| This study presupposes an interactive/communication process approach to research on sales effectiveness. Because salespeople not only act upon customers, but interact with them, this approach should be preferable. Additional attention to communication/interactive traits and skills promise added findings for marketing science in areas such as negotiation, closing procedures and bargaining and especially recruiting.;An interactive/communications approach to research encourages the use of psychological trait measures that are standardized because they have high validity and reliability. Further, this approach allows for consideration of the interaction of salesperson/customer dyad. This study will provide additional empirical data on the relationship of sales performance ability and personality traits and one communications skill. The research will focus on salesperson empathy, Machiavellianism and self-monitoring skills as they relate to adaptive sales behavior.;The research is designed around a model developed in this dissertation called The Self-Monitoring Sales Performance Model (SMP). The SMP Model provides a framework with which to examine the relationship of self-monitoring and two personality variables, empathy and Machiavellianism, which are involved in adaptation to customers. Developing additional empirical knowledge of these relationships as they impact sales effectiveness is the goal of this study.;A Correlational design has been employed in this study. This design is effective for field studies involving the actual environment. The dependent variable measured will include a three factor measure of sales performance. The first measure will be an evaluation of each subject by his sales manager based on major areas of review. Secondly, it will include volume measures adjusted for each firm. Thirdly, it will include self measures by the salespersons themselves. The independent measures are scores using national norms for self-monitoring, and Machiavellianism and empathy. Four moderating factors are consistently indicated in the literature: (1) gender; (2) age; (3) race-ethnicity; and; (4) birth-order. These mediate the responses of many customers to the salesperson and might alter somewhat the effects of empathy, self-monitoring and Machiavellianism on sales effectiveness. Hypotheses will be tested using separate multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA) canonical correlation procedure. MANCOVA procedure was selected because it permits simultaneous testing of differences among groups on multiple dependent variables and removal of moderating influences. |
