Sales Practices Research Articles

Impact of Sales Call Adaptiveness and Customer Willingness on Sales Call Length: A Cross-Country Study of India, China, Korea, and Philippines

ABSTRACTIn this empirical study across four countries (India, China, Korea, and Philippines), we examine the impact of sales call adaptiveness and customer willingness on sales call length (duration) of salespersons in these four countries. Sales call length as well as sales call quality—although important constructs in sales—are still underresearched in the domain of sales management. Our study in these four emerging markets sheds new light on enhancing sales force effectiveness. Using survey data from 847 salespersons in four countries, we analyze using multivariate analysis, and our results suggest that sales force effectiveness can be enhanced by giving them the autonomy to decide the sales call length based on the prospect quality. We also demonstrate that salespeople indulging in sales-oriented behaviors may be detrimental to the long-term relationship with customers. Emphasis on relational sales approaches would reduce sales practices such as pitching products or services to unwilling customers. Our study also highlights the interactive role of customer willingness and sales adaptiveness. We found several inter-country differences across sales practices in four countries, which have several meaningful managerial implications.

In re: Daily Fantasy Sports Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation; In re: DraftKings, Inc., Fantasy Sports Litigation; In re: Fanduel, Inc., Fantasy Sports LitigationCase No. MDL No. 2677, 2678, and 2679; 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13292 (Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, February 4, 2016)

Gaming Law Review and EconomicsVol. 20, No. 4 CasesIn re: Daily Fantasy Sports Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation; In re: DraftKings, Inc., Fantasy Sports Litigation; In re: Fanduel, Inc., Fantasy Sports LitigationCase No. MDL No. 2677, 2678, and 2679; 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13292 (Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, February 4, 2016)Published Online:18 May 2016https://doi.org/10.1089/glre.2016.20416AboutSectionsPDF/EPUB Permissions & CitationsPermissionsDownload CitationsTrack CitationsAdd to favorites Back To Publication ShareShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmail FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsCited byHow to Play Fantasy Sports Strategically (and Win)SSRN Electronic JournalThe Independent Board as ShieldSSRN Electronic JournalAccounting Choices and the Legal Environment: The Impact of the Ex Post Loss RuleSSRN Electronic JournalThe Imitation Game: Structural Asymmetry in Multidistrict LitigationSSRN Electronic JournalCommon Law CopyrightSSRN Electronic Journal, Vol. 128After Halliburton: Event Studies and Their Role in Federal Securities Fraud LitigationSSRN Electronic JournalComparative Corporate Law: Look No FurtherSSRN Electronic JournalHigh Prices in the US for Life Saving Drugs: Collective Bargaining Through Tort Law?SSRN Electronic JournalLiability of the Executive Body of a Joint-Stock Company for Damages Caused to the Company (((((((((((((((( )SSRN Electronic JournalCongressional Testimony on H.R. 2533: 'The Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Venue Reform Act of 2011'SSRN Electronic JournalEstimating Financial Fraud Damages with Response CoefficientsSSRN Electronic JournalOf Myths and Evidence: An Analysis of 40 U.S. Cases for Countries Considering a Private Right of Action for Competition Law ViolationsSSRN Electronic JournalAntitrust Policy and Vertical RestraintsSSRN Electronic JournalBankruptcy Law and Inefficient EntitlementsSSRN Electronic JournalShareholder Litigation Under Indeterminate Corporate LawSSRN Electronic JournalPrivacy Wrongs in Search of RemediesSSRN Electronic JournalHaste Makes Waste: Congress and the Common Law in CyberspaceSSRN Electronic Journal Volume 20Issue 4May 2016 InformationCopyright 2016, Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.To cite this article:In re: Daily Fantasy Sports Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation; In re: DraftKings, Inc., Fantasy Sports Litigation; In re: Fanduel, Inc., Fantasy Sports LitigationCase No. MDL No. 2677, 2678, and 2679; 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 13292 (Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation, February 4, 2016).Gaming Law Review and Economics.May 2016.359-362.http://doi.org/10.1089/glre.2016.20416Published in Volume: 20 Issue 4: May 18, 2016PDF download

The citalopram CIT-MD-18 pediatric depression trial: Deconstruction of medical ghostwriting, data mischaracterisation and academic malfeasance.

Deconstruction of a ghostwritten report of a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled efficacy and safety trial of citalopram in depressed children and adolescents conducted in the United States. Approximately 750 documents from the Celexa and Lexapro Marketing and Sales Practices Litigation: Master Docket 09-MD-2067-(NMG) were deconstructed. The published article contained efficacy and safety data inconsistent with the protocol criteria. Procedural deviations went unreported imparting statistical significance to the primary outcome, and an implausible effect size was claimed; positive post hoc measures were introduced and negative secondary outcomes were not reported; and adverse events were misleadingly analysed. Manuscript drafts were prepared by company employees and outside ghostwriters with academic researchers solicited as 'authors'. Deconstruction of court documents revealed that protocol-specified outcome measures showed no statistically significant difference between citalopram and placebo. However, the published article concluded that citalopram was safe and significantly more efficacious than placebo for children and adolescents, with possible adverse effects on patient safety.

A Study on Modernizing Marketing and Sales Potential: A Literature Review

A review of literature on marketing and sales potential was made to determine the organisation capabilities in the market. Organisations always try to develop a strong brand which sustained growth in the market. This requires a transformation in current strategies and policies. Leaders play a crucial role in plan strategies according to uncertain environment and market. The literature review demonstrate the technique of modernizing the sales and marketing potential by plan and control, build trust in team, fast result, stimulate the organisation, training and deep rooted organisation culture. The discussion of issue of transformation and challenges related to sales and marketing is also identified in the literature to present the gap in marketing that needs to address with effective sales practices. Finally, the review provides directions for the further research in the field.

Book Review ‘Sales Management Principles and Practices’ (Malay Version)

Book Review ‘Sales Management Principles and Practices’ (Malay Version)

Colonia Housing Conditions in Model Subdivisions: A Déjà Vu for Policy Makers

The informal self-help settlements in Texas known as colonias have received considerable attention as a public policy problem at both the state and federal levels. These settlements proliferated throughout the border region since the late 1970s and research has highlighted the extreme poverty, austere levels of infrastructure, exploitative land sale practices, and poor housing conditions that characterized these settlements. However, both scholars and policymakers have overlooked the continued spread of self-help settlements known as “model subdivisions,” which barring the presence of basic water, wastewater, and electricity services, are nearly identical to colonias. We present the results of household surveys conducted with residents in 24 model subdivisions in Hidalgo County, Texas, in June 2014. The results suggest that, unbeknown to legislators, many of the problems that characterized colonias are now being reproduced in hundreds of model subdivisions that have formed since the 1990s, and which now require concerted attention and intervention by policy makers.

Client-pharmacy worker interactions regarding medical abortion in Zambia in 2009 and 2011.

To examine sales practices, knowledge, and behavior of pharmacy workers regarding medical abortion in 2009 and 2011 in Zambia, where hostile and stigmatizing attitudes still result in high rates of unsafe abortion. Four mystery clients visited pharmacies during 2009 and 2011, and recorded their experiences following their interactions using a standardized form. Bivariate analysis examined pharmacy workers' attitudes, behavior, and medical abortion-dispensing practices. Mystery clients visited 76 pharmacies in 2009 and 80 pharmacies in 2011. In 2011, mystery clients reported hostile interactions with pharmacy workers at 8 (10%) pharmacy visits, a relative decrease from 7 (22%) in 2009 (P=0.0353). In 2009, less than half (35 [46%]) of clients received information or had the opportunity to purchase medical abortion drugs in comparison with 53 (66%) in 2011 (P=0.0110). In 2011, more pharmacy workers mentioned a valid medical abortion drug in comparison with 2009 (42 [53%] vs 31 [41%], respectively); however, guidance for women on misoprostol use was minimal. Pharmacy workers exhibited increased awareness of misoprostol, less hostility, and a willingness to sell medical abortion drugs; however, they continued to provide inadequate information on misoprostol for medical abortion. Effective training of pharmacy employees is vital in increasing access to safe induced-abortion care.

Brave new world? The global financial crisis’ impact on Scandinavian banking’s sales rhetoric and practices

The paper explores how the global financial crisis wrought changes in the financial industry, even far from the crisis’ epicentre, in sales orientation, rhetoric and practices. We draw on accounts from managers and employees gleaned from a strategic sample of Scandinavian financial institutions. Framing our analysis on the concept of environmental jolts, we identified a shift in accounts in relation to sales as the context changed: from blame games, through the nurturing of conceptual plurivocality, culminating in embellishment. Initially bankers blamed external actors and factors. When they had to confront customer’s complaints about mis-selling and critiques from regulatory authorities, a new discourse on “right selling” and changes in sales practices emerged, but the pressure to sell continued. Financial advisors and union representatives were critical to the development and the rhetoric involved. Revolutionary changes were few and far between in a context of piecemeal changes to rebuild image and trust.

Non-conformity of Goods in Light of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods and the Law on Obligations of the Republic of Macedonia as Part of South-Eastern European Law

In the practice of sales contracts there are several possible ways in which the seller fails to fulfill his obligations under contract, including: non-delivery or delay in delivery of goods, delivery of non-conforming goods, failure to hand over any documents relating to them and failure in transfer property in the goods. A substantial portion of all sales litigation relates to conformity of goods i.e. in that they do not conform to that which has been agreed. The purpose of this paper is to examine the legal provisions of the United Nations Convention on Contracts for the International Sale of Goods (hereafter CISG) and the Law on Obligations of the Republic of Macedonia (hereafter Law) which regulate the issue of conformity of the goods. Article 35 is the central article of the CISG according to which the goods must conform in the first place to the quantity, quality and description required by the contractual provisions and to be contained or packaged in the manner required by the contract. On the other hand, Article 467 (supplemented by Article 480 and Article 481) of the Law speaks to defects in goods instead of examining issues such a quality, description or packing of the goods. Considering this different approach between two articles the author through the comparative method will aim to highlight the similarities and differences between these two legal instruments in terms of conformity of goods with the contractual agreement. DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2015.v4n2s1p85

Privataus dokumento patvirtinimo priemonės Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje XIV amžiaus pabaigoje–XV amžiuje

Straipsnio tikslas – ištirti seniausių žinomų privačių dokumentų patvirtinimo priemonių panaudojimą Lietuvos Didžiojoje Kunigaikštystėje nuo XIV a. pabaigos iki XV a. pabaigos. Empirinę medžiagą sudarė daugiau nei 250 privačių dokumentų. Pagrindinės dokumentų patvirtinimo priemonės: antspaudavimas, liudininkų ir raštininko nurodymas, rečiau notaro patvirtinimas. Dokumentų patvirtinimo skirtumai sietini tiek su skirtingomis dokumentų rūšimis, tiek su skirtingomis raštijos tradicijomis.

FINRA 2015 regulatory and examinations priorities

Purpose – To summarize the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, Inc. (“FINRA”) 2015 Regulatory and Examinations Priorities Letter. Design/methodology/approach – Provides a brief summary of the general compliance and supervisory challenges described by FINRA. Highlights key sales practice concerns raised by FINRA. Briefly summarizes FINRA’s 2015 key financial and operational priorities. Summarizes FINRA market integrity focuses for 2015. Encourages firms to consider the FINRA 2015 regulatory and examination priorities alongside the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) examination priorities for 2015 as they review their policies, procedures and business activities. Findings – FINRA’s 2015 Regulatory and Examinations Priorities Letter focuses on: key areas FINRA has observed contributing to member firm compliance and supervisory deficiencies, its observation of an increase in firms failing to file timely responses to information requests in connection with examinations and investigations, key sales practice issues, financial and operational issues, and market integrity matters. Practical implications – Firms should review these priorities alongside the SEC’s examination priorities for 2015. Where firms observe deficiencies in their own practices, adjustments should be made before they find themselves the subject of a FINRA or SEC investigation, examination or enforcement action. Originality/value – Practical explanation by experienced financial services lawyer.

Does network building improve sales performance? The stabilizing role of job embeddedness

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to combine the concepts of network building (NB) and job embeddedness (JE; both on-the-job and off-the-job embeddedness (ON and OFF)) and examines how to improve sales performance (SP) by effectively stabilizing the sales force. Design/methodology/approach – Sales practices were examined to establish the measures of overall sales performance. A factor analysis was conducted to extract two performance dimensions: customer relationship performance (CRP) and product selling performance (PSP). Structural equation modeling was employed to test the hypothesized model by analyzing survey data collected from 445 salespeople who work for the top five insurance firms in Taiwan. Findings – The results show that the NB of salespeople has a direct positive effect on ON and OFF; JE plays a critical role in mediating the relationship between NB and SP; and NB contributes directly only to CRP. However, it does not have a positive effect on PSP until JE is introduced as a mediator to generate CRP. Practical implications – In developing the NB of salespeople, managers should be provided with clear indicators about on-the-job and off-the-job-embeddedness for manpower stability. Moreover, in addition to seeking product sales, managers should direct salespeople to embed in sales work by providing performance measures involving customer relationship. Originality/value – This study highlights the need for a viable and integrated model of sales performance. The results indicate that the career achievement of field service employees relies primarily on whether they could effectively build social relationships. Theoretically, this investigation introduces NB into the JE theory, clarifies the relationship among NB, JE, and SP, and proposes a superior mechanism (CRP) for improving sales performance in the financial and insurance industries. Moreover, this study provides additional support for the relationship between ON and OFF.

화장품 판매자들의 소비자와 판매자로서의 비윤리적 상거래의 관계

The purpose of this study was to understand the differences of ethical attitudes as consumer and as salesperson among cosmetic salesperson. For this purpose, 128 cosmetic salespersons, Chunlabukdo, were sampled, 2007. The quesionnaire was composed of the demographic characteristics, attitudes toward the clients, the ethics related to work, and ethical attitudes as consumer. The differences were statistically tested at p<.10. The results of this study as follows; The sub-variables of attitudes toward customers were irresponsibility, understanding and respect for customers, and first priority to Sales persons. The ethics related to work's were sales of defected products, unfair sales practices, and unusual discount. Consumer ethics' were false and deception, invasion of Sales person's rights, and illegal. The types of consumer's ethics were distributed from 57.5% for the unethical consumers, 15.7% for the middle consumers, and 26.8% for the ethical consumers. The salespersons as the ethical consumers tended to show irresponsible attitudes to the clients and first priority to themselves rather than customers. Unethical consumers tended to treat their customers in an unethical sales manners.

Taming The “Frankenstein Monster”: Copyright Claim Compatibility With The Class Action Mechanism

Taming The “Frankenstein Monster”: Copyright Claim Compatibility With The Class Action Mechanism

"Pictures don't lie, seeing is believing": exploring attitudes to the introduction of pictorial warnings on cigarette packs in Ghana.

To compare perceptions of text and pictorial warning labels on cigarette packs among Ghanaian smokers and nonsmokers and to explore their views on the introduction of pictorial warnings in Ghana. Qualitative study involving 12 focus group discussions with 50 smokers and 35 nonsmokers aged 15 years and older in Kumasi, Ghana. Semistructured discussion guides along with visual discussant aids were used to explore the perception, acceptance, and potential use of pictorial warning labels in Ghana. Health warnings combining text and a picture were perceived by both smokers and nonsmokers to communicate health messages more effectively than text-only or picture-only warnings. The effect of text-only warnings was considered limited by low levels of literacy and by the common practice of single stick sales rather than sales of packs. Of the 6 health warnings tested, lung cancer, blindness, stroke, and throat/mouth cancer messages were perceived to have the most impact on smoking behavior, including uptake and quit attempts. Warning labels combining pictures and text have the potential to reduce smoking uptake, increase quit attempts, and reduce smoking appeal among smokers and nonsmokers in Ghana. Measures to prevent single stick sales, or to promote health messages to purchasers of single sticks, are required.

Compensation, Ethical Sales Behavior and Customer Lifetime Value

A salesperson’s ethical behavior plays a critical role in forming, maintaining and sustaining long-term customer relationships. Ethical sales behavior increases customer satisfaction, trust, loyalty and eventually enhances customer lifetime value (CLV). The CLV approach quantifies the potential monetary value of customers over their lifetime and builds linkages between ethical sales behavior and the financial performance of the organization. An ethical sales practice is one of the drivers influencing and enhancing CLV. An ethical climate of the organization can be reinforced by implementing an effective sales compensation plan. The purpose of effective sales compensation is to recognize the role fulfilled by salespeople to maximize CLV as a result of ethical sales behavior. The frameworks developed in this research illustrates how the compensation practices of an organization influence ethical sales efforts and also shows that what a salesperson does influences customer acquisition, customer retention and customer expansion in the form of cross-selling/up-selling, which in turn affects customers’ CLV or their profitability to the organization. This article also provides a methodology for CLV calculation and provides its key dimensions. The research identifies various drivers of unethical sales behavior, looks at the optimal design for the sales compensation plan and develops various models for enhancing ethical behavior of salespeople and ultimately CLV.

Complexity as contingency in sales and operations planning

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test whether complexity interacts with Sales and Operations Planning (S&amp;OP) practices by positively moderating the impact of S&amp;OP practices on manufacturing operational performance dimensions of quality, flexibility and delivery. Design/methodology/approach – Three hypotheses are developed on the relationships between S&amp;OP practices, task complexity and process complexity and manufacturing operational performance. Scales are validated with structural equation modelling. The hypotheses are tested through a hierarchical regression analysis using data from a sample of 725 manufacturing plants from 21 countries. Findings – S&amp;OP practices of organizational management, technological integration, measurement systems and integration of plans impact positively on manufacturing operational dimensions of quality, delivery and flexibility. Process complexity moderates the effect of S&amp;OP practices, amplifying its impact upon all three performance dimensions. Product complexity moderates the effect on quality, but not on delivery and flexibility. Practical implications – S&amp;OP practices of organizational and technological coordination of manufacturing and new product design; information technology to measure information sharing and planning; dedicated information systems do impact upon manufacturing operational performance. Results are amplified by process complexity. The more complex are the manufacturing processes the larger the gains of S&amp;OP. Originality/value – This research applies contingency theory to S&amp;OP and empirically demonstrates its impact on manufacturing operational performance and the moderator role of complexity.

Tricks of the Trade: Motivating Sales Agents to Con Older Adults.

Financial fraud is estimated to cost consumers approximately $50 billion annually. To examine how new hires are trained to engage in fraud, this study analyzed a sales training transcript from Alliance for Mature Americans (Alliance). In 1996, Alliance was charged with using deception and misrepresentation to sell more than $200 million worth of living trusts and annuities to 10,000 older adults in California. Transcribed recordings from a 2-day Alliance sales training seminar were analyzed using NVivo10, coded inductively, and examined to identify emergent themes. Predominant themes were as follows: (a) indoctrination using incentives and neutralization techniques and (b) training on persuasion tactics targeted at older adults. Findings suggest that sales training focuses on establishing the company's legitimacy, normalizing unethical sales practices, and refining trainees' knowledge about how to influence older consumers. Predatory and fraudulent businesses peddling ill-suited products threaten the economic security of older Americans. Improved insights into sales manipulation strategies can guide the development of protective policies including educational approaches to help older adults detect scams and resist purchasing fraudulent products.

Food safety in everyday life: Shopping for vegetables in a rural city in Vietnam

Concerns about food safety influence the way in which Vietnamese consumers confront the question of where, how and from whom they buy their fresh vegetables. In this paper we analyze in what manner and to what extent existing shopping practices inhibit the adoption of modern retail based food safety strategies. Using a social practices theory based approach, we analyze in detail the sales practices of sellers and the purchasing practices of consumers in a Vietnamese provincial city. This study reveals how both sellers and buyers in wet-markets, Asian style fresh food markets, apply different sets of skills and knowledge, based on locality, personal contacts and private judgment, to match supply and demand in the context of food safety threats. Within the everyday practice of shopping for vegetables, trust is shown to be continuously reproduced along pre-given lines. Consumers do not easily look outside or move beyond their existing routines even when food safety concerns would urge them to do so. From these findings we conclude that in situations where wet-markets serve as the dominant channel for distributing and purchasing fresh food, the efficacy of government and retail induced food safety strategies depends on their articulation within existing food purchasing routines of Vietnamese consumers.

Sales-as-practice: an introduction and methodological outline

There are strong indications that sales practices are currently being redefined from the ground up and that many of the inherited conceptual models of selling will not hold into a future that is defined by new selling techniques and technologies. This paper introduces a research perspective that can provide an important source of insight into how sales work and salespeople are currently being reconstituted: the sales-as-practice approach. In common with ‘practice turns’ evident in other business literature, such as the recent marketing-as-practice or the by now well-established strategy-as-practice approach, sales-as-practice requires of researchers to develop a sensitivity towards salespeople's ways of doing and being in social and material contexts. While acknowledging potential limitations, we identify some significant benefits of adopting this approach for our conceptual understanding of the sales domain, particularly in understanding persistence and transformation in sales practices, in paying attention to the role of material objects in configuring these practices and in appreciating the role of such practices in producing salespeople's ways of being. Moreover, we argue that becoming more closely acquainted with sales professionals' lifeworlds can aid in bridging the perceived divide between academic and practitioner knowledge in our domain.