The influence of formal and informal sales controls on customer-directed selling behaviors and sales unit effectiveness |
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Authors: | Paolo Guenzi Artur Baldauf Nikolaos G. Panagopoulos |
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Affiliation: | 1. Università Commerciale Luigi Bocconi and SDA Bocconi School of Management, Department of Marketing, Via Roentgen 1, 20136 Milano, Italy;2. Department of Management and Entrepreneurship, University of Bern, Engehaldenstrasse 4, Switzerland;3. The University of Alabama, Culverhouse College of Commerce & Business Administration, Department of Marketing, 156 Mary Alston Hall, Tuscaloosa, AL 35487, United States |
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Abstract: | Adaptive selling (AS) and customer-oriented selling (COS) constitute two key customer-directed selling behaviors for the success of the modern sales force. However, knowledge regarding the organizational factors that can induce salespeople to engage in those behaviors is strikingly limited. Against this background, we develop a comprehensive model that delineates the influences of formal and informal sales controls on AS and COS and, through them, on sales unit effectiveness. Based on a sample of sales managers in a major European Union country, we present new evidence that (a) formal and informal sales controls exert differential impact on salespeople's AS and COS behaviors; (b) AS directly and positively influences sales unit effectiveness; (c) COS affects sales unit effectiveness only indirectly, i.e. by fostering AS; and (d) outcome and cultural controls directly improve sales unit effectiveness. We conclude with a discussion of our findings for academics and practitioners. |
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Keywords: | Sales controls Customer-directed selling behaviors Customer-oriented selling Adaptive selling |
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