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1 – 10 of over 63000Harindranath R.M., Bharadhwaj Sivakumaran and Jayanth Jacob
The principal purpose of this study is to examine the moderating influence of selling experience on the following two relationships – adaptive selling and job satisfaction and…
Abstract
Purpose
The principal purpose of this study is to examine the moderating influence of selling experience on the following two relationships – adaptive selling and job satisfaction and customer orientation and job satisfaction – using unionized salespeople as respondents. It also tests for the mediating role of adaptive selling in the customer orientation–job satisfaction relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper uses data from a survey conducted on 208 pharmaceutical unionized salespeople from 46 pharmaceutical firms in India. The model was tested using structural equation modeling. Moderation hypotheses were estimated using process macro and the Johnson–Neyman technique.
Findings
The data fitted the model well. This research found that customer orientation drove adaptive selling behavior and job satisfaction, and that adaptive selling influenced job satisfaction (all positively); it was found that adaptive selling partially mediated the relationship between customer orientation and job satisfaction. Results revealed that job experience negatively moderated the adaptive selling behavior–job satisfaction and customer orientation–job satisfaction relationships.
Practical implications
The results show that pharma firms may hire young recruits and, importantly, measure their customer orientation and adaptive selling levels. For the purposes of training to enhance customer orientation and adaptive selling, pharma firms may send only their less experienced salespersons.
Originality/value
To the authors’ knowledge, this study could be the first to examine the interaction of job experience and customer-directed selling behaviors such as adaptive selling and customer orientation on job satisfaction. Moreover, this is possibly the only study in this domain that uses unionized salespeople in an emerging market (India).
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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of selling experience on the relationship between job satisfaction and sales performance, customer orientation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating effects of selling experience on the relationship between job satisfaction and sales performance, customer orientation and sales performance, and adaptive selling behaviors and sales performance, taking the context of B2B insurance selling.
Design/methodology/approach
Using a sample of 380 business‐to‐business insurance salespersons from an emerging market (India) to validate their model, the authors tested several hypotheses using structural equation modeling (SEM).
Findings
The results suggest that experience works with customer‐oriented selling in making the more experienced salespersons better performers. It was also found that for less experienced salespersons, the impact of job satisfaction on performance is weaker than for more experienced salespersons. In addition, it was found that more experienced salespersons' performance is better explained using job satisfaction and customer‐oriented selling rather than their adaptive selling behaviors.
Research limitations/implications
The study contributes by explaining the mechanism for the above relationships. The study also contributes to knowledge by showing that more experience may not be always good for sales performance. Since the sample comes from an emerging market, the paper extends the knowledge from developed markets, and by testing in emerging markets.
Practical implications
The managerial implications of this study lie in explaining those situations where experience can make salespersons more productive. The current sales literature on B2B selling contexts falls short of explaining this mechanism in salesperson performance.
Originality/value
This study contributes to knowledge uniquely by extending the body of empirical evidence that suggests that for experience, more is not always better. The study also shows that a more experienced salesperson does not improve his/her performance by adopting adaptive selling strategies. Such adaptive selling strategies are probably more suitable for younger salespersons, given different expectations from them by customers. For experienced salespersons, job satisfaction and customer‐oriented selling are more important than adaptive selling. This study explains the mechanism for the above relationships.
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Makoto Matsuo and Takashi Kusumi
The authors investigated the moderating effect of sales experience on the relationship between salespeople’s procedural knowledge and their performance, using a sample of 108…
Abstract
The authors investigated the moderating effect of sales experience on the relationship between salespeople’s procedural knowledge and their performance, using a sample of 108 salespeople working at three car dealerships in Japan. Moderated regression analyses suggested that the more experience salespeople gain, the stronger the relationship between procedural knowledge and performance becomes. The results provide some support for the hypothesis that the sales experience moderates the relationship between procedural knowledge and performance, which is consistent with Anderson’s (1982, 1983) model and the ten‐year rule of necessary preparation in expertise research. The results also suggest that a high‐performing sales expert has customer‐oriented and active selling knowledge. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings in managing salespeople are discussed.
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Mario Kienzler, Daniel Kindström and Thomas Brashear-Alejandro
This paper aims to investigate factors that affect the use of value-based selling and the subsequent influences on salespeople’s sales performance.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to investigate factors that affect the use of value-based selling and the subsequent influences on salespeople’s sales performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Industrial salespeople from five steel manufacturers were surveyed. Scales measure three components of value-based selling: comprehension, crafting and confirmation. Partial least squares path analysis tested the conceptual model.
Findings
Salespeople’s learning orientation has the greatest impact on the use of value-based selling. Managerial support exerts a positive effect on crafting. Salespeople’s experience has a positive impact on comprehension and confirmation. The implementation of value-based selling has a positive effect on sales performance.
Research limitations/implications
The research is cross-sectional, with a small sample size (n = 60). The data were collected from a single source (i.e. salespeople).
Practical implications
The results suggest that value-based selling is a multi-component sales process that requires balancing managerial actions among individual and organizational factors.
Originality/value
This paper presents a broad evaluation of measures and assessments of value-based selling in business-to-business sales settings. The findings provide new elaborations on the theoretical and practical implications of value-based selling and reveal which individual and organizational factors affect the usage of value-based selling.
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The purpose of this paper is to determine if lender experience in disposing of repossessed single‐family houses in the local market is significantly related to the probability a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to determine if lender experience in disposing of repossessed single‐family houses in the local market is significantly related to the probability a property will sell. In addition, other factors that are significantly related to the market duration of repossessed houses are identified.
Design/methodology/approach
The Cox proportional hazard model is used to analyze transaction data for 2,099 single‐family houses in Dayton, Ohio. Title to each of these properties was obtained by lenders through foreclosure. The study period approximates the first three years of the subprime mortgage crisis in the USA: 2007‐2009.
Findings
The marketing efforts of lenders with more local property disposition experience are found to be superior to the efforts of less experienced lenders. The results also indicate that the selling rate function increased over the study period, and there is seasonality in the data which is consistent with lenders attempting to limit holding costs.
Research limitations/implications
The study is limited to the experience of lenders in a single local market over a three year study period. Additional research to determine if similar results apply in other markets would be a valuable addition to the literature.
Practical implications
While foreclosure is not a desirable outcome for any of the parties involved in a mortgage loan, the paper's results offer a bit of good news for lenders. The results are consistent with organizational learning theory which posits that experience should enhance performance. Given predictions that the mortgage crisis has not yet run its full course, lenders' performance in disposing of repossessed houses is likely to continue to improve.
Originality/value
This is the first study to apply the proportional hazard model to the study of foreclosed houses. This technique offers an advantage over previously applied methodologies because it allows the researcher to include properties that lenders did not sell during the study period into the analysis. All previous efforts were limited to sold properties and this restriction may have biased the previous results.
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Erik Jan Hultink, Kwaku Atuahene‐Gima and Iris Lebbink
Although several studies have suggested that the salesforce is a major contributing factor to new product success, few studies have focused on the role of sales managers and…
Abstract
Although several studies have suggested that the salesforce is a major contributing factor to new product success, few studies have focused on the role of sales managers and salespeople in new product launch, particularly with respect to its relation with performance in new product selling. This article decribes the results of an empirical investigation into the determinants of new product selling performance. The results show that product newness to the firm, market volatility, resource inadequacy and behavior reward are related inversely to new product selling performance, whereas feedback provided by the sales manager, new product complexity, salesforce new product selling experience and output reward are related positively to sales performance.
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Betsy D. Gelb, Joanna Pishko and Carl Herman
This study aims to explore a previously unidentified antecedent of remaining in selling rather than leaving the field. That antecedent is “love of selling”: prioritizing intrinsic…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to explore a previously unidentified antecedent of remaining in selling rather than leaving the field. That antecedent is “love of selling”: prioritizing intrinsic rewards over those that are extrinsic.
Design/methodology/approach
The differences between those with each of those priorities are explored here in a survey of 348 salespeople, both inside and outside, and also qualitative interviews with a 20-person subset.
Findings
Comparing salespeople who select on a questionnaire the option that they “love selling” vs respondents who primarily enjoy its payoffs, the authors find the former group significantly less likely to say they would leave the selling field if they could get another job that pays as well. They are significantly more likely to rate their own selling skills highly, but sales results between the two groups do not differ. Telephone interviews asking what their company does to reinforce love of selling, and what it could do, elicit comments on support – but also on administrative dissatisfiers.
Practical implications
Organizations benefit from encouraging a love of selling and can do so by training, by management efforts to build confidence, by emphasizing challenge and by reducing administrative barriers to enjoying the selling experience.
Originality/value
This is the first study to identify “love of selling” as a characteristic of salespeople that managers will want to understand and foster.
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Sheila Simsarian Webber, Karen Bishop and Regina O'Neill
The purpose of this paper is to examine the trust repair efforts of top management within an organization specifically focusing on the impact of perceived organizational support…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the trust repair efforts of top management within an organization specifically focusing on the impact of perceived organizational support and issue‐selling success. Building on the theoretical trust repair literature, the authors bridge the gap between the laboratory dyad trust repair settings and the severe organization‐wide trust repair settings.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors focus on one organizational context that experienced competency‐ and integrity‐based trust violations between managers and top management. Surveys and interviews were conducted with 32 managers to capture trust in top management, issue‐selling success rate, and perceived organizational support.
Findings
Results demonstrate that perceived organizational support is significantly and positively related to trust in top management. In contrast, issue‐selling success rate is negatively related to trust in top management above and beyond the impact of perceived organizational support.
Practical implications
Trust repair approaches should include demonstrations of organizational support of employees by showing care and concern along with engaging employees in a change process that demonstrates top management commitment to repairing trusting relationships. In addition, top management trust repair efforts should focus on providing managers with the opportunity to engage in multiple issue‐selling episodes.
Originality/value
The paper contributes to an existing research base by extending the approaches to repairing trust in organizational settings to specifically examine the impact of perceived organizational support and issue‐selling.
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The purpose of this article is to examine the relations between important sales presentation skills and salesperson job performance.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this article is to examine the relations between important sales presentation skills and salesperson job performance.
Design/methodology/approach
Data on each construct in the model was gathered and the relations analyzed using LISREL software.
Findings
Salesperson experience, and to a lesser degree training, underlie sales presentation skills. Salesperson skill at using adaptive selling techniques and closing are related with increased performance.
Research limitations/implications
Additional sales skills need to be considered and salespeople other than those in the B‐B environment should be studied.
Practical implications
Sales managers are urged to ensure their B‐B salespeople develop their skills in adaptive communication and closing as one means to improve sales performance.
Originality/value
The findings highlight the importance of salesperson experience and training in developing the skills that contribute to sales performance.
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During the post-World War II period, Turkey's housing supply models were limited to individual housings. Three main trends in the construction industry helped overcome this…
Abstract
During the post-World War II period, Turkey's housing supply models were limited to individual housings. Three main trends in the construction industry helped overcome this limitation to a certain extent. These were cooperative societies, spontaneous squatter housing and the build-sell process. Build-sell process later became the most obvious reflection of urban transformation in the 1950s and 1960s. Within this context, this study examines the housing policy of the period and the build-sell process as well as the Rer-1 Apartment Block designed in line with the build-sell process. The Rer-1 Apartment Block was designed and implemented by architect Nejat Ersin between the years 1962-1964, and was constructed in Aşağı Ayrancı District in Ankara. This specific apartment block was examined as an extraordinary example of the build-sell process - which rejects architectural concerns and prioritises profits - as it still incorporated such concerns despite being designed adhering to logic of the build-sell process. For the purpose of this study, an oral history study was conducted with Nejat Ersin. It was, therefore, possible to evaluate Nejat Ersin's apartment block, presenting a new experience in the build-sell context, within the scope of era's social, cultural, political and economic conjecture. The Rer-1 Apartment Block was scrutinized from the build-sell process aspect within the scope of the architect's professional approach.
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