Increasing Sales by Managing the Interlocking Contingencies Between Sales Representatives and Customers Using Behavioral Self-Monitoring

Abstract

The interlocking contingencies that exist between a customer and sales representatives may contribute to buying decisions. The purpose of this study is to redesign the sales call verbal process of five sales representatives to shape the verbal behaviors most likely to result in a sale. Using the behaviors found to be statistically significant through a correlational analysis, behaviors related to closing sales were identified by sales representatives in a focus group meeting and were used to develop a self-observation check sheet. After five weeks of self-monitoring, the sales representatives began to receive weekly performance feedback on the targeted behaviors. On average, the six targeted verbal behaviors related to sales increased eight percentage points over baseline compared to a two percentage point increase in the comparison group. While the self-monitoring phase was associated with an average increase of 12 percentage points over baseline, the subsequent performance feedback phase was associated with an average increase of four percentage points over baseline. The greatest behavior change occurred in the behaviors "Contact" (asks for customer's contact information including email address) and "Project" (asks customer v what they are using the building for). The customer verbal behaviors associated with sales were "Phone" (provided phone number) and "Email" (provided email address), which increased 17 percentage points over baseline. These changes were associated with 130% more sales during the intervention period for the experimental group compared with 32% more sales for the comparison group. The interlocking contingencies between certain sales representative verbal behaviors, consisting of "Contact" (asks for customer's contact information including email address) and "Deposit" (states how much of a deposit can get the order started) and certain customer verbal behaviors consisting of "Phone" (provided phone number) and "Want" (did customer say they want to buy a building) seemed to occasion an increase in customer buying behavior. For each sales representative, this increase in sales translates into $1,126,528 more in annualized revenue and $4,989 more in annualized sales commission.vi Acknowledgments

The PAX Good Behavior Game: One Model for Evolving a More Nurturing Society

“…On-site coaching with observations and performance feedback has been found to be effective implementation strategies (Becker et al 2013a , b ; Fallon & Kurtz 2018 ; Joyce & Showers 2002 ; Powell et al 2015 ; Reinke et al 2014 ; Stormont et al 2015 ). Self-monitoring with checklists can also be helpful (Copeland et al 2018 ; Olson & Winchester 2008 ; Webster-Stratton et al 2011 ), not least for maintaining fidelity over time (Oliver et al 2015 ).…”