Review of The psychology of successful selling.

Reviews the book, "The psychology of successful selling," by Richard W. Husband (see record 1954-03433-000). The reviewer notes that this book is directed to all salesmen to aid them in their daily work. Its emphasis is on sales tactics, from finding your prospects through approaching him and overcoming his resistance to closing the sale. There is also a short section concerning the selection of salesmen, helping him to compare his traits with those of successful salesmen. This book is not intended to be a professional book for psychologists; rather it is deliberately designed to be easy, informal reading without technical language or reference to experiments or statistics. In general, there is little in the book to recommend it even to sales managers or salesmen over the many other volumes written in this field. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Predicting ratings of sales success with objective performance information.

What information about salesmen best predicts success in sales work as indicated by sales managers' appraisals of sales performance? To find out, 40 salesmen were studied for 6 months. "In all, 21 objective variables were intercorrelated with 19 appraisal variables… . the best predictors of appraisal factors: Spot Orders, Spot Orders vs. Par, Shop Orders/Shop Calls, New Business Orders, and New Business Orders vs. Par." The procedures were considered very promising for trial by others. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Limitations on the use of Strong sales keys for selection and counseling.

"Two custom-built Strong sales keys were validated on two different types of salesmen (N = 578) in the same company. Each key was valid only for the type of salesman used in the item analysis to construct the key. The absence of significant correlation between the two keys indicated the independence of the two sales interest patterns related to success in different sales positions in one company… . These findings suggested that valid sales interest patterns can be quite specific, and that the available Strong sales keys might give misleading results if used for selection and counseling purposes in some sales areas." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Real-life" faking on the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule by sales applicants.

This study investigated possible faking of the Edwards Personal Preference Schedule in an industrial selection situation. EPPS scores for 97 Retail sales applicants and 66 Industrial sales applicants (all later hired) were compared to those of scores of 69 Retail salesmen and 49 Industrial salesmen (all tested on the job). Results showed that Retail applicants tended to score significantly higher on Orderliness, Intraception, and Dominance scales and lower on the Heterosexuality scale than Retail salesman. No significant differences were found, however, between Industrial applicants and Industrial salesmen. This suggests that persons more oriented toward selling in terms of interests and personality (i. e., Retail sales applicants) are more likely to distort answers to the EPPS. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

A note on the relationship between age and sales effectiveness.

Manager's rankings of 539 salesmen converted into a stanine distribution and compared with chronological age showed that sales effectiveness increases until about 40 and then starts to decrease after that age. Even so, many older salesmen received high ratings. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Oral communication and sales effectiveness.

The relationship between oral communication and sales effectiveness was investigated. 2 equatable groups of working sales people, a more effective "high" group and a less effective "low" group, were compared in terms of selected aspects of their communication behavior. Findings indicated that evaluations of basic oral communication skill (including listening) reliably differentiated between the 2 groups. Sales methods such as using "emotional appeals" and "dramatizing" also distinguished between the more effective and the less effective sales people. Results suggested: that evaluations of basic oral communication skill by a trained interviewer should be one valuable indicator of sales success; that communication training programs should subordinate fragmental, relatively isolated details of communication behavior to consideration of generalized communication skill; and that sales people who are inferior in basic oral communication skill will also be less effective in utilizing specialized persuasive techniques. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Differential interest patterns in salesmen.

Significant intergroup differences on 7 of the scales of the SVIB were found among 3 types of salesmen (specialty salesmen, route salesmen, sales engineer—each n = 100); common characteristics were found for 5 of the scales. "The results of this study support the trend away from the concept of salesmen in general toward the concept of special sales occupational groups." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Personality and ability factors in sales performance.

A variety of personality and ability tests were utilized in a study devised to isolate effective predictors of sales success and to study the various factors in sales performance. The Ss were 65 dealer salesmen employed by a mojr petroleum company. Objective criterion measures were developed using sales figures covering a 4-year period. After cross-validation 2 tests emerged as reliable predictors. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale Arithmetic subtest yielded correlations with criterion measures in the low .30s. The Tomkins-Horn Picture Arrangement Test yielded correlations in the high .50s. On the latter test measures of dependence, sociophilia, self-confidence, and happiness were found in association with successful sales performances; measures of low aggression, sociophobia, and strong superego were found in association with poor performance. From Psyc Abstracts 36:05:5LD06M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Relationships between general and specific attitudes toward work and objective job performance for outdoor advertising salesmen.

Product-moment correlations were computed between and among 10 scales measuring general and specific work attitudes and 2 objective, numerical measures of sales performance for 72 outdoor advertising salesmen who completed a 100-item attitude questionnaire. General work attitudes were positively related (r = .42, .46) to objective sales performance. In addition, attitudes toward supervision were strongly related to general work attitudes and other work aspects, suggesting that the supervisor really did represent the company to these salesmen who were on highly isolated jobs. Of some interest was the general low relationship between attitudes toward compensation and benefits to other attitudes and to actual job performance. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Prediction of sales success from factorially determined dimensions of personal background data.

A concurrent validity study was made of the scores of 210 salesmen and 16 district managers on 15 personal background dimensions, identified previously by factor analysis. Differences between factor-score means for the manager and sales groups and for the upper- and lower-rated sales groups were significant for the factors Financial Responsibility (001, 001), Early Family Responsibility (01, 01), and Stability (001, 05). Multiple-regression analyses of the factor scores against each of 5 criterion measures of on-the-job behavior yielded correlations of 42, 50 and 36 for the 3 major criteria of overall performance, and mean and maximum sales volume rank. The criteria route difficulty and tenure gave correlations of 27 and 30. Interpretation of the highest-weighted factors in these analyses indicates the logical, dynamic relationships between personal background and job behavior. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

The validity of biographical data items for food company salesmen.

In pretesting screening of sales applicants, what are the especially significant factors determining which of them will continue their employment? 32 promoted salesmen and 20 successful salesmen were compared with 25 resigned and 27 fired salesmen according to 5 "knock-out" factors: job-hopping, previous income too high, earnings less than living expenses, business failure within the past 2 years, and divorced within the past 2 years. "The most frequent "knock-out" factor was job-hopping… . The results confirm the value of some use of the 'knock-out' factors." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

"Real-life" faking on the Strong Vocational Interest Blank by sales applicants.

Will job applicants in real-life situations fake an interest inventory? Scores on the SVIB taken by 156 sales applicants were compared with those of 117 salesmen employed for at least 5 years. Applicants looked much more interested in Social Service and business occupations than did employed salesmen. From Psyc Abstracts 36:04:4LB73K. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

国有企业销售人员退出机制若干思考

销售人员是国有企业稳步发展的基础,合理的销售人员配置能够有效提高销售人员的工作效率以及工作质量。但是随着我国企业改革的不断深入,国有企业的经营体制以及管理结构都发生了较大的变化,这就对国有企业销售人员管理提出了新的挑战与新的要求。根据在铝加工企业的工作经验,重点阐述了国有企业销售人员退出机制的构建,以供有关人士参考借鉴。     

Review of Employment psychology: The interview.

Reviews the book "Employment psychology: The interview" by Roger M. Bellows and M. Frances Estep (see record 1955-01632-000). This text was "written for professional interviewers and for students of applied psychology who desire to become acquainted with the uses and limitations of the interview in selection of personnel." At the outset, the authors list requirements of self-training aimed at helping the interviewer to become more proficient. The emphasis then throughout the text is that the selection interview using the so-called talking methods alone lacks validity and utility. More objective selection material must be used in conjunction with the interview if selection is the goal. The reviewer would have liked to see discussed such related topics as occupational information and attitudes, age differences in job values, and pertinent information from the counseling field pertaining to the degree of leads various interviewers use. The presentation would have been more stimulating and complete, but it is well worth reading regardless. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Recruiting door-to-door salesmen by mail.

A research program involving over 20,000 door-to-door salesmen resulted in the development of an objectively scored mail questionnaire which effectively eliminated 3/4 of those who failed to meet minimum standards of sales performance. The content of the questionnaire and the scoring key clearly indicated that the personal characteristics which made for sales success were contrary to what the company had previously believed. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Bales' interaction process analysis of personnel selection interviews.

What are the sources of interview unreliability? This is the 2nd of a series of 3 studies of the interview. 276 interviews were used. "Samples of interview conversation (personnel selection interviews) were analyzed according to Bales' interaction process analysis. Scores obtained were correlated with decisions made by interviewers about whether applicants were recommended for acceptance or rejection… . specific interaction score variance accounts for interviewer error to a significant degree." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Application of projective techniques in personnel psychology since 1940.

A review of such projective tests as the Rorschach in its several forms, the TAT, the Worthington Personal-History, the Tomkins-Horn Picture Arrangement, and others as they have been applied in studies relating to various personnel problems. The usefulness of the projective instruments is discussed in relation to personnel selection, differentiation between successful and unsuccessful workers, measurement of promotion potential, job satisfaction and adjustment, and identification of vocationally significant personality patterns. It is concluded on the basis of both the methodologies used and the results obtained that there is a need for thorough job specifications in terms of personality traits and extensive use of cross-validation studies before any practical use can be made of projective techniques in personnel psychology. (2 p. ref.) (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Evaluating territorial sales efforts.

"The purpose of this investigation was to provide a better method of evaluating the sales efforts of different state sales organizations in the marketing of automobile insurance. Nineteen measures representing quantitative production achievements, manpower statistics, over-all market statistics, amount of business in the area, and combinations of these were factor analyzed. Five factors emerged, two of which were not evaluative measures and three that might ultimately be used as such. The five factors were: Absolute Size, Potential per Agent, Over-all Effectiveness, Manpower Utilization, and Rate of Growth. Although the first two factors were not directly associated with the evaluation of the states, their presence gave some additional knowledge about the other three factors." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2011 APA, all rights reserved)     

Faking by sales applicants of a forced choice personality inventory.

The Gordon Personal Profile was given to 265 sales employees of a food distributor, and to 471 employment applicants. Applicants scored significantly higher than employees on all scales. "Applicants practically never earn a minus value on any response while employees often do. Applicants never indicate as most like themselves some derogatory alternative in a tetrad… . Greater range in response among applicants can be obtained in several ways. For example four complimentary statements can be used in a tetrad of more subtle items." (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Noise, the "arousal hypothesis," and monotonous work.

The original group of Ss was 30 Royal Canadian Air Force personnel. 3 basic conditions were used in 4 sessions. Susceptibility to hypnosis seemed important. The findings concerning the effect of noise were contradictory. "The implications of these findings are discussed in terms of their relation to 'vigilance' tasks, and their applicability to personnel selection practice." (15 ref.) From Psyc Abstracts 36:05:5LG09M. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)