IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/jbrese/v149y2022icp916-926.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Hunting for new customers: Assessing the drivers of effective salesperson prospecting and conversion

Author

Listed:
  • Gopalakrishna, Srinath
  • Crecelius, Andrew T.
  • Patil, Ashutosh

Abstract

Researchers and practitioners acknowledge that sales prospecting plays an important role in new customer acquisition. Yet, rigorous academic research on prospecting is virtually nonexistent. In this study, we examine the salesperson’s role at the front of the sales funnel which involves prospecting for leads (prospecting efficacy; PE) and converting those prospects into customers (conversion efficacy; CE). Based on the Motivation-Opportunity-Ability framework, we test the relationships between several drivers of PE and CE via an NBD and Beta regression model. First, we discover an implicit trade-off between PE and CE, implying a ‘sweet spot’ that maximizes new customer acquisition. Also, more experienced salespeople acquire fewer new customers than those with less experience. Higher advertising support and extrinsic rewards improves CE to a greater extent for more-, versus less- experienced salespeople, which suggests that incremental increases in advertising budgets and incentive rewards are better allocated in favor of more experienced salespeople.

Suggested Citation

  • Gopalakrishna, Srinath & Crecelius, Andrew T. & Patil, Ashutosh, 2022. "Hunting for new customers: Assessing the drivers of effective salesperson prospecting and conversion," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 916-926.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:149:y:2022:i:c:p:916-926
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.05.008
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0148296322004313
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.jbusres.2022.05.008?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Amiya K. Basu & Rajiv Lal & V. Srinivasan & Richard Staelin, 1985. "Salesforce Compensation Plans: An Agency Theoretic Perspective," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 4(4), pages 267-291.
    2. Son K. Lam & Thomas E. DeCarlo & Ashish Sharma, 2019. "Salesperson ambidexterity in customer engagement: do customer base characteristics matter?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 47(4), pages 659-680, July.
    3. Friestad, Marian & Wright, Peter, 1994. "The Persuasion Knowledge Model: How People Cope with Persuasion Attempts," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 21(1), pages 1-31, June.
    4. Erin Adamson Gillespie & Stephanie M. Noble & Son K. Lam, 2016. "Extrinsic versus intrinsic approaches to managing a multi-brand salesforce: when and how do they work?," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 44(6), pages 707-725, November.
    5. Miao, C. Fred & Evans, Kenneth R. & Shaoming, Zou, 2007. "The role of salesperson motivation in sales control systems -- Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation revisited," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 60(5), pages 417-425, May.
    6. Levy, Michael & Sharma, Arun, 1994. "Adaptive selling: The role of gender, age, sales experience, and education," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 39-47, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Valerie Good & Douglas E. Hughes & Ahmet H. Kirca & Sean McGrath, 2022. "A self-determination theory-based meta-analysis on the differential effects of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation on salesperson performance," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(3), pages 586-614, May.
    2. Valerie Good & Douglas E. Hughes & Hao Wang, 2022. "More than money: establishing the importance of a sense of purpose for salespeople," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 50(2), pages 272-295, March.
    3. Sharma, Arun, 2001. "Consumer decision-making, salespeople's adaptive selling and retail performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 54(2), pages 125-129, November.
    4. Lee, Alice J. & Ames, Daniel R., 2017. "“I can’t pay more” versus “It’s not worth more”: Divergent effects of constraint and disparagement rationales in negotiations," Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, Elsevier, vol. 141(C), pages 16-28.
    5. Yang, Jian & Qi, Xiangtong, 2009. "On the design of coordinating contracts," International Journal of Production Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(2), pages 581-594, December.
    6. Manolis, Chris & Nygaard, Arne & Stillerud, Bård, 1997. "Uncertainty and vertical control: An international investigation," International Business Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(5), pages 501-518, October.
    7. Suwelack, Thomas & Hogreve, Jens & Hoyer, Wayne D., 2011. "Understanding Money-Back Guarantees: Cognitive, Affective, and Behavioral Outcomes," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 87(4), pages 462-478.
    8. Fiaz Ahmad Sulehri & Saba Sharif, 2022. "The Impact of Firm Sustainability on Firm Growth: Evidence from USA," Journal of Policy Research (JPR), Research Foundation for Humanity (RFH), vol. 8(2), pages 1-15, August.
    9. Jong Yoon Lee & Jae Hee Park & Jong Woo Jun, 2019. "Brand Webtoon as Sustainable Advertising in Korean Consumers: A Focus on Hierarchical Relationships," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(5), pages 1-10, March.
    10. Skarmeas, Dionysis & Leonidou, Constantinos N., 2013. "When consumers doubt, Watch out! The role of CSR skepticism," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 66(10), pages 1831-1838.
    11. Mark Groza & Mya Pronschinske & Matthew Walker, 2011. "Perceived Organizational Motives and Consumer Responses to Proactive and Reactive CSR," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 102(4), pages 639-652, September.
    12. Aaker, Jennifer L. & Brumbaugh, Anne M. & Grier, Sonya A., 2000. "Non-target Markets and Viewer Distinctiveness: The Impact of Target Marketing on Advertising Attitudes," Research Papers 1578, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    13. T. Poehlman & Ravi Dhar & John Bargh, 2016. "Sophisticated by Design: the Nonconscious Influence of Primed Concepts and Atmospheric Variables on Consumer Preferences," Customer Needs and Solutions, Springer;Institute for Sustainable Innovation and Growth (iSIG), vol. 3(1), pages 48-61, March.
    14. Khantimirov, Denis & Karande, Kiran, 2018. "Complaint as a persuasion attempt: Front line employees’ perceptions of complaint legitimacy," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 68-76.
    15. Biao Luo & Chengyuan Wang & Tieshan Li, 2018. "Inequity-averse agents’ deserved concerns under the linear contract: a social network setting," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 268(1), pages 129-148, September.
    16. Arzum Akkaş & Nachiketa Sahoo, 2020. "Reducing Product Expiration by Aligning Salesforce Incentives: A Data‐driven Approach," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 29(8), pages 1992-2009, August.
    17. Puccinelli, Nancy M. & Goodstein, Ronald C. & Grewal, Dhruv & Price, Robert & Raghubir, Priya & Stewart, David, 2009. "Customer Experience Management in Retailing: Understanding the Buying Process," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 85(1), pages 15-30.
    18. Simonson, Itamar & Drolet, Aimee L., 2003. "Anchoring Effects on Consumers' Willingness-to-Pay and Willingness-to-Accept," Research Papers 1787, Stanford University, Graduate School of Business.
    19. Junhong Chu & Pradeep K. Chintagunta, 2009. "Quantifying the Economic Value of Warranties in the U.S. Server Market," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 28(1), pages 99-121, 01-02.
    20. Román, Sergio & Riquelme, Isabel P. & Iacobucci, Dawn, 2023. "Fake or credible? Antecedents and consequences of perceived credibility in exaggerated online reviews," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 156(C).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:149:y:2022:i:c:p:916-926. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jbusres .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.