Female College Student Interest in a Sales Career: A Comparison

Abstract

Female and male undergraduate students attending three universities were surveyed to determine their comparative interest in a career in sales. In general, females and males agreed on the attributes associated with a selling career. Yet females rated a selling career significantly lower in terms of preference as compared to males. Females were found to have a significantly stronger preference for careers in public relations, advertising, and retail management than their male counterparts. The implications of this negative female bias towards a sales career are discussed, and areas for further research are suggested.     

Sex-Labeling of Selling Jobs and their Applicants

Abstract

By use of the Bern Sex-Role Inventory (BSRI), students were classified in terms of their self-described sex-role personalities (e.g., masculine, feminine, or androgynous) as well as by their relative career interests in each of five distinct selling positions. Results revealed a strong desire on the part of the female students to invade male-dominated selling strongholds. But the reverse was not true. The findings are generally predictive of the broadening of the scope of interests of female graduates seeking entry positions in selling.     

A Factor Analytic Study of the Personal Selling Process

Abstract

Despite the importance that personal selling plays in the marketing and promotion mixes of many firms, little research interest has focused on the function of personal selling. More specifically, no published empirical research has examined what selling techniques salespeople have in their repertoire. This article systematically describes the selling techniques salespeople use by identifying the underlying dimensions of these techniques.     

A Framework for Classifying Concepts of and Research on the Personal Selling Process

Abstract

A parsimonious conceptual framework is presented to facilitate organization and comparison of the various approaches to personal selling. Implications for managers and researchers, as well as suggestions for future directions in personal selling research, are discussed.     

The Selling Situation as a Moderator of the Personality-Sales Performance Relationship: an Empirical Investigation

Abstract

The lack of consistent success in using personality traits to predict the performance of salespeople is attributed to the cross-sectional nature of previous research. In this study, greater predictive accuracy and explanatory power is achieved when the selling situation is used as a moderating variable. The results are presented and the implications for sales force management and future research are considered.     

Selling & Sales Management in Action: Using the Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management As A Teaching Aid

Abstract

Although much marketing literature exists pertaining to whether products should be marketed differently from services, little attention has focused on whether product selling differs from service selling. This article reports the results of an empirical investigation that examined whether salespeople selling industrial products use different selling techniques than those selling services. The results suggest that product sales personnel prefer techniques that can use tangible aspects of the product to advantage, while service sales personnel prefer techniques that stress the personal assistance of customers. The implications of the results are also presented.     

Differences In the Importance of Selling Techniques Between Consumer and Industrial Salespeople

Abstract

The techniques involved in the personal selling process have been well documented in numerous sources over the years, but little research-based guidance has been provided to aid professional salespeople in the implementation of such techniques. The purpose of this research study is to examine the importance of 84 selling techniques, and cite the similarities and differences between consumer and industrial salespeople. The results indicate that consumer salespeople tend to rely more on other people, community contact, and standardized sales presentations than do industrial salespeople, while the latter rely more on company-supplied resources and partially standardized presentation styles.     

Sales Training: Salespeople's Preparedness and Managerial Implications

Abstract

Salespeople use a variety of selling techniques in their jobs. Little published research, however, has examined how adequately sales training programs prepare sales personnel to employ these techniques. This paper reports the results of a survey that focused on salespeople's adequacy of preparation to utilize various sales techniques. The results of the study lead to several managerial implications about how to improve sales training programs.     

A Scale for Source Credibility; Validated in the Selling Context

Abstract

Contributions from the research include: (1) the development of a validated scale to measure the perception of source credibility in personal selling; (2) understanding the underlying dimensions of the perception of source credibility in the selling context; (3) identification of the Sociability factor for the first time in source credibility research; and (4) recognition of the credibility implications associated with salesperson's title.     

Aristotle and Personal Selling

Abstract

The authors discuss the relevance of Aristotle's writings, particularly in the Rhetoric, to modern-day personal selling. Aristotle endorses a sophisticated approach to selling—advocating a customer orientation and segmented markets. He proposes a three-pronged selling process that includes appeals to reason and the emotions of the purchaser while concurrently convincing the purchaser of the seller's integrity. Aristotle argues that the art of selling is subject to systematic formal treatment and demonstrates the possibilities of formal analysis in persuasion. He further assimilates logical argument with practical persuasion in a way that provides a sound basis for selling strategy.     

Speech pathology student clinician attitudes and beliefs towards people who stutter: A mixed-method pilot study

PurposeStuttering is a disorder of fluency that extends beyond its physical nature and has social, emotional and vocational impacts. Research shows that individuals often exhibit negative attitudes towards people who stutter; however, there is limited research on the attitudes and beliefs of speech pathology students towards people who stutter in Australia. Existing research is predominantly quantitative; whereas this mixed-method study placed an emphasis on the qualitative component. The purpose of this study was to explore the attitudes and beliefs of final year Australian speech pathology students towards people who stutter.MethodsThis mixed-method study applied the Public Opinion Survey of Human Attributes – Stuttering (POSHA-S) and semi-structured interviews to gather data from final year speech pathology students from a major university in Australia.Principal resultsThe overall qualitative findings identified that final year Australian speech pathology students exhibit positive attitudes towards people who stutter. The results also illustrated the role of education in influencing attitudes of students as well as increasing their confidence to work with people who stutter.Major conclusionThis research revealed that Australian final year speech pathology students exhibit positive attitudes towards people who stutter. They displayed an understanding that people who stutter may have acquired traits such as shyness as a response to their personal situation and environment, rather than those traits being endemic to them. Results also suggested that education can play a role in creating confident student clinicians in their transition to practice, and positively influence their attitudes and beliefs.     

Selling Task Characteristics and the Job Satisfaction of Industrial Salespeople

Abstract

Hypotheses were tested concerning the relationship between selling task characteristics and industrial salesforce job satisfaction. The specific explanatory model included the five core task variables measured by the “Job Diagnostic Survey Instrument” designed by Hackman and Lawler. The hypotheses tested were that salespersons' job satisfaction will be greater to the extent that they perceive their selling jobs to be characterized by high skill variety requirements, task identity, task significance, autonomy, and performance feedback from the job. In addition, based upon previous research in non-selling occupations, the salesperson's higher order need strength was examined as a possible moderator variable for the task characteristic/job satisfaction relationship.     

Conceptualizing Personal Selling for International Business: A Continuum of Exchange Perspective

Abstract

The last twenty years has seen an extensive broadening of the terms “marketing” and “selling”. It is currently fashionable to consider marketing as exchange behavior, and selling to be personal “exchange facilitation” within any context. Justification for such all-encompassing definitions includes the fact that all cultures face certain prerequisites in order to survive: “marketing” and “selling” are means of satisfying them. Such paradigms increase the likelihood that we embrace ethnocentric perspectives and covertly equate various exchange situations which in reality are very different. When discussing selling and marketing, especially in the international arena, we must carefully guard against ethnocentrism and the distortion caused by such homogenizing tendencies.     

Anxiety and dimensions of perfectionism in first year college students: The mediating role of mindfulness

IntroductionAnxiety and perfectionism affect academic success of college students. Mindfulness is associated with decrease anxiety and perfectionism among college students.ObjectiveThis study evaluates the mediating role of dispositional mindfulness on the relationship between adaptive and maladaptive dimensions of perfectionism and anxiety in first year college students.MethodThe subjects, 283 first year college students (59.5% girls), completed self-reported measures of anxiety, perfectionism and dispositional mindfulness.ResultsOur results show that maladaptive perfectionism is associated with greater anxiety, and a higher dispositional mindfulness score is associated with less anxiety symptoms. Also, mindfulness mediates the relationship between maladaptive perfectionism and anxiety symptoms, especially in girls. When the shared variance of maladaptive and adaptive perfectionism is statistically controlled, adaptive perfectionism is associated with anxiety symptoms in boys and mindfulness in girls.ConclusionThis study confirms the mediating role of mindfulness on the relation between maladaptive perfectionism and anxiety. Gender differences, limits of the mindfulness measure and future research are discussed.     

Effects of an early reading intervention based on grapho-syllabic decoding and fluency training in French elementary schools

IntroductionStudies conducted in recent decades have led to the development of instructional interventions to help prevent or eliminate a large proportion of reading difficulties. However, few experiments have been conducted in French schools.ObjectiveAims for this research were to create, implement and evaluate a remediation program for French students with reading difficulties up to the end of elementary school.MethodThis paper examines the effects of a decoding-skills and fluency-based intervention on 133 struggling readers in second- to fifth-grade. Depending on the nature of their reading difficulties, students were given a year-long training based either on grapho-syllabic conversion — focusing on syllable units, rather than phonemic units, is considered a promising way of helping French-speaking beginning readers — or on repeated reading techniques, used to improve fluency.ResultsIncreases in written-word identification scores were greater for students who followed the program than they were for a control group of 184 students with reading difficulties who did not follow the program.ConclusionThe results show that programs combining early evaluation of written-word identification abilities followed by a year-long series of remediation sessions focusing on specific difficulties can help students progress in written-word identification. However, further research is needed to examine why our program was less effective with children from disadvantaged (“éducation prioritaire”) areas.     

Ethical Perceptions of Field Sales Personnel: An Empirical Assessment

Much research attention has been directed over the past twenty-five years to ethical issues in marketing. One area of marketing that is gaining research interest is the selling arena. Despite the extant literature on selling ethics, few studies have focused on identifying situations that pose ethical problems for field sales personnel. This paper reports results of an investigation that examined salespeople's perceptions concerning what selling situations or practices are ethical questions, what situations are presently addressed by company policies, and what situations should be addressed by company policies. Findings reveal that salespersons seemingly are desirous of receiving more management guidance than they currently are receiving regarding their ethical concerns. Implications for managers and researchers are provided.     

The Current Status of Women in Professional Selling

Abstract

This article examines the status of women in professional selling careers. First, reasons women have not made more rapid movement into the selling profession are examined. Second, women's progress into professional sales jobs are explored. Lastly, suggestions are made for sales managers on how to attract and retain capable women in selling positions.     

A Market Response Model for Sales Management Decision Making

Abstract

Sales managers are faced with a variety of decisions that require the evaluation of the probable response of the market to feasible decision alternatives. A conceptual model of market response is presented to offer management a framework for understanding the market response relationships in their selling situation and to provide an operational approach for evaluating the potential effect of decision alternatives. An empirical test illustrates the usefulness of the model and suggests several improvements in market response modeling. Future research directions are identified and important management implications are discussed.     

Unravelling Criteria for Assessing the Performance of Salespeople: A Causal Analysis

Abstract

In the past, academic research on sales force performance has used either objective performance data or subjective managerial ratings to measure sales performance. Consistent with corporate practices, objective and subjective performance measures were used in this research project. The relationships among three components of performance: specific task behaviors, specific goal achievement and overall performance were examined. A casual analysis suggests that managerial evaluations of overall sales performance are influenced by their perceptions of specific selling behaviors and the degree to which sales people attain specified performance goals.     

A Practical Theory of Persuasion Based on Behavioral Science Approaches

Abstract

The Action Theory of Persuasion, based on a synthesis of sequential decision models and preference models, offers a practical understanding of persuasion as it is employed in personal selling. Conceptualized so as to reflect the state of mind of the person being persuaded, this theory summarizes persuasion into nine specific tactics. Examples of how the theory applies to personal selling situations are given, and an overall strategy of persuasion is outlined.