Abstract:
Digital negotiations over electronic mail, are increasingly common in B2B sales but little is known about selling effectiveness in this medium. We examines salespersons’ use of influence tactics in managing buyer attention during digital negotiations for sales contract award. We conceptualize buyer attention as a key mediating variable between salesperson influence tactics and contract award. Using longitudinal panel spanning 2.5 years of actual email communications between principal buyers and salespeople, we develop a validated corpus of textual cues that are uniquely diagnostic of salesperson’s influence tactics in digital negotiations. To test the proposed hypotheses, the digital communications data are augmented by in-depth interviews with the sales organization, a survey to collect salespeople’s attitude and demographics, as well as archival performance data. The obtained results demonstrate that the concurrent use of compliance or internalization-based tactics draw and sustain buyer’s attention in the short term to win contracts in the long run. However, a simultaneous use of compliance and internalization-based tactics degrade buyer attention.
Biography:
Jagdip Singh is AT&T Professor of Marketing at the Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Dr Singh holds a Ph.D. in Marketing from the Texas Tech University (1985), and Bachelor in Technology (Electrical Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (1975). In 1992, Dr. Singh received the Case Western Reserve University’s John S. Diekhoff award for excellence in graduate teaching, and the Excellence in Doctoral Teaching and Mentoring award in 2007 and again in 2017. Dr Singh is also twice recipient of the Weatherhead School of Management’s Research Recognition Award for outstanding contributions to research (1997, 2018). In 2019, Dr Singh was awarded the University’s Faculty Distinguished Research award, the highest honor for enduring and significant research impact. Dr Singh has also received "Excellence in Reviewing" awards from the Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Retailing, and the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management. Dr. Singh has published in journals such as Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Journal of Consumer Research, Management Science, Journal of Management Studies, Psychological Assessment, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Service Research, Journal of the American Medical Association, Medical Care, and the Journal of Retailing.