Janet E. Keith

The Relative Importance of Various Promotional Elements in Different Industrial Purchase Situations

Abstract The relative importance of various promotional elements such as personal selling, trade shows, sales promotions, direct mail, technical literature and trade advertising is examined across five different product types and three different buyclasses. A study of industrial purchasing agents indicated that the relative importance of the promotional elements varied across products but not across buyclasses. Results are discussed and recommendations are made for viewing the importance of promotional elements.

The Effect of Relational Exchange Between the Service Provider and the Customer on the Customer's Perception of Value

ABSTRACT This study examines how the nature of the relationship between a service provider and a customer affects the customers perception of service value. Drawing from relational exchange theory, we suggest that service provider/customer relationships characterized as more relational enhance the customers perceptions of value directly and through the mediating effect of the customers perceived risk. Further, we propose that the customers perception of value increases future patronage intentions, mediated by customer satisfaction and dependence. We apply relational exchange theory to explain relationships from the customers perspective in three different services contexts. The results of an empirical study of customers in three different services contexts generally support the model. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.

Selling Strategies: The Effects of Suggesting a Decision Structure to Novice and Expert Buyers

This research investigates the impact of selling strategies on selling effectiveness. The authors compare two selling strategies: (1) an agenda strategy, in which a salesperson attempts to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision by suggesting constraints that eliminate competitive products from consideration, and (2) a more typical selling strategy that summarizes the target product’s benefits. The results show that when sellers use an agenda selling strategy, target products receive higher evaluations and have higher probabilities of being considered and chosen. Buyer expertise moderates this effect, with the agenda strategy in most cases having more impact on novice buyers than on expert buyers. These findings demonstrate the importance of selling strategy to selling effectiveness, suggest the potential benefit for sellers of using selling strategies that attempt to influence the structure of the buyer’s decision, and provide support for the contingent nature of selling effectiveness.

Examining the Use of Team Selling by Manufacturers’ Representatives: A Situational Approach

Abstract Because of their boundary-spanning nature, manufacturers’ representatives frequently are involved in team selling. The results from a survey of 362 manufacturers’ representatives indicates that team selling is more likely to be used by manufacturers’ representatives when the customer faces a first-time buy of a complex product, when the information needs of the customer are great, when the account requires special treatment, and when a number of people are involved in the decision to buy. In addition, team selling is more likely when the potential sale is large for the representative firm and when the product is new to the representative’s product line.

Buyer–seller relationships and selling effectiveness: the moderating influence of buyer expertise and product competitive position

Abstract A field experiment using computer-interactive interviews tested the effects of buyer–seller relationships on selling effectiveness in the context of an individual purchase decision. Within interviews, organizational buyers responded to simulated sales calls from copier salespeople. Results show that when these buyers are in a relational exchange with a seller (as opposed to a discrete exchange), they evaluate that sellers product more highly and are more likely to consider and choose the sellers product for purchase. The relationships positive effects on product evaluation and consideration are stronger for novice buyers than for expert buyers. While expert buyers seem less likely than novices to alter their product judgments and decisions because of a relationship, salespeople may still experience a relational advantage with experts as long as these sellers recommend products with strong competitive positions. Results support the importance of the buyer–seller relationship to selling effectiveness and reveal that some of the positive effects of a relationship are contingent on both the buyers expertise and the product that is represented.

Purchasing agents' perceived importance of marketing mix components in different industrial purchase situations

Little is known about how industrial buyers evaluate the importance of various components of a vendor’s marketing mix across different purchase situations. However, the importance of product, price, distribution, and promotion efforts may vary across different products and buy classes. To examine this assumption, a systematic role-playing study of 254 industrial purchasing executives was conducted. Results of the analysis suggest that relations among the marketing mix components vary by product type and buy class.

The Measurement of Influence Strategies in Distribution Channels

Abstract This paper reports the results of two studies undertaken to develop multiple item measures of sixteen influence strategies identified by Frazier and Sheth (1985). Two studies were conducted to assess the reliability and validity of the scales. The first study involved industrial purchasing managers from the Purchasing Management Association of the Carolinas-Virginia. The second study involved retail buyers. Overall, the measures demonstrated reasonable construct validity. The measures have adequate reliability and unidimensionality as well as strong content and convergent validity. Finally, the measures demonstrate acceptable nomological validity.

The Channels Manager: Now, Soon or Never?:

This paper examines the adoption and viability of the channels manager concept in large manufacturing organizations. Results of a survey indicate that only 14 percent of respondents have a channels manager position within their companies. However, these respondents from companies with a channels manager position strongly support the establishment of the position within their own company and within other large companies. Among all respondents, executives tend to reject the need for a channels manager position within their own organizations, and estimate that the likelihood of implementation of the position within their company is low. The major impediment to implementation is concern about proliferation of organizational positions and cost of implementation.The study indicates that the channels manager position is still more a concept than a reality. However, favorable views of those respondents representing firms with a channels manager position suggest the concept does have potential value in certain types of companies.