What sales professionals know about their clients and their client relationships. A grounded anal

399 Pages·2013·10 MB·English

You and Me and the In-Between:
What sales professionals know about their clients
and their client relationships.
A grounded analysis.
Submitted by Susi Geiger, MA
For the degree of PhD
Dublin City University Business School
Supervisor: Dr. Darach Turley
December 2001
I hereby certify that this material, which I now submit for assessment on the programme
of study leading to the award of PhD in Marketing, is entirely my own work and has not
been taken from the work of others save and to the extent that such work has been cited
and acknowledged within the text of my work.
Signed:; ID No.:
Date:
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This work has come into existence with the support and encouragement of many
friends, colleagues and family members. Throughout the entire process, my supervisor
Dr. Darach Turley has shown me that true scholarship not only stands for academic
wisdom and an acute concern for human practices, but that true scholarship can also
contain compassion, patience and the generosity to share one’s erudition with others.
Darach, I cannot thank you enough for the valuable lessons you gave me in these
matters and many more.
I would like to thank my fellow postgraduate students Edel Conway and Shane Martin
for keeping me company during the often solitary hours of a major dissertation.
I would also like to thank all the sales professionals and IT staff who willingly
dedicated their time and attention to take part in the interviews.
Dr. Finian Buckley, Prof. Eunan O’Halpin and Dr. Siobhan McGovern all helped at
various points steer the project into the most promising directions; their insights
prevented more than one mistake along the way.
This work would not have been completed without the love and care of four people:
Gerry, Killian and my parents. This thesis is dedicated to my Dad, who would have so
liked to be around for its completion.
Table of contents
1 INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................................................1
1.1 Knowledge practices in sales and marketing departments......................................................1
1.2 Sales people as knowledge workers..........................................................................................................2
1.3 Researching alternative accounts of sales people’s customer knowledge..................4
1.4 Summary of content..............................................................................................................................................6
SECTION A: PROLEGOMENA...........................................................................................................................................10
2 DEFINING KNOWLEDGE - PHILOSOPHY’S ANSWER........................10
2.1 Knowledge that mirrors the world - the traditional view....................................................10
2.1.1 How do we know what we believe we know?....................................................................... 10
2.1.2 Knowing about and knowing how..............................................................................................................12
2.1.3 The limits of knowing and the crisis of representation......................................................................14
2.2 Knowledge that fits reality: The Pragmatist switch...................................................................17
2.3 Knowledge that shapes reality: Constructivism............................................................................18
2.4 Knowledge as agreed upon: The social construction of reality........................................20
2.5 Knowing and ‘languaging’........................................................... 23
2.6 Knowledge and power......................................................................................................................................26
2.7 What philosophy tells us about sales people’s customer knowledge...........................27
3 DEFINING KNOWLEDGE - THE PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH.........................30
3.1 The theory-driven model of the mind.................................. 30
3.1.1 Schemas, scripts and maps............................................................................................ 31
3.1.2 Is human thought schematic?......................................................................................................................36
3.2 Against cognitivism: Alternatives to the computer metaphor of the mind................40
3.2.1 Mind as network: Connectionism...............................................................................................................40
3.2.2 The collective mind: Social cognition.......................................................................................................42
3.2.3 Cognition in the Head and in the World: Situated Cognition.........................................................43
3.3 Cognition and knowledge in research on personal selling...................................................48
3.3.1 The cognitive selling paradigm...................................................................................................................48
3.4 Lessons from psychology...............................................................................................................................58
4 THE WIDER DIMENSION OF SALES PEOPLE’S CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE:
INSIGHTS FROM KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT.............................................................................................60
4.1 What is knowledge management anyway?..........................................................................................60
4.2 The individual as the locus of knowledge creation.....................................................................62
4.3 Team processes and knowledge sharing................................................................................................64
4.4 Organisational design to enhance the knowledge flow ...................................................67
4.5 ‘Information’ technology for ‘knowledge’ management: an oxymoron? ....................68
4.6 Knowledge management in the sales department..........................................................................71
5 THE GROUNDED THEORY METHOD AS A STRATEGY OF INQUIRY.................................74
5.1 Methodological options for the study of customer knowledge.......................................74
5.1.1 Ethnography: A thick description of the sales interaction..............................................................74
5.1.2 Action research: Inquiry and change.................................................................................................... 78
5.2 The grounded theory method.....................................................................................................................80
5.3 History of the method.......................................................................................................................................81
5.4 Philosophical background.............................................................................................................................84
5.5 Grounded theory step by step.......................................................................................................................89
5.5.1 Initiating the research project........................................... 89
5.5.2 Theoretical sampling................................................................................................. 90
5.5.3 Collecting data............................................................ 93
5.5.4 Analysing data..................................................... 97
5.5.5 Open coding...................................................... 97
5.5.6 Memoing..................................................................................................................................... 99
5.5.7 Theoretical sensitivity...............................................................................................................................100
5.5.8 Axial coding.................................................................................................. 101
5.5.9 Selective coding...................................... ......................... 103
5.6 Writing grounded theory.................................................................... 105
5.7 How to evaluate a grounded theory...................................................................................................107
5.7.1 Adequacy of the research process...........................................................................................................107
5.7.2 Relevance and applicability........................................................... — .............•--•■r—- 10$
5.7.3 Modifiability.....................................................................................................................................................109
5.8 Appraisal of the method...............................................................................................................................110
SECTION B: ANALYSIS.......................................................................................................................................................117
6 THE STORY OF A GROUNDED INVESTIGATION...............................................................................117
6.1 Interviewees and their industries.......................................................................................................117
6.2 Overview of the empirical results.........................................................................................................125
7 YOU: SALES PEOPLE’S KNOWLEDGE OF THEIR CUSTOMERS..........................................134
7.1 The client’s personality..................................................................................................... 134
7.2 Anecdotal evidence, hobbies and family status...........................................................................137
7.3 The CLIENT’S KNOWLEDGE OR ABILITY.............................................................................. 142
7.4 The client’s position in his company......................................................................................................144
7.5 Mode of functioning and service expectations.................................................. 146
7.6 The benefits of knowing the customer.................................................................................................150
7.7 Getting to know You: How sales people develop their customer knowledge 154
7.7.1 Knowledge development as part of the human interaction..........................................................154
7.7.2 Knowledge development in a directed approach........................................................................... 156
7.7.3 Knowledge development as individual, contextual and dynamic...............................................159
7.8 Summing up customer knowledge............................................................................................................161
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8 THE ‘IN-BETWEEN’: SALES PEOPLE’S RELATIONAL KNOWLEDGE...............................163
8.1 The nature of the buyer-seller relationship.................................................................................164
8.1.1 We 're in it for the long haul................................................................................................ ¡64
8.1.2 Personal and not-so personal relationships.......................................................................................I68
8.1.3 Getting the balance right............................................................................................................................¡76
8.2 The basis of the client-sales person relationship.......................................................................181
8.2.1 Trust.....................................................................................................................................................................181
8.2.2 Honesty..............................................................................................................................................................¡85
8.2.3 Respect....................................................................................................................................-........................¡86
8.2.4 Service level.....................................................................................................................................................¡87
8.2.5 Commitment.....................................................................................................................................................¡88
8.2.6 Mutual knowledge..........................................................................................................................................¡89
8.2.7 The 'chemistry'................................................................................................................................................¡90
8.3 Developing client relationship..................................................................................................................192
8.4 The role of the buyer-seller relationship..........................................................................................197
8.4.1 Personal payoff and satisfaction...............................................................................................................¡97
8.4.2 The relationship as a lubricant................................................... ..............................................200
8.4.3 The relationship as an expedient....................................................... 203
8.4.4 The relationship as sales generator.................................. *........... 207
8.5 Summing up the In-Between..........................................................................................................................209
9 ME: CHARACTERISTICS OF A RELATIONAL SELLER..................................................................212
9.1 Selling skills and relational skills......................................................................................................212
9.2 Can ‘the feel for the customer’ be trained?......................................................................................219
10 CULTIVATING STRATEGIES...............................................................................................................................225
10.1 Face to face contact as cultivating mechanism............................................................................226
10.1.1 Why is it necessary?................................. 226
10.1.2 When is it necessary?.................................................................................... 230
10.2 The social event...................................................................................................................................................232
10.2.1 Socialising in the 'business only' relationship mode................................................................232
10.2.2 Socialising in the cultivated relationship mode............................................................................235
10.2.3 Socialising in the 'genuine' relationship mode............................................................................239
10.3 Summing up cultivating strategies......................................................................................................242
11 THE CONTEXT OF SALES PEOPLE’S RELATIONAL PRACTICES........................................244
11.1 The role of the team in relational selling........................................................................................244
11.1.1 The team as a psychological crutch..................................................................................................246
11.1.2 The team as a shared frame..................................................................................................................248
11.1.3 The team as a knowledge repository....................................................... 250
11.2 The role of information technology in sharing customer knowledge.......................254
11.2.1 The use of IT in sales..............................................................................................................................255
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11.2.2 The epistemology of customer databases.......................................................... 259
11.2.3 Operational considerations for the design of a customer database....................... 266
11.3 When we have to part. ..: Handing over a client relationship............................................270
12 ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS INFLUENCING THE RELATIONAL SPACE..................274
12.1 Beyond the dyad: The wider network of relationships............................................................274
12.1.1 Supply chain relationships..................................................................................................................276
12.1.2 Relationships with other customers and other sales reps........................................................277
12.1.3 The wider professional network........................................................................................................279
12.1.4 The wider personal network...............................................................................................................280
12.1.5 Multilevel relationships between the buying and the selling firm........................................281
12.2 The nature of the offering..........................................................................................................................282
12.3 THE MARKET STRUCTURE................................................................................... .284
13 META-CONSEQUENCES OF THE RELATIONAL SELLING MODE......................................287
13.1 Perception of self..............................................................................................................................................287
13.1.1 The sales person as consultant............................................ 288
13.1.2 The sales person as relationship builder........................................................................................289
13.1.3 The sales person as boundary spanner............................................................................................291
13.2 RISK OF SELLING ONESELF...................................................................................................................................292
13.3 OWNING THE RELATIONSHIP...............................................................................................................................297
13.4 Effects of relational selling on a sales person’s power base............................................298
13.5 Effects on negotiation................................................................................................................................301
13.6 Effects on sales..................................................................................................................................................305
SECTION C: SYNTHESIS....................................................................................................................................................308
14 REFLECTING ON SALES PEOPLE’S CUSTOMER KNOWLEDGE...........................................308
14.1 Summary of the empirical investigation..................................................................... 308
14.2 Sales people’s thrownness and their relational theories-in-use....................................313
14.3 Benchmarks of sales people’s relational knowledge-in-use..............................................315
14.4 Social versus economic exchange in client relationships.....................................................322
14.5 ‘Rules of friendship’: Power balances in personal relationships....................................326
15 CONCLUSIONS.................. 332
15.1 Summary of the study....................................................................................................................................332
15.2 Validity of the empirical research.......................................................................................................334
15.3 Limitations of the study...............................................................................................................................339
15.4 Methodological implications....................................................................................................................342
15.5 Managerial implications..............................................................................................................................345
15.6 Research implications.....................................................................................................................................350
BIBLIOGRAPHY .....................................................................................................................................................353
APPENDICES........................................................................................................................................*.............372
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Illustrations
Figure 1: The situated action model of knowledge representations...........................44
Figure 2: Nonaka and Takeuchi’s knowledge spiral....................................................65
Figure 3: Kelloway and Barling’s model of knowledge use in organisations...........67
Table 1: Interviewees and their industries................................................................. 124
Figure 4: A grounded model of sales people’s relational knowledge......................133
Figure 5: The buyer-seller relationship network........................................................275
Figure 6: A grounded model of sales people’s relational knowledge......................309
Figure 7: Sales people’s knowledge regarding relationship behaviours.................320
Note on the use of personal pronouns:
The author of this thesis is aware of the fact that buyers as well as sellers can be of
either gender. For purposes of clarity, throughout this thesis the pronoun ‘she’ will refer
to sellers and the pronoun ‘he’ to buyers.
Abstract of the PhD thesis
“You and Me and the In-Between: What sales people know about their
clients and about their client relationships. A grounded analysis.”
submitted by Susi Geiger
This PhD dissertation draws from philosophical and psychological arguments as well as
from current discussions in knowledge management to put forward a conception of
sales people’s customer knowledge as tacit, situational, pragmatic and action-related.
Depth-interviews and observational methods are used to examine the nature of sales
people’s customer knowledge; data are analysed following the grounded theory method.
The empirical investigation establishes that a sales person’s knowledge of the client
cannot be dissected from the relationship in which it is created and put to use. The sales
person knows her customers in and through the relationship she builds and maintains
with them; customer knowledge is first and foremost relational knowledge. Such
relational knowledge is social in nature and it is almost exclusively experiential
knowledge: it is built up, developed and changed during the interaction with the client.
This view of customer knowledge sheds a new light on such issues as the use of sales
automation tools, sales team interaction and sales training; most crucially, it broadens
the existing cognitive selling paradigm to take account of the social construction of the
sales encounter.
Since ultimate truth is such a long way off, it seems as inappropriate to try to capture it
by, say five o’clock on Tuesday as it is to claim we already have it in our grasp. Thus
any proposition we contrive must be regarded as a crude formulation of a question
which, at best, can serve only as an invitation to further inquiry.
George Kelly, 1970
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