Sales Success

2021 ◽  
Vol 188 (2) ◽  
pp. 60-60
Keyword(s):  
2016 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 14-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Linden Dalecki

Purpose This paper aims to investigate how various sales personas interacted and played a role in the early growth of Ewing Kauffman’s Marion Laboratories in the 1950s. Design/methodology/approach The approach taken is a variation of “retrodiagnosis” – wherein modern psychographic personas are used to profile historical actors. After reviewing trends in both the academic and trade literatures related to professional and entrepreneurial selling in complex environments, the foundational sales force at Marion Laboratories active in the 1950s was assessed using the five sales personas proposed in a 2011 Corporate Executive Board (CEB) study: namely, hard-workers, relationship-builders, lone-wolfs, reactive-problem-solvers and challengers. Findings Individual members of the foundational sales force at Marion Laboratories displayed a number of dominant persona and subdominant persona traits. The relative success and managerial challenges evidenced by individual members of Marion’s foundational sales force are consistent with the CEB sales persona performance patterns. Specifically, those with dominant challenger and lone-wolf personas were especially crucial in driving sales success – to the point that Marion rapidly rose to become the most notable sales force in the American pharmaceutical vertical. Research limitations/implications Given that only a single firm was investigated, along with the interpretive and qualitative nature of the study, the findings are not generalizable. Additional studies in a similar vein with similar findings would add further support to the current findings. Theoretical implications related to customer development and effectuation are touched on. Practical implications The investigation lends qualitative historical support to the CEB study. The question of optimal-sales-team-persona-mix is worth founder’s consideration. Originality/value This is the first study to use contemporary sales personas to investigate a historically significant entrepreneurial sales force.


1976 ◽  
Vol 38 (3_suppl) ◽  
pp. 1175-1180 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allen A. Turnbull

By administering a personality inventory and attitude questionnaire to 201 college-student salesmen prior to and after a selling experience, an attempt was made to (1) measure the predictive value of several personality and attitudinal variables in regard to sales success and (2) assess any personality changes after a short selling period. None of the main predictor variables (Extraversion, Self-esteem, and Machiavellianism) correlated significantly with the two criteria of sales success. Combining the variables via a discriminant function analysis did not result in significant discrimination of sales success among salesmen. However, at the end of the selling period, all salesmen showed a significant increase on the extraversion ( p < .005) and self-esteem scales ( p < .005). Several possible explanations for these results were discussed.


1992 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-78
Author(s):  
Harold B. Teer ◽  
Jerome J. Tobacyk ◽  
Lyndon E. Dawson, Jr.

Author(s):  
Dr Daragh O’Reilly ◽  
Dr Gretchen Larsen ◽  
Dr Krzysztof Kubacki

n order to develop a more holistic and integrated understanding of the relationship between music and the market, and consequently of music production and consumption, it is necessary to examine the notion of music as a product. The very act of exploring the relationship between music, markets and consumption immediately frames music as a ‘product’. In the marketplace, music is ‘produced’ and ‘consumed’ rather than made and heard. But the language and practices of the market and of marketing go far beyond the labelling of music making and listening in this way. They are pervasive and, as such, mediate our everyday engagement with music, regardless of the role we play in the market. The way the quality of music is evaluated is dominated by measures of sales success: songs ‘top the charts’, artists ‘sell out’ stadiums and tours, and recording companies sign ‘the next big thing’ to contracts in the expectation of future sales. Even a particular market can be held up as measure of success: in popular music, many bands, such as the Beatles, have been deemed to be successful only after they have ‘broken America’ by reaching high positions on the US music charts.


1957 ◽  
Vol 41 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald E. Baier ◽  
Robert D. Dugan
Keyword(s):  

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