The sales introspection technique: principles and application

Abstract

If you would like to write for this, or any other Emerald publication, then please use our Emerald for Authors service information about how to choose which publication to write for and submission guidelines are available for all. Please visit www.emeraldinsight.com/authors for more information. About Emerald www.emeraldinsight.comEmerald is a global publisher linking research and practice to the benefit of society. The company manages a portfolio of more than 290 journals and over 2,350 books and book series volumes, as well as providing an extensive range of online products and additional customer resources and services.Emerald is both COUNTER 4 and TRANSFER compliant. The organization is a partner of the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE) and also works with Portico and the LOCKSS initiative for digital archive preservation. AbstractThis paper introduces a training technique that is designed to improve salespersons' selling skills through introspection and discovery of success drivers and inhibitors. We present the technique and the theoretical foundations that support it. We also discuss how the technique may be implemented and provide a case example to demonstrate the application of the training mechanism.

The Critical Incident Technique in Service Research

“…11 Other variations of CIT have also been suggested for studying service phenomena. For instance, LaForge, Grove, and Stone (2002) have introduced the Sales Introspection Technique, a method resembling the CIT method, as an approach for training a sales force, and suggested using the CIT method in the development of a dramatic script for service contexts. Other creative uses and adaptations of the CIT method should be encouraged in future service research.…”

Toward a comprehensive framework of sales management within business-to-business marketing organisations

“…Training is an important responsibility of sales managers (El-Ansary 1993;LaForge, Grove and Stone 2002;Jantana, Honeycutt, Thelenc and Attia 2004) and can be supported by activities such as coaching and mentoring. There has been increasing interest in coaching and mentoring as firms "recognize the need to gain competitive advantage through people development" (Stanek 2001, p. 66).…”