Recognizing the rapid advances in sales digitization and artificial intelligence technologies, we develop concepts, priorities, questions to help guide future research practice field of personal selling management. Our analysis reveals that influence digitalization which include intelligence, is likely be more significant far reaching than previous technologies. To organize our this influence, discuss opportunities threats technologies pose for (a) profession terms its contribution creating...

Prior research has firmly established that consumers draw benefits from a firm's engagement in corporate social responsibility (CSR), especially the feeling of “warm glow.” These positively affect several desirable outcomes, such as willingness to pay and customer loyalty. The authors propose do not blindly perceive CSR but tend suspect prices include markup finance engagement. Taking customers’ benefit perceptions price inferences into account, suggest mixed effects on consumers’ evaluation...

Managerial and academic literature provide only limited guidance on how to drive the digital transformation of sales. This article presents a model for in-depth analysis sales processes, goals each process in terms effectiveness efficiency, structured set responses. For managers, it provides actionable guidelines sales, large inspiring examples, an international benchmarking opportunity.

This article is the first to empirically examine effect of customer loyalty in retail price negotiations. Across three field studies and one negotiation experiment, authors establish what they call “loyalty–discount cycle”: negotiations with salespeople, loyal customers receive deeper discounts that, turn, increase loyalty, resulting a downward spiral company's enforcement. The reason for positive on discount twofold: (1) demand reward their invoke elevated perceived power, (2) retain...

The concept of customer centricity is frequently debated by sales and marketing researchers practitioners. However, to date no validated scale exists that measures what extent customers perceive companies as centric. Against this backdrop, drawing on prior literature, qualitative interviews, a survey (N = 246), the authors develop validate measurement for perceived centricity. In addition, using matched financial data from industrial 1,089), examine antecedents consequences Results show...

Positive effects of incentives on salespeople’s motivation, effort, and performance are well-established in literature. This article takes a novel look at their influence health. The results four empirical studies, including more than 1,400 salespeople, suggest that an increasing variable compensation share (i.e., greater pay-for-performance component plans) increases stress, resulting emotional exhaustion sick days. These outcomes likely for salespeople with lower personal ability fewer...

The digital transformation of organizations is a pervasive force which fundamentally changes companies and, in fact, society as whole. For many companies, the sales at center this seeing essential role salespeople customer-company interface and exceptional quantifiability salespeople's work outputs inputs. New, cutting-edge technologies such predictive analytics, virtual or augmented reality, AI bots hold promise significant productivity gains, yet, simultaneously may entail insidious side...

Extant research established that customers’ expectations play an ambivalent role in the satisfaction formation process: While higher are more difficult to meet and thus cause dissatisfaction, they simultaneously increase via perceived performance owing a placebo effect. However, date, knowledge is scarce on question under which conditions either positive or negative effect of prevails. Building information processing theory, authors hypothesize essential contingency indirect, placebo-based...

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 (coronavirus) outbreak a pandemic. In following days, media reports showed that consumers increasingly stockpiled groceries and household supplies. Interestingly, behavioral data show this stockpiling exhibited considerable heterogeneity across countries. Building on cultural dimension theory, authors theorize can be explained by countries’ values: consumer after Organization's announcement was more pronounced in countries...

As companies expand their international footprint, insight regarding how to effectively organize selling and sales management (ISSM) efforts is becoming increasingly important. Unfortunately, most prior research on personal grounded in a domestic market perspective, which limits the relevance of its findings situations activities occur between stakeholders located different national markets. This special issue responds need for dedicated ISSM through six articles that explore phenomena...

The concept of adaptive selling has been firmly established as a key driver salespeople's performance. To measure selling, studies commonly use generic items that capture the extent to which salespeople adapt their behaviors customers. Despite predictive validity these items, personal and sales research community criticized because high item scores do not reveal specifically how what behaviors. This note aims instigate academic discussion on questions by providing first exploratory analysis...

Personal relationships between salespeople and customers are essential for the success of business-to-business relationships, research has shown that a change salesperson can severely harm financial performance. However, such interpersonal relationship disruptions may also have positive effects by encouraging vitalizing reexplorations relationship. Using multilevel loyalty theory life cycle theory, authors offer comprehensive conceptualization potentially countervailing consequences...

Abstract Given the pervasive ubiquity of data, sales practice is moving rapidly into an era predictive analytics, using quantitative methods, including machine learning algorithms, to reveal unknown information, such as customers’ personality, value, or churn probabilities. However, many organizations face difficulties when implementing analytics applications. This article elucidates these by developing PSAA model—a conceptual framework that explains how (PSA) applications support employees’...

Sales managers are unlikely to reap the benefits of implementing predictive analytics applications when salespeople show aversion or lack understanding these applications. For managers, it is essential understand which factors mitigate exacerbate challenges. This article investigates by studying implementation an application that predicts customer churn. Using 9.7 million transactions from a business-to-business company, authors develop model churn, implement in field experiment, and study...

Abstract Consumers care about the fairness of companies both in terms corporate social responsibility (CSR) engagement and prices. However, interplay between these domains is not yet well understood. Therefore, this study examines how consumers’ perceptions CSR affect their perceived price following a increase. Drawing on cue‐utilization expectancy disconfirmation theory, authors propose that exacerbates negative effect increase fairness, because increases expectations which are violated...

Customers would frequently benefit from changes to an existing purchase contract with a supplier (e.g., due wrong order). Salespeople can voluntarily make such change, which we label “customer-centric change.” Formally, define customer-centric change as act of salesperson amending the in customer’s favor without legal obligation do so. Since literature has neglected this prevalent and important phenomenon, draw on social exchange theory study impact relationship performance. Toward end,...