Thomas Brashear Alejandro

Bridging the theory to application gap in value-based selling

Purpose – Increasing pressure to reduce costs and skepticism of promised value‐added are forcing suppliers to produce tangible proof of the monetary value they create for customers. The academic literature on the practical activities related to value‐based selling remains sparse. This paper aims to bridge the gap between the abundant theoretical customer value frameworks and implementation practices to create a practical foundation for value‐based sales activities in firms that aim to become value creators.Design/methodology/approach – Based on two case studies, the authors map the best practices in customer value quantification from the point of view of industrial customers, and study value‐based sales processes to uncover the value‐based sales activities for implementing and profiting from customer value.Findings – The results suggest a customer‐focused sales process that centers on creating value, quantifying the value created, and creating a situation where customer and supplier maximize their utility...

A structural guide to in‐depth interviewing in business and industrial marketing research

Purpose – The authors aim to present a structural guide for data collection in a participant‐oriented, B2B context.Design/methodology/approach – A three‐stage interview process following the work of Seidman is presented, along with key issues on how to plan, structure, and execute a B2B interview‐based hermenuetic ethnographic study.Research limitations/implications – The framework presented in this paper provides strong theoretical foundation for further theory development in global industrial marketing research and managerial cognition research. However, given the conceptual nature of the research, empirical scrutiny and further conceptual and empirical research are required.Originality/value – There is a serious gap in the literature when addressing the issue of B2B contextual studies, focusing on managers, manufacturers, and various other professional personnel.

The role of social capital and knowledge transfer in selling center performance

Purpose – This paper aims to understand how organizational and interpersonal relationships influence selling centers, and how to form an effective selling center to establish cooperation among the functional departments to satisfy customer needs.Design/methodology/approach – The selling center and social capital literatures are reviewed. A social network perspective is employed to explore the internal and external relationships of corporate selling centers.Findings – Building upon social capital literature and team literature, the authors propose that selling center performance is influenced by its internal and external social capital. Social capital influences selling center performance through facilitating knowledge transfer and absorption within and across the selling center.Practical implications – The findings help sales managers diagnose the problems of the social networks among their selling center members, to improve their selling center performance in the future.Originality/value – The paper inve...

Qualitative Methods in International Sales Research: Cross-Cultural Considerations

As the global marketplace continues to change owing to the proliferation of global brands, changing international trade policies, and the rise of consolidated buyer power, the need for cross-cultural sales research continues to increase. International sales research differs from its domestic counterparts because its application to a multitude of cultural environments where comparable, relevant data are oftentimes nonexistent. In a similar vein, the roles, activities, and approaches to sales may vary across markets, which injects bias and confounds the results. Because of this complexity, conducting international sales research requires flexibility and creativity on the part of the researcher. The complexity of the international marketplace, the extreme differences that exist in different countries, and the unfamiliarity of foreign markets demand better information prior to launching costly international marketing and sales strategies. The focus of this paper is to develop a framework and discuss the role of qualitative methods in international sales research. More specifically, the paper focuses on the following key topics: the value of qualitative research, measurement equivalence in cross-cultural sales research, theory testing and building, and cross-cultural issues in conducting international sales research.

Adding services to product-based portfolios

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications for the sales function of the infusion of services by formerly product-based firms. In particular, it aims at identifying the changes that need to be made at the sales-function level if the services are to be successfully sold. Design/methodology/approach – This research is an exploratory qualitative case study. Data were collected by focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with relevant managers in three large multinational companies based in Northern Europe, which were pursuing service-led growth. Findings – The effects of service infusion processes on the sales function could be seen with respect to the three parts of the analytical framework: organization, roles, and competences. The results illustrate the need for a changed perspective with respect to all three parts, if a product-based firm is to be successful in the infusing of associated services into its portfolio of offerings. Analysis of the results identifies key operat...

Adding Services to Product-Based Portfolios: An Exploration of the Implications for the Sales Function

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the implications for the sales function of the infusion of services by formerly product-based firms. In particular, it aims at identifying the changes that need to be made at the sales-function level if the services are to be successfully sold. Design/methodology/approach – This research is an exploratory qualitative case study. Data were collected by focus group discussions and in-depth interviews with relevant managers in three large multinational companies based in Northern Europe, which were pursuing service-led growth. Findings – The effects of service infusion processes on the sales function could be seen with respect to the three parts of the analytical framework: organization, roles, and competences. The results illustrate the need for a changed perspective with respect to all three parts, if a product-based firm is to be successful in the infusing of associated services into its portfolio of offerings. Analysis of the results identifies key operat...

The Role of Channel Orientation in B2B Technology Adoption

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to develop an in‐depth understanding of the issues that organizations consider and experience when making the decision to adopt B2B technologies.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a qualitative approach to collect and analyze data. In‐depth interviews were conducted to help generate new themes, and ideas about B2B technology adoption. After the data were collected, the authors used an elaborate multi‐stage process to code, analyze, and interpret the data generated from the interviews.Findings – The main theme that emerged out of this study is that an organizations response to requests from its trading partner to adopt B2B technologies is highly influenced by its marketing channel orientation. The study identifies three types of marketing channel orientations that can influence a firms technology adoption decision and demonstrates how each of these orientations influence a firms responses and attitudes towards B2B technology adoption.Originality/value – T...

A socio-marketing analysis of the concept of cute and its consumer culture implications:

Cute has become the favored language of (the predominantly female) popular consumer culture. This paper examines the roots of “cute” and its evolution with reference to its relevance to marketers. We follow the cultural appropriation of Japan’s “Kawaii” by the Western “cute”, and introduce a social, marketing-oriented description and analysis of the concept. We present its socio-cultural, experiential, symbolic, and ideological relevance to consumption in general, and to consumer culture theory in particular. This examination steers clear of scientific generalizations prevalent in consumer behavior research and aims, instead, to illuminate the cultural dimensions of the consumption cycle, and allow a better understanding of what it is like to form social attachment and loyalty in the context of cute consumption and consumer culture theory. Especially interesting questions arise regarding the trans-social acculturating elements of cute, as well as the apparent mainstreaming (cultural appropriation) of the cute Asian subculture into the dominant Western consumer and material cultures.

The State of Research Methods in Personal Selling and Sales Management Literature

This study examines the state of research methods in the personal selling and sales management (SALES) literature and assesses the trends and changes in these methods that have taken place in recent decades. The authors examine the research methods described by 1,346 sales articles published in 15 prominent journals over a 29-year period (1980–2008). They compare articles published in Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management with the aggregate of sales articles published in other journals as well as with articles published in Industrial Marketing Management to reveal any common trends or differences. The results indicate some important shifts in the use of research methods in SALES literature as well as significant differences in the research methods published across different research outlets. This paper outlines the implications of the findings and offers suggestions for how the discipline might improve its use of various research tools.

Avaliação de justiça e intenção de turnover em equipes de vendas: teste de um modelo teórico

The theme of justice within in the context of the management of a sales team, albeit important for measuring the relationship and effectiveness of these teams, is little or never explored in Brazil. The main purpose of this work is to understand the relationship between the evaluation of justice in its four-dimensional constitution (informational, procedural, distributive and inter-personal) and the motivation, loyalty and turnover intention of sales teams. The field study was carried out by means of an electronic survey with a final sample of 194 respondents, all sales professionals. One of the academic contributions of the study was to propose a new scale for measuring perceived justice. Another contribution was that of enabling a more in-depth understanding of the multi-dimensional aspects of the perception of justice, loyalty, motivation and turnover intention. In this sense it provided evidence of the perceived justice in the psychological link between the sales team and the company.