Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Salesperson impression and strategy formation

  • Published:
Marketing Letters Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Personal selling is one of the most expensive, and for many companies, one of the most important elements of the marketing mix. Salesperson adaptivity is an especially important element of salesperson performance. The purpose of this research was to explore factors that may influence salespersons' adaptivity during the impression-formation and strategy formulation stages of the selling process. We found that the positioning of the product offered for sale by the salesperson affected the impression formed of the customer's need for quality and subsequently affected the selection of selling objectives. This suggests that a salesperson's adaptivity to a specific selling situation may be influenced by the impression formed of the customer's needs and constrained by the characteristics of the product.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Churchill, Gilbert A., Jr., Neil M. Ford, Steven W. Hartley, and Orville C. Walker, Jr. (1985). “The Determinants of Salesperson Performance: A Meta-Analysis,”Journal of Marketing Research 22 (May), 103–118.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fiske, Susan T., and Shelley E. Taylor. (1991).Social Cognition New York: McGraw-Hill.

    Google Scholar 

  • Huber, Joel, and John W. McCann. (1982). “The Impact of Inferential Beliefs on Product Evaluations,”Journal of Marketing Research 19 (August), 324–333.

    Google Scholar 

  • Jaccard, James, and Gregory Wood. (1988). “The Effects of Incomplete Information on the Formation of Attitudes Toward Behavioral Alternatives,”Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 54(4), 580–591.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ross, Jr., William T., and Elizabeth H. Creyer. (1992). “Making Inferences About Missing Information: The Effects of Existing Information,”Journal of Consumer Research 19(1), 14–26.

    Google Scholar 

  • Saxe, Robert, and Barton J. Weitz. (1982). “The SOCO Scale: A Measure of the Customer Orientation of Salespeople,”Journal of Marketing Research 19 (August), 343–351.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sujan, Harish. (1988). “Communicating Effectively to Consumers Through Salespeople: An Overview of This Special Session.” In Michael J. Houston (ed.)Advances in Consumer Research, vol. 15, pp. 372–374. Provo, UT: Association for Consumer Research.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sujan, Harish, Mita Sujan, and James R. Bettman. (1988). “Knowledge Structure Differences Between More Effective and Less Effective Salespeople,”Journal of Marketing Research 24 (February), 81–86.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weitz, Barton A. (1978). “The Relationship Between Salesperson Performance and Understanding Consumer Decision Making,”Journal of Marketing Research 15 (November), 501–516.

    Google Scholar 

  • ——. (1981). “Effectiveness in Sales Interactions: A Contingency Framework,”Journal of Marketing 45 (Winter), 85–103.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weitz, Barton A., Harish Sujan, and Mita Sujan. (1986). “Knowledge, Motivation, and Adaptive Behavior: A Framework for Improving Selling Effectiveness,”Journal of Marketing 50 (October), 174–191.

    Google Scholar 

  • Weitz, Barton A., and Peter Wright. (1979). “The Salesperson as a Marketing Strategist: The Relationship between Field Sales Performance and Insight about One's Customers.” In Richard P. Bagozzi (ed.),Sales Management: New Developments from Behavioral and Decision Model Research (pp. 202–229). Cambridge, MA: Marketing Science Institute.

    Google Scholar 

  • Wise, Gordon L. (1974). “Differential Pricing and Treatment by New Car Salesmen: The Effects of Prospects's Race, Sex, and Dress,”Journal of Business 47 (April), 218–230.

    Google Scholar 

  • Woodside, Arch G., and Davenport, William J. (1974), “The Effect of Salesman Similarity and Expertise on Consumer Purchasing Behavior,”Journal of Marketing Research 11 (May), 198–202.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business Administration, University of Iowa, Pappajohn Business Administration Building, 52242, Iowa City, IA

    Elizabeth H. Creyer (Assistant Professor of Marketing)

  2. Department of Marketing, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

    William T. Ross Jr. (Assistant Professor)

Authors
  1. Elizabeth H. Creyer
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. William T. Ross Jr.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Both authors contributed equally to the project; order of authorship was determined arbitrarily. The authors wish to thank Erin Anderson, C. Samuel Craig, Avijit Ghosh, and Thomas Robertson for comments on a previous version.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Creyer, E.H., Ross, W.T. Salesperson impression and strategy formation. Marketing Letters 5, 225–234 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00993901

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00993901

Key words

Search

Navigation