Selling & Sales Management in Action: The Importance of Various Motivational Factors to College Students Interested in Sales Positions

Sales professionals in the computer industry have had to confront a fundamental shift in the definition and source of value within their marketplace. From an emphasis on hardware, vendors and customers are now looking to software and systems for the next advancements in technology and productivity. As the sources of value within the industry have changed, so have the requirements for sales success. No longer able to rely on their traditional and “proven” approach to selling, salespeople have had to learn new competencies. Based on studies of the sales organizations of six computer companies, this article explores how—and why—computer salespeople must adopt a new sales orientation and expand their behavioral repertoire.     

A Multidimensional Analysis of Preferences for Sales Positions

Abstract

Recruiting college students for the sales- force is especially difficult because the results of previous research suggest that students have negative perceptions of selling. A weakness of prior research, however, is that selling has generally been operationalized as a unidimensional concept. This paper reports the results of a study that sought to address this limitation by conducting a multidimensional analysis of seven different sales positions.     

The Mediating Role of Sales Behaviors: An Alternative Perspective of Sales Performance and Effectiveness

Business decisions about hiring, promoting, an purchasing should be made in an unbiassed way When sex stereotyping influences the decisio process. Such decisions are not only unfair bi can lead to large economic and social costs. A experiment involving more than 200 MBAs measured the impact of general attitudes toward women in business and various personal characteristics on the extent to which there was se stereotyping with regard to men and women in sales positions. Results suggest that sex stereotyping still exists, but its extent depends on the attitude being measured and on characteristics of the stereotyping the solution is to provide exposure to competent females in selling and sales manage ment positions.     

The Recruiting Interview as Perceived by College Student Applicants for Sales Positions

The recruiting interview experience as perceived by college students applying for sales positions is the subject of this research study. The results, based on actual recruiting interviews through placement centers at two university campuses, describe the relative importance of various factors in the job offer and recruiting process, including characteristics of the recruiter. Analysis shows how these factors relate to the applicant's perceived success of the interview, the chance of getting a job offer, and the chance of accepting a job offer.     

Developing Sales Force Relationalism: The Role of Distributive and Procedural Justice

Sales force justice perceptions can play an important role in the development of relational norms or relationalism; however, little research has explored the linkages between justice and the development of sales force relationalism. The relational justice model—that is, neutrality, trust, and respect—was tested with regard to direct effects on sales force perceptions of distributive and procedural justice, and in, subsequently, manager–sales force relationalism. The findings, from a sample of business-to-business salespeople, support the hypothesized relationships between the constructs in the relational model and distributive and procedural justice. Neutrality, trust, and respect significantly and positively affect both distributive and procedural justice, which directly affects the development of sales force relationalism. The results have implications for sales force management and future research endeavors.     

The Role of Sales and Marketing in Market-Oriented Companies

Since little is known about whether both marketing and sales functions pay off in market-oriented companies, this research analyzes the interaction between market orientation and the departmental power of marketing and sales within the firm. Data collected across five industries on the marginal effect of marketing’s departmental power on business performance show that market-oriented companies benefit from a strong marketing function, but a powerful marketing department cannot compensate for low levels of market orientation. Surprisingly, the power of sales impedes successful market orientation implementation. This has important implications for future sales management research. We highlight the significance of these findings for both theory and practice.     

The Sales Manager As a Boundary Spanner: A Role Theory Analysis

Abstract

The authors consider the distasteful possibility that parallelism exists between tactics of warfare and sales management operations. The functions of a salesperson are equated to those of a soldier, and the theories of guerrilla warfare as espoused by people such as Mao Tse-Tung are applied to sales management decision areas.     

Selling and Sales Management in Action: The Sales Force's Role in International Marketing Research and Marketing Information Systems

Many companies resist global markets because of seemingly insurmountable problems with these markets. Salespeople are often used successfully to gather market information. There is a wealth of market data that can be collected by a company's international sales force and distributors' sales force which can prove to be valuable in surmounting cultural and marketing barriers associated with global markets. The current paper discusses how and with what success U.S. multinational companies are using their international sales forces in gathering international marketing research data.     

Translating External Knowledge to Team Creativity in Turbulent Environments: The Role of Absorptive Capacity and Knowledge Integration

In seeking to understand factors contributing to team creativity in dynamic environments, we explored the role of external knowledge search on team creativity through absorptive capacity and knowledge integration. We tested our hypotheses with a sample of 96 teams involving 421 employees in China. Results demonstrated that external knowledge search related positively to team creativity, fully mediated by both absorptive capacity and knowledge integration. In addition, environmental dynamism played a moderating role in the relation between external knowledge search and absorptive capacity, as well as in the relation between external knowledge search and knowledge integration. We discussed the implications of these findings for research and practice.     

Industrial Sales Force Selection: Current Knowledge and Needed Research

Abstract

Selection of sales force members is a critical function of sales management from both time and financial perspectives, yet little published research specific to this function exists in the marketing and sales management literature. Research in personnel selection has emphasized examination of the relative importance of a few variables in a single decision context. This approach does not consider the possible effects of the multi-decision process presently used in sales force selection. This article presents a conceptual framework of the selection process, reviews the marketing, sales management, and relevant personnel selection literature, and considers necessary future research directions.     

The Role of Culture Strength in Shaping Sales Force Outcomes

Although a strong culture has been widely acknowledged as a defining characteristic of successful firms, past research has failed to examine the influence it exerts on the attitudes and behavior of salespeople. In a two-sample study, we measure culture strength and explore its relationship to value congruity and to three sales force outcomes that define the sales management research tradition: role stress, organizational commitment, and job satisfaction. Within the contexts of the sales subculture of a Fortune 500 firm (Study 1) and specialized sales organizations (Study 2), the results reveal a compelling portrait of the forces that shape salesperson–culture fit. Specifically, the results of both studies indicate that a strong culture leads to higher levels of value congruity, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment, and lower levels of role stress. Key implications are highlighted for sales managers and for researchers.     

Attracting Minority Applicants to Malaysian Organizations: The Effect of Race Composition

This study aims to investigate the effect of race composition of organizational representatives on perceived similarity, organizational attractiveness, and perceived opportunities for advancement. Two hundred and twenty four Malaysian Chinese university students participated in the study. The findings showed that race composition was significantly related to the participant’s perception of similarity to the representatives, attraction to the organization, and perception of advancement opportunities in the organization. Minority Chinese participants gave higher ratings on all three outcome variables when they were presented with an organization featuring a homogenous group of Chinese representatives or a racially diverse group of representatives, than an organization featuring a homogenous group of Malay representatives in recruitment advertising. In summary, the inclusion of minority representatives in recruitment advertising is beneficial in attracting minority applicants.     

The Complexities of Sales and Sales Management Research: A Historical Analysis from 1990 to 2005

Researchers have postulated that sales and sales management research is more problematic to conduct than other managerial research and has become more diffi cult to conduct over time. To address this issue, we examine 532 samples from 1990 to 2005. We fi nd that researchers can positively affect response rate and obtained sample size by the judicious selection of response facilitators, and we identify the single best facilitator for a sales sample as well as the best combination of facilitators. Importantly, the use of the two suggested response facilitators increases the estimated obtained sample size by 58 percent compared to a study with no facilitators.     

The Role of Top Management in Developing a Customer-Oriented Sales Force

A national random sample of industrial salespeople was surveyed to examine the effects of salespeople’s perceptions of top management long-term orientation, top management emphasis, and top management risk aversion on customer-oriented selling behaviors. The results indicated that perceived top management long-term orientation had a significantly positive effect on perceived top management emphasis and a significantly negative effect on perceived top management risk aversion. In turn, perceived top management emphasis positively affected customer-oriented selling, whereas perceived top management risk aversion did not affect customer-oriented selling. The study underscores the importance of salespeople’s perceptions of top management factors for implementing the marketing concept. The managerial implications of these findings are discussed and several directions for future research are proposed.     

Effect of Recruiter on Attraction to the Firm: Implications of the Elaboration Likelihood Model

The effect of recruiter behaviors on organizational attractiveness is the focus of a growing body of literature. The elaboration likelihood model (ELM) is a promising model for generating research examining how and when recruiter behaviors will influence job applicant attitudes formed during the recruitment process. In this paper, the ELM is described and considered in relation to variables that affect job applicant ability and motivation to accurately process information about organizational and job attributes and assess their fit with a firm during the recruitment process. In addition, several recruiter behaviors and characteristics known to affect applicant attraction to the firm are discussed in terms of the ELM.     

Third_Person Perception of Television Violence: The Role of Self_Perceived Knowledge

This study investigated the proposition that self-perceived knowledge or self-expertise is a primary theoretical construct in understanding third-person perception of television violence effects. Consistent with most past research, the findings confirm people's third-person tendencies to attribute greater media effects of television violence on other people than on themselves. As hypothesized, self-perceived knowledge was a stronger predictor of third-person perception than sociodemographic variables (demographics, ideology, and media use). The study also found that self-perceived knowledge was more likely to moderate than mediate the relationship between sociodemographic variables and third-person perception. Whereas a moderator affects the strength of the relationship between an independent variable and a dependent variable, a mediator explains the relationship between the two variables. In sum, the findings indicate that respondents' judgments of their superior self-perceived knowledge of television violence might be of theoretical significance in third-person effect research.     

A Qualitative Study of the Recruiting of Men and Women for Sales Positions in Turkey

This study examines the effects of gender on recruitment of salespeople in Turkey, an emerging economy with a male-dominated society where historical and cultural values have frequently limited women’s employment opportunities. Based on 16 interviews with male and female recruiters from four industries actively hiring productive salespeople, the study addresses gender effect on recruiting of men and women for sales positions in Turkey. The findings of this qualitative study provide an opportunity to expand our understanding of gender effects in an emerging economy.     

Women's Reactions to Miscarriage: The Role of Attributions,Coping Styles,and Knowledge1

This study examined 72 women's retrospectively reported reactions to miscarriage, including depression, stress, and anxiety. The buffering role of women's attributional explanations for the event, the significance of the loss of the baby, coping strategies, and women's knowledge of miscarriage were also assessed. Correlational analyses revealed that women's attributions were tied to their reactions, in that the more women blamed their own character or doctor, the more severely they reacted. Coping strategies accounted for a large portion of the variance (64%), whereby women who used cognitive restructuring as a strategy suffered less adverse reactions than did those who used social withdrawal or wishrul thinking. Women's knowledge before miscarriage, rather than after, accounted for 6% of the variance in their reactions. Examining the interrelations of these variables revealed that the amount of women's knowledge before miscarriage was related to less wishful thinking, and their knowledge after the event was related to less problem avoidance. Women's attributions were also related to their coping strategies: Blaming one's character, behavior, or doctor were positively related to self-criticism and social withdrawal, and negatively related to support from doctors and significant others. The implications of these findings for interventions to facilitate adjustment to miscarriage and future research are discussed.