Differences between Presidents' and Sales Managers' Perceptions of the Industry Environment and Firm Strategy in Small Industrial Firms: Relationship to Performance Satisfaction

The industrial sales force is the primary source of information about the competitive environment. Differences of perceptions of that environment between the national sales manager and the firm president in small industrial firms may reflect inadequate environmental information input into strategic decision-making. The sales force is a major element in implementation of strategy and differences between perceptions of firm strategy may reflect inadequate coordination and communication between the chief strategy decision-maker and the manager who is responsible for implementing that strategy in the market place. It would be expected that these differences in perceptions would impact negatively strategy formulation and execution resulting in unsatisfactory firm performance. This study surveyed the environmental and strategy perceptions of presidents and national sales managers in small to medium-sized industrial firms as well as presidents' satisfaction with firm profitability and marketing/sales effectiveness. The average absolute difference in environment perceptions has a negative relationship with satisfaction with profit. The average absolute difference in strategy perceptions has a negative relationship with marketing/sales effectiveness. This latter relationship is especially strong in an environment high in capital spending variation and for larger firms. The authors suggest implications for managers based on these results.     

Allocating a Promotion Budget between Advertising and Sales Contest Prizes: An Integrated Marketing Communications Perspective

This paper develops and analyzes a normative model for allocating a fixed, short-term promotion budget between product advertising and prizes of a rank-order sales contest for a homogeneous sales force when sales are driven by both personal selling effort and advertising. The model provides insights into how the optimal budget allocations vary with the synergy between advertising and selling effort, sales force size, salesperson risk-tolerance, perceived cost of effort, selling effectiveness and sales response uncertainty. The analysis highlights the need for and value of close coordination between marketing and sales management in designing a promotion program involving both advertising and sales force incentives.     

Improving relationships between sales and marketing: the relative effectiveness of cross-functional coordination mechanisms

ABSTRACT

The importance of effective sales and marketing working relationships is well known and this article examines the effectiveness of various coordination mechanisms used to improve this cross-functional relationship. Six coordination mechanisms are measured to identify their effect on sales and marketing conflict and collaboration, which in turn influence business performance. The results reveal that not all coordination mechanisms are equally effective. Structuring sales and marketing as a single unit and creating cross-functional project teams improve the interface, as do providing opportunities for job rotation and establishing cross-functional meetings. However, employing cross-functional training and co-locating sales and marketing do not influence this working relationship. Finally, reducing conflict and increasing collaboration between sales and marketing is shown to independently, and positively, influence business performance.     

Should you set up your own sales force or should you outsource it? Pitfalls in the standard analysis

Should you set up your own sales force or should you outsource it? The standard analysis is cost based and assumes that the direct sales force is a fixed cost and that the outsourced sales force's cost varies with sales. The standard analysis then calculates the sales volume at which the direct sales force's costs equal the outsourced sales force's costs and suggests that for sales volume above that quantity, firms should use a direct sales force. This analysis has two problems. First, several other cost factors are not considered in the standard analysis. Second, the standard analysis considers only cost, ignoring coverage efficiency and selling effectiveness differences between the two sales forces. Both problems will be detailed and developed in this paper.     

The impact of new technologies on customer satisfaction and business to business customer relationships: Evidence from the soft drinks industry

Sales technology has been touted as a primary tool for enhancing customer relationship management (CRM) and thus improving overall customer satisfaction. The marketing, IT, and practitioner literatures make numerous references to the impact of CRM on business orientation and performance. However, according to Richard et al. (2007), not many studies have investigated customer relationship technology adopted by a firm and the impact on relationship development. The aim of this paper is to examine the relative impact of new technologies on improving customer relations and overall customer satisfaction within the sales industry. New technologies have revolutionised the workplace and have become an integral part of organisations throughout the world (Forster, 2000). Driving this revolution are two powerful new forces, cyberspace and computing power. This article defines three key terms which include CRM, customer satisfaction and new technologies and evaluates the impact of these emerging technological developments on relationships and customer satisfaction in a sales force/customer context. Primary research was conducted using two focus groups consisting of nine participants from Britvic. The analysis reveals that technology is both beneficial and essential within the sales force industry for both the sales representative and their customers and provides an insight into the impact of technology on the sales force/customer relationship. The paper concludes with reference to new technologies and the future.     

Values,the key to business in 1990 and beyond∗

This article is concerned with the changes which have affected the personal selling function in industrial markets in recent years. It reviews research findings from the UK, Europe and America, and discusses the implications for sales force management and sales training. It concludes that industrial marketing must focus upon key account relationship management, rather than the manipulation of the four Ps in order to create competitive advantage, and that radical new approaches are needed in sales training which reflect the changing nature of the sales person's role, and which may be demonstrated to have a positive affect on selling effectiveness.     

客户关系管理与知识管理的集成研究

客户关系管理的发展趋势之一是将企业积累的知识融入到前端管理的各个环节中,采用规范的方法来增强市场活动的有效性,从而保证销售队伍的战斗力,维持客户对服务的满意度。知识经济条件下企业客户关系管理与知识管理的集成,能增加企业对客户信息的分析和契合的深度。     

Corporate codes of ethics and sales force behavior: A case study

A growing public concern regarding ethical business conduct has stimulated marketing research in the ethics area. This study is the first empirical research to investigate the relationship between a code of ethics and sales force behavior. The findings present preliminary evidence that a well communicated code of ethics may be related to ethical sales force behavior. Furthermore, it appears that a sales force that is employed in such an environment can be profiled as being relatively high in job performance and receiving equally high satisfaction from their positions. Suggestions are made for future research and recommendations are offered for marketing practitioners.     

小区渠道迎来体验营销新时代——以荣事达洁身器营销策略为例

随着经济社会的快速发展,消费者购买商品的渠道越来越多,商家开展营销争夺战的地点也随之增加。作为消费者聚集地的生活小区已然成为商家又一必争的战略要地。然而,进驻小区并非易事,即使进入了小区,所进入的产品也未必能被消费者所接受,商家开展多种多样的体验营销活动有利于加强销售力度。荣事达电子电器公司在销售洁身器产品的过程中,通过不断探索、创新、实践和总结,建立起该产品的小区体验营销模式,取得了非常显著的成效。     

Driving In-Role and Extra-Role Brand Performance among Retail Frontline Salespeople: Antecedents and the Moderating Role of Customer Orientation

The organizational frontline in retail represents the frontline for an entire supply chain. This channel structure distances the branded supplier from the end consumer and makes the supplier dependent on a retail frontline salesperson that (1) it does not control and (2) also represents competing brands. This study reveals mechanisms that the supplier may use to influence retail frontline salespeople. We demonstrate the importance of consumer marketing programs and supplier representatives in building brand identification between the manufacturer’s brand and the retail frontline employee that translates into increased brand sales, while also revealing the role of rewards programs in stimulating brand-specific extra-role behaviors. Interestingly, retail frontline customer orientation, built by the retailer, diminishes the effect of brand extra-role behaviors toward the focal brand on the focal brand’s sales, providing an informal control mechanism for retailers to protect its objectives. The results of this study have powerful ramifications for both retailers and suppliers in achieving both their mutual, and sometimes differing, objectives related to the retail frontline.     

Product attributes for business markets: Implications for selling and sales management

This article offers a conceptual framework for classifying attributes of offerings in a business‐marketing context. Typologies on the nature of product‐related attributes and classification of industrial products are synthesized for viewing levels of product meaning. Repertory grid procedures first developed in clinical psychology and recently adapted for use in business settings are presented as an approach for eliciting salient/determinant attributes. Enhanced effectiveness of the classic industrial selling process is demonstrated along with implications for managing the sales force. © 2006 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The differing effects of technology on inside vs. outside sales forces to facilitate enhanced customer orientation and interfunctional coordination

This paper presents a study designed to examine outcomes of different workplace structures. Specifically, using a sample of 156 sales organizations, we review how sales force structure, eLearning, and technological tools can influence coordination and the level of customer orientation within an organization. While current literature touts the benefits of an outside sales force, our results suggest that this type of structure, when coupled with eLearning and technological tools, leads to even greater positive outcomes of an outside sales force. By utilizing different forms of technology in conjunction with an outside sales force, this research offers a new dynamic technological environment to further improve salesperson performance.     

THE BENEFITS OF USING E‐BUSINESS TECHNOLOGY: THE SUPPLIER PERSPECTIVE

The use of e‐business technologies between supply chain organizations has primarily been examined from the viewpoint of buying firms or retailers, with little attention given to the benefits accrued to suppliers. Further, previous studies have been limited to either financial or marketing performance measures, or a narrow range of operational measures. This study builds on research in this area by testing a model of the relationship between supplier use of e‐business technologies in communication with their primary buyer, degree of buyer‐supplier coordination, and a complete set of benefits that include strategic and operational performance measures. Using data from 241 first‐tier OEM suppliers in the computer industry, the findings show that supplier use of e‐business technologies positively impacts organizational benefits both directly and indirectly by promoting buyer‐supplier coordination.     

Improving marketing success: The role of tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing

Successful organizations adapt their marketing strategies to marketplace changes. Boundary spanners, such as salespeople, because they are able to embed themselves in social networks outside the organization, play a key role in developing marketplace knowledge. However, if this knowledge remains solely with the boundary spanners, it cannot be used effectively to improve firm performance. This study investigates tacit knowledge exchange between sales and marketing and its ability to enhance marketing success (i.e., marketing program innovativeness, relative efficiency, and relative effectiveness). In addition, by examining five antecedents hypothesized to influence tacit knowledge exchange, it provides guidance to sales and marketing managers, who desire to improve tacit knowledge exchange, and, in turn, marketing success.     

Salesforce Motivation,Compensation and Evaluation by Industrial Distributors

Selling and sales management by industrial distributors is an important area of industrial product and services marketing that has been almost completely ignored by academic researchers. This study attempts to close a few of the gaps. It provides a brief review of the distributor's characeeristics and his hostile marketing environment before a presentation of findings about dktributors' sales force evaluation, compensation and evaluation methods. Conclusions are offered and a plea for further research is made.     

A checklist for managers to enhance influencer partnerships and avoid potential pitfalls

Influencer marketing continues to be popular with marketing managers because of its effectiveness as a marketing tactic for raising brand awareness and ROI. To date, much of the literature on influencer marketing focused on its benefits, but it also bears potential risks: not all influencer marketing experiences are positive. While influencer marketing is still emerging in the digital space, managers should not forgo supplier managerial principles when hiring influencers. This article provides a checklist to help managers navigate this marketing tactic and avoid potential mistakes by encouraging the same due diligence they would with other suppliers. The checklist asks nine questions during the life cycle of an influencer relationship—including selection, performance and contract management, and reputation management—and is corroborated by the marketing literature but should be applied by managers. To demonstrate this, several case studies were examined in which managers should have considered supplier management when engaging with influencers. By employing the checklist amid influencing marketing efforts, managers can avoid the mistakes identified in the case studies.     

Effects of Multichannel Coordination and E-Commerce Outsourcing on Online Retail Performance

This article assesses the role of multichannel coordination strategy in impacting online performance, and the need for E-commerce functions outsourcing at the initial stages of multichannel integration. Our findings indicate that a higher degree of interchannel coordination increases retailers' online sales. The article also concludes that integrated retailers that outsource more E-commerce functions, such as Web site hosting, site design, content development, order processing, E-mail marketing, Web performance monitoring, and E-logistics, do not show higher online sales performance than those who develop them in-house. Managerial implications of these findings are proposed, and directions for future research are outlined. Based on prior conceptual research, the article develops and empirically tests the construct of multichannel coordination.     

Managerial pay and financial performance of small business

The purpose of this study is to examine empirically whether managerial pay of small-firm executives is more closely related to profitability or generation of sales. Conventional economic doctrine supports the hypothesis that chief executives are paid primarily to advance profitability. The contrary hypothesis, given impetus by Baumol [2] and Galbraith [8], asserts a closer relationship between compensation and sales. Previous studies of large corporations have produced conflicting results. Regression analysis of the 78 small firms in this study reveals managers receiving compensation correlating fairly closely with both profitability and sales. The cumulative forces at work in these firms impacting upon managerial pay appear to have wrought a linkage conductive toward motivating managers to be both “bottom line” and marketing oriented.     

Impact of Sales Call Adaptiveness and Customer Willingness on Sales Call Length: A Cross-Country Study of India,China, Korea,and Philippines

ABSTRACT

In this empirical study across four countries (India, China, Korea, and Philippines), we examine the impact of sales call adaptiveness and customer willingness on sales call length (duration) of salespersons in these four countries. Sales call length as well as sales call quality—although important constructs in sales—are still underresearched in the domain of sales management. Our study in these four emerging markets sheds new light on enhancing sales force effectiveness. Using survey data from 847 salespersons in four countries, we analyze using multivariate analysis, and our results suggest that sales force effectiveness can be enhanced by giving them the autonomy to decide the sales call length based on the prospect quality. We also demonstrate that salespeople indulging in sales-oriented behaviors may be detrimental to the long-term relationship with customers. Emphasis on relational sales approaches would reduce sales practices such as pitching products or services to unwilling customers. Our study also highlights the interactive role of customer willingness and sales adaptiveness. We found several inter-country differences across sales practices in four countries, which have several meaningful managerial implications.     

Technology and the sales force: Amach,Inc

This paper explores the application of sales force technology by Amach, Inc. a Detroit based medical device firm. Sales force technology represents a variety of dynamic tools that can help the sales force. While these tools cannot replace the salesperson and generate deals from customers, they can enhance efficiency and effectiveness levels. Sales force technology can range from computer laptops, pagers, cellular phones, desktop personal computers and software for contact management, database management and multimedia presentations. The key for sales managers to remember is that these tools do not drive themselves and still need the skill of management to get the best results. Managerial suggestions and research ideas are presented.