Salesperson profitability in relationship marketing

2014 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 306-323 ◽  
Author(s):  
Said Echchakoui
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Sales Force ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Critical Duration ◽  
Sales Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Dynamic Exchange ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose – This paper aims to answer a prominent question that arises for the manager who wishes to recruit a salesperson to maintain and develop a portfolio–customer relationship: Under which condition is this decision profitable for the firm? Though several authors have underscored the importance of the salesperson's role in the creation of purchaser–salesperson relationships, in the author's knowledge, no study has focused on the salesperson's profitability in the relationship approach. This issue is significant for sales managers because the investment in sales force is greater, and the relationship profitability with customers is not guaranteed. Design/methodology/approach – Econometric model based on transaction cost economics theory and dynamic exchange between firm, salesperson and a customer. Specifically, this model links between customer life value, firm financial value, salesperson cost and relationship time. Findings – Three zones are identified that can characterize the dynamic salesperson profitability. It was shown that only one zone can be profitable to the firm. Research limitations/implications – This result is important because it can solve the equivocal posit between scholars with regard to the success or the failure of relationship marketing. This study also specifies the critical retention rate, the critical duration time in which a salesperson begins to be profitable. Originality/value – In the author's knowledge, this study is the first to use an exchange model to show in which conditions the salesperson will be profitable in relationship marketing.

Sales force commissions in relationship marketing

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-76 ◽  
Author(s):  
Said Echchakoui
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Portfolio Management ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Real Data ◽  
Sales Force ◽  
Sales Manager ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Symmetric Information ◽  
Customer Lifetime ◽  
Hypothetical Data

Purpose This paper aims to examine the roles of both aggregate and specific commission rates to control the sales force in relationship marketing with a customer portfolio. Design/methodology/approach Drawn on the concept of customer lifetime value and agency theory, the author calculated both specific and aggregate sales force commission rates in a relationship marketing perspective. Contrary to the prior researchers, the author assumes that, at any period, both the gross margins and retention rate of each customer are a stochastic function of the salesperson’s effort. Findings The results indicated that when there is symmetric information between a sales manager and salesperson, both aggregate and specific commissions can be used to monitor the sales force. Under asymmetric information, however, each type of commission rate can only be used under certain conditions. In addition, conditions in which the aggregate commission is equivalent to the specific commission for each customer were derived. Research limitations/implications Hypothetical data were used to explain the model. It would be more appropriate to use real data to see its managerial relevance. Originality/value In the author’s knowledge, this study is the first that specifically links scholastic customer’s retention and salesperson commission rate to monitor salesperson effort in relationship marketing. It is also the first that shows in which conditions aggregate and specific commission rates are equal for a salesperson’s customer portfolio management.

scholarly journals Intention to use mobile customer relationship management systems

2014 ◽  
Vol 114 (6) ◽  
pp. 966-978 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heikki Karjaluoto ◽  
Aarne Töllinen ◽  
Janne Pirttiniemi ◽  
Chanaka Jayawardhena
Keyword(s):  
Technology Acceptance ◽  
Mobile Technology ◽  
Customer Relationship Management ◽  
Sales Force ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Sales Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Personal Innovativeness ◽  
Intention To Adopt ◽  
Crm System

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the behavioral intentions of business-to-business (B2B) sales managers to use mobile customer relationship management (CRM) systems in the course of their day-to-day activities. Design/methodology/approach – An extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of mobile CRM system adoption is developed and tested with data from 105 international sales managers representing five B2B companies. Findings – The study extends the TAM framework with three additional constructs derived from mobile technology and sales force automation literature, namely personal innovativeness in the domain of IT, perceived risk, and perceived reachability. The model demonstrates that personal innovativeness and perceived reachability have significant effects on the TAM framework. Research limitations/implications – The relatively small sample size limits the generalization of the results. Practical implications – Sales managers’ intention to adopt mobile CRM can be explained by the extended TAM framework. Understanding the key factors that influence intention to adopt a mobile CRM system will aid companies in implementing it among their sales force. Companies willing to foster adoption of a mobile CRM system among the sales force could focus on communicating the usefulness of using the system and benefits gained from enhanced reachability. Recruiting sales people with strong personal innovativeness is beneficial. Originality/value – This study responds the calls for studies on mobile platforms and on the use of mobile B2B applications in sales force management. It is among the first attempts to incorporate variables derived from mobile technology acceptance literature among the sales force into the TAM framework, to better explain acceptance of mobile CRM systems.

Does network building improve sales performance? The stabilizing role of job embeddedness

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 110-133
Author(s):  
Chia-Yi Cheng ◽  
Jung-Nung Chang
Keyword(s):  
Critical Role ◽  
Sales Performance ◽  
Job Embeddedness ◽  
Sales Force ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Equation Modeling ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Network Building ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Positive Effect

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to combine the concepts of network building (NB) and job embeddedness (JE; both on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness (ON and OFF)) and examines how to improve sales performance (SP) by effectively stabilizing the sales force. Design/methodology/approach – Sales practices were examined to establish the measures of overall sales performance. A factor analysis was conducted to extract two performance dimensions: customer relationship performance (CRP) and product selling performance (PSP). Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized model by analyzing survey data collected from 445 salespeople who work for the top five insurance firms in Taiwan. Findings – The results show that the NB of salespeople has a direct positive effect on ON and OFF; JE plays a critical role in mediating the relationship between NB and SP; and NB contributes directly only to CRP. However, it does not have a positive effect on PSP until JE is introduced as a mediator to generate CRP. Practical implications – In developing the NB of salespeople, managers should be provided with clear indicators about on-the-job and off-the-job-embeddedness for manpower stability. Moreover, in addition to seeking product sales, managers should direct salespeople to embed in sales work by providing performance measures involving customer relationship. Originality/value – This study highlights the need for a viable and integrated model of sales performance. The results indicate that the career achievement of field service employees relies primarily on whether they could effectively build social relationships. Theoretically, this investigation introduces NB into the JE theory, clarifies the relationship among NB, JE, and SP, and proposes a superior mechanism (CRP) for improving sales performance in the financial and insurance industries. Moreover, this study provides additional support for the relationship between ON and OFF.

A predictive analytics of physicians prescription and pharmacies sales correlation using data mining

2019 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 346-363
Author(s):  
Babak Sohrabi ◽  
Iman Raeesi Vanani ◽  
Nastaran Nikaein ◽  
Saeideh Kakavand
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Decision Making ◽  
Pharmaceutical Industry ◽  
Predictive Analytics ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Sales Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Using Data ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose In the pharmaceutical industry, marketing and sales managers often deal with massive amounts of marketing and sales data. One of their biggest concerns is to recognize the impact of actions taken on sold-out products. Data mining discovers and extracts useful patterns from such large data sets to find hidden and worthy patterns for the decision-making. This paper, too, aims to demonstrate the ability of data-mining process in improving the decision-making quality in the pharmaceutical industry. Design/methodology/approach This research is descriptive in terms of the method applied, as well as the investigation of the existing situation and the use of real data and their description. In fact, the study is quantitative and descriptive, from the point of view of its data type and method. This research is also applicable in terms of purpose. The target population of this research is the data of a pharmaceutical company in Iran. Here, the cross-industry standard process for data mining methodology was used for data mining and data modeling. Findings With the help of different data-mining techniques, the authors could examine the effect of the visit of doctors overlooking the pharmacies and the target was set for medical representatives on the pharmaceutical sales. For that matter, the authors used two types of classification rules: decision tree and neural network. After the modeling of algorithms, it was determined that the two aforementioned rules can perform the classification with high precision. The results of the tree ID3 were analyzed to identify the variables and path of this relationship. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first studies to provide the real-world direct empirical evidence of “Analytics of Physicians Prescription and Pharmacies Sales Correlation Using Data Mining.” The results showed that the most influential variables of “the relationship between doctors and their visits to pharmacies,” “the length of customer relationship” and “the relationship between the sale of pharmacies and the target set for medical representatives” were “deviation from the implementation plan.” Therefore, marketing and sales managers must pay special attention to these factors while planning and targeting for representatives. The authors could focus only on a small part of this study.

scholarly journals The relationship of facets of salesperson job satisfaction with affective organizational commitment

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 311-321 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Boles ◽  
Ramana Madupalli ◽  
Brian Rutherford ◽  
John Andy Wood
Keyword(s):  
Job Satisfaction ◽  
Organizational Commitment ◽  
Sales Force ◽  
Sales Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Propensity To Leave ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Relationship Of ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Business To Business

PurposeThis paper aims to examines the relationships between various facets of salesperson job satisfaction as assessed by the INDSALES measure and salesperson organizational commitment. The paper also seeks to explore salesperson gender as a moderator of the relationship between facets of job satisfaction and organizational commitment.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses survey research of one firm's business‐to‐business salespeople to examine the relationships between facets of salesperson job satisfaction and salesperson organizational commitment.FindingsStudy results indicate that various facets of job satisfaction are more strongly related to organizational commitment. Findings also indicate that these relationships are not the same for male and female salespeople.Practical implicationsFindings demonstrate to sales managers that not all types of satisfaction are related to organizational commitment, which has been strongly linked to a salesperson's propensity to leave an organization. Further, various facets of satisfaction such as pay and promotion are more important to men than to women. Women find that satisfaction with co‐workers is more closely related to organizational commitment than it is for men. These findings have significant relevance to sales managers.Originality/valueThe relationship between facets of job satisfaction and organizational commitment has not been extensively researched. This is true even though these are two very important issues when dealing with sales force management. Likewise, the issue of men and women valuing different types of satisfaction to varying degrees has not been thoroughly examined in the business‐to‐business sales force literature.

How Firm's Profitability is Analyzed in Relationship Marketing

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-49
Author(s):  
Said Echchakoui ◽  
Rachid Ghilal
Keyword(s):  
Relationship Marketing ◽  
Acquisition Cost ◽  
Retention Rate ◽  
Exchange Model ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Customer Acquisition ◽  
Dynamic Exchange ◽  
Marketing Budget ◽  
Customer Life Value

While relationship marketing is viewed as an important driver in the development of the firm’s profitability, the condition of this profitability seldom receives much attention. In this study, we employ a dynamic exchange model between firm and customer to explore the conditions affecting the firm’s profitability from a relationship perspective. The application of this model reveals explicitly that relationship marketing is not always profitable. The firm-customer relationship profitability depends on the customer life value (margin and retention rate), the duration of the firm-customer relationship, and the marketing budget to retain the customer and the customer acquisition cost.

Effect of salesperson personality on sales performance from the customer’s perspective

2017 ◽  
Vol 51 (9/10) ◽  
pp. 1739-1767 ◽  
Author(s):  
Said Echchakoui
Keyword(s):  
Sales Performance ◽  
Sales Force ◽  
Sales Managers ◽  
Mediation Model ◽  
Salesperson Performance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Social Reputation ◽  
And Performance ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Structured Questionnaire

Purpose Drawing on socioanalytic theory, this paper aims to explore whether a moderation mediation model can describe the mechanism linking salesperson social reputation (perceived stability and plasticity) and performance (customer share of wallet) in relationship marketing. The mediator is the salesperson’s overall equity, and the moderator is the salesperson-customer congruence. Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire was used to obtain data from 233 customers, served by 44 personal finance advisors at five banking agencies in Canada. Findings A multilevel approach showed that both perceived stability and perceived plasticity predict salesperson equity and performance. In addition, the empirical results indicated that the relationship between perceived stability and salesperson performance is partially mediated by salesperson overall equity. However, equity fully mediated the relationship between perceived plasticity and salesperson performance. Finally, the salesperson-customer congruence moderated the effect of both perceived stability and plastic on the salesperson overall equity. Research limitations/implications This research suggests that the moderation mediation model enables predicting the relationship between the perceived personality and performance. From a managerial perspective, the author encourages sales managers to pay attention to salespersons’ equity development as well as their performance. Notably, the author suggests that sales managers support and monitor salespeople with regard to improving their social status as well as their social popularity in their interactions with customers. Originality/value Previous research in sales force literature focuses on salespersons’ self-personality to predict sales performance. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this study is the first to show it is important to consider the perceived personality of a salesperson in predicting their performance. This study is also the first to introduce the salesperson reputation concept and its dimensions (perceived stability and plasticity).

“Mind the gap”: to succeed in marketing politics, think of social media innovation

2019 ◽  
Vol 36 (6) ◽  
pp. 806-817
Author(s):  
Patrick Amfo Anim ◽  
Frederick Okyere Asiedu ◽  
Matilda Adams ◽  
George Acheampong ◽  
Ernestina Boakye
Keyword(s):  
Social Media ◽  
Factor Analysis ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Political Efficacy ◽  
Customer Relationship ◽  
Political Marketing ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Young Voters ◽  
Mediating Role ◽  
The Relationship

Purpose This paper aims to explore the relationships between political marketing via social media and young voters’ political participation in Ghana. Additionally, this study examines the mediating role political efficacy plays in enhancing the relationship. Design/methodology/approach With a positivist mindset, and adopting the survey strategy, data gathered from the questionnaire administered from the sampled 320 young voters (18-29 years) in Greater Accra were quantitatively analyzed. An exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and structural equation modeling (SEM) were used to assess and confirm the proposed scales validity and the relationships of the research model. Findings The study revealed that a political party or candidate’s ability to achieve political participation from Ghanaian young voters’ is dependent on how effective they build customer relationship or gaining visibility through social media. In addition, the study showed that political efficacy mediates the relationship between customer relationship building or gaining visibility through social media and political participation among Ghana young voters. Thus, young voters in Ghana must see themselves to have a say in the affairs of political parties through the political messages they gather from social media platforms to enhance their political participation activities. Practical implications The results of this paper will enable political marketers and politicians not only in Ghana but across the globe, to better understand how social media as a communication tool could be used to positively influence users’ political participation. Originality/value Considering the uniqueness of this study in a Ghanaian context, this paper is the first of its kind to use the social capital theory in examining the mediating role political efficacy plays in enhancing the relationship between political marketing on social media and young voters’ political participation.

Effects of open innovation breadth on industrial innovation input–output relationships

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandro Germán Frank ◽  
Guilherme Brittes Benitez ◽  
Mateus Ferreira Lima ◽  
João Augusto Bonzanini Bernardi
Keyword(s):  
Open Innovation ◽  
Transaction Cost Economics ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Moderating Effects ◽  
Input Output ◽  
Industrial Innovation ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Innovation Activities ◽  
Industrial Sectors ◽  
The Relationship

PurposeOpen innovation breadth (OIB) considers the diversity of external collaboration partners for innovation. The authors investigate the moderating effect of OIB on the relationship between industrial innovation activities (innovation inputs) and industrial innovation results (innovation outputs).Design/methodology/approachThis study is based on secondary data from the Brazilian innovation survey, representing more than 30,000 innovative companies across 55 industrial sectors.FindingsThis study’s results show that OIB has different moderating effects regarding the several innovation input–output relationships. While OIB benefits some relationships, others are hampered by the diversity of collaboration partners.Originality/valueFew studies have addressed OIB at the macro level. Using the perspective of transaction cost economics (TCE), the authors discuss the contributions and limitations of OIB at the industry level.

Faking it: salesperson emotional intelligence’s influence on emotional labor strategies and customer outcomes

2018 ◽  
Vol 33 (1) ◽  
pp. 53-71 ◽  
Author(s):  
Duleep Delpechitre ◽  
Lisa Beeler
Keyword(s):  
Emotional Labor ◽  
Business Environment ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Behavioral Strategies ◽  
Sales Managers ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Business To Business ◽  
Customer Outcomes ◽  
Potential Customers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate how salesperson’s emotional intelligence (EI) influences salesperson behaviors (i.e. emotional labor strategies) and the influence these behavioral strategies have on customer’s outcomes. Design/methodology/approach The study develops a conceptual model using past literature and tests hypotheses using a salesperson-prospective customer dyadic sample. To participate in the study, 224 salespeople and their potential customers were recruited from three different companies. Findings Results reveal the importance of conceptualizing the dimensionality of a salesperson’s EI ability, as different dimensions impact customer outcomes differently. Additionally, the importance of salesperson’s authentic emotional labor strategies is highlighted. Practical implications EI is a foundation for successful selling in a business-to-business environment, but it is not a silver bullet. Sales managers and recruiters should use assessment tools to evaluate sales recruit’s EI, but it is also critical to train salespeople to engage in deep acting, creating authentic emotions in the buyer-seller relationship. Originality/value Using a dyadic sample, this study suggests that the dimensions of EI and emotional labor strategies influence customer’s perception of salesperson’s trustworthiness and propensity to continue the relationship with the salesperson differently. Specifically, not all dimensions of salesperson’s EI is found to be positive, and only salesperson’s authentic (deep) emotional strategies are found to influence customer outcomes positively.

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