Salesperson networking behaviors and sales prospecting outcomes : essays on the roles of motivation and communications-mix synergies
Authors:   , Crecelius Andrew T. 
Published: May 2024

Scholars and practitioners alike recognize the importance of the front end of the sales funnel -- identifying and qualifying leads for new business -- in setting the stage for acquiring and retaining customers. Salespeople have an important role to play in lead generation and qualification by prospecting for new customers, but academic research on prospecting is limited and mostly out-of-date. Some scholars have suggested that sales networking has an important role to play in prospecting. I conceptualize frontline networking behaviors as social actions taken by salespeople across the organizational boundary. Through two independent essays,1 this dissertation investigates the role of frontline networking behaviors in driving sales prospecting outcomes. Essay 1 My first essay emphasizes that the effect of frontline networking behaviors on prospecting outcomes is contingent on the salesperson's reason for engaging in these behaviors. I consider a new construct, the motivation to network, as an important moderator of the relationship between networking behaviors and prospecting outcomes. Drawing on literature from the domains of social capital and self-determination theory, I test several hypotheses regarding prospecting performance in terms of both the volume and desirability of prospects using an empirical study combining survey, archival, and secondary data from a large Midwestern auto insurance sales force. I employ insurance quoting data to represent prospecting outcomes. This is the first study to take a behavioral approach to network-driven sales performance, and the first to explicitly consider the motivation to network. Results highlight the role of frontline networking behaviors in driving sales prospecting output, especially in terms of the desirability of prospects generated. Hypothesis tests within a generalized linear and latent mixed modeling (GLAMM) framework generally support the importance of the breadth of networking behaviors over depth, and imply that salespeople internally driven to network are better served by leveraging strong-tie relationships, while salespeople externally driven to network are better served by leveraging weak-tie relationships. These findings can be leveraged by sales managers to train and coach salespeople to properly align their networking behaviors with their motivations to network. Essay 2 In my second essay, I conceptualize frontline networking behaviors as a marketing communications tool by exploring interactions with other communications mix elements. The managerial focus of this essay hinges on the question of whether frontline networking behaviors are substitutes for, or complements to, other elements of the communications mix (e.g., advertising). With a focus on advertising executed at the level of individual salespeople, I draw on literature from integration marketing communications, relationship marketing, and the psychology of communications to postulate that a variety of beneficial and detrimental effects may occur. I identify more nuanced effects by distinguishing between standardized advertising (impersonal, one-way communications such as television) and rich advertising (personal communications involving two-way contact such as local sponsorships), as well as between traditional (i.e., face-to-face or telephone) networking behaviors and social media-based networking behaviors. I consider the generation of both relational (i.e., likely to stay with one firm) and transactional (i.e., focused on a single transaction) prospects as outcomes of interest. I conduct an empirical analysis using a combination of survey and archival data from a large Midwestern auto insurance sales force. Generally speaking, rich advertising interacts positively with social media instrumental frontline networking and negatively with traditional instrumental frontline networking, while standardized advertising interacts positively with traditional instrumental frontline networking and negatively with social media instrumental frontline networking. Results are consistent with theories from the communications literature. These findings encourage marketing managers to carefully consider salesperson networking behaviors when making advertising allocation decisions; for example, all else being equal, salespeople favoring traditional networking ought to be supported with a greater degree of standardized advertising.