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Customer-directed selling behaviors and performance: a comparison of existing perspectives

  • Original Empirical Research
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Abstract

Sales researchers have spent decades developing and empirically testing various scales that reflect distinct theoretical perspectives of salesperson behavior and job functioning. Despite extensive research in this area, little comparative work has been done to assess the relative effectiveness of these different scales in explaining salesperson performance or to explicate whether or not they are best considered in isolation or as working together—even potentially interacting—to influence sales success. We examine four established scales related to customer-directed salesperson job functioning, and look at how well they relate to both self-reported and objective job performance measures. Our analyses are based on responses from 524 salespeople drawn from three different firms. The results show that two scales (ADAPTS, Selling Skills) outperform the others. Furthermore, we find an important interaction between ADAPTS and Selling Skills that helps to predict superior objective performance.

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Notes

  1. A fifth selling perspective was also originally included in the study design—the “Service Orientation in Sales” (SOS) proposed by Keillor et al. (2000). The five item SOS scale was developed to take “into account the seller’s willingness to engage in both selling and non-selling tasks throughout the buyer-seller relationship.” (2000, p. 10). However, based on data collected from salespeople in the first firm we studied (CleanCo), the psychometric properties of this scale were found to be unacceptable (i.e., α = .39; the construct did not appear to be unidimensional; and the resulting loadings were poor). Therefore, this perspective was omitted from subsequent phases of the study and analyses.

  2. While all major construct measures were included in all three survey administrations, slight variations existed. Specifically, for the CleanCo survey, the full scales for both SOCO and ADAPTS were employed. However, our subsequent analyses of that data showed that the newer short forms of both of these scales exhibited superior measurement properties, so only the short forms were used for the rHouse and RentCar studies (which came after the CleanCo study). All of the analyses reported in the manuscript are thus based on these shorter forms. In addition, the measures of trait competitiveness and self-efficacy (which are discussed later in the manuscript) were included only in the RentCar survey. Finally, and as is noted in more detail in the text, the objective performance measures were different across the three companies.

  3. For objective performance, we use a formative epistemic relationship between the measures and its underlying construct. As Diamantopoulos and Siguaw (2006, pp. 266–267) note, a Type 1 error (the underestimation of explained variance on the dependent variable of interest—in this case, performance) may occur if the researcher specifies formative measures in a reflective manner (Law and Wong 1999). Furthermore, the measures of performance reported by the firms we study appear to capture distinct facets of the sales task, and a formative perspective is better suited (than a reflective perspective) to this type of context.

    We also considered subjective performance as a formative construct. However, all six subjective performance items are highly correlated with one another, and the loadings that result from a reflective model are all quite large (.8 or higher). Furthermore, running a factor analysis yields a single factor solution, with all loadings .84 or higher. As a result, using a formative epistemic relationship for the subjective performance measures leads to virtually identical results as those obtained when it is reflective. We therefore decided to keep subjective performance as a reflective construct, for three reasons. First, most of the past work that has looked at selling scales has utilized a reflective (rather than formative) presentation of subjective performance, and thus our results are more directly comparable with past work when we also employ a reflective approach (see Franke and Park 2006; Schwepker 2003). Second, the results we obtain using either a reflective or formative approach are essentially the same. Third, we agree with Cohen et al. (Cohen et al. 1990) that when researchers utilize formative indicators they must base their choice of measures on strong theory, and with Bollen and Lennox (1991) that researchers using a formative approach need a “census” of potential measures rather than a “sample” (Hulland 1999). In the present work, we have neither.

  4. This is not the result of high inter-correlations between ADAPTS and the three dimensions of the Selling Skills scale, however. As shown in Table 3, the ADAPTS correlation with interpersonal skills is .39; .40 with salesmanship skills; and .28 with technical skills. Furthermore, multicollinearity diagnostics from the regression models did not indicate any problems.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, Florida State University, RBA 403, 821 Academic Way, Tallahassee, FL, 32306-1110, USA

    Christopher R. Plouffe

  2. Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh, 354 Mervis Hall, Pittsburgh, PA, 15260, USA

    John Hulland

  3. College of Business, Creighton University, Eppley Building BA 432, Omaha, NE, 68178, USA

    Trent Wachner

Authors
  1. Christopher R. Plouffe
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  2. John Hulland
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  3. Trent Wachner
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Christopher R. Plouffe.

Appendix

Appendix

Scale items used in study

SOCOa

Customer Orientation

6. I try to figure out what a customer’s needs are.

7. A good employee has to have the customer’s best interest in mind.

8. I try to bring a customer with a problem together with a product/service that helps solve that problem.

10. I offer the product/service that is best suited to the customer’s problem.

12. I try to find out what kind of products/services will be most helpful to a customer.

Selling Orientation

3. I try to sell as much as I can rather than to satisfy a customer.

7. It is necessary to stretch the truth in describing a product to a customer.

9. I try to sell a customer all I can convince them to buy, even if I think it is more than a wise customer would buy.

10. I paint too rosy a picture of my product/service to make them sound as good as possible.

11. I decide what product/service to offer on the basis of what I can convince customers to accept, not on the basis of what will satisfy them in the long run.

ADAPTSa

2. When I feel that my sales approach is not working, I can easily change to another approach.

3. I like to experiment with different sales approaches.

4. I am very flexible in the selling approach I use.

7. I can easily use a wide variety of selling approaches.

14. I try to understand how one customer differs from another.

Selling Skills

Interpersonal Skills

  1. 1.

    Ability to express yourself nonverbally

  2. 2.

    Ability in general speaking skills

  3. 3.

    Awareness and understanding of the nonverbal communication of others

  4. 4.

    Ability to control and regulate nonverbal displays of emotion

  5. 5.

    Ability to manipulate others and control the situation

Salesmanship Skills

  1. 1.

    Ability to prospect for customers

  2. 2.

    Ability to qualify prospects

  3. 3.

    Ability to close the sale

  4. 4.

    Ability to present the sales message

  5. 5.

    Ability to service the account

Technical Knowledge

  1. 1.

    Knowledge of the customers’ markets and products

  2. 2.

    Knowledge of your company’s procedures

  3. 3.

    Knowledge of competitors’ products, services, and sales policies

  4. 4.

    Knowledge of product line, including product features and benefits

  5. 5.

    Knowledge of customers’ operations (e.g. store and shelf layout, employee training, etc.)

Sales Service Behaviors

Diligence

  1. 1.

    I am often too busy to respond promptly to customers’ special requests.

  2. 2.

    I always make sure that I can be reached whenever a customer needs something important.

  3. 3.

    I return customers’ calls promptly.

  4. 4.

    I provide the information customers request in a timely manner.

  5. 5.

    I always make sure that customers are able to see me as often as they need to.

  6. 6.

    I always make sure that customers can reach me within 24 h.

  7. 7.

    I always provide services to customers at the time I promise to do so.

  8. 8.

    I keep good records of my past interactions with customers.

Information Communication

  1. 1.

    When selling to a customer, I frequently make objective comparisons between products.

  2. 2.

    When selling to a customer, I frequently use reprints to support my claims.

  3. 3.

    When selling to a customer, I use company brochures to emphasize points.

  4. 4.

    When selling to a customer, I acknowledge both the strengths and weaknesses of my products.

Sportsmanship

  1. 1.

    I wait patiently to speak with physicians, decision makers, or staff at my customers.

  2. 2.

    I do not badmouth competing reps or their firms’ products.

  3. 3.

    I do not get upset when sales calls or appointments end prematurely.

  4. 4.

    I maintain composure when others are critical of my products or firm.

  5. 5.

    I always follow office procedures while on the premises of my customers.

Inducementsb

  1. 1.

    I will do the occasional favor for customers, such as providing tickets for a sporting event or play, books they like, etc.

  2. 2.

    I will help out in a pinch even if it is not technically part of my job.

  3. 3.

    I will sometimes do little things like give out holiday presents.

  4. 4.

    I regularly provide lunch or snacks for customers’ staff.

  5. 5.

    I regularly take customers out for dinner meetings.

Empathy

  1. 1.

    I demonstrate a sincere interest in my customers.

  2. 2.

    I display a caring attitude toward customers.

  3. 3.

    I am always ready to help when customers encounter non-job related problems.

Self-Reported Performance

  1. 1.

    My ability to sell products with higher profit margins.

  2. 2.

    My ability to generate a high dollar amount of sales in my territory.

  3. 3.

    My ability to quickly generate sales of new company products.

  4. 4.

    My ability to produce a high market share for my company in my territory.

  5. 5.

    My ability to exceed the sales targets and objectives that are assigned to me.

  6. 6.

    My ability to identify and sell to major accounts in my territory.

Notes

aThe items listed for SOCO and ADAPTS are for the reduced scales. The numbering associated with these items refers to their original numbering in the full scale.

bThe items employed here for the “Inducements” dimension of the “Sales Service Behaviors” scale differ somewhat from the items reported in the published version of Ahearne et al. (2007). The items we use empirically were drawn from an earlier version of their paper.

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Plouffe, C.R., Hulland, J. & Wachner, T. Customer-directed selling behaviors and performance: a comparison of existing perspectives. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 37, 422–439 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-009-0142-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-009-0142-4

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