Alexander Haas

A Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) Perspective on New Product Selling: A Framework for Future Research

Building on job demands-resources (JD-R) theory, a comprehensive model of the determinants of salesperson new product selling outcomes is proposed. Existing empirical support for the proposed model is then assessed through a detailed review of published empirical studies. The results of this comparative process reveal research is needed that (1) explores important causal linkages implied by JD-R theory that have not been considered in previous research (e.g., new product selling demands → burnout → outcomes); (2) proceeds from a more robust understanding of the factors relevant to new product selling situations, including an expanded array of selling demands (e.g., balancing of new and old products), selling resources (e.g., customer orientation), and selling outcomes (e.g., customer satisfaction); and (3) employs growth (e.g., new product burnout growth) and multisource (e.g., customer and salesperson perceptions) data to improve understanding of the determinants of new product selling outcomes. Aside from fully explicating these knowledge needs, this effort contributes to the literature by advancing a JD-R-based integrative framework for research in this domain, recasting new product selling as a multifaceted job demand, and by presenting one of the first applications of JD-R theory within a sales context.

The application of mobile fNIRS to “shopper neuroscience” – first insights from a merchandising communication study

Purpose This study is the first to examine consumer’s neural reaction to different merchandising communication strategies at the point-of-sale (PoS) by applying functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS). By doing so, the purpose of this study is to extend consumer neuroscience to retail and shopper research. Design/methodology/approach Two experiments were conducted in which 36 shoppers were exposed to a realistic grocery shopping scenario while their brain haemodynamics were measured using mobile fNIRS. Findings Results revealed that mobile fNIRS appears a valid method to study neural activation of the prefrontal cortex (PFC) in the field of “shopper neuroscience”. More precisely, results demonstrated that the orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) might be crucial for processing and predicting merchandising communication strategy effectiveness. Research limitations/implications This research gives evidence that certain regions of the PFC, in particular the OFC and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (dlPFC), are crucial to process and evaluate merchandising communication strategies. Practical implications The current work opens a promising new avenue for studying and understanding shopper’s behaviour. Mobile fNIRS enables marketing management to collect neural data from shoppers and analyse neural activity associated with real-life settings. Furthermore, based on a better understanding of shoppers’ perceptual processes of communication strategies, marketers can design more effective merchandising communication strategies. Originality/value The study is the first to implement the innovative, mobile neuroimaging method of fNIRS to a PoS setting. It, therefore, opens up the promising field of “shopper neuroscience”.

Why and When Do Firm–Customer Relationships Lead to Competitive Advantage? An Abstract

Scholars and managers widely agree that relationships between firms and their customers are important and beneficial to relationship partners (e.g., Corsten and Kumar 2005; Ulaga and Eggert 2006; Wong et al. 2010). Business-to-business relationships have even been suggested as locus of competitive advantage (Hakansson and Snehota 1995; Jap 1999). Thus, firms should develop the ability to manage their relationships as strategic assets (Johnson et al. 2004). The strategy literature has identified success factors of relational rents. Particularly Dyer and Singh (1998), were first to propose a relational view and identify five success factors of competitive advantage. Taking key account management’s perspective we ask: Are key customer relationships managed along these factors? Managers experience that strategic relationships do not live up to their full potential. In a recent study among BtB firms, over 40 % of respondents faced challenges to keep their strategic partnerships active and mutually rewarding (The CMO Council 2014). Obviously, firms vary in their ability to create and preserve the advantages obtained in key customer relationships. Accordingly, we ask: What are the success factors of firm-customer relationships that lead to firms’ competitive advantage? Are there conditions that facilitate or hinder the effectiveness of these success factors? While an answer to these questions is an important prerequisite for firms to manage their customer relationships as strategic assets, prior research has largely neglected to address this issue.

Emotion in sales performance: affective orientation and need for cognition and the mediating role of motivation to work

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether and under what condition does affective orientation (AO) drive salesperson performance (SP) and whether there is a tradeoff between affective orientation and the need for cognition (NFC). Using career stage theory, this research proposes that emotion is important and that the relationship between AO and SP is conditional and mediated. Design/methodology/approach The hypothesized model is tested using survey data that were collected from 611 attendees at a Midwest regional sales meeting of a national direct selling organization. The model was estimated using 5000 bootstrapped samples drawn to assess the conditional and indirect effects. Findings Our findings reveal that AO increases SP when mediated through motivation to work (MW), but only during the salesperson’s initial stage of their career – their first year. In subsequent career stages, AO’s impact on SP diminishes, while NFC’s impact on SP remains significant regardless of career stage. Res...

Neue Medien im Vertrieb – State of the Art und Potenziale

Im privaten Bereich ist die Nutzung neuer Medien bereits zu einer Selbstverstandlichkeit geworden. Auch immer mehr Unternehmen setzen neue Medien fur die Unternehmenskommunikation ein. Speziell im Vertrieb besitzt der Einsatz neuer Medien ein groses Potenzial. So ermoglichen etwa sogenannte soziale Medien durch ihren Fokus auf Interaktion eine schnelle und einfache Kommunikation mit Kunden und Partnern und konnen insofern den Kundendialog deutlich verbessern.

Sales and Value Creation: A Synthesis and Directions for Future Research

How does the sales organization contribute to the creation of value to a firm and its customers? Understanding sales’ pivotal role in the creation of value has been a long-standing goal of researchers and managers alike (Lindgreen and Wynstra 2005). Taking up the issue in their review of relevant literature, Haas, Snehota, and Corsaro (2011) convincingly argue that prior research has dealt with sales’ value-creating role mostly per assumption and not systematically. Despite of scholars’ extensive focus on sales’ performance outcomes, the two most prominent salesperson behaviors under investigation in the sales literature (i.e., adaptive selling and customer-oriented selling) have been shown to account for only 9% or less of the variance in salesperson performance (Franke and Park 2006). And research that explicitly addresses the question of how the sales function adds value to the customer is still in its infancy. Accordingly, Singh and Koshy reflect (2010, p. 2): “we do not yet know if business-to-business salespersons actually create value in their relationship with customers”.

Forgiveness in Buyer-Seller Relationships Gone Bad

Getting out of a buyer–seller relationship gone bad can be even worse than an ugly divorce, with a multitude of examples for transgressions in business‐to‐business (B2B) relationships making headlines every year. But what happens to the relationship after a transgression has occurred? For example, Karachi Electric Supply Corporation (KESC) threatened to terminate its collaboration with Siemens after accusing the latter of causing substantial losses to the power utility and sabotaging the SAP software used in managerial operations. In the end, however, the two firms decided to put the past behind them and KESC agreed to withdraw all court claims and instead continue the cooperation, thereby reestablishing an atmosphere of understanding and trust between the partners (Dawn 2007; Tribune 2013). Here, the customer decided to forgive the supplier after the transgression and to restore the relationship to its original state. Transgressions are violations of the relationship between at least two partners, e.g., customers and manufacturers or service providers (Tsarenko and Tojib 2011; Beverland et al. 2009), which can lead to dissatisfaction on both sides, and reactions such as negative word of mouth and relationship termination (Bendapudi and Berry 1997). While past research has especially focused on service failure and recovery (e.g., Maxham and Netemeyer 2002) and reinvigorations after transgressions in customer–brand relationships (e.g., Aaker et al. 2004), the impact of forgiveness as a complex social behavioral pattern in interorganizational buyer–seller relationships has not yet been empirically examined. We address this gap by investigating how forgiveness affects the performance and management of a buyer–seller relationship after a transgression.

Building Initial Relationships: The Emerging Tasks of Sales in New Business Development

Contemporary textbooks on sales management acknowledge that the content and task of the sales function varies according to the circumstances, from a simple order taker to the creative selling of intangibles. However, the role of sales in the literature tends to be about the content of the formal sales function in established businesses where the product or service is given and ready to be sold. The role of sales is described as a function that contributes to conceiving, producing, and delivering customer value by understanding customers’ and/or sellers’ needs and fulfilling them with the bundle of goods and services fitting those needs (Weitz & Bradford, 1999). When new products/services are developed, the role of sales is said to be to identify customers’ needs and wants, often in collaboration with the marketing function (Ernst, Hoyer, & Rubsaamen, 2010). At its broadest the scope of the sales function is defined as developing and managing customer relationships (Anderson, 1996; Jackson et al., 1994; Wotruba, 1996).

Wertbasiertes Verkaufen auf Industriegütermärkten

Die Wertorientierung hat in den vergangenen Jahren sowohl in der Marketingpraxis als auch in der Marketingwissenschaft an Bedeutung gewonnen. Obwohl sich Anbieterunternehmen verstarkt bemuhen zu verstehen, welchen Beitrag ihre Produkte zum Unternehmenserfolg der Kunden leisten, treten bei der Implementierung einer wertorientierten Marketingstrategie immer wieder fundamentale Probleme auf. Ein wesentlicher Erfolgsfaktor ist die Verkaufsorganisation. Sie muss die Wertorientierung des Anbieterunternehmens in der Interaktion mit den Kunden umsetzen und mit Leben erfullen. Wie sollte sich ein wertbasierter Verkaufer verhalten? Wie unterscheidet sich das wertbasierte Verkaufen von den traditionellen Verkaufsansatzen? Wie wirkt sich das wertbasierte Verkaufen auf den Verkaufserfolg aus? Diese Fragen werden in dem vorliegenden Beitrag erortert.

Acht Erfolgsfaktoren der Vertriebsführung

Wie konnen Unternehmen die Fuhrung ihres Vertriebs verbessern? Und welche Aspekte sind fur eine effektive Vertriebsfuhrung erfolgskritisch? Diesen Fragen wird im Folgenden auf Basis aktueller Studien nachgegangen. Dabei werden acht Bereiche thematisiert, deren Kenntnis fur das erfolgreiche Vertriebsmanagement von besonderer Bedeutung ist.