikatan sosial dimana ikatan antar pihak tersebut berfungsi sebagai saluran informasi dan aliran sumber daya. Oleh karena itu, kinerja tenaga penjual sering sekali diukur dari tindakan yang dilakukan tenaga penjual untuk bermanuver dan mempengaruhi orang-orang di dalam organisasi mereka sendiri maupun diluar organisasi.Kemampuan wiraniaga untuk menciptakan nilai dengan memanfaatkan sumber daya internal dan memanfaatkan kemampuan perusahaan untuk mengatasi masalah dan kebutuhan pelanggan dapat menjadi pembeda penting di pasar yang ramai. Selain itu, ketika pembeli menjadi lebih besar, lebih canggih, dan lebih kuat di tengah beragam penawaran kompetitif, risiko komoditisasi menjadi semakin relevan bagi penjual, sehingga memunculkan pendekatan penjualan yang lebih terintegrasi yang membutuhkan upaya dan kerja sama dari berbagai anggota dalam suatu organisasi.Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk menguji pengaruh kerjasama memanfaatkan jejaring pelanggan (customer network co-utilization) guna meningkatkan kinerja penjualan dari tenaga penjual sepeda motor di Jawa Tengah . Teknik pemilihan sampel secara purposive berdasarkan kriteria pelanggan yang telah menjadi pelanggan minimal satu tahun pada produsen sepeda motor di Jawa Tengah. Berdasarkan kriteria tersebut terdapat 255 pelanggan yang dipilih . Analisis kuantitatif dalam penelitian ini digunakan Program IBM AMOS 22.
This study examines the factors that lead students to consider or avoid a career in sales, focusing on behaviors and preferences during the transition period following the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Conducted in 2021, the study captures how the pandemic has changed traditional aspects of sales work, such as face-to-face interaction, and explores the lasting impact of these changes on young professionals. A sample of 671 business and engineering students participated in an online survey; data analysis was performed by using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (SEM-PLS). Results show that intrinsic and social motivations enhance the perceived attractiveness of a sales career, which, in turn, impacts career intentions. Although empathy and COVID-19-related fears lack a direct effect on the intention to pursue a sales career, digital skills reinforce the connection between job attractiveness and career intentions in a digital-centric environment, having a moderating role. These findings emphasize the evolving nature of sales careers, highlighting the need to align career development strategies with young people’s intrinsic motivation and digital competencies. This study adds to the understanding of motivational factors in sales career decisions and offers valuable insights for employers seeking to attract motivated talent in a shifting industry landscape.
Purpose
This study investigates how organizational control systems induce emotional labor in frontline service employees (FLEs). Drawing on the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) theory, we hypothesized that two control systems, an outcome-based control system (OBCS) and a behavior-based control system (BBCS), trigger work engagement rather than organizational dehumanization in FLEs, leading them to choose deep acting rather than surface acting as an emotional labor strategy.
Design/methodology/approach
This study employed three-wave online surveys conducted 3–4 months apart to assess the time-lagged effects of S-O-R. We measured OBCS, BBCS (stimuli) and control variables at Time 1 (T1); work engagement and organizational dehumanization (organisms) at Time 2 (T2) and emotional labor strategies (responses) at Time 3 (T3). A total of 218 employees completed the T1, T2 and T3 surveys.
Findings
OBCS increased work engagement, leading to increased deep acting. BBCS enhanced organizational dehumanization, leading to increased surface acting. Post-hoc analysis confirmed that the indirect effect of OBCS on deep acting through work engagement and the mediation effect of BBCS on surface acting through organizational dehumanization were statistically significant.
Originality/value
This study collected three-wave data to reveal how organizational control systems affect FLEs’ emotional labor in the S-O-R framework. It illustrated how organizations induce FLEs to perform effective emotional strategies by investigating the effects of organizational control systems on their internal states.
Objetivo: Investigar o impacto da liderança e motivação no desempenho de vendas. Método: Este estudo fez uso da técnica da Modelagem de Equações Estruturais (MEE) com modelo de mensuração de Mínimos Quadrados Parciais (PLS). Um survey online foi realizado com vendedores em diversos setores da indústria nos Estados Unidos, o recorte de tempo foi transversal. Originalidade/Relevância: Existem muitos estudos na área de vendas, mas nenhum deles correlacionou o comportamento de lideranças com sistemas de controle e motivação dos vendedores, para explicar a performance de vendas. Resultados: Resultados indicam que a liderança transacional está relacionada com a motivação extrínseca, assim como a transformacional está relacionada com a intrínseca e estão positivamente correlacionadas com a performance. Além disso, o tipo de monitoramento comportamental (vs. resultado) está correlacionado com a motivação intrínseca (vs. extrínseca) e também ajudam a explicar a performance de vendas. Contribuições teóricas: contribui com a literatura de vendas evidenciando que o tipo de monitoramento está relacionado com o sistema de controle da liderança, motivação e influenciam no comportamento dos vendedores. Contribuições para a gestão: Contribuiu para vincular os comportamentos dos gerentes de vendas ao ambiente organizacional em que estão inseridos, examinando as relações dos sistemas de monitoramento e o desempenho dos vendedores.
O prestígio organizacional é definido como a percepção dos funcionários sobre como as pessoas de fora da empresa se sentem em relação à organização. Embora pesquisadores e profissionais reconheçam que o prestígio organizacional é um conhecido impulsionador do desempenho de vendas, a literatura de vendas tem negligenciado os mecanismos de mediação no nível da força de vendas. Para preencher esta lacuna, os autores propõem dois mecanismos mediadores para explicar como é o prestígio organizacional - identificação profissional e identificação organizacional.
L’objectif de cette première étude consiste à étudier le comportement des vendeurs à la lumière du mode de pilotage adopté par leur entreprise. Plus précisément, le but de cet article est de confirmer la diversité de ces modes de pilotage et d’identifier les dysfonctionnements issus de leurs incohérences. L’analyse d’une série d’entretiens approfondis avec directeurs commerciaux et vendeurs permet d’avancer de nouvelles propositions susceptibles d’améliorer les performances commerciales. Finalement, les implications managériales sont détaillées.
The salesforce control system plays an important role in salesforce performance and organization effectiveness. This study investigates the influence of behaviour-based and outcome-based control systems on eight performance-related variables. Data have been collected from sales executives of pharmaceutical companies in India on the basis of a self-administered survey. A standardized close-ended survey instrument was utilized to gather the data. Post screening, a usable sample of 346 responses was analysed by employing partial least square structural equation modelling. The results indicate that although both kinds of salesforce control systems are acceptable, the behaviour-based one appears to be slightly better. Academic and managerial implications are discussed in this article.
Though self-construal has attracted researchers’ attention in several areas, salesperson self-construal has not been
well investigated. In this study, we explore the mediating mechanism and contingent factors that explain how
and when salespersons’ distinct kinds of self-construal affect their sales performance. Using data from different
sources, we find that salespersons’ self-construal interacts with various job and organizational features to influence
their customer-oriented behaviors and resultant job performance. Furthermore, firms can not only increase
(decrease) both interdependent and independent salespersons’ customer-oriented behaviors by creating
simple forms of person-environment fit (misfit), but also manipulate or change existing P-E fit or misfit with
distinct sales controls. We emphasize the importance of these differential effects by empirically verifying that
self-construal’s impact on customer orientation consequently links to objective sales performance. Together, our
findings have theoretical and practical implications for sales management in relation to salesperson self-
construal.
The sales management literature suggests that control-based management systems drive sales effectiveness. However, despite prior research on salesforce management systems, inquiry from an experimental perspective is lacking. Previous studies examining salesforce control and capability control have been primarily conducted utilizing cross-sectional data and methodologies that limit assessment of causality. Thus, the objective of our research is to establish causal links of control-based management systems. Specifically, our first study utilizes video-based scenarios to experimentally manipulate the use of an outcome versus activity control system and the use versus non-use of a capability control approach. Four-hundred and ten business-to-business salespeople provide responses for our experiment that demonstrates 1) outcome control systems enhance salesperson selling orientation, 2) activity-based control systems enhance salesperson customer orientation, as well as perceived organizational and supervisor support, and 3) capability control systems enhance adaptive selling and salesperson creativity. To support our experimental findings, a follow-up qualitative study of fourteen sales managers highlights the crucial importance of sales managers as a part of control system effectiveness. Overall, our research contributes by establishing causal links between control-based management systems and salesperson intentions to utilize selling behaviors that improve sales performance.
Este estudio es un análisis sobre la evolución epistemológica de la escuela de las funciones del marketing, destacada por ser una pionera de la disciplina y trasciende la globalización de mercados y la transformación digital. El estudio es de carácter cienciométrico, descriptivo, longitudinal y retrospectivo, con enfoque cuantitativo, en que se analizaron 744 artículos entre 1953 y 2021 mediante el método Tree of Science (ToS) publicados en Scopus. Los resultados muestran que los conceptos de la escuela de pensamiento de las funciones del marketing se mantienen vigentes y han evolucionado a lo largo del tiempo. Se destacan las perspectivas desde las nuevas realidades empresariales caracterizadas por la globalización y el uso de las tecnologías de la información y de la comunicación (TIC) en el marketing, la influencia de la función de ventas y la adopción de tecnologías disponibles para hacer más eficientes las actividades de marketing en las organizaciones.
Previous research into management control of truck driver activities, while highly valuable, has failed to provide a comprehensive framework of driver control theory. This article addresses this issue by presenting a data-driven framework of driver control based on grounded theory research methods that explore the experiences of logistics professionals. This research extends current theory from the salesperson control literature to the motor carrier industry. The findings suggest that formal and informal control methods are used in various combinations in the industry, that these control types are comprised of many forms of management activities, that no single control method is completely effective in isolation, and that a number of conditions affect what methods are used and how firms apply them.
Purpose
Digital solutions (DS) that build on recurring revenue models (RRMs) offer new opportunities to continuously create and capture superior value. However, many firms fail to engage their sales force in digital solution selling (DS selling), leading to agency problems that receive little attention in literature. This study aims to examine the drivers of agency problems that surface in the transition toward DS selling and the sales control systems that resolve these problems.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors conducted a qualitative, inductive study. Data were collected from interviews with 72 marketing and sales managers representing 53 industrial firms transitioning toward DS selling.
Findings
DS selling is subject to adverse selection and moral hazard caused by motivation-related, opportunity-related and ability-related drivers. Input, capability, activity and outcome controls – detailed in this study – can resolve these agency problems.
Research limitations/implications
The limitations of this study’s methodology and scope suggest several directions for future research. Methodology-wise, the authors mainly relied on cross-sectional interview data from informants in Central and Northern Europe. Scope-wise, more research is needed on the capabilities, processes and steering instruments supporting DS sales. Finally, only now do the authors begin to understand which compensation plans motivate DS selling.
Practical implications
The controls identified in this study help managers to steer their sales force in DS sales.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate DS sales control systems. Thereby, the authors enhance prior understandings of solution selling, agency problems and sales control systems.
This research investigates why and when salesperson hunting and farming orientations benefit the organization. Data from 391 salespeople at 50 firms show that adaptive selling behaviors mediate the relationship between two customer engagement orientations (i.e., hunting orientation and farming orientation) and sales performance, with hunting orientation having a stronger impact on adaptive selling behaviors than a farming orientation. Moreover, the data reveal that organizational control systems moderate these relationships. Although outcome (behavioral) control strengthens (weakens) the positive effect of hunting orientation on adaptive selling behaviors, behavioral (outcome) control strengthens (weakens) the positive effect of farming orientation on adaptive selling behaviors. Taken together, the study’s findings provide managerially relevant insights regarding mechanisms and moderators associated with hunting and farming orientations, and thus shed light on an important and growing literature stream.
This study answers research calls regarding data analytics in a specific unit and its impact at the unit and organizational level. In doing so, it takes an information value chain approach to theorize about how quality data and IT-enabled data analytics sensing capability in the marketing unit relate differently to the unit performance as well as to firm-level performance. Results from a survey of 346 firms confirm the hypotheses by showing partially and fully mediated effects for quality data, and direct and partially mediated effects for sensing capability.
Purpose
For the past several decades, the sales control literature has focused on the outside sales context. This study aims to extend sales control research by examining formal and informal sales controls, embodied by cultural controls, used by sales managers in an inside sales context, where the sales agent’s performance focus extends beyond sales outcomes to include the influence of operational phone outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on 232 B2C and B2B inside sales agent survey responses, this study presents evidence that in an inside sales department, this study focuses on the congruent effect of formal sales and cultural sales controls on inside sales agent overall performance.
Findings
Based on 232 B2C and B2B inside sales agent survey responses, this study presents evidence that in an inside sales department, the operational focus of sales activities and resultant operational performance mediates the relationship between sales controls and inside sales agent sales performance, whereas cultural controls centered on maximizing inside sales autonomous motivation positively moderates the effect of operational outcomes on an inside sales agent’s sales performance.
Practical implications
By focusing on the tenants of an inside sales agent’s overall performance, this research provides practitioners a holistic view of the inherent conflict inside sales managers must balance between the impact of formal sales controls and the benefits of cultural controls.
Originality/value
By being the only study to examine sales controls in an inside sales context, with a broad definition of overall performance to include both sales and operational phone outcomes, this study extends sales control research to a new sales context. The need to jointly focus on operational results, as well as sales outcomes, illustrate the importance of cultural controls compared to other sales processes and outcome controls
Despite increasing research regarding the buffering conditions of customer incivility, little attention has been paid regarding how firm-driven tactics can serve as buffers between customer incivility and work outcomes. To fill this gap in the literature, our research assessed the relationship between daily customer incivility, next-morning self-efficacy as it related to next-day service performance, and the cross-level moderating effect of perceived organizational control. Using the experience sampling method, we collected diary data from 135 South Korean service employees over five consecutive working days. The results of our multilevel analyses showed that customer incivility from one day had a significant indirect effect on next-day service performance through next-morning self-efficacy. Employees’ perceptions of behavior-based organizational control mitigated the negative relationship between daily customer incivility and next-morning self-efficacy. However, perceived outcome-based organizational control did not moderate the daily customer incivility-self-efficacy relationship. These findings suggest that managing service employees with behavior-based control is more effective than using outcome-based control when helping them cope with daily customer incivility.
Purpose: This article provides practical rationalization for a framework that recognizes important elements of SCM practices and HRM practices, and explaining their association leading towards satisfaction of customers, which is ultimate goal of every organization. It evaluates following four questions based on this research: (1) Do organizations have high levels of customer satisfaction, which are excelling in HRM practices (2) Do organizations have high levels of SCM practices, which are excelling in HRM practices (3) Do organizations have high levels of customer satisfaction, which are excelling in SCM practices (4) Do organizations have high levels of customer satisfaction, which are excelling in HRM practices; even though when the effects of effective SCM practices are controlled. Design/methodology/approach: Data for the research were gathered from 6 different organizations and the relationships projected in the hypothesis model were tested by employing structural equation modeling. In order to investigate these relations an already extensive, valid, and consistent developed instrument has been used. Convenience sampling technique from non-probability sampling method has been implemented and survey method was used to gather information from the employees for this study.
Findings: Outcomes exhibited positive correlations for the variables tested; representing that increase in HRM practices and SCM practice can direct towards enhanced satisfaction of customers in an organization and SCM also mediates the association between HR management practices and customer satisfaction.
Purpose: This article provides practical rationalization for a framework that recognizes important elements of SCM practices and HRM practices, and explaining their association leading towards satisfaction of customers, which is ultimate goal of every organization. It evaluates following four questions based on this research: (1) Do organizations have high levels of customer satisfaction, which are excelling in HRM practices (2) Do organizations have high levels of SCM practices, which are excelling in HRM practices (3) Do organizations have high levels of customer satisfaction, which are excelling in SCM practices (4) Do organizations have high levels of customer satisfaction, which are excelling in HRM practices; even though when the effects of effective SCM practices are controlled. Design/methodology/approach: Data for the research were gathered from 6 different organizations and the relationships projected in the hypothesis model were tested by employing structural equation modeling. In order to investigate these relations an already extensive, valid, and consistent developed instrument has been used. Convenience sampling technique from non-probability sampling method has been implemented and survey method was used to gather information from the employees for this study. Findings: Outcomes exhibited positive correlations for the variables tested; representing that increase in HRM practices and SCM practice can direct towards enhanced satisfaction of customers in an organization and SCM also mediates the association between HR management practices and customer satisfaction.
Purpose
The premise of this article is to investigate the role of neutralization techniques by business-to-business salespeople as they influence ethical views and impact unethical behaviors, performance, and relationships. Research has previously noted the prevalence and impacts of excuse-making by individuals. Identified as neutralization techniques, these practices have been linked to salespeople in both academic and practitioner literature, but remain chiefly unexplored in terms of impacts on individual outcome measures.
Methodology
The data used in this research are from a sample of 240 business-to-business salespeople collected electronically by using the online platform of a national data broker. A scenario presented a typical sales activity previously determined to be unethical. The salespeople were asked to evaluate the level of harm (Moral Intensity) of an activity described in a scenario and indicate their agreement/disagreement with possible justifications (Neutralization techniques). The two most common types are denial of injury where the accused claims there is no harm resulting from the unethical act and appeal to higher loyalties which involves the unethical actor claiming the unethical behavior was committed on behalf of loyalty to some other party, rather than the norms guiding expected ethical behavior. Self-reports were made about their ethical/unethical behaviors, relationship quality with customers and estimates of their performance in their sales position. All constructs as shown in the Figure were combined in a structural equation model. SPSS/Amos software was used to conduct multivariate analysis. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to assess the measurement properties of each construct, while structural equation modeling was applied to evaluate the hypothesized relationships.
Findings
Moral intensity was found to directly reduce unethical behaviors as moderated by neutralization techniques (excuses). Unethical behaviors were negatively related to relationship quality and value enhancing behavior performance. The results from this study lend credence to ethical decision-making models and serve to extend our understanding of them, specifically as applied to business-to-business salespeople. In particular, we learn more about the role of neutralization techniques in affecting the ethical decision-making of salespeople.
In terms of the theoretical contribution, this study explores a seller’s perspective of moral intensity, neutralization techniques, and important sales behaviors and outcomes to extend findings reported in previous studies. Previous research suggests that unethical behaviors by salespeople can negatively impact both their performance in creating customer value and the quality of their customer relationships. This study extends previous research as to how neutralization techniques may work in this process and relate salesperson unethical behavior negatively to relationship quality among a broader sample of business-to-business salespeople.
Research Implications
Our research strengthens the importance of moral intensity in ethical decision-making by finding it is negatively related to business-to-business salespeople’s unethical behavior. Salespeople’s “detachment” from the company does not appear to lessen the power of moral intensity in ethical decision-making within the organization. Excuses or neutralization techniques are found to moderate the relationship between moral intensity and unethical behavior such that excuses may reduce the perceived harmfulness or moral intensity and be less likely to dissuade unethical behavior. The salesperson who uses excuses for unacceptable behavior is less likely to let the seriousness of harm resulting from a behavior deter him or her from acting unethically.
This study adds to our research regarding ethical decision-making by examining associated outcomes such as relationship quality and performance which have received little attention concerning ethical decision-making in business-to-business sales research. While salesperson behavior performance has received research attention, little focus has been placed specifically on factors considered by buyers as the most important activities salespeople can do to add value to a customer relationship (i.e., value enhancing behavior performance). While sound moral judgment will result in positive value enhancing behaviors, unethical behavior, presumably resulting from immoral judgment, is associated with lower levels of salesperson value enhancing behavior.
Practical Implications
The study makes a practical contribution through an improved understanding of how a seller’s ethical perspective relates to their use of excuses and their ethical behaviors, relationships and performance with customers. The findings underscore the importance of engaging in activities to reduce unethical behavior, which is critical given it can detrimentally affect relationship quality. Because unethical behavior may be perceived by some salespeople as a shortcut to achieve desired ends, organizations will benefit from taking steps to increase moral intensity perceptions and reduce the use of neutralization techniques to help salespeople understand the connection between what they may consider inconsequential indiscretions (e.g., misleading a customer on a delivery date; overpromising, etc.) and relationship quality, thus reducing the chances salespeople will commit such questionable acts. An improved understanding of business-to-business salespeople’s perspectives of the variables under study can potentially improve the hiring and training of salespeople to adopt high moral ethics, avoid excuse-making, commit less frequent unethical behavior, build customer relationships and improve sales performance.
Originality/Value/Contribution of the paper
The originality and value of this study rest with proposed connections between three prevalent issues in business-to-business sales organizations. Moral intensity, interpretations of the potential harm of sales actions, the ongoing existence of excuse-making, and their connections between unethical behaviors and relationship performance provide valuable and unique insights into business-to-business selling behaviors and seller consequences.
The performance appraisal practices used by industrial firms when evaluating members of the sales force are investigated. A formal model of the relationships among major aspects of the appraisal process is proposed and tested. Results are presented from a survey of 104 senior sales managers. Significant relationships are identified between what is being measured, how the appraisal is conducted, and managerial satisfaction. The findings also suggest that evaluation programs remain relatively unsophisticated and unsystematic in most firms.
Designed a methodology for analytically-determining standards of sales performance. The methodology consists of (a) formulating a conceptual model of sales territory performance, (b) selecting variables and corresponding operational measures for a given organization, and (c) empirically determining the degree to which these measures explain variations in territory performance. Results of a test of this methodology indicate that salesman performance assessed by a firm's management appeared to be consistent with the analytically-determined performance standards. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2012 APA, all rights reserved)
Forms of control systems used in salesforce evaluation and based on the monitoring of outcomes or of behaviors are described, contrasted, and evaluated in terms of emerging theories in economics, organization theory, and cognitive psychology. Generally, the principles of behavior control as opposed to outcome control are found to be consistent with these theoretical perspectives with exceptions as noted, though studies of descriptive trends suggest that outcome control remains useful as a sales management philosophy. The authors conclude with a set of propositions intended to stimulate research on the managerial and behavioral consequences of the two control philosophies.
Salesforce decisions consist of a series of interrelated processes including (1) determining the role of personal selling in the organization, (2) allocating selling effort to customers, geographic areas, or products, (3) setting salesforce size, (4) designing sales territories, and (5) managing the salesforce.
Efforts to develop quantitative models for these decision areas have been hindered by the complex interactions among the areas. Attempts to isolate these decision areas for model simplification have resulted in considerable suboptimization. A multistage decision model is presented which treats the salesforce decision areas as an aggregate decision process consisting of a series of interrelated stages.
Model decisions are based on a response function which relates sales in a control unit to the many determinants of performance including potential, workload, company effort, salesman quality and experience, and prior sales history. The use of an extremely fast dynamic programming algorithm for the allocation of selling time to control units is demonstrated and the interaction between model and manager is emphasized. Model output indicates the optimum salesforce size and provides a basis for designing sales territories. Use of the model in forecasting and performance evaluation also is discussed.
The model is general in that it can be applied to most companies employing a field salesforce. The results of a promising application are presented. Reaction of sales management in the test firm indicates that model output is very useful in identifying problem areas, evaluating salesmen, and modifying territorial design to achieve the optimal allocation of selling effort.
The transaction cost analysis framework is integrated with prescriptions from the sales management literature to develop a model that indicates the role of salary in a sales compensation plan for industrial firms. The descriptive power of the model is examined by surveying compensation practices in 161 firms. The results indicate that the transaction cost framework is somewhat useful in describing the use of salary, but the framework does not consider some important aspects guiding salary versus incentive compensation decisions.
The results of this study of sales response functions in the retail apparel industry indicate that territorial potential and sales representative's workload are important predictors of sales. The findings are used to derive a model to assist management in determining sales force size and evaluating sales performance.
The authors investigate the relationship between personal and organizational characteristics and the attractiveness of various rewards to industrial salespeople. Data were gathered from 241 industrial salespeople and the sales managers of 17 participating industrial firms. Of the 84 relationships examined, 18 statistically significant relationships are found between such predictor variables as age, job tenure, income level, specific self-esteem, compensation plan base, promotion opportunity rate, and recognition rate and criterion variables which are the valences for various rewards. Organizational variables are found to be more promising than personal characteristics in terms of their relationship to the attactiveness of various rewards.
Empirical tests of territory sales response models have involved primarily a cross-sectional analysis of a salesforce at one point in time. Because such models often influence subsequent management decisions, the assumption that such models are stable over time is an important one. The authors consider factors that could influence the stability of such a model and use a five-year data base to explore the stability of a previously reported model of territory sales response. In this data base all the parameters appear to be stable over time.
A new approach for research on effectiveness in sales interactions is proposed. This approach is based on considering the moderating effect of the salesperson's resources, the customer's buying task, and the customer-salesperson relationship. A contingency framework is presented and research directions related to the framework are suggested.
The authors outline an updated paradigm for scale development that incorporates confirmatory factor analysis for the assessment of unidimensionality. Under this paradigm, item-total correlations and exploratory factor analysis are used to provide preliminary scales. The unidimensionality of each scale then is assessed simultaneously with confirmatory factor analysis. After unidimensional measurement has been acceptably achieved, the reliability of each scale is assessed. Additional evidence for construct validity beyond the establishment of unidimensionality then can be provided by embedding the unidimensional sets of indicators within a nomological network defined by the complete structural model.
A fourfold typology of supervisory feedback is developed by crossing the locus of feedback (output vs. behavior) with the valence of feedback (positive vs. negative) provided to salespeople. Findings from an empirical study suggest that positive feedback serves an informational and a motivational function and has a significant effect on salespeople's performance and satisfaction. In contrast, negative feedback serves an informational function, but not a motivational function, and improves performance to a relatively small extent. Further, whereas positive output feedback is found to have the strongest total effect on performance, positive behavioral feedback appears to have the strongest total effect on satisfaction. Interestingly, neither negative output feedback nor negative behavioral feedback seems to reduce salespeople's satisfaction with supervisors. Finally, contrary to expectations, salespeople's acceptance of supervisory feedback does not appear to moderate these relationships in general.
What factors account for the wide variation in performance with in a salesforce, and what is the relative importance of these factors? The authors attempt to answer that question by first developing a framework that identifies the major constructs to be included in a model of territory response, and then testing the model in three different corporate settings. The empirical results provide a basis for useful generalizations about the importance of territory characteristics, span of control, and other factors in explaining the variability in salesperson performance.
The research was supported in part by grants from the Marketing Science Institute and the American Cyanamid Company. The authors thank the executives of the companies that participated in this study for their help in providing data, and also thank Dick R. Wittink and a JMR reviewer for their helpful comments on a draft of this article. The research assistance of Tsuneo Yahagi is gratefully acknowledged.
The authors outline a promising analytical approach to the evaluation of performance in sales territories and the establishment of benchmarks for future sales territory performance.
Historically, marketing control research has involved either the development of output-oriented financial controls or the analysis of how financial controls affect performance. This work on marketing control is limited in that it (1) has focused primarily on the control of marketing plans/activities, not on the control of marketing personnel, (2) fails to capture all controls operating within the marketing unit, (3) does not consider environmental conditions that both influence the use and moderate the effects of controls, and (4) ignores the behavioral and psychological impact of controls on individuals. To overcome these limitations, a theory integrating environmental context, controls, and the consequences of controls is proposed. Previous research is categorized within the framework, relevant propositions are advanced, and directions for future research are proposed.
This article examines the relative importance of key job dimensions and leadership characteristics in enhancing salesperson motivation and work performance. To gain a deeper insight, the relative effects of job dimensions and leadership behavior on intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation of salespersons are examined, with results indicating that key job dimensions are more instrumental in enhancing work motivation, and leadership behavior more influential in effecting extrinsic motivation. A number of major implications based on these findings are discussed.
This paper presents an international study of industrial marketing communications spending. The study compares the results of data collected from 55 European companies on 80 products with a sample of 131 products from 29 companies representing the ADVISOR study sample in the United States. The results show that the overall relationship between the strategic variables and advertising and marketing spending levels is not different between the U.S. and Europe. Although some differences exist in the importance of individual strategic variables between the two regions, those differences are generally small.
This research proposes an integrative model of the antecedents and consequences of salesforce role stress, with particular emphasis on two outcomes important to sales reps and firms alike: salesforce performance and satisfaction. Drawing on data from 196 sales representatives for five major industrial firms, the linkages in the proposed model are tested with path analysis procedures. The model is sufficiently comprehensive that it provides a basis to replicate and extend, in one study, much of the key research on the sales representative's role environment, especially as it relates to role conflict, role ambiguity, and their relationships with job performance and satisfaction. Implications of this research for sales managers and researchers in the sales area are given.
The authors use meta-analysis techniques to investigate the evidence that has been gathered on the determinants of salespeople's performance. A search of the published and unpublished literature uncovered 116 articles (the list of which is available upon request) that yielded 1653 reported associations between performance and determinants of that performance. The results indicate the determinants can be ordered in the following way in terms of the average size of their association with performance: (1) role variables, (2) skill, (3) motivation, (4) personal factors, (5) aptitude, and (6) organizational/environmental factors. When ordered according to the amount of the observed variation in correlations across studies that is real variation (i.e., not attributable to sampling error), the determinants rank as follows: (1) personal factors, (2) skill, (3) role variables, (4) aptitude, (5) motivation, and (6) organizational/environmental factors. To investigate whether the associations between each of the categories of predictors and performance could be partially accounted for by the presence of moderator variables, the results were broken out by customer type, product type, and type of dependent measure used. The results indicate that the strength of the relationship between the major determinants and salespeople's performance is affected by the type of products salespeople sell. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for sales managers and researchers.
Historically, marketing control research has involved either the development of output-oriented financial controls or the analysis of how financial controls affect performance. This work on marketing control is limited in that it (1) has focused primarily on the control of marketing plans/activities, not on the control of marketing personnel, (2) fails to capture all controls operating within the marketing unit, (3) does not consider environmental conditions that both influence the use and moderate the effects of controls, and (4) ignores the behavioral and psychological impact of controls on individuals. To overcome these limitations, a theory integrating environmental context, controls, and the consequences of controls is proposed. Previous research is categorized within the framework, relevant propositions are advanced, and directions for future research are proposed.
This article examines the relative importance of key job dimensions and leadership characteristics in enhancing salesperson motivation and work performance. To gain a deeper insight, the relative effects of job dimensions and leadership behavior on intrinsic and extrinsic work motivation of salespersons are examined, with results indicating that key job dimensions are more instrumental in enhancing work motivation, and leadership behavior more influential in effecting extrinsic motivation. A number of major implications based on these findings are discussed.
Empirical tests of territory sales response models have involved primarily a cross-sectional analysis of a salesforce at one point in time. Because such models often influence subsequent management decisions, the assumption that such models are stable over time is an important one. The authors consider factors that could influence the stability of such a model and use a five-year data base to explore the stability of a previously reported model of territory sales response. In this data base all the parameters appear to be stable over time.
The results of this study of sales response functions in the retail apparel industry indicate that territorial potential and sales representative's workload are important predictors of sales. The findings are used to derive a model to assist management in determining sales force size and evaluating sales performance.
This research proposes an integrative model of the antecedents and consequences of salesforce role stress, with particular emphasis on two outcomes important to sales reps and firms alike: salesforce performance and satisfaction. Drawing on data from 196 sales representatives for five major industrial firms, the linkages in the proposed model are tested with path analysis procedures. The model is sufficiently comprehensive that it provides a basis to replicate and extend, in one study, much of the key research on the sales representative's role environment, especially as it relates to role conflict, role ambiguity, and their relationships with job performance and satisfaction. Implications of this research for sales managers and researchers in the sales area are given.
The authors investigate the relationship between personal and organizational characteristics and the attractiveness of various rewards to industrial salespeople. Data were gathered from 241 industrial salespeople and the sales managers of 17 participating industrial firms. Of the 84 relationships examined, 18 statistically significant relationships are found between such predictor variables as age, job tenure, income level, specific self-esteem, compensation plan base, promotion opportunity rate, and recognition rate and criterion variables which are the valences for various rewards. Organizational variables are found to be more promising than personal characteristics in terms of their relationship to the attactiveness of various rewards.
The authors outline a promising analytical approach to the evaluation of performance in sales territories and the establishment of benchmarks for future sales territory performance.
Forms of control systems used in salesforce evaluation and based on the monitoring of outcomes or of behaviors are described, contrasted, and evaluated in terms of emerging theories in economics, organization theory, and cognitive psychology. Generally, the principles of behavior control as opposed to outcome control are found to be consistent with these theoretical perspectives with exceptions as noted, though studies of descriptive trends suggest that outcome control remains useful as a sales management philosophy. The authors conclude with a set of propositions intended to stimulate research on the managerial and behavioral consequences of the two control philosophies.
What factors account for the wide variation in performance within a salesforce, and what is the relative importance of these factors? The authors attempt to answer that question by first developing a framework that identifies the major constructs to be included in a model of territory response, and then testing the model in three different corporate settings. The empirical results provide a basis for useful generalizations about the importance of territory characteristics, span of control, and other factors in explaining the variability in salesperson performance.
A new approach for research on effectiveness in sales interactions is proposed. This approach is based on considering the moderating effect of the salesperson's resources, the customer's buying task, and the customer-salesperson relationship. A contingency framework is presented and research directions related to the framework are suggested.
Salesforce decisions consist of a series of interrelated processes including (1) determining the role of personal selling in the organization, (2) allocating selling effort to customers, geographic areas, or products, (3) setting salesforce size, (4) designing sales territories, and (5) managing the salesforce. Efforts to develop quantitative models for these decision areas have been hindered by the complex interactions among the areas. Attempts to isolate these decision areas for model simplification have resulted in considerable suboptimization. A multistage decision model is presented which treats the salesforce decision areas as an aggregate decision process consisting of a series of interrelated stages. Model decisions are based on a response function which relates sales in a control unit to the many determinants of performance including potential, workload, company effort, salesman quality and experience, and prior sales history. The use of an extremely fast dynamic programming algorithm for the allocation of selling time to control units is demonstrated and the interaction between model and manager is emphasized. Model output indicates the optimum salesforce size and provides a basis for designing sales territories. Use of the model in forecasting and performance evaluation also is discussed. The model is general in that it can be applied to most companies employing a field salesforce. The results of a promising application are presented. Reaction of sales management in the test firm indicates that model output is very useful in identifying problem areas, evaluating salesmen, and modifying territorial design to achieve the optimal allocation of selling effort.
The transaction cost analysis framework is integrated with prescriptions from the sales management literature to develop a model that indicates the role of salary in a sales compensation plan for industrial firms. The descriptive power of the model is examined by surveying compensation practices in 161 firms. The results indicate that the transaction cost framework is somewhat useful in describing the use of salary, but the framework does not consider some important aspects guiding salary versus incentive compensation decisions.
Sales managers are faced with a variety of decisions that require the evaluation of the probable response of the market to feasible decision alternatives. A conceptual model of market response is presented to offer management a framework for understanding the market response relationships in their selling situation and to provide an operational approach for evaluating the potential effect of decision alternatives. An empirical test illustrates the usefulness of the model and suggests several improvements in market response modeling. Future research directions are identified and important management implications are discussed.
Given the importance of controlling marketing efforts, a study was conducted of industrial manufacturers to determine the extent of their use of various measures to evaluate different marketing activities. The predominate measures used for evaluation were sales volume with much less utilization of profitability, productivity, and expense measures.
The authors use meta-analysis techniques to investigate the evidence that has been gathered on the determinants of salespeople's performance. A search of the published and unpublished literature uncovered 116 articles (the list of which is available upon request) that yielded 1653 reported associations between performance and determinants of that performance. The results indicate the determinants can be ordered in the following way in terms of the average size of their association with performance: (1) role variables, (2) skill, (3) motivation, (4) personal factors, (5) aptitude, and (6) organizational/environmental factors. When ordered according to the amount of the observed variation in correlations across studies that is real variation (i.e., not attributable to sampling error), the determinants rank as follows: (1) personal factors, (2) skill, (3) role variables, (4) aptitude, (5) motivation, and (6) organizational/environmental factors. To investigate whether the associations between each of the categories of predictors and performance could be partially accounted for by the presence of moderator variables, the results were broken out by customer type, product type, and type of dependent measure used. The results indicate that the strength of the relationship between the major determinants and salespeople's performance is affected by the type of products salespeople sell. The authors discuss the implications of these findings for sales managers and researchers.
This paper examines the effects of perceived inequities involving organizational rewards and favoritism on salesperson work motivation and job satisfaction. A set of hypothesis is proposed on the bases of equity/inequity theory and expectancy-valence theory literature in sales management and organizational psychology. These hypothesis are tested with data collected from a sales population. Findings indicate that salespersons' perceptions of various inequities can produce strong negative influence on their motivation to perform and on job satisfaction. Managerial implications of these findings are also discussed.
High interest rates are posing serious problems for all business organizations and impact more heavily on those in the industrial sector. Cash flow difficulties result directly from high interest rates, which in turn produce pressure on the sales force: credit terms are tightened; customers are pushed to pay their bills more promptly; and, shipments are delayed because of reduced inventories. This set of difficult circumstances, however, provides an opportunity for management to achieve a long desired objective—making the efforts of the sales force more congruent with the profit and ROI goals of the enterprise.This article outlines the structure of a training program, consisting of seven sessions, that introduces business performance criteria to sales territory management.
The authors outline an updated paradigm for scale development that incorporates confirmatory factor analysis for the assessment of unidimensionality. Under this paradigm, item-total correlations and exploratory factor analysis are used to provide preliminary scales. The unidimensionality of each scale then is assessed simultaneously with confirmatory factor analysis. After unidimensional measurement has been acceptably achieved, the reliability of each scale is assessed. Additional evidence for construct validity beyond the establishment of unidimensionality then can be provided by embedding the unidimensional sets of indicators within a nomological network defined by the complete structural model.
When ascertaining what sales management tools and practices to use, one approach would be for sales managers to compare the tools and practices they are presently using (or contemplating) with those used in other firms. This article provides sales managers with the opportunity for such a comparison by presenting the results of a study that examined what tools and practices sales managers are currently employing.
The decision to build market share has major resource-allocation implications. To aid managers in assessing these implications, research was conducted to determine general relationships between changes in market share and variables representing market strategies and competitive position. The research was based on multiproduct, cross-sectional regression analyses and includes variables that are—or should be—readily available to most businesses.
Sales force performance is a critical concern of most industrial firms, yet in this area of research there are difficulties in measuring salespersons performance. Issues relevant to measuring the performance of industrial salespersons are reviewed. A self-report performance scale developed and evaluated based on the responses of 200 salespersons and 42 managers from five major industrial firms is presented.
Sales Force Management
- Gilbert A Churchill
- Ford
- M Neil
- Steven W Hartley
- Orville C Walker
Sales Management-Analysis and Decision Making
- Thomas N Ingram
- W Raymond
- Laforge
proach by investigating relationships between salesforce control systems and the varying levels of specific characteristics in different salesforces
- William L Cron
- Michael Levy
Cron, William L. and Michael Levy (1987), "Sales Management
58 I Journal of Marketing, October 1993
proach by investigating relationships between salesforce control systems and the varying levels of specific characteristics in different salesforces.
Evaluation of Selling Performance: A Study of Current Practices
- Donald W Jackson
- Jr
- L Lonnie
- Kenneth R Ostrom
- Evans
Jackson, Donald W., Jr., Lonnie L. Ostrom, and Kenneth R. Evans
(1982), "Measures Used to Evaluate Industrial Marketing Activities," Industrial Marketing Management, II (October),
269-74.
---, Janet E. Keith, and John L. Schlacter, (1983), "Evaluation of Selling Performance: A Study of Current Practices,"
Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, (November),42-51.