Communications and Industrial Selling

Abstract

This article reports on research that investigated the relative importance of company reputation, salesman effort, and sales-message quality in industrial selling. It distinguishes between the relative importance of “high risk” and “low risk” purchasing situations, between “high-competence” (well-informed) and “low-competence” purchasers, and between the immediate effects of a sales presentation and the abiding effects. And it evaluates differences in sales effectiveness between the “quality” of a salesman's presentation, his familiarity with the product, and how honest his prospects think he is.