Adapting sales influence tactics in the information intensive era

Abstract

Purpose This paper aims to explore the usage of selling influence tactics across prospective customers with differing information-related needs. Design/methodology/approach The research study uses an exploratory critical incident technique (CIT) methodology to identify and examine salesperson influence tactics. Findings This study identifies and explores the use of salesperson influence tactics across three information-based conditions often encountered by salespeople (i.e. information seeking customers, informed customers with information inaccuracies and informed customers making sub-optimal decisions). Regardless of condition, salespeople readily used non-coercive information exchange tactics. Whereas, recommendations and ingratiation tactics were applied by more effective salespeople when interacting with informed customers with information deficiencies. Furthermore, salespeople report executing less effectively with prospects with inaccurate preexisting information and with prospects making flawed or sub-optimal decisions. Research limitations/implications Findings illustrate the need for a renewed focus on salesperson influence tactics, the conditions under which they are effective, and how salespeople adapt their influence tactics to various situations. The exploratory nature of this study limits the generalizability of findings. Practical implications A framework of adaptive selling strategies is proposed to help tackle new challenges faced by B2B salespeople in today’s information intensive market. When interacting with more informed customers, pre-existing information is often inaccurate and incomplete. Thus, salespeople must assess and address these flaws and gaps and can adapt their influence strategies to do so effectively. Originality/value Industrial buyers today have virtually unlimited avenues to conduct extensive research and gain supplier information without the aid of interactions with salespeople. Thus, salespeople often enter sales interactions when their prospects have significantly more information than ever before. By examining salesperson influence techniques in selling situations that vary based on prospective customer preexisting knowledge, this research provides guidance on how selling may need to change in a more information intensive era.

The long and winding road of eHealth. The service ecosystem perspective

“…Resource integration happens when institutions, as in this eHealth service ecosystem, coordinate the reconfiguration (Edvardsson et al , 2014). Data clearly show that partnerships at all levels can boost skills and activities in a certain period and in a context in which new collaborations continuously modify resource combinations (Leach et al , 2020; McFarland, 2019). The meso level is gaining a pivotal role in this process, representing the privileged locus of interaction among service providers, hospitals, health tech start-ups, patients’ associations and the like, because the process of change requires overcoming barriers and tensions and the creation of convergent logics not only among the different actors (Jaakkola et al , 2019) but also among the different levels.…”

Understanding value creation in digital context: An empirical investigation of B2B

“…Regarding relational network dimension, an interesting finding was that they declined in adaptation and a soft intermediation process. We know that suppliers must be increasingly adaptable with respect to changing customers’ needs (Leach et al, 2020; McFarland, 2019); however, this is amplified in a digital setting. The velocity of interactions dramatically increased.…”

“…The granular processes we identified are indeed relevant because if they are not properly managed, they will limit or destroy value creation (Vafeas et al, 2016). For instance, misalignment could frequently occur in a digital context due to the diversity of interaction environments (Araujo and Kjellberg, 2015), and ambiguity could emerge when resource combinations are modified and new reference points are needed to assess the value created within the collaboration (Leach et al, 2020; McFarland, 2019).…”

Research online and purchase offline: The disruptive impact of consumers' online information on offline sales interaction

“…However, well‐informed consumers tend to rely heavily on their own inferences and avoid sales interactions (Hochstein et al, 2021; Wood & Lynch, 2002). Previous research has suggested adaptive selling strategies for retailers to handle well‐informed consumers (Hochstein et al, 2019, 2021; Leach et al, 2020; Li et al, 2014). However, little attention has been given to understanding why well‐informed consumers avoid personal contact with salespeople (Hochstein & Bolander, 2018).…”

“…Previous research has suggested adaptive selling strategies for retailers to handle well-informed consumers (Hochstein et al, 2019(Hochstein et al, , 2021Leach et al, 2020;Li et al, 2014). However, little attention has been given to understanding why well-informed consumers avoid personal contact with salespeople (Hochstein & Bolander, 2018).…”