While earlier studies have discussed such individual factors as motivation, retention, and productivity as they relate to effective and productive sales force management, organizational factors, such as organizational development interventions, are also critical in developing salespeople and identifying their value, and have not been sufficiently studied. In response to the research gap, this study presents a salesperson lifecycle management model for identifying and optimizing salespersons’ value using effective and productive organizational development interventions. Such organizational development interventions should be proven valid for recognizing the proper alignment of people strategies with organizational goals. Surprisingly, this important aspect of sales management has not gained serious attention thus far. To fill the research gap, this study develops a quantitative basis that measures salesperson value and salesperson lifetime value for identifying an optimal organizational development intervention decision. To address the research objective, this study conducts a simulation with four different organizational development investment strategies and, under each strategy, three different sales performance types. This study also empirically tests the quantitative basis developed in the study two with an actual salesperson performance data from one of global consumer financing company and finds that sales organizations can utilize the quantitative basis for effective and productive organizational development intervention strategies.

While earlier studies have discussed such individual factors as motivation, retention, and productivity as they relate to effective and productive sales force management, organizational factors, such as organizational development interventions, are also critical in developing salespeople and identifying their value, and have not been sufficiently studied. In response to the research gap, this study presents a salesperson lifecycle management model for identifying and optimizing salespersons’ value using effective and productive organizational development interventions. Such organizational development interventions should be proven valid for recognizing the proper alignment of people strategies with organizational goals. Surprisingly, this important aspect of sales management has not gained serious attention thus far. To fill the research gap, this study develops a quantitative basis that measures salesperson value and salesperson lifetime value for identifying an optimal organizational development intervention decision. To address the research objective, this study conducts a simulation with four different organizational development investment strategies and, under each strategy, three different sales performance types. This study also empirically tests the quantitative basis developed in the study two with an actual salesperson performance data from one of global consumer financing company and finds that sales organizations can utilize the quantitative basis for effective and productive organizational development intervention strategies.

According to the well-known human resource service provider, Internet¡¦s 104¡¥s surveys indicate that the most popular job vacancy with freshmen whom enterprises want to recruit is that of salesperson. Salespeople have long working hours and high performance pressure, resulting in a high turnover rate, which is the reason why enterprises constantly need more salespeople. Besides this, according to reviews of the real estate industry, half of real estate brokers quit their job after having worked for a mere six months. Why do so many brokers quit their job? And, what¡¦s the difference between the broker who is still in the industry and the one out of it? What skills do the brokers need to prosper in the industry? This research uses narrative analysis to explore the views of real estate brokers on work, the difference between the incumbent brokers and the quit-forever brokers, the reasons why real estate brokers quit their job, and the skills the incumbent brokers need to live on in this industry. The results of this research are as follows: First, the views of real estate brokers on work. Second, although the incumbent brokers and the quit-forever brokers have the same views on the work, but they have different attitudes towards their work. Third, the reason they quit their job is usually related to ethics. Forth, the skills of the incumbent brokers appear to be inadequate. Fifth, incumbent brokers develop their skills through learning from experience. (learning on the job).

This dissertation examines the role of different types of salesperson behaviors on building and managing customer equity drivers. It is proposed that customers develop positive attitudes towards different value drivers through developed trust by different salesperson behaviors. Specifically, it is hypothesized that customer trust effects customers’ perceptions of brand value, product value and relationship value; the customer trust in turn is affected by different salesperson behaviors, namely, adaptive selling, customer oriented, selling oriented and un/ethical behaviors. Thus, this dissertation integrates selling behaviors literature with customer equity literature. This dissertation builds on past literature and proposes a conceptual model using nine different constructs representing three broader constructs, Selling behaviors, Customer trust and Customer equity drivers: Adaptive selling behavior, Selling orientation – Customer orientation (SOCO) behaviors and Un/ethical selling behavior, Customer trust with salesperson and selling firm, Value equity, Relationship equity and Brand equity. Descriptive research design is used for investigating the role of customer trust as a mediator in the relationships between selling behaviors and customer equity drivers. The research design uses a dyadic sampling design where data for independent variables, selling behaviors and customer trust, is collected from insurance customers in St.Louis metropolitan area and the data for dependent variables, customer equity drivers, is collected from insurance salespeople. Structural equation modeling is used to analyze the data. The results support the mediational role of trust in the relationship between selling behaviors and customer equity drivers. They also support the hypothesis that different selling behaviors have different effects on customer equity drivers. This research provides significant theoretical and managerial implications. It provides the existing body of literature with a different perspective on customer equity management. Managerially, it provides newer insights to sales managers of the effects of relational selling behaviors. This research also introduces a newer way to investigate selling behaviors by using a second order construct, relational selling behavior.

Healthy buyer-seller relationships are seen as a source of buyers’ satisfaction, commitment and loyalty. However, creating fruitful relationships with buyers is not always simple and straightforward for salespersons, especially when they seek to establish relationships with buyers from different cultures. Given the challenging nature of intercultural interaction, it becomes imperative for salespersons to identify the behaviours that will best suit such relationships. There is much evidence that salespersons frequently adopt acculturation behaviours in order to build relationships with buyers from different cultures, however the study of acculturation behaviours, though not unknown to marketing scholars, has not been well explored in relationship marketing domains. Studies on the impact of acculturation behaviours from the viewpoint of salespersons are particularly non-existent. The present study examines the limited available literature on this subject, and attempts to develop a better understanding of the concept of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours by proposing a model that explains the relationship between salespersons’ acculturation behaviours and buyers’ satisfaction as well as commitment in the banking context. The hypotheses are empirically tested in the present study by using appropriate statistical techniques. Results of the study indicate that the hypothesised model of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours fits the data well. The hypotheses focus on four dimensions of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours: assimilation, separation, integration and marginalisation. All of these dimensions, excluding separation, show an inter-relationship among the variables of the model and are confirmed with the right significance. Separation is not examined closely within the study as by its nature it is itself exclusionary of any form of interaction with buyers. Findings from the study indicate however that integration and assimilation positively affect buyers’ satisfaction, whereas marginalisation is negatively associated with buyers’ satisfaction. The results also reveal that buyers’ satisfaction has a mediation effect on the relationships between assimilation, integration, marginalisation and buyers’ commitment. The model also includes the constructs of interaction intensity, which is positively related to buyers’ satisfaction and buyers’ commitment. This study can be considered as an important step in establishing the linkage between salespersons’ acculturation behaviours and buyers’ satisfaction and commitment. It establishes that salespersons’ acculturation is needed to perform better and create sustainable intercultural interaction.

Healthy buyer-seller relationships are seen as a source of buyers’ satisfaction, commitment and loyalty. However, creating fruitful relationships with buyers is not always simple and straightforward for salespersons, especially when they seek to establish relationships with buyers from different cultures. Given the challenging nature of intercultural interaction, it becomes imperative for salespersons to identify the behaviours that will best suit such relationships. There is much evidence that salespersons frequently adopt acculturation behaviours in order to build relationships with buyers from different cultures, however the study of acculturation behaviours, though not unknown to marketing scholars, has not been well explored in relationship marketing domains. Studies on the impact of acculturation behaviours from the viewpoint of salespersons are particularly non-existent. The present study examines the limited available literature on this subject, and attempts to develop a better understanding of the concept of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours by proposing a model that explains the relationship between salespersons’ acculturation behaviours and buyers’ satisfaction as well as commitment in the banking context. The hypotheses are empirically tested in the present study by using appropriate statistical techniques. Results of the study indicate that the hypothesised model of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours fits the data well. The hypotheses focus on four dimensions of salespersons’ acculturation behaviours: assimilation, separation, integration and marginalisation. All of these dimensions, excluding separation, show an inter-relationship among the variables of the model and are confirmed with the right significance. Separation is not examined closely within the study as by its nature it is itself exclusionary of any form of interaction with buyers. Findings from the study indicate however that integration and assimilation positively affect buyers’ satisfaction, whereas marginalisation is negatively associated with buyers’ satisfaction. The results also reveal that buyers’ satisfaction has a mediation effect on the relationships between assimilation, integration, marginalisation and buyers’ commitment. The model also includes the constructs of interaction intensity, which is positively related to buyers’ satisfaction and buyers’ commitment. This study can be considered as an important step in establishing the linkage between salespersons’ acculturation behaviours and buyers’ satisfaction and commitment. It establishes that salespersons’ acculturation is needed to perform better and create sustainable intercultural interaction.

This research examines the effects of consumer motivation during an interpersonal sales encounter. The research proposes that a consumer's motivational mind-set affects the consumer's cognitive appraisal of the salesperson and the consumer's subsequent emotional response. Of primary interest is the interaction between a consumer's motivation and a salesperson's behavior. A main thesis of this research is that a congruency mechanism operates between the consumer and the salesperson during a sales encounter. Depending on the consumer's mind-set and the behavioral orientation of the salesperson either a congruent or an incongruent situation will be perceived by the consumer. Based on the congruency mechanism it is proposed that cognitive appraisals concerning goal facilitation will arise that will subsequently trigger specific emotional responses and behavioral outcomes. / Ph. D.

Downstream channel allowances involve the practice of selling firms making payments to customers in exchange for distribution of a product. Such transactions occur most frequently in a business-to-business exchange. Although various forms of channel allowances have been investigated over the past three decades, the literature is lacking in guidance regarding whether or not, and to what extent, the salesperson should control these payments. Relying on the theoretical underpinnings of cognitive evaluation theory, this dissertation takes the initial step in understanding the effects of customer perceptions of salesperson control over allowances, with special attention to the impact on the customer-salesperson relationship. A key finding of this study is that high perceived salesperson control (from the customer‘s perspective) has moderation effects in relation to customer loyalty and salesperson performance. An explanation is offered for the unexpected findings followed by a discussion of the implications for theory, managers, and future research in the area of channel allowances.

Genetic Algorithms (GAs) can be easily applied to many different problems since they make few assumptions about the application domain and perform relatively well. They can also be modified with some success for handling a particular problem. The travelling salesperson problem (TSP) is a famous NP-hard problem in combinatorial optimization. As a result it has no known polynomial time solution. The aim of this dissertation will be to investigate the application of a number of GAs to the TSP. These results will be compared with those of traditional solutions to the TSP and with the results of other applications of the GA to the TSP. / Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 1996.

Diversas formas de interação entre consumidor e vendedor podem ocorrer durante a prestação do serviço no varejo. Os vendedores buscam por locais de trabalho que os valorizem e propiciem o desenvolvimento adequado do serviço ao consumidor, assim garantindo a qualidade na interação com o cliente. Os clientes, por sua vez, possuem cada vez mais informações para sua decisão de compra, e buscam por varejistas que entendam seu perfil e necessidades, além de vendedores que atendam suas expectativas durante a venda. Entre eles as interações no varejo podem ocorrer através da abordagem, comunicação e atendimento, distância e contato físico, interação com a loja e outros participantes, e variam de acordo com os diferentes perfis e culturas. A complexidade dos comportamentos e preferências desses agentes, aliado à evolução do mercado, e aos poucos estudos no assunto, tornam relevante compreender como esses agentes interagem no ambiente do varejo, especificamente no segmento do surfwear, que é o objetivo desta pesquisa. Para tal propósito a revisão da literatura abordou os seguintes tópicos: o ambiente de serviços, a variável humana no ambiente de serviços e os tipos de interação entre vendedores e consumidores no varejo. Foram observadas 40 interações entre os consumidores e funcionários da loja, e realizadas entrevistas semiestruturadas com 31 clientes e 10 vendedores envolvidos no momento do serviço. Os dados foram coletados em três lojas pertencentes ao mesmo varejista nas cidades de São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro e Porto Alegre. Os principais achados sugerem que as interações não possuem uma sequência lógica de acontecimento, mas indicam que em relação à abordagem, os consumidores frequentemente são abordados na entrada da loja, e quanto ao atendimento e comunicação, eles valorizam ser chamados pelo nome e a qualidade do conteúdo presente no discurso do vendedor. Na distância e contato físico, preferem manter uma distância social dos funcionários, sem muito toque ou contato, e na interação com a loja, são mais detalhistas com relação ao ambiente e interagem pouco quando há foco na compra, assim como não se preocupam quando percebem que há outras pessoas no mesmo ambiente. Por fim, foram discutidos os principais achados de acordo com a literatura consultada, propostas ações de melhorias para os varejistas do segmento e sugeridas pesquisas futuras para maior compreensão dos fatores identificados neste trabalho. / Various forms of interaction between consumer and seller may occur during the provision of service at retail. Salespeople are looking for workplaces that value and conducive to the proper development of customer service, thus ensuring the quality of customer interaction. Customers, in turn, have more and more information for their buying decision, and look for retailers who understand their profile and needs, as well as vendors that meet your expectations during the sale. According to the literature review, the retail interactions can occur through the approach, communication and attendance, distance and physical contact, store interaction and other participants, and may vary according to the different profiles and cultures. The complexity of the behaviors and preferences of these agents, together with the evolution of the market, and few studies on the subject, make it important to understand how consumer and salesperson interact in the retail environment, specifically in surfwear segment, which is the goal of this research. For this purpose the literature review addressed the following topics: the service environment, the human variable in the service environment and the types of interaction between salespeople and consumers at retail. 40 interactions between consumers and store employees were observed and conducted semi-structured interviews with 31 customers and 10 salespeople involved at the time of service in three stores belonging to the same retailer in the cities of São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre. The main findings suggest that interactions do not have a logical sequence of events, but indicates that consumers are often approached in the store entrance, value when they are called by name and the quality of content in the discourse of the salesperson, prefer to keep a social distance of employees without much touch or physical contact, are more detail oriented with respect to the store environment and usually do not realize when there are other people in the store. Finally, we discussed the main findings according to the literature, as well as proposed improvement actions for the segment of retailers and suggested future research for greater understanding of the factors identified in this study.