salesperson performance behavior role perceptions and satisfaction

salesperson performance behavior role perceptions and satisfaction www.AssignmentPoint.com

Is the Product or the Seller the Key to Market Share? The Chally World Class Sales Database (2007) sought to answer those question. Analyzing data from over 17,000 customers in more than 15 different industries, Chally developed an overall rating of the vendor company, an overall rating of the sales representative, and the percent of total purchases from a particular supplier over a three-year period. We might call this third measure the "share of wallet". The goal of a company and salesperson is to be the only supplier to a customer, with 100 percent of the business. The data was analyzed to determine what variables (which specific salesperson skills or vendor factors) account for the most "share of customer's wallet." The results found that the salesperson is more important than the product's price, quality or feature and options. Interestingly, customers perceive an interaction between the effect of salesperson and their company that is not accounted for by the salesperson or company individually. This means that although a salesperson is slightly more important than company, when we consider company and salesperson together, the effect of the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. Put another way, the company and the salesperson were both important, but there was synergy if both were strong. www.AssignmentPoint.com

LEARNING OBJECTIVES • Understand the model of salesperson performance. • Identify the various components that make up the model. • Discuss the rope perception process. • Understand why the role of salesperson is susceptible to role issues. • Discuss how role conflict, role ambiguity, and role accuracy influence a salesperson's role perceptions. www.AssignmentPoint.com

Understanding the model of salesperson performance is extremely important to the sales manager because almost everything he or she does can influence it. For example:- The way the sales manager organizes and deploys the sales force can affect salespeople's perceptions of the job. - How the manager selects salespeople and the kind of training they receive can affect the aptitude and skill of sales personnel.- The compensation program and the way it is administered can influence motivation levels and overall sales performance. UNDERSTANDING SALESPERSON PERFORMANCE-WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR SALES MANAGEMENT? www.AssignmentPoint.com

The Role Perceptions Component: The role perceptions component of the model has three dimensions: role accuracy, perceived role conflict, and perceived role ambiguity. The term role accuracy refers to the degree to which the salesperson's perceptions of his or her role partners' demands-particularly those of company superiors-are accurate. Perceived role conflict arises when a salesperson believes the role demands of two or more of his or her role partners are incompatible. Thus, the individual cannot possibly satisfy them all at the same time. A salesperson suffers from role conflict, for example, when a customer demands a delivery schedule or credit terms the sales rep believes will be unacceptable to company superiors. Perceived role ambiguity occurs when salespeople believe they do not have the information necessary to [perform the job adequately. The salespeople may be uncertain about what some role partners expect of them in certain situations, how they should satisfy those expectations, or how their performance will be evaluated and rewarded.The Aptitude Component: First motivation refers to the salesperson's desire to expend effort on very specific sales tasks such as calling on new accounts or preparing sales presentations, and it varies by sales position (experienced key account managers need to accomplish different tasks than new-account salespeople). Second, aptitude may affect performance in more ways than by simply moderating an individual's ability to do the job. It may also affect the salesperson's motivation to perform. Model of the determinants of a salesperson's performance www.AssignmentPoint.com

The Skill-Level Component: Skill level refers to the individual's learned proficiency at performing the necessary tasks and include such learned abilities as interpersonal, skills, leadership, technical knowledge, and presentation skills. The salesperson's past selling experience and the extensiveness and content of the firm's sales training programs influence skill level.The Motivation Component: Motivation is viewed as the amount of effort the salesperson desires to expand on each activity or task associated with the job. These activities include calling on existing and potential new accounts, developing and delivering sales presentations, and filling out orders and reports. The salesperson's motivation to expend effort on any tasks seems to be a function of the individual's (1) expectancies and (2) valences for performance. Expectancies are the salesperson's estimates of the probability that expending effort on a specific task will lead to improved performance on some specific dimension. For example, will increasing the number of calls made on potential new accounts lead to increased sales? Valences for performance are the salesperson's perceptions of the desirability of attaining improved performance on some dimension or dimensions. For example, does the salesperson find increased sales attractive? The Personal, Organizational, and Environmental Variables Component: The sales performance model in Exhibit 6.1 suggests that personal, organizational, and environmental variables influence sales performance in two ways: (1) by directly facilitating or constraining performance and (2) by influencing and interacting with the other performance determinants, such as role perceptions and motivation. Model of the determinants of a salesperson's performance www.AssignmentPoint.com

Sportsmanship- Consume a lot of time complaining about trivial problems (lack of sportsmanship). - Tend to make mountains out of molehills-make problems bigger than they are (lack of sportsmanship).- Always focus on what's wrong with my situation rather than the positive side of it (lack of sportsmanship).Civic virtue- Keep up with developments in the company.- Attend functions that are not required but that help the company image. - Risk disapproval in order to express my beliefs about what is best for the company.Conscientiousness- Conscientiously follow company regulations and procedures.- Turn in budgets, sales projections, expense reports, and so on earlier than required. - Return phone calls and respond to other messages and requests for information promptly.Altruism- Help orient new agents even though it is not required.- Always ready to help or lend a helping hand to those around me. - Willingly give of my time to others. Components or organizational citizenship (sample items) www.AssignmentPoint.com

COMPONENTS OF JOB SATISFACTION www.AssignmentPoint.com

Stage 1: Role Partners Communicate ExpectationsFirst, expectations and demands concerning how the salesperson should behave, together with pressures to conform, are communicated to the salesperson by members of that person's role set. The salesperson's role set consists of people with a vested interest in how the representative performs the job.Stage 2: Salespeople Develop PerceptionsThe second part of the role definition process involves the perceived role. This is salespeople's perceptions of the expectations and demands communicated by their role-set members. Salespeople perform according to what they think role-set members expect, even though their perceptions of those expectations may not be accurate. Perceived role ambiguity occurs when representatives do not think they have the necessary information to perform the job adequately.Perceived role conflict exists when a salesperson believes the role demands of two or more members of the role set are incompatible. Perceived role inaccuracy arises when the salesperson's perceptions of the role partners' demands are inaccurate. Stage 3: Salespeople Convert Perceptions into BehaviorsThe final step in the role definition process involves the salesperson's conversion of these role perceptions into actual behavior. Both the salesperson's job behavior and psychological well-being can be affected if there are perceptions of role ambiguity or conflict or if these perceptions are inaccurate. There is a good deal of evidence, for example, that high levels of both perceived ambiguity and conflict are directly related to high mental anxiety and tension and low job satisfaction. STAGES IN DEVELOPING THE SALESPERSON'S ROLE www.AssignmentPoint.com

SALES PERCEPTION OF THE JOB Company Customers Sales Manager Family Salesperson Role expectation: Does role partner expect me to engage in that activity? Role ambiguity: Do I know what role partner expects with regard to that activity? Role conflict: Is there disagreement between two of these role partners over the performance of that activity? Role inaccuracy: Are the salesperson’s perceptions of the demands being place upon him or her correct? www.AssignmentPoint.com

Several characteristics of the salesperson's role make it particularly susceptible to role conflict, role ambiguity, and the development of inaccurate role perceptions:- Salespeople operate at the boundary of the firm.- A salesperson's performance affects the occupants of a large number of other positions.- The salesperson's role changes often, and the role itself is innovative. THE SALESPERSON'S ROLE IS VULNERABLE • Common Expectations and Key Areas of Conflict and Ambiguity • Different role partners emphasize different types of expectation. Salespeople see some role partners as being concerned with what they do- company superiors focus on the functional aspects of the job such as handling back charges and adjustment, expediting orders, and supervising installations. • 2. Perceived role expectations are consistent among salespeople. Salespeople are consistent in their company's expectations as communicated by company superiors and sales managers. • 3. Most business-to business salespeople are plagued by ambiguity concerning some aspect of their job. • 4. Most salespeople perceive conflicts between some company policies or expectations and their customers' demands. Customers are usually seen as demanding more from their salesperson, more services, more honesty, more price concessions, and so forth. www.AssignmentPoint.com

Common activities, performance criteria, and rewards for industrial salespeople www.AssignmentPoint.com

salesperson performance behavior role perceptions and satisfaction