The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 24
C.
Effectiveness in the promotion
D. The easiness for establishing and
maintaining communication
to customers
There are several points that why internet marketing in community-based batik
industry could be categorized as a good one in communication to customer:
1 Using email and social media, each
members of the industry have their own tools of promoting the product,
nevertheless the community website is not really active but they can use it
their own way.
2 The easiness for updating new product,
there are no difficulties anymore to inform the customer about the new
product because they could easily send it via email or social media.
3 Quick respond for customers who
need the product information. 4
Utilizing internet as an inspiration media that could gives a feedback to
create a new product.
6. CONCLUSIONS AND
SUGGESTIONS
From the discussion that already described, there are some points that show us
the positive impacts of internet marketing to the development of community-based batik
industry of Giriloyo, Imogiri Bantul, those are:
1. The increase in sales before and after the use of internet facilities;
2. Increasing the number of customers or new customers;
3. Effectiveness in the promotion; 4. The easiness for establishing and
maintaining communication to customers. Nevertheless, there are many positives
impacts that could we see, there are some weaknesses and obstacles that actually could
triggering the future development of that community-based batik industry, those are:
• Internet connection • Website Management
• Community website socialization
Suggestions
Based on the research results, the researchers suggest is as follows:
1 Using the internet marketing E-cycle
as the guideline to create best basic standard
for establishing
the foundation of internet marketing in the
business. 2
Propose the plan to establish and build the internet infrastructure to create
good access for internet in a rural area like Imogiri, Giriloyo Bantul.
3 Maintaining the training for internet
marketing for all generation in order to
create the
sustainability of
development itself. BEFORE
USING INTERNET
AFTER USING INTERNET
Utilizing the exhibition
The ease to exhibit their own product in
website
printing brochures
and business cards
No need for printing a business card and
brochures in a large number
WOMWord of Mouth
Still using WOM due to the massive
impact of it
Utilizing the partner’s
business promotion
in Town Create their own
business promotion via online
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 25
7. REFERENCE
Kotler, P., Keller, K, L. 2013.
Marketing Management,
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Awad. 2004.
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Bagaimana Meneliti
dan Menulis Tesis?,
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rd
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System: Solving
Business Problems
with Information
Technology,
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Anita,R. 2000,
the E-Commerce: Question and Answer Book, a
Survival Guide for Business Managers
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York, American
Management Association.
Nazir, M. 1988
Metode Penelitian.
3
rd
ed., Jakarta, Ghalia Indonesia. Jaya Indra Hatma P,
Kebijakan dan Pengembangan
Masyarakat: Kisah Berkembangnya Batik
Bantul
, Jurnal PMI Vol. X. No. 2, Maret 2013.
Sukmaniar. 2007,
Efektivitas Pemberdayaan
Masyarakat dalam Pengelolaan Program
Pengembangan Kecamatan
PPK Pasca
Tsunami di
Kecamatan Lhoknga
Kabupaten Aceh Besar,
Tesis Pascasarjana pada Magister
Teknik Pembangunan Wilayah dan
Kota Universitas
Diponogoro Semarang: tidak diterbitkan.
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2012,
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Kantor Pelayanan Terpadu Kab.Kulon
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The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 26
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia
27
Marketing Campaigns Grounding Ambidexterity: Mandatory Skill of Salesperson
Dwi Suryanto Hidayat
1
1
Doctoral Program in Management, Diponegoro University ds.hidayat17gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Timeless issue of business is how to create a sustainable profit. Salesperson as the creator of the final transaction is the most responsible element or party in problem. This paper is criticizing definitions and indicators that have been
used to describe the orientation of sales for a couple period of research in the field of sales. Selling orientation is identified with a personal orientation of salesperson without thinking about the customers. Negative nuances in
selling orientation must be removed so that the salesperson can feel comfortable and be more motivated to develop hisher ability to sell.
The salespersons ability to grounding marketing campaigns as exploratory and exploitative actions are believed to be able to increase salesperson performance. This capability is formed from selling orientation revision and
competitive intelligence as the skills a salesperson must posses through adaptive selling approach while still promoting the achievement of hisher task, the sale itself.
Keywords: selling orientation, customer orientation, adaptive selling, competitive intelligence, salesperson performance, marketing ambidexterity
Introduction Era shifting from transactional into relational triggered
a change of sales function related with its contribution to sustainability of a business
Grönroos 1994 . Sales
people who previously played their function as intermediaries for an organization with its consumers in
making transaction real, nowadays must also play the role as a source of market information acquisition
Lambert et al. 1990 , consultants
Pelham 2002 ;
Pelham 2006 , creators of value
Haas et al. 2012 ,
entrepreneurs Evans et al. 2012
, solution givers Bonney and Williams 2009
, and intermediaries of knowledge
Rapp et al. 2014b .
Evolution of sales role from the organizational point of view can be viewed from the more complexity of the
relationship among sellers and buyers, the more involvement of important parties in making business
decisions, and changes in the organizational context
Plouffe and Barclay 2007 ;
Storbacka et al. 2009 .
Various paradox in marketing appear along with its progress. The main paradox is how the top level
management views marketing chronicles. On the one hand, selling as part of marketing is confessed as major
driver of shareholder value forming. On the other hand, every world-class company currently puts long-term
relationships with customers by fulfilling their needs as the main strategy of the company
Doyle 2000 ;
Hill et al. 2007
. Certainly, it directly influences on the theory, concepts, and practices in selling, considering selling is
an integral part of marketing. Selling Orientation-Customer Orientation SOCO
concept is starting point of introduction of selling orientation concept as part of SOCO in order to give
vast meaning for the concept of customer orientation itself
Saxe and Weitz 1982 . Thus, in its construct
forming process, selling orientation is positioned as the negation or opposite of customer orientation. This
concept becomes the foundation for term development or understanding of selling orientation, which certainly
would cause the opposite relationship between customer orientation and selling orientation. The rule of logics of
relationship constructs development implemented is if a salesperson is customer oriented, he must have no
selling orientation and vice versa, if he is selling oriented, it is impossible for him to have also customes
orientation
Johnson et al. 2009 .
Customer orientation is positioned in its relation to care for others and the needs to satisfy and as solution-based
selling approach. In contrast, selling orientation is meant with the care for himself and manifested with
aggressive sales behavior that can potentially gain sales in the short term with the exclusion of customer
satisfaction
Saxe and Weitz 1982 .
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia
28
Table 1 SOCO Selling Orientation-Customer Orientation Scale
Stem-positively stated items Stem-negatively stated items
I try to help customers achieve their goals I try to achieve my goals by satisfying customer
A good salesperson has to have the customers best interest in mind
I try to get customers to discuss their needs with me I try to influence a customer by information rather than by
pressure I offer the product of mine that is best suited to the custome
r’s problem
I try to find out what kind of product would be most helpful to a customer
I answer a customer’s question about products as correctly as I can
I try to bring a customer with a problem together with a product that helps him solve that problem
I am willing to disagree with a customer in order to help him make a better decision
I try to give customers an accurate expectation what the product will do for them
I try to figure out what a customer’s needs are I try to sell a customer all I can convince him to buy, even if I
think it is more than a wise customer would buy I try to sell as much as I can rather than to satisfy a customer
I keep alert for a weakness in a customer’s personality so I can use the to put pressure on him to buy
If I am not sure a product is right for a customer, I will still apply pressure to get him to buy
I decide what products to offer on the basis of what I can convince customer to buy, not on the basis of what will
satisfy them in the long run I paint too rosy picture of my product, to make them sound as
good as possible I spend more time trying to persuade a customer to buy than I
do trying to discover his needs It is necessary to stretch the truth in describing a product to a
customer I pretend to agree with customers to please them
I imply to a customer that something is beyond my control when it is not
I begin the sales talk for a product before exploring a
customer’s needs with him I treat customer as a rival
Source: Saxe and Weitz 1982
Based on this rule of logics, a study on selling orientation was conducted. The most researchers
proposed initial prediction or hypothesis by providing a negative direction on the relationship between selling
orientation and salesperson performance. Surely, because it was predicted that there was a positive
relationship between customer orientation on the salesperson performance. However, the results of
research prove inability of selling orientation in providing
negative direction
on salesperson
performance Arnold et al. 2009
. Several studies on the relationship between selling
orientation to salesperson performance also prove a positive
influencet although
not significant.
Inconsistency in
research conclusions
on the
relationship of selling orientation is more various with the presence of a positive and significant relationship
between them Wachner et al. 2009
; Arnold et al. 2009
. Some studies on the relationship between the chain of
the companys activities, the role of retail managers and retail performance
Arnold et al. 2009 and the
influence of selling orientation and customer orientation on salesperson performance with sales people role
conflict and role ambiguity as antecedent factor Knight
et al. 2007
.
Which one and other estimated a positive relationship between selling orientation to salesperson
performance also gave different conclusions. It was seen that the conclusion of studies that examined
the role of the selling orientation on the salesperson performance still performed different and contradictory
results. Even, scholars did not coincide in establishing the direction of the hypothesis on
relationship. So, further researches to explain the causal relationship between selling orientation and salesperson
performance is needed. Based on a review of various studies on the relationship
of selling orientation to salesperson performance, the researchers indicated that the diversity of the research
results was caused by trade-off relationship to customer orientation approach applied to develop selling
orientation concept. The relationship between selling orientation and customer orientation was considered to
be more appropriate to use a paradoxical approach. So, the relations could be complementary.
Certainly, the process of compelementary selling orientation forming has to to be developed separately
from the existing customer orientation concept but it is not a negation of customer orientation. Selling
orientation should be formed based on motivational approach in achieving transaction agreement as the
definition of sales itself. Sales is the act of selling products or services to gain money or other
compensations. Based on reconcepting of selling orientation, the research on the relationship between
selling orientation and salesperson performance should be followed and conducted.
An organization will never be separated with its motive to get profit, even it is primary motive. Ofcourse, sales
people as the vanguard of a company in creating profitable transaction cannot be separated from selling
orientation, as the underlying motivation in doing their duties. Such argument has a consequence on the
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 29
alternation of direction on selling orientation to sales people performance to be positive.
Sales people concern to customers and their ability to feel customer problems is not a reason for them to
confrontate self-interest and
company’s interest. The need to perform customer-oriented selling is not able to
be automatically used as a reason for ignoring the selling orientation strategies such as the short-term goal
achievement Goad and Jaramillo 2014
. Boles et al.
2001 stated that in the context of a retail store, the
customers expected salesperson to perform selling orientation in a certain degree. The impact of selling
orientation and customer orientation relationship on customer value creation, according to
Guenzi et al. 2011
was contradictory and they suggested that the spread of negative assumptions about selling orientation
must be stopped. Wessels 2011
in his study stated that the renewal of the concept of selling orientation could be done through
three approaches, namely: 1.
Focus on credibility Establishing and monitoring the organizations
credibility both internally and externally with customers. Credibility will serve as a lever in the
implementation of the sales duty when it requires customer s and corporate endorsement.
2.
Focus on solution based selling and solution development
Focusing on customer problems in a situation of selling and giving specific problem solutions is
always urged. 3.
Focus on internal selling Some barriers will definitely appear in selling
activity. The endorsement of internal company scope will only be obtained if the other parties can
effectively be in the same position with the salesperson in realizing sales positive results.
The main problem of this conceptual study is how to find or reform selling orientation concept that is a
separated with
customes orientation
nuances. Thereafter, creating the new concepts to bridge the
differences of the results of research on the influence of selling orientation on the salesperson performance.
The relationship between selling orientation and its influence on salesperson performance raises some
research questions that will be resolved by this study. The research question proposed are:
1. Are
selling orientation
and customer
orientation different concept but complementary? 2.
Does selling orientation influence salesperson performance?
3. Do adaptive selling, competitive intelligence,
along with selling orientation contribute in forming marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity?
4. Is relationship between selling orientation and
salesperson performance mediated by marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity?
This study is believed to be able to give meaningful contribution for the progress of marketing science,
particularly on selling concept by reconstructing the concept of selling orientation through releasing it from
of the concept of customer orientation, so the salesperson is not burdened and he can understand
selling orientation as something normal. Furtherly, it does not need to be confronted with customer
orientation when he does an activity with being oriented to the achievement of the sales transaction close-sell.
Researcher believes that the selling orientation and customer orientation are two different things but they
are complementary and both orientation must be owned by a salesperson.
The paper closes a relevant research gap by providing
first conceptual steps toward a comprehensive, interaction-based theory of value creation in business
relationships. It contributes to previous research by integrating extant value and sales literature, identifying
a set of criticalities relevant to the creation of relationship
value, and
thus improving
our understanding of creating relationship value and sales
role in it. This study is expected to be able to contribute a new concept called marketing campaigns grounding
ambidexterity, as an extraction result of the two concepts in marketing today, namely marketing
communication and organizational ambidexterity which are believed to increase the performance of the
salesperson. Marketing Campaigns Grounding Ambidexterity: A
New Mandatory Marketing campaign as an extension of the marketing
communication is aimed to reach out and spread marketing messagess to the public about the excellence
of a product viewed from a certain perspective
Dietrich and Livingston 2012
. Marketing campaigns often use specific themes or issues that are emerging in the
community. Nevertheless, according to the nature of massal information delivery, distortion of information
or failure of a message oftentimes to be interpreted by consumers as they expected
Smith 2012 .
Specific conditions and the uniqueness of each consumer cause impact on the likelihood of marketing
campaigns ineffectiveness conducted by an organization
Tafesse and Korneliussen 2013 ;
Pauwels et al. 2013 .
To anticipate it, as the spear head of company in transaction and profit making, a salesperson has the
opportunity to align and adjust marketing message in the perspective of a consumer as individual.
In a resource-based perspective or resource-based view, the competence of an organization is indicated on its
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 30
ability to mobilize all its resources to achieve excellent performance and create a competitive advantage in
business competition Barney 1991
. In its progress, knowledge-based view as an extension of the resourced-
based view states that competence is the integration of business processes and routinity of an organization in
applying knowledge for value creation of organization itself
Grant 1996 .
Recent studies on sustainable competitive advantage shows that uniqueness, inseparability and irreplacibility
of assets and capabilities are not enough to achieve these conditions. Organizations must also be able to be
ambidextrous, especially in uncertain competitive environment
O Reilly and Tushman 2004 . An
organization must be able to use or exploit its existing competence, but at the same time it must also explore
new competencies to replace its former competency Leonard
‐Barton 1992 . Exploitation is associated with
related aspects such refinement, efficiency, and control. While exploration is referred to inquiry, variation,
experimentation, and discovery. Exploitation is aimed to increase efficiency and
effectiveness
of marketing
competence through
repetition and refinement. While exploration is aimed to raise adaptability of marketing competence through
experiment and innovation. An organization must be able to do two things simultaneously although they
have
contradictory characteristics
Gibson and
Birkinshaw 2004 .
In the balance of this paper, we combine the two schools of thought in research to provide more holistic
conceptualization of the cognitive processes that contribute to salesperson success in solution giving. A
construct we refer on salesperson marketing campaigns grounding
ambidexter ity. We define marketing
campaigns grounding ambidexterity as the ability that individual salespeople posses and implement to detect a
misperception of marketing message based on marketing
campaigns, articulate
competitive environment, and develop a solution that generates
value for the customer and profit for the organization. As outlined below, marketing campaigns grounding
ambidexterity is a multi-dimensional and had a reflective construct, not a formative construct. It is also
the elimination of one or more dimensions results in an altogether and it could not be meant as different
definition of the second-order construct. The various dimensions used to define marketing campaigns
grounding ambidexterity were identified via a thorough review
of several key sources of marketing
communication Pauwels et al. 2013
; Smith 2012
; Jerman and Završnik 2012
; Winer 2009
; Finne and
Grönroos 2009 . The majority of this literature on
salesperson ambidexterity is rooted in the organizational ambidexterity
Wei et al. 2014 ;
Tan and Liu 2014 ;
Salvador et al. 2014 ;
OCass et al. 2014 ;
Abebe and Angriawan 2014
; Tollin and Schmidt 2012
; Li and
Huang 2012 ;
Boumgarden et al. 2012 . It is not
surprising because novelty and usefulness as the essence of organizational ambidexterity should be done
from individual side, such as salesperson. The indicators which are implemented to construct of
the marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity are:
1. Being able to interpret marketing messages
both within the organization and consumer perspective.
2. Being able to prove product utility as problem
solution of consumers. 3.
Being able to prove product advantages than competitors.
4. Being able to convince the consumers that the
marketing messages are accountable facts.
Conceptual Model
of Marketing
Campaigns Grounding Ambidexterity
To explain
marketing campaigns
grounding ambidexterity construct further, we now describe a
holistic framework that includes both antecedents and outcomes. While some of the antecedents discussed
below are not novel for literature in selling, we attempt to extend this perspective first by putting it into the
context of today
’s solution selling, and then by identifying three additional antecedents namely selling
orientation revision, competitive intelligence and adaptive selling to marketing campaigns grounding
ambidexterity construct. These moderating relationships are grounded in research into creativity and critical
thinking. Figure 1 depicts a conceptual model of marketing
campaigns grounding ambidexterity and its relationship
to other constructs. The antecedents are identified based on research and they are grounded in the theory of sales
and organizational perspective. Marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity as formation result from
selling orientation, competitive intelligence, and adaptive selling will be able to increase salesperson
performance.
Figure 1
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 31
Conceptual Model of Marketing Campaigns Grounding Ambidexterity
Antecedents of Marketing Campaigns Grounding Ambidexterity
Selling Orientation Selling orientation is a concept that was first formed to
describe the contradictory conditions of customer orientation
Saxe and Weitz 1982 . Explains that the
concept of selling which is a contrast condition of the marketing concept, organizations prefer to find ways to
stimulate demand for products that have been produced than producing a product as a response to consumer
needs. In its progress, indicator has been reduced in the number
of statement options used. It caused by similarity of some items to simplify.
Boles et al. 2001 reduced the
12-point of statement items into a 5-point statement item. Subsequent researchers preffer to to use another
items of statement to measure customer orientation Wachner et al. 2009
, While the research conducted Johnson et al. 2009
decided to only use 3-point declaration.
This study implemented a different point of view in understanding and interpreting the concept of selling
orientation. Researcher believes that the relation between selling orientation and customer orientation is
considered to be more appropriate to use a paradoxical approach, so the relationship between them can be
complementary. The forming process of complementary selling
orientation concept should be built separately from existing customer orientation concept it is not a
negation of customer orientation. Selling orientation should be formed based on motivational approach in
achieving transaction agreement as the definition of the sale itself, the act of selling products or services to
obtain money or other compensations. Based on reconcepting of selling orientation,a research on the
relationship between selling orientation and salesperson performance should be followed and conducted.
Serious concern of salespeople to customers and their ability to feel costumers problems is not a strong
enough reason to confrontate their self-interest and company. The need to perform customer-oriented
selling is not able to be a reason for ignoring the selling orientation
strategies such
as the
short-term achievement
Goad and Jaramillo 2014 .
Guenzi et al. 2011
stated that the spread of negative assumptions on selling orientation must be stopped.
Based on argument presented above, the researcher tried to modify the statement items in selling orientation by
still using original statement items as the base that has been reduced to a 5-statement item but through erasing
negative nuances of those statement items. Researchers preferred to use statement items of
Wachner et al. 2009
and modify it to eliminate the negative nuances statement items that will be an indicator. The result of
modifications was: 1.
I try to sell as much as I can. 2.
It is necessary to tell the truth in describing a product to a customer.
3. I try to sell a customer all I can convince them
to buy. 4.
I paint rosy a picture of my productservice to make them sound as good as possible.
5. I decide what productservice to offer on the
basis of what I can convince customers to accept. A research related to the relationship between selling
orientation to salesperson performance conducted by Wachner et al. 2009
concluded that the results of selling orientation could improve the performance of
the salesperson. The relationship between the chain of
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 32
corporate activities, the role of retail managers and retail performance that represented the performance of the
retail manager at research conducted by Arnold et al.
2009 concluded that selling orientation influenced
performance of sales managers in the service sector. Some following researchs also indicated the conclusion
with positive direction although not significant Goad
and Jaramillo 2014 ;
Guenzi et al. 2011 ;
Johnson et al. 2009
; Boles et al. 2001
. Based on several studies above and after modifying
some statement or question items on selling orientation, the first proposition was:
P
1
: The higher selling orientation, the higher salesperson performance.
Needs of a salesperson in making a profitable transaction real will encourage a salesperson to play an
active role in arising ability to grounding marketing campaigns. This ability is a basic reqirement to achieve
excellent performance as a salesperson. Therefore, the second proposition was:
P
2
: The higher selling orientation, the higher ability to grounding marketing campaigns
Competitive Intelligence Marketing is generally considered as being more
focused on consumer intelligence. It has long been recognized that another factor related to decision
making of successful organizational are information collecting and using known as competitive intelligence.
However, recent conceptualizations have highlighted several factors associated with competitive intelligence
at salesperson individual level
Rapp et al. 2011 .
Individual competitive intelligence is be defined as “individual-level knowledge about competitors and the
competitive environment” Rapp et al. 2011
. Individual competitive intelligence should be important
from both organizational and individual perspectives. From organizational perspective, much of the
intelligence that eventually becomes organizational knowledge
originates with
sales and
service representatives who serve a boundary spanning role
Rapp et al. 2014a . Accordingly, organizations should
be committed to foster a culture that values the collection of individual competitive intelligence to
ensure a constant flow of intelligence into the firm from the bottom to upper surface. From an individual
perspective, the importance of individual competitive intelligence emanates in part, from how salesservice
employees are required quickly to alter their activities to respondadapt changes in the environment
Weitz et al. 1986
. In fact,
Rapp et al. 2014a identify tactical usage and
time-dependency as key characteristics of individual competitive intelligence. Thus, it is not simply that
intelligence gathered by individuals is an input to the organization, but rather that it is real, actionable
information that can be used by those who gather it, in a real-time context.
Lack of skills possessed by a salesperson as described by
Powers et al. 2014 ;
Ahmad et al. 2010 and it was
reinforced by study conclusion of Wachner et al. 2009
related with utilization of skills in supporting salesperson performance. While
Haas et al. 2012 ;
Sullivan et al. 2012 explained the importance of
creating value for customers as an early consequence before salesperson performance was achieved.
Measurement of
competitive intelligence
was introduced by
Rapp et al. 2014a , including:
1. When I am in the field, I try to gather and
transmit reliable information. 2.
I always assign myself objectives to obtain information about competitors.
3. I ask customers about
competition’s products and strategies.
The needs to create customer value were pushing a salesperson to establish the ability to get marketing
message down to the earth. From several arguments, the third proposition was:
P
3
: The higher the customer orientation, the higher marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity.
Therefore, the fourth proposition was: P
4
: The higher competitive intelligence, the higher salesperson performance.
Adaptive Selling Adaptive selling is a type of capability reffering to
knowledge and expertise of a person and its relevance to the behavior
Maclnnis et al. 1991 ;
Valenzuela et al. 2014
; Chakrabartya et al. 2014
. Furthermore Sujan et
al. 1986 emphasized the importance of the ability to
adapt to salespeople selling behavior when dealing with various demands and different selling situations.
Another studies defined adaptive selling as the ability that was inherent in salesperson knowledge and skills
needed to understand the sales situation, the types of customers, and sales strategy
Franke and Park 2006 .
Adaptive selling is defined as the change in selling behavior when interacting with customers and outside
the process of interaction based on information about selling condition and situation
Weitz et al. 1986 .
Measurement of adaptive selling in forming adaptive salesperson ability was introduced by
Spiro and Weitz 1990
, including: 1.
A recognition that different selling approaches are needed in different sales situations.
2. Confidence in the ability to use a variety of
different sales approaches. 3.
Confidence in the ability to alter the sales approach during a customer interaction.
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 33
4. A knowledge structure that facilitates the
recognition of different sales situations and access to sales strategies appropriate for each situation.
5. The collection of information about the sales
situation to facilitate adaptation. 6.
The actual use of different approaches in different situations.
Park and Deitz 2006 measured adaptive selling
through statement items as follows: 1.
I am very flexible in the selling approach I use. 2.
I can easily use a wide variety of selling approaches.
3. I do not use a set sales approach.
4. I vary my sales style from situation to
situation. 5.
I treat all of my buyers pretty much differently. 6.
I like to experiment with different sales approaches.
7. I change my approach from one customer to
another. The ability of a salesperson in adapting to customers
will ease him to establish the ability to get marketing message down to the earth. This ability in making
transaction real is a basic requirement to achieve excellent performance. Thus, the fifth proposition of the
research was:
P
5
: The higher adaptive selling, the higher ability to grounding marketing campaigns.
The basic rule of adaptive selling is that sales people should always adjust their activities in responding
customer reaction, which implicates to the highest performance achievement
Rapp et al. 2014b ;
Román and Iacobucci 2010
; Rapp et al. 2014a
As noted before by
Spiro and Weitz 1990 the ability of salespeople to
find and apply the most appropriate approach to customers should be able to improve its performance.
Based on
previous research
conclusions that
investigated the relationship between adaptive selling and salesperson performance, the relationship between
adaptive selling and salesperson performance was positive. Therefore, sixth proposition was:
P
6
: The higher adaptive selling, the higher salesperson performance.
Outcomes of Marketing Campaigns Grounding Ambidexterity
Salesperson performance improving is a major focus for a manager, considering that the business advantage and
performance is very dependent on the amount of sales derived
Jaramillo et al. 2005 . Salesperson and its
performance is key factors for the success of company. It had an impact on the importance of salesperson
performance measurement Behrman and Wllham D
Perreault 1982 .
Piercy et al. 1998 defined a salesperson performance
as an evaluation of the salesperson behavior their effort in completing a task job, since the behavior
contributes to the achievement of company objectives. Performance evaluation of the salesperson was
conducted by comparing between what They do such as sales planning compared with the results of their
work such as sales result. This point of view suggested to create salesperson performance through
the behavior performance and result performance
Baldauf and Cravens 2002 .
Evans et al. 2012 stated that the salesperson played an
important role in identifying opportunities for the company. Some researchers align or considered this
opportunity identifying
similar with
with an
entrepreneur who continues to do inquiry the ways to maintain the distinguishing excellence to their
customers, or wide scope and the entire market. Entrepreneurial salespersons should be able to establish
the resources in the company and arrange them into the best solution for the problems of its target customers.
Best efforts to understand the opportunities of the client and create selling solution not just rely on the creativity
in arranging sales messages, but rather on the power of thought in identifying problems and creating a strategic
choices that has the potential for success through creativity.
Measuring subjective salesperson performance through statement items as follows
Park and Deitz 2006 :
1. Producing a high market share for this
company in a specific territory. 2.
Making sales of those products with the highest profit margins.
3. Generating a high level of dollar sales.
4. Maintaining high level of current customer
retention. 5.
Finding and
developing new customer
relationships. The ability of a salesperson in grounding marketing
campaigns is believed to be able to increase value creation on the customer side, which in turn can
improve the salesperson performance. Thus, seventh proposition was:
P
7
: The higher ability to grounding marketing campaigns, the higher salesperson performance.
Implications for Future Sales Research
Our model of marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity proposed was conceived from a review of
the marketing
communication message
and organizational
ambidexterity literature.
The identification of critical cognitive processes as well as
the antecedents to these processes provides some preliminary
explanation of
solutions-oriented salesperson success based on how well salesperson
The 2015 International Conference of Management Sciences ICoMS 2015, April 23, UMY, Indonesia | 34
synchronized marketing campaigns with customer’ needs. It is recognized that further research is urged to
explore salesperson opportunity recognition in the context of solutions selling. Most importantly, the
framework must be operationalized and empirically tested. While we strongly believe in the conceptual
merits of this new perspective, clearly the impact of this view on important, customer-level outcomes must be
formally evaluated.
Operationalization of the constructs in salesperson ambidexterity requires additional qualitative research to
gain better indicators such an effort is very critical to develop and eventually test key variables. This is
especially critical given the lack of empirical research works of individual ambidexterity. The empirical
research presented in this domain has created little in terms of construct measures. Qualitative efforts may
also reveal new constructs needed to complete the proposed nomological framework.
The dynamic nature of individual ambidexterity suggests that future research should find study changes
in the ability of salespeople to recognize patterns in customer accounts, frame the problems accourately,
develop a set of possible solutions to identify problems, and select the optimum solution. Similarly, the factors
that inhibit or encourage development of these abilities
should be identified and assessed empirically. For example, what types of salesperson training practices
encourage the development of his ability in marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity? How might
changes in the relationship between the salesperson and members of the buying center encourage development
of marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity? Longitudinal research should prove useful finding to
researchers investigating these questions associated with marketing
campaigns grounding
ambidexterity dynamics as “pre and post” research designs could be
utilized. Finally, longitudinal research would be helpful in gaining insight into the interrelationship between
elements of
marketing campaigns
grounding ambidexterity.
Conclusion By increasing the value delivered to customers,
integrated solutions will make significant competitive barriers with existing customers as well as opportunities
to increase sales with new customers. Unfortunately, the knowledge body of academic research on solutions is
limited especially in the area of salesperson ambidexterity. This paper sought to address this gap by
identifying a set of individual ambidexterity processes that may help partially explain the performance variance
in firms attempting the new solutions strategy. First, it introduces a new perspective in order to understand
selling orientation and release this orientation from customer point of view and dismissing negative nuances
on it. Second, this paper extends our understanding of
individual ambidexterity
role in
salesperson performance. We suggest the notion of salesperson
marketing campaigns grounding ambidexterity as a distinct salesperson capability to presents several
important and interesting implications to the research on
today’s changing sales organization. This conceptual research is also expected to change
negative perception attached to salesperson who have been considered as the people who justify any means in
to realize a transaction. So, the salesperson will still able to realize a profitable transaction based on real product
and marketing message fact without manipulating consumers with falsehood for just mere transaction
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37
DEVELOPING THE SELLING RELATIIONSHIP QUALITY TO IMPROVE THE PERFORMANCE OF SALESPERSON IN PHARMACEUTICAL
INDUSTRY IN THE DAERAH ISTIMEWA YOGYAKARTA
Ida Bagus Nyoman Udayana
1
1
Doctoral program in economics Diponegoro University Ibn.udayanayahoo.co.id
ABSTRACT
The success of a sales force can be determined by many factors. One is the ability of salespeople to developing the selling relationships quality in activities sales. In addition, factors that affect the performance of sales, among others:
the salespersons ability to listen to customer complaints properly, the ability to expand the network, interpersonal skills, a broad relationship. Objectives of the research are salespeople for pharmaceutical products in the area of Yogyakarta.
The number of samples in this study were 250 salespeople, the sampling technique using random selection. The unit of analysis is the individual who perform the task of selling to the buyer either pharmacy or through physician-practice.
Mechanical analysis using structural equation models, according to the model of research. Research results show that the adaptive selling significant positive effect on the performance of the sales force through the quality of the sales
relationship. Customer orientation and learning orientation significant positive effect on the quality of customer relationships. Research should be re-tested by adding indicators of each variable, so that the test data can be carried out
more accurately. No significant correlation between adaptive selling quality sales relationships, sales salesperson performance adaptive with the research results can be forwarded to the research that it will come.
Keywords: Adaptive sales, customer orientation, quality sales relationships, learning orientation, salesperson
performance
1. INTRODUCTION