The Sales Lead Black Hole: On Sales Reps' Follow-Up of Marketing Leads

The sales lead black hole—the 70% of leads generated by marketing departments that sales representatives do not pursue—may result from competing demands on sales reps' time. Using the motivation–opportunity–ability framework, the authors consider factors that influence sales reps' pursuit (or lack thereof) of marketing and self-generated leads. The proportion of time that sales reps devote to marketing leads depends on organizational lead prequalification and managerial tracking processes (extrinsic motivation), as well as marketing lead volume (opportunity), and sales rep experience and performance (ability). Consistent with a person–situation framework, individual sales rep factors should also moderate the influence of organizational processes on lead follow-up. Data from 461 sales reps employed by four firms confirm that as sales reps' experience increases, their responses to managerial tracking of lead follow-up and marketing lead volume decrease; responses to the quality of the lead prequalification process increase. As sales reps' performance improves, their response to the volume of marketing leads increases, but their response to managerial tracking decreases. The interplay of individual sales reps' abilities and organizational marketing and sales processes explains differences in sales reps' follow-up of marketing leads.’

[1]  Daniel Zelterman,et al.  Dirichlet component regression and its applications to psychiatric data , 2008, Comput. Stat. Data Anal..

[2]  Anne T. Coughlan,et al.  An Empirical Analysis of Sales-Force Compensation Plans , 1992 .

[3]  Ashwin W. Joshi.  Salesperson Influence on Product Development: Insights from a Study of Small Manufacturing Organizations , 2010 .

[4]  Marvin A. Jolson,et al.  Qualifying sales leads: The tight and loose approaches , 1988 .

[5]  C. Ai,et al.  Interaction terms in logit and probit models , 2003 .

[6]  Peter E. Rossi,et al.  Bayesian Statistics and Marketing , 2005 .

[7]  C. Fornell,et al.  Evaluating structural equation models with unobservable variables and measurement error. , 1981 .

[8]  Betsy Bugg Holloway,et al.  Adaptive Selling Behavior Revisited: An Empirical Examination of Learning Orientation, Sales Performance, and Job Satisfaction , 2003 .

[9]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  Selling: Building Partnerships , 1992 .

[10]  William T. Ross,et al.  The Role of Issue Valence and Issue Capability in Determining Effort Investment , 2002 .

[11]  Maja Makovec Brenčič,et al.  Marketing–sales interface configurations in B2B firms , 2010 .

[12]  Sanjog Misra,et al.  Salesforce Compensation: An Analytical and Empirical Examination of the Agency Theoretic Approach , 2005 .

[13]  Anil Gaba,et al.  Risk Behavior in Response to Quotas and Contests , 1999 .

[14]  Vijay Mahajan,et al.  When is a Preannounced New Product Likely to be Delayed? , 2004 .

[15]  Jan B. Heide.  Interorganizational Governance in Marketing Channels , 1994 .

[16]  W. Verbeke,et al.  Drivers of sales performance: a contemporary meta-analysis. Have salespeople become knowledge brokers? , 2010 .

[17]  Rabikar Chatterjee,et al.  A Three-Stage Model of Integrated Marketing Communications at the Marketing-Sales Interface , 2006 .

[18]  R. E. Wheeler.  Statistical distributions , 1983, APLQ.

[19]  Raflq H. Hijazi,et al.  Modelling Compositional Data Using Dirichlet Regression Models , 2007 .

[20]  R. Oliver,et al.  Perspectives on Behavior-Based versus Outcome-Based Salesforce Control Systems , 1987 .

[21]  Bruce H. Clark,et al.  Organizational motivation, opportunity and ability to measure marketing performance , 2005 .

[22]  S. Sinha.  Introduction to Bayesian Statistics (2nd ed.) , 2008 .

[23]  Mark P. Leach,et al.  The Role of Self-Regulation Training in Developing the Motivation Management Capabilities of Salespeople , 2005 .

[24]  Gary K. Hunter,et al.  Making Sales Technology Effective , 2007 .

[25]  Harley Krohmer,et al.  Configurations of Marketing and Sales: A Taxonomy , 2008 .

[26]  Sally E. Lorimer,et al.  Building a Winning Sales Force: Powerful Strategies for Driving High Performance , 2009 .

[27]  Wagner A. Kamakura,et al.  Common Methods Bias , 2010 .

[28]  Jagmohan S. Raju,et al.  Quota-Based Compensation Plans for Multiterritory Heterogeneous Salesforces , 1996 .

[29]  William T. Ross.  Performance against Quota and the Call Selection Decision , 1991 .

[30]  William H. Glick,et al.  Common Methods Bias: Does Common Methods Variance Really Bias Results? , 1998 .

[31]  Barton A. Weitz.  Relationship between Salesperson Performance and Understanding of Customer Decision Making , 1978 .

[32]  Donald W. Jackson,et al.  Evaluation of Selling Performance: A Study of Current Practices , 2013 .

[33]  Prabhakant Sinha,et al.  Integer Programming Models for Sales Resource Allocation , 1980 .

[34]  E. Deci.  Effects of Externally Mediated Rewards on Intrinsic Motivation. , 1971 .

[35]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Enhancing and Measuring Consumers’ Motivation, Opportunity, and Ability to Process Brand Information from Ads , 1991 .

[36]  Sunil Gupta,et al.  Brand Choice, Purchase Incidence, and Segmentation: An Integrated Modeling Approach , 1992 .

[37]  N. Piercy,et al.  Examining the consequences of sales management control strategies in European field sales organizations , 2001 .

[38]  T. Lazar,et al.  Bridging the great divide: Biology of the Prokaryotes edited by J.W. Lengeler, G. Drews and H.G. Schlegel , 1999 .

[39]  Robert J. Connor,et al.  Concepts of Independence for Proportions with a Generalization of the Dirichlet Distribution , 1969 .

[40]  Daniel J. Goebel,et al.  What are the Characteristics of an Effective Sales Manager? an Exploratory Study Comparing Salesperson and Sales Manager Perspectives , 2008 .

[41]  Gilbert A. Churchill,et al.  Client Evaluation Cues: A Comparison of Successful and Unsuccessful Salespeople , 1990 .

[42]  Aleda V. Roth,et al.  How motivation, opportunity, and ability drive knowledge sharing: The constraining-factor model , 2008 .

[43]  Clifford E. Young,et al.  Behavior-Based and Outcome-Based Salesforce Control Systems , 1993 .

[44]  R. Oliva.  The three key linkages: improving the connections between marketing and sales , 2006 .

[45]  D. Blackwell,et al.  Ferguson Distributions Via Polya Urn Schemes , 1973 .

[46]  Joseph A. Cote,et al.  Multicollinearity and Measurement Error in Structural Equation Models: Implications for Theory Testing , 2004 .

[47]  Peter E. Rossi,et al.  Bayesian Statistics and Marketing: Rossi/Bayesian Statistics and Marketing , 2006 .

[48]  P. K. Kannan,et al.  Modeling and Testing Structured Markets: A Nested Logit Approach , 1991 .

[49]  J. Bettman,et al.  Knowledge Structure Differences between More Effective and Less Effective Salespeople , 1988 .

[50]  David M. Szymanski.  Determinants of selling effectiveness: The importance of declarative knowledge to the personal selling concept. , 1988 .

[51]  Pradeep K. Chintagunta,et al.  A Bayesian Model to Forecast New Product Performance in Domestic and International Markets , 1999 .

[52]  Philip Kotler,et al.  Ending the war between Sales & Marketing. , 2006, Harvard business review.

[53]  Christian Homburg,et al.  The Thought Worlds of Marketing and Sales: Which Differences Make a Difference? , 2007 .

[54]  Peter R. Dickson.  Person-Situation: Segmentation's Missing Link , 1982 .

[55]  Scott B. MacKenzie,et al.  Common method biases in behavioral research: a critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. , 2003, The Journal of applied psychology.

[56]  Alan J. Dubinsky,et al.  A path-analytic study of a model of salesperson performance , 1986 .

[57]  A. Turnbull.  Ending the war between sales and marketing , 2010 .

[58]  R. Oliver,et al.  An Empirical Test of the Consequences of Behavior-and Outcome-Based Sales Control Systems , 1994 .

[59]  Paul Busch,et al.  Knowledge bases and salesperson effectiveness: A script-theoretic analysis. , 1989 .