Sales Force Management

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6

Salesperson Performance: Behavior, Role Perceptions, and Satisfaction

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Changing Role of Sellers

• Sales revenue may oversimplify sales effectiveness
• Are sellers as important as product?
• Sellers slightly more important, but salesperson + company create synergy
• Should companies invest in sales or product?
• Many are investing in product while using alternative selling channels

Source: HR Chally Group (2009).

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• Understand salesperson performance model
• Identify components of the model
• Discuss role perception process
• Understand why the role of salesperson is susceptible to role issues
• Discuss how role conflict, role ambiguity, and role accuracy influence a salesperson’s role perceptions

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6.1

Model of the determinants of a salesperson’s performance

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The Model

• Job performance a function of five basic factors
• Role perceptions
• Aptitude
• Skill level
• Motivation
• Personal, organizational and environmental variables

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Role Perceptions

• Role accuracy - degree to which a salesperson’s perceptions of role partners’ demands are accurate
• Role conflict - salesperson believes role demands of two or more role partners are incompatible
• Role ambiguity – salesperson believes he/she does not have information necessary to perform job adequately

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Aptitude

• Enduring personal characteristics that determine individual’s overall ability to perform a sales job
• Physical factors – age, height, sex, and physical attractiveness
• Aptitude factors – verbal intelligence, mathematical ability and sales expertise
• Personality characteristics – empathy, ego, sociability, aggressiveness, and dominance

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Aptitude

Intelligence

Cognitive abilities

Verbal intelligence

Math ability

Sales aptitude

Enduring personal characteristics that determine individual’s overall ability to perform a sales job

Aptitude

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Personality

Enduring personal traits that reflect an individual’s consistent reactions to situations encountered in the environment

Responsibility

Personality

Dominance

Sociability

Self-esteem

Creative/

flexibility

Need for achievement

Need for power

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Skill

Learned proficiency at performing necessary tasks

Vocational esteem

Vocational skills

Sales presentation

Interpersonal

General management

Skill

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Motivation

• Effort willingly expended on activities associated with the job
• Function of:
• Expectancy – estimate of effort required to improve performance
• Valences of performance –perception of the desirability of attaining performance improvement

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6.1 Different Salespeople Require Different Drivers

• A more profound meaning
• Delight
• An objective
• Team success
• Leadership
• Rewards

Source: Alex Palmer, “Success in Small Steps,” Incentive 183, 2 (Feb 2009), p. 44. Gschwandter Gerhard, “Do You Have Enough Fuel to Win?” SellingPower.com, September, 2007.

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Personal and Organizational Variables

• Job experience
• Closeness of supervision
• Performance feedback
• Influence in determining standards
• Span of control
• Amount of role conflict
• Perceived ambiguity

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Organizational Citizenship Behaviors (OCBs)

• Sportsmanship
• Civic Virtue
• Conscientiousness
• Altruism

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6.2 Critical Global Sales Skills

• Appreciation of cultural differences
• Creative problem solving
• Ability to let business relationships develop
• Possess strong technology skills

Source: Glen Balzer, “Creating a Sales Presence in the Global Marketplace,” Agency Sales 38, 8 (Aug 2008). p. 8. Fran Beeman, “Selling Around the World,” SellingPower.com, October, 2007.

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Rewards

• Extrinsic –controlled by people other than the salesperson
• Intrinsic – salespeople primarily attain for/within themselves

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Satisfaction Dimensions

• The job itself
• Fellow workers
• Supervision
• Company policies and support
• Pay
• Promotion/advancement opportunities
• Customers

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6.3

Components of job

satisfaction

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Role Perceptions

Ambiguity

Conflict

Inaccurate role perceptions

Psychological stress

Anxiety

Lowered performance

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Role Development Stages

Role partners communicate expectations

Salespeople develop perceptions

Salespeople convert perceptions into behaviors

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6.4

Sales perceptions of

the job

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Vulnerability of Salesperson’s Role

• Operate at firm’s boundary
• Performance affects many others
• Role changes often, is innovative

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6.3 Ethical Salespeople/Unethical Customers

• Salespeople must…
• Know they are expected to adhere to corporate ethical standards
• Know they will be supported by management
• Have the tools to make good ethical decisions
• Clearly understand ethics policies
• Have a process for handling ethical issues

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Role Conflict and Ambiguity

Role Perceptions

Role Conflict

Role Ambiguity

Inaccurate

Role Perceptions

Consequences

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Conflict and Ambiguity

• Different role partners mean different expectations
• Perceived role expectations are consistent among salespeople
• Role ambiguity plagues many salespeople in some aspect of their job
• Salespeople often perceive conflict between company policies or expectations and customer demands

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Psychological Consequences of Conflict and Ambiguity

• Salesperson becomes the “person in the middle” w/ conflicting expectations
• Perceived lack of necessary information causes loss of confidence
• Perceived role conflict affects extrinsic job satisfaction
• Role ambiguity affects extrinsic and intrinsic job satisfaction

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Behavioral Consequences of Conflict and Ambiguity

• Dysfunctional behavior
• Increased turnover
• Satisfaction and performance correlate positively

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6.4 Balancing Work and Family

• 66% not enough time for children
• 64% not enough time from spouse
• Among heavy technology users
• 38% feel overworked
• 51% have high stress
• 40% angry w/ employer
• 49% looking for other employment
• 28% not enough energy for family activities

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6.5

Causes and consequences of a salesperson’s job perceptions

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Managing Conflict and Ambiguity

• Experience reduces role conflict
• Increased voice in role definition reduces role conflict
• Close supervision reduces ambiguity
• Input in evaluation standards reduces ambiguity
• Close supervision can increase conflict

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Role Accuracy

• Correct understanding of job performance expectations
• Price negotiations
• Promise of shorter delivery times
• Handling customer back charges and adjustments

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Common Activities for Industrial Salespeople

• Selling
• Working with orders
• Servicing the product
• Information management
• Servicing the account

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Common Activities for Industrial Salespeople

• Conferences/meetings
• Training/recruiting
• Entertaining
• Out of town traveling
• Working with distributors

Source: Developed from variables by William C. Moncrief, “Selling Activity and Sales Position Taxonomies for Industrial Salesforces,” Journal of Marketing Research, 23 (August 1986), pp. 261-270 and William C. Moncrief, “Ten Key Activities of Industrial Salespeople,” Industrial Marketing Management, 15 (November 1986), pp. 309-317.

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Common Performance Criteria for Industrial Salespeople

• Total sales volume, increase over last year
• Degree of quota attainment
• Selling expenses, decrease versus last year
• Sales profitability, increase over last year
• New accounts
• Administrative performance improvement
• Customer service improvement

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Common Rewards for Industrial Salespeople

• Pay
• Promotion
• Nonfinancial incentives (contests, travel, prices, etc.)
• Special recognitions (clubs, awards, etc.)
• Job security
• Feeling of self-fulfillment
• Feeling of worthwhile accomplishment
• Opportunity for personal growth and development
• Opportunity for independent thought and action

McGraw-Hill/Irwin Copyright © 2011 by The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. All rights reserved.

Mark W. Johnston | Greg W. Marshall