Salesperson attributes that influence consumer perceptions of sales interactions

Purpose This paper aims to examine how modern, digital era customers in a business-to-consumer (B2C) setting prioritize salesperson-customer orientation attributes when evaluating their expectations regarding interactions with salespeople, as well as their impact on positive and negative word-of-mouth. In addition, the research further investigates which negative salesperson attributes have an impact on overall customer experience and satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Role theory and expectancy-disconfirmation theory form the theoretical foundation for two mixed-method studies. Study 1 is an exploratory content analysis of online consumer reviews and social media word-of-mouth related to consumer experiences with salespeople. Study 2 is a three-round Delphi study investigating which salesperson orientation attributes are most important to the customer in B2C interactions. Findings The results uncover which salesperson customer orientation attributes are essential for modern consumers and how they differ as a function of context (retail, direct-selling and follow-up) and how they contribute to the generation of digital word-of-mouth. Originality/value This paper expands B2C sales interaction literature by exploring the need for differing sales attributes based on the differential function of the shopping environment.

Changing participation in web conferencing: the shared computer screen as an online sales interaction resource

This article explores the increasing digitalization of workplace communication. Drawing on the material environment in a complex, technology-mediated workplace environment, the article investigates how remote sales interaction is constructed and managed by its participants. The data consist of web conferences conducted in Finland between a salesperson (SP) and a prospective customer (C). During the meeting, SP delivers a software solution demonstration on a shared computer screen on which only SP is able to take actions. Deploying the method of multimodal conversation analysis, the research focuses on how the shared computer screen is used as an interactional resource to achieve joint attention and to direct participants’ focus during the sales meeting. First, the shared screen view is SP’s resource; for instance, when SP describes the functionalities of the software, he/she recurrently uses deictic expressions and other linguistic means in combination with coordinated keyboard activity. Later, the shared screen view evolves into a medium for both participants’ actions. The findings suggest that, as the negotiation gets closer to the context of the customer organization’s business, C may use the screen as a vehicle for his/her own interactional purposes. Through a gradual growth in understanding of the software, C begins commenting on the screen view or guides SP’s actions on the shared screen, enabling both a collaborative sales interaction and knowledge construction in a complex technological environment. Unlike previous studies on technology-supported institutional telephone interactions, SP’s screen view in the present study is a resource shared by both the professional and the client. The study contributes both to the field of technology-mediated workplace studies as well as to the field of sales and marketing research.

Kysymys-vastausjaksot myyjän ja asiakkaan etäneuvottelussa

This paper examines technology-mediated sales interaction in which a prospective customer receives a salesperson’s video call in a research laboratory. The paper focusses on the prospect’s requests for information, the salesperson’s answers, and the prospect’s third position receipts. When the prospect asks potentially critical questions, the salesperson tries to maintain a no-problem impression by not attending to the reluctance implied in the customer’s questions. After the salesperson’s answer, an automated analysis of the prospect’s facial expressions reveals emotions of anger and contempt that are, however, not explicated in her verbal response. Simultaneously, a detailed analysis of the sequential organization of conversation specifies the results of the facial expression algorithm: the prospect’s successive and stepwise more critical questions convey that she treats the salesperson’s answers as insufficient. The data consist of two video-recorded business negotiations, supplemented by an automated analysis of the prospect’s facial expressions and galvanic skin response.

Older consumers’ reaction to a patronizing sales interaction

Purpose The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact of patronizing by salespeople when interacting with older consumers in a retail situation of shopping for a mobile phone. In addition to patronizing behavior, the impact of the age of the salesperson and gender of the consumer are explored. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on statistical analyzes of a between-participants controlled experiment collected via an online survey of 338 members of the German Senior Citizens League. Findings The study contributes to the field of services marketing by confirming that older consumers reject patronizing sales interactions and by showing that men are more tolerant of condescendence than women, especially when younger salespeople are involved. Research limitations/implications A limitation of this study is the use of fictional situations with a selected number of manipulated variables in a simulated sales interaction. Practical implications Rejection of a patronizing sales interaction was found to be similar by both genders with an older salesperson. Furthermore, retail shops of technical appliances could prevent potential problems by being cautious of having younger male salespeople interacting with older women customers. Originality/value Research on the impact of condescending sales interaction as perceived by older consumers is scarce and has not previously considered the role of customer gender and salesperson age. Beyond investigating the perception of participants to patronizing, the role of the salesperson age and customer gender were investigated.

Identifikasi Faktor-Faktor yang Mempengaruhi Sales performance pada Perusahaan Media Periklanan : Studi Empirik pada Tenaga Penjual di RCTI

This research was conducted because of the gap from the results of previous research (research gap) regarding the level of sales experience can affect sales performance and empirically examine the factors that influence sales performance such as salesperson skills, sales interaction quality and effectiveness of sales activities.The purpose of this study is to build a conceptual model to describe and provide answers to the gap between sales experience variables on sales performance, and empirically examine the factors that influence Sales performance. This study uses a population of all RCTI's marketing department workforce. This study uses the Judgment Sampling method of respondents which was determined as a study sample of 120 people. The analysis technique used in interpreting and analyzing research data is the Structural Equation Model (SEM) technique from the AMOS 20 software package. The results of hypothesis testing proved that the sales experience factor, salesperson skill, sales interaction quality and effectiveness of sales activities had a positive effect on significant sales performance. The research model can be accepted, from the results calculated by the suitability index where the chi-square value is 200,633, probability value 0.027, TLI value 0,974, CFI value 0,977, CMIN / DF 1,223 and RMSEA 0,043 all of which meet the requirements even though the GFI value is 0,880 and AGFI 0,846 can marginal accepted.

Money talks: Customer-initiated price negotiation in business-to-business sales interaction

This article provides an in-depth analysis of a conversational exchange initiated by a customer’s price question in real-life business-to-business (B2B) sales encounters. The analysis focusses on when the customer requests a price, what that implies as well as how the price discussion is conducted. Marketing literature usually considers product/service price to be an obstacle that the salesperson needs to overcome; we demonstrate that the price question is a positive signal for the salesperson. By requesting the price, the customer claims sufficient understanding of the offer, recognition of the service value and a readiness to move to the next phase in the meeting. The salesperson initiates an insert expansion to tailor the price to her or his customer and then informs the price in an expanded clausal response to build customer value. The conversation analytic study was based on a dataset of 13 video-recorded B2B sales meetings in Finland.

Modeling specialty store customers’ buy/no-buy decisions

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to develop, test, and validate a model in a specialty retail environment to assess the influence of a salesperson’s sales- or customer-orientation and customer characteristics related to buy/no-buy decisions. Design/methodology/approach Backward stepwise discriminant analysis was used to identify variables that most differentiated buyers from non-buyers. The discriminant model was estimated with survey data provided by a judgment sample of consumers asked to recall details about a recent in-store purchase experience (n=240). One significant discriminant function emerged. The model correctly classified 87.5 percent of buy/no-buy decisions by consumers in a separate validation sample (n=40). Findings Customers who believe a salesperson is sales oriented (i.e. only interested in closing) are more likely to make a no-buy decision even when retailer-related attributes – such as positive prior experience with the retailer, susceptibility to normative interpersonal influence, and positive attitude toward retailing – suggest otherwise. Surprisingly, neither customer orientation nor susceptibility to interpersonal informational influence relates significantly to making a buy/no-buy decision. Practical implications Specialty retailers should avoid a sales-outcome-based orientation. To add value in a competitive marketplace where buyers can avoid salespeople, the focus of a sales interaction should be on identifying customer needs and characteristics. Originality/value Adaptations of sales people’s personas and selling efforts – fostered by new managerial training practices – and the need for specialty retailers to adopt behavior-based control systems are suggested. In addition, sales or customer orientation typically is reported by the salesperson. Here, customers’ belief – which is more germane to modeling buy/no-buy decisions – designates the salesperson’s orientation.

Consumers’ experiences of appropriate sales interaction – a speech code theory perspective

Little is known about what kind of salesperson-consumer interaction is valued in different cultures. We explore the influence of national speech culture in sales-related communication in business-to-consumer (B2C) environments. We apply speech codes theory to identify the B2C context-specific speech codes attached to the sales-related communication described in consumers’ narratives. The results inform three discourses among sales-related communication: consumer orientation, professionalism and independency. The results suggest that independency, fact-oriented talk, and consumer-oriented communication are central speech codes related to the B2C sales context in Finland. Furthermore, the results describe a cultural norm for appropriate sales-related communication.