Examining the impact of salesperson interpersonal mentalizing skills on performance: the role of attachment anxiety and subjective happiness

Due to the dynamic and interpersonal nature of selling, understanding affective and cognitive relationships and their influence on performance has gained the attention of sales scholars. Moreover, recent literature has created opportunities to study the impact of cognitions, such as salesperson theory-of-mind, on sales performance. This research develops a model involving salesperson interpersonal mentalizing skills (i.e. rapport building, detecting nonverbal cues, taking a bird’s-eye view, shaping the interactions), subjective happiness, attachment anxiety, and sales performance. Although salesforce optimization is critical in any economy, emerging economies are the growth frontier for many global companies. Using three samples from Brazil, we investigate the telecom, banking, and retail industries, providing generalizable results from one such emerging economy. We find that, in general, it is the influence of attachment anxiety and subjective happiness on interpersonal mentalizing skills which ultimately impacts sales performance. Based on these findings, we discuss several theoretical and managerial implications.     

Is Salesperson Attractiveness a Boon or a Bane? The Moderating Role of Perceived Labor Cost‐To‐Price Ratio in Retail Bargaining

This research examines the important but unexamined effects of salesperson attractiveness on consumer bargaining behavior in retail contexts. In line with our theorizing, three studies demonstrate that the effect of salesperson attractiveness on consumer bargaining depends on their general beliefs regarding the impact of labor costs on retail prices. While consumers bargain less with an attractive salesperson when their labor costs‐to‐price (LP) ratio beliefs are relatively low, they bargain harder with an attractive, as opposed to a less attractive, salesperson, when their LP ratio beliefs are relatively high. As well, we provide evidence for the process, based on the salesperson's perceived trustworthiness and consumers' consequent bargaining stance toward her.     

Three Rs of Interpersonal Consumer Guilt: Relationship,Reciprocity, Reparation

This article explores the role of consumer guilt in a retail context. The results of a field study indicate that a consumer's lack of purchase can lead to a guilt response when social connectedness with a salesperson exists and the consumer perceives he or she has control over the purchase decision. A subsequent laboratory study established that when consumers experience guilt, they intend to pursue reparative actions during future purchase interactions with the salesperson to reciprocate the initial connection they established. This reparation is directed specifically toward the salesperson and not the firm.     

Consumer perception of salesperson influence strategies: an examination of the influence of consumer goals

• Consumers regularly interact with retail salespeople in order to make purchases across a wide range of products and services. Retail sales encounters occur on a daily basis yet we know little about these complex interactions, especially from the consumer's perspective in terms of his or her perceptions with regard to these types of persuasive attempts. Understanding consumer perceptions is an important precursor to understanding consumer behavior during retail sales encounters. In three experiments subjects' perceptions of specific influence strategies were measured with regard to the degree of sales‐orientation of each strategy. Support was found for hypotheses that proposed that certain influence strategies would be perceived as significantly more sales‐oriented than others and that the interaction of consumer goals with salesperson influence would affect how influence strategies are perceived. Willingness to interact with and purchase from a salesperson using specific influence strategies was also examined in order to shed light on how the use of specific influence strategies is likely to affect consumers' intentions.

Copyright © 2006 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Stuck like glue: the formation and consequences of brand attachments among salespeople

Although managers and researchers put utmost importance on uncovering factors that affect effort and performance of sales representatives, they have largely overlooked a key factor. This research aims to remedy this neglect by shedding light on salesperson brand attachment. A qualitative study first examines the prevalence of attachment and uncovers several potential antecedents. Two follow-up empirical studies show that identification and psychological ownership are significant predictors of salesperson brand attachment. Informed by this research, managers can encourage brand attachment, with the end goal of increasing salesperson effort and ultimately performance, by increasing feelings of identification and psychological ownership among salespeople. This impact is particularly notable among brands with low market share, which are often a key concern of managers. The findings provide novel insights into how attachment affects sales representatives, as well as potential methods to cultivate such an attachment.     

The toy salesperson: A voice for change in sex-role stereotypes?

A field experiment was designed in which students approached sales personnel in 31 different retail settings, asking for help in selecting toys for a twin niece and nephew, 5 years of age. A majority of salesperson suggestions involved a sex-stereotypic selection of toys for both the male and the female child. Limited support was found for hypotheses that the responses of sales personnel would vary by retail setting (specialized toystore, department store, dimestore/discount store) and by sex of salesperson; responses did not vary by salesperson's age, however. Because more different toys are available for boys than for girls, female role expansion in children's play activities is a more likely outcome than sex-role convergence.This article is a revision of a paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociological Association, New York, August 1976.     

Performance Trends and Salesperson Evaluations: The Moderating Roles of Evaluation Task,Managerial Risk Propensity,and Firm Strategic Orientation

Understanding managers’ evaluations of salesperson performance is important for both theoretical and pragmatic reasons. We examine several factors that moderate the influence of performance trends on salesperson evaluations provided by practicing sales managers. Preliminary data from a pilot study indicate that performance trends exert a stronger influence on salesperson evaluations that are prospective (e.g., making a hiring decision) rather than retrospective (e.g., providing an annual evaluation). Study 1’s findings reveal an additional contingency by demonstrating that these trend effects were particularly pronounced for risk-taking sales managers providing prospective evaluations. Finally, evidence from Study 2 documents the moderating influence of firm strategic orientation by showing that trend effects were most prominent for managers making forward-looking evaluations under the aegis of a prospector-based strategic orientation. The latter two studies also offer mediational evidence indicating that trends influence performance evaluations by affecting inferences about a salesperson’s future productivity.     

Salesperson–brand relationship: main dimensions and impact within the context of private brand retailing

Private branding is considered one of the most effective and efficient influencers of retailers’ return on investment in their fiercely competitive industry. However, no study to date has examined these brands’ impact on salespeople's motivation and commitment to their own employer. This study, based upon extensive qualitative and quantitative research, shows that salespeople's relationships with their private brands can be influential in increasing their selling motivation and organizational commitment. Toward this end, our study first identifies the three important dimensions of salesperson–brand relationship (affect, trust, perceived customer recognition due to the brand) and develops their measures. Second, the findings show that salesperson–brand relationships, which exist between the retail frontline employees and retailers’ private brand, strongly influence sales motivation and firm commitment with a moderating influence of role clarity regarding management's expectations from its salespeople.     

Measuring Salesperson Burnout: A Reduced Maslach Burnout Inventory for Sales Researchers

Given the negative effect that burnout has on the sales force, such as increased turnover intentions and decreased performance, measurement improvements on this multidimensional construct can have implications regarding how to manage the drivers and outcomes of burnout. However, little is known about the impact of the multiple burnout dimensions in sales contexts because researchers typically opt to collect data using the emotional exhaustion subscale instead of the complete Maslach burnout inventory, which also includes personal accomplishment and depersonalization facets. Using business-to-business and retail salespeople, this study reduces the 22-item burnout scale to 10 items in order to facilitate salesperson burnout research.     

Selling in an asymmetric retail world: perspectives from India,Russia, and the US on buyer–seller information differential,perceived adaptive selling,and purchase intention

The current research aimed to contribute to our understanding of (a) how adaptive selling is perceived by retail consumers in different types of economies when they have differing levels of buyer–seller information differential and (b) how this phenomenon influences their purchase intention. The focal countries were the US (a developed economy) and India and Russia (both developing economies). These three were selected owing to their disparate economic and cultural contexts. This investigation used a relatively new construct: perceived adaptive selling (PAS). PAS refers to the degree to which the buyer perceives that the salesperson is adapting. The study examined whether the impact of PAS was a function of a country’s level of development and whether such perceptions were influenced by the level of buyer–seller information differential in the retail transaction. The findings suggested that buyers in Russia and India PAS and were influenced by it differently from their US counterparts. This work provided a general framework for understanding tactical implementation of the salesperson’s PAS behavior.     

Special Abstract Section: National Conference in Sales Management

Sales managers need a practical means for evaluating returns from investments in sales technology implementations (including sales automation and sales-based customer relationship management systems). This research proposes a behavioral process model approach that can be applied to evaluate sales technology implementations. We develop and test the model with data collected from the sales force of a major consumer packaged goods company. The results indicate that a salesperson’s technology orientation has a direct impact on internal role performance, and it affects performance with customers through a double-mediated mechanism involving the effective use of information and smart selling behaviors (planning and adaptive selling). Sales managers can influence sales technology orientation by providing better internal technology support, considering technology orientation along with customer’s approval of technology in account assignments, and understanding the probability of negative effects through a salesperson’s experience. In our sample, salesperson experience correlates with age, suggesting a “generation gap” effect on sales technology orientation.     

A Social Learning Perspective on Sales Technology Usage: Preliminary Evidence from an Emerging Economy

Drawing on social learning theory, we examine how the perceived technological savvy of a salesperson’s manager, coworkers, and competitors affects sales technology usage behavior. Data were drawn from a major retail bank in Nigeria, Africa. Analyses of data from relationship managers confirm predictions that while perceived coworker savvy directly influences technology usage, the influence of managers’ and competitors’ perceived savvy is mediated. Perceived manager savvy influences usage by increasing feelings of monitoring and the level of perceived coworker savvy. Similarly, perceived competitor savvy influences usage by increasing perceived manager and coworker savvy. We also confirm that usage of sales technology has a positive influence on salesperson performance.     

The sex-typing of adult and child behavior in toy sales

In order to investigate sex-stereotyping pressure in toy sales, a field experiment was conducted in which students approached 134 sales persons in 67 retail outlets, asking for help in selecting a toy for a niece or nephew, age 5. The results indicated that toy sales advice serves primarily to reinforce traditional sex-role expectations. Overall, salespersons gave more sex-stereotyped than neutral responses, and their responses did not vary by retail setting (specialized vs. department/chain stores) or the age of the salesperson. As expected, more stereotyped responses were received by male than by female buyers, especially when both sought suggestions for a male child. The results were consistent with the hypothesis that salespersons hold stereotyped conceptions of adult socialization practices and channel interaction in ways that behaviorally confirm these stereotypes. A number of other findings are presented and discussed.     

How the Performance of Mentoring Activities Affects the Mentor's Job Outcomes

Peer mentoring occurs in a sales force when a more experienced salesperson (mentor) takes responsibility for the development and guidance of a less experienced salesperson (protégé). Few studies have examined how this work relationship affects the mentor. This study explores the relationships between the mentoring activities performed by the mentor and the benefits that are achieved for the mentor. Data was collected from real estate salespeople who indicated they were serving as mentors. The exploratory findings demonstrate that the different activities performed by a mentor could affect the benefits received by the mentor. For example, providing a protégé with exposure to others in the organization rejuvenates the mentor's career and improves some aspects of the mentor's satisfaction. Helping the protégé with his or her selling skills has a positive impact on several aspects of the mentor's own performance. Results help explain why an experienced salesperson might choose to mentor.     

Testing Competing Models of Sales Force Communication

Based upon findings from the organizational communication, management, and marketing literatures, this study evaluates three competing models describing sales force communication. The results of the analysis suggest that the theorized PEO (Sales Manager Communication Practices? Sales Force Communication Environment? Salesperson Communication and Job Outcomes) Model best accounts for the relations between sales manager communication practices and salesperson communication and job outcomes. Specifically, the PEO Model holds that sales manager communication practices are positively associated with salesperson perceptions of communication quality. Communication quality is positively associated with salesperson satisfaction with communication; salesperson communication satisfaction is positively related to salesperson's job satisfaction and organizational commitment. These results and their implications for developing an effective sales force communication environment are detailed.     

Inferring salesperson capability using stochastic frontier analysis

This paper proposes an easy-to-implement econometric method for inferring salesperson capability from archival panel data, namely stochastic frontier (SF) analysis. We demonstrate this method with a sample of salespersons provided by a life insurance company. Using the proposed SF model, we are able to estimate each salesperson’s capability. Furthermore, we examine the relationship between the estimated salesperson capability and three future outcomes (i.e. future sales performance, future customer attrition, and future salesperson turnover) under different time horizons. We find that, in general, the estimated salesperson capability has a stronger explanatory power for the near than for the more distant future. Since an individual salesperson’s capability cannot be directly observed by researchers (and thus is typically omitted), traditional analyses of sales performance suffer from an omitted-variable problem that can lead to biased estimates of focal variables. The SF model can significantly mitigate this omitted-variable problem. Statistical tests indicate that our sales performance model with estimated salesperson capability results in a statistically significant improvement in model fit. Of note, our model differs methodologically from SF models previously used in the marketing literature in that it is based on a three-component model that disentangles unobserved individual heterogeneity, efficiency, and random shocks.     

Research Note: An Exploratory Analysis of Salesperson Perceptions of the Criteria Used in Performance Appraisals,Job Satisfaction,and Organizational Commitment

In some sales organizations the performance appraisal is treated as a bureaucratic exercise required by some “higher-up” executive. As such, sales managers may essentially conduct appraisals in an arbitrary and perfunctory manner. This behavior could be the result of the manager's perception that conducting performance appraisals requires considerable amounts of time and effort, which provides few rewards, but adds considerably to the manager's level of conflict and stress. The purpose of this research is to examine the relationships existing between one aspect of performance appraisals, salesperson perceptions of the appropriateness of the criteria used, and two other variables, organizational commitment and job satisfaction. A survey of retail salespeople provided the data required to evaluate the relationship between satisfaction, commitment, and the perceived appropriateness of the criteria used. The findings indicate that salesperson satisfaction levels are significantly correlated with the level of the perceived inappropriateness of the evaluation criteria used. However, the findings also indicate that the perceptions of the inappropriateness of the evaluation criteria are not significantly related to the salesperson's level of organizational commitment. Based on these findings, recommendations are made regarding the salesperson's role in the development of the performance appraisal process.     

Seeking attention: an investigation of salesperson influence strategies used while selling to small retailers

The use of influence strategies is an integral component of the salesperson's role, while selling to retailers. However, it remains a chronically under-researched area, particularly so in emerging markets, which are distinct in terms of retail formats and salesperson challenges. In this study, we investigate influence strategies used by salespersons for selling to retailers in the dominant small retail format in India. Using a combination of observation techniques and in-depth interviews, we allow salesperson influence strategies at play to emerge. In comparison to extant literature, we find evidence for both universality and specificity in the types of influence strategies used at small retail. We identify ‘share of counter’ as a unique small retail phenomenon, potentially requiring a specific set of salesperson influence strategies to succeed. Based on this, a modified typology of salesperson influence strategies, specific to small retail, is proposed. We conclude with a discussion of theoretical and managerial implications for emerging markets, and offer suggestions for future research.     

Examining the Impact of Servant Leadership on Sales Force Performance

Much has been written about the importance of focusing on customers to drive organizational success. In this paper, aspects of manager–salesperson relationships are examined as drivers of deeper customer focus in salesperson–customer interactions. In particular, managers’ servant leadership, a leadership style emphasizing genuine concern for subordinate welfare, is examined as a catalyst of parallel concern by salespeople for their customers. Salesperson perceptions of managers’ servant leadership empirically relate to salesperson customer orientation, in turn driving adaptive selling behaviors, customer-directed extra-role behaviors, and sales performance outcomes. Other results and implications for management and sales leadership research are presented.     

The role of delight in driving repurchase intentions

A channel differentiator for brick-and-mortar retail stores is the availability of salespeople to assist customers directly in their purchase decision. This research considers two aspects of customer interactions with retail salespeople that lead to perceptions of extraordinary service and enhance repurchase intentions: customer comfort and salesperson expertise. Retail customers desire value-added informational assistance from the salesperson to minimize ambiguity associated with the product and to reduce the risk associated with a purchase decision. A retail salesperson needs to make customers feel comfortable so that the customer will share specific needs during the interaction, and the salesperson can recommend appropriate products and services. Our findings reveal that while both customer comfort and salesperson expertise positively influence satisfaction with the salesperson and customer delight, only customer delight leads to repurchase intentions. While satisfaction is a commonly asserted goal for retailers; the present research suggests that in a transaction-based environment, elevated emotions such as customer delight represent a more powerful predictor of repurchase intentions. This research provides evidence of trainable salesperson behaviors that enhance customer perceptions of extraordinary service and offer firms an opportunity for significant performance gains.