Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

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Industrial Marketing Management

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/indmarman

Research paper

Converting purchase commitments into purchase fulfillments: An

examination of salesperson characteristics and influence tactics
Melissa Clark
Campbell School of Business, Marketing Department, Berry College, Campus, Box: 495024, United States of America

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: This study explores the roles that salesperson characteristics and influence tactics play in converting customer
Influence tactics commitments to sales fulfillments. A sample of 258 salesperson-customer interactions revealed that, by offering
Salesperson behaviors recommendations and exchanging information with customers, salespeople can increase the propensity for
Commitments fulfillment of customers' purchase commitments. Conversely, it was discovered that salespeople fail to convert
Fulfillments
commitments into fulfillments when they utilize threats, promises, ingratiation, or inspirational tactics.
Additionally, long-term orientation, customer orientation, and adaptive selling behaviors were not found to have
an impact on the commitment-fulfillment relationship.

1. Introduction 2013). Unfulfilled commitments have a negative impact on all areas of

The final stage of product merchandising occurs when sales per-
sonnel are in direct contact with the customer and the customer has to
make the decision to complete the transaction. Salespeople's actions can
have a critical impact on the customer's decision to buy because, by that
point in the interaction, all other efforts (e.g., marketing and branding
activities) are fixed (Spiro & Weitz, 1990, p. 61). The goal of the
salesperson must be to first elicit a commitment from the customer and
then to ensure that the sale is completed (fulfilled). However, many
different things can prevent a commitment from being fulfilled (Plouffe,
Bolander, & Cote, 2014). In the office-machine industry, for example, a
business owner may verbally commit to using a particular supplier for
large, high-volume copier, but that verbal commitment is not the same
as a fulfilled transaction. Any number of factors could affect the actual
fulfillment of the purchase commitment including a better deal being
offered by a competitor, the occurrence of an unforeseen financial
hardship (e.g., bad credit, downturn in business, etc.), or perhaps a lack
of sincere commitment from the customer in the first place.
Fulfillment is an important topic to understand for multiple reasons.
First, actual dollars are not exchanged until a purchase is fulfilled
(disregarding deposits to hold a purchase for a later date). Second,
salespeople use purchase commitments in forecasting and planning.
This is extremely important to salespeople when they are planning how
to allocate their time in order to achieve their quota during the sales
period, as compensation is most often linked to quota attainment.
Discrepancies between commitment and fulfillment also affect man-
agement's ability to properly budget and plan (Johnston & Marshall,
the business (Sparks, Bradley, Jennings, & Johnston, 2014). Finally, and
of the utmost importance, unfulfilled customer commitments lead to an
unending follow-up cycle (Chaker, Zablah, & Noble, 2018) that may
never result in a finalized sale. In these cases, since salespeople's re-
sources are limited (Ahearne, Srinivasan, & Weinstein, 2004), it may be
more advantageous to the sales organization if the customer had said
“no” in the first place so that the sales organization could reallocate
precious resources (Chaker et al., 2018). Speaking more broadly, un-
fulfilled customer commitments have been cited as one factor spurring
a variety of organizations to introduce a new C-suite role: the Chief
Customer Officer (Bingham, 2014). Others have even used unfulfilled
customer commitments (in the form of “unfilled orders” from compa-
nies' balance sheets) as an economic indicator (Reuters, 2014; US
Census, 2014). Many factors impact customer fulfillment. Some are
controllable by the firm (internal), but even more are, arguably, not
controllable by the firm (external) (Verbeke, Dietz, & Verwaal, 2011).
By definition, firms are best able to make changes to internal rather
than external factors in their efforts to improve desired outcomes (e.g.,
customer fulfillments) (Verbeke et al., 2011). This research will focus
on the factors that firms have the ability to change in order to increase
customer fulfillments. Some internal factors that are important to un-
derstanding customer fulfillment include a salesperson's characteristics
and the influence tactics salespeople utilize (Plouffe et al., 2014;
Plouffe, Bolander, Cote, & Hochstein, 2016). It is easy to imagine a
situation in which a salesperson's behaviors could lead to commitment
but not to fulfillment. For example, a sales-oriented (characteristic)
seller might put pressure on the buyer or threaten (influence tactic) a

E-mail address: docmelc@gmail.com.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.09.002
Received 1 November 2018; Received in revised form 28 July 2019; Accepted 4 September 2019
0019-8501/ © 2019 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Melissa Clark, Industrial Marketing Management, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2019.09.002
M. Clark
buyer with a specific penalty if a purchase is not made (Frazier &
Summers, 1984). In either of these scenarios, the buyer could be using
the commitment simply to get rid of the salesperson and may never
have had any sincere intention to fulfill the commitment. Given that a
firm's resources are limited (Ahearne et al., 2004; Barney, 1991), it
should be determined at the earliest opportunity which tactics and
characteristics are most effective (i.e., lead to fulfillment).
This study specifically considers the role of three relatively stable
salesperson characteristics that theory suggests may impact the re-
lationship between commitment and fulfillment: long-term orientation,
customer orientation, and adaptive selling. These three salesperson
characteristics are particularly intriguing to this research because sales
managers believe these characteristics are crucial to purchase fulfill-
ments (Bonney, Plouffe, & Brady, 2016; Hughes, Le Bon, & Rapp, 2013)
and often seek them out in recruiting new salespeople. In addition to
relatively stable salesperson characteristics, this study is interested in
the role of interaction-specific influence tactics. Influence tactics can be
defined as actions that an individual engages in to change the attitudes,
beliefs, or behaviors of another individual (Barry & Shapiro, 1992;
Kipnis, 1984). Salespeople engage in influence tactics to persuade
customers to purchase their product(s), so the use of influence tactics
can benefit virtually every firm (McFarland, Challagalla, & Shervani,
2006). These tactics are threats, promises, ingratiation, inspirational
appeal, information exchange, and recommendations. Sales-influence
tactics are relevant to this study and to sales practitioners because
salespeople can learn to apply the most successful tactics.
Any firm wishing to make the most efficient use of its sales resources
will naturally want to perform a quantitative analysis to discover the
best formula for successful sales. There are three important areas to
consider that impact successful sales. First, it is important to know the
extent to which customer commitments result in fulfillments (final
sales). Second, it is important to know if some salesperson characteristics
are better than others for converting commitment to fulfillment.
Managers can seek out these stable characteristics in the hiring process
to help ensure future success. Finally, firms need to know whether or
not some salesperson-influence tactics work better than others in con-
verting commitment to fulfillment. If so, firms can integrate teaching of
the successful tactics into their training programs. From the point of
view of sales personnel, commitments are subjective rather than ob-
jective (Plouffe, Hulland, & Wachner, 2009). What a salesperson per-
ceives as a strong commitment on the part of the customer may in fact
be a weak or even nonexistent commitment. Unfortunately, the only
way for the salesperson to tell is to wait anxiously for possible fulfill-
ment. There is a great need for research on commitment and fulfillment
where both variables can be quantitatively measured and relationships
established using scientific research methodology.
The purpose of this study is to identify which salesperson char-
acteristics and influence tactics are the strongest in terms of converting
purchase commitments to sales fulfillment. It is necessary to measure
two effects: 1) to what degree customer commitment leads to fulfill-
ment and 2) to what extent specific salesperson characteristics and
influence tactics moderate the relationship between commitment and
fulfillment. It should be recognized that commitment by itself has no
inherent value. That is, it reflects only the potential for a sale. Regardless
of the commitment a customer makes, he/she can always back out
(although an irrevocable commitment should properly be considered a
fulfillment). Therefore, this study will identify which characteristics
and tactics actually lead to fulfillment.
2. Literature review
2.1. From intent to fulfillment: established theories and complicating factors
The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was created as an explanation
of the gap between attitude and behavior (e.g., Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980).
The TRA proposes that an individual's subjective norm and attitude
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Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
toward a behavior establishes his/her intention to engage in the be-
havior (what this study refers to as “purchase commitment”) and that
intention predicts actual behavior. However, according to this theory,
the behavior has to be under volitional control in order for the behavior
to result from the intention. For example, choosing to exercise is under
volitional control. The person intends to exercise and has the voluntary
ability to carry out the exercise behavior.
There are some situations where an individual may have intentions
to engage in a behavior, but they may not have complete control over
that behavior. Consider an athlete trying out for a sports team. Making
the team is not under volitional control. The athlete may have every
intention of joining the team and be a great athlete and be very dedi-
cated and have a positive attitude. However, being selected to join the
team is not under his complete control because he has no way to affect
the performance ability of the other athletes trying out for the team.
In situations where volitional control is low, TRA is not helpful in
predicting behaviors. Therefore, further research has introduced per-
ceived behavioral control (an individual's perception of his/her power
to carry out a particular behavior) as a new variable, morphing the
Theory of Reasoned Action into the Theory of Planned Behavior (TpB).
The TpB still considers intentions to be the best predictor of behavior
but adds perceived behavioral control as a third antecedent to inten-
tions (Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). Thus, TpB is just TRA with the addition
of another construct.
Although these theories posit that intentions predict behavior, in-
tentions and behaviors are not one and the same. Moreover, numerous
studies find only small correlations between the two constructs (e.g.,
Ajzen, 1991; Sutton, 1998). As far back as 1979, Morrison (1979)
provides a framework for measuring purchase behaviors using inten-
tions as the primary variable and finds only a 53% probability—the
equivalent of a coin toss—that the customer will make the purchase
even when a respondent says they “definitely intended to buy.” How-
ever, investigating the correlation between intent to buy and eventual
purchases introduces a confounding factor given that, as specified in
Feldman and Lynch's (1988) term “self-generated validity,” the mere
measurement of intention may in fact increase the probability of pur-
chase. This finding prompted future research to focus on analyzing
purchase-intentions data. Likewise, a relationship between the mea-
surement of purchase intentions and purchase incidence has been de-
monstrated (Chandon, Morwitz, & Reinartz, 2005). In a report on a
meta-analysis of nine studies related to purchase intentions, Sutton
(1998) notes that intention predicted only a 19–38% variation in be-
havior (in either direction). Such incomplete and varied data indicate
that there is still a substantial opportunity to further understand how
salespeople can influence these two variables.
A customer's purchase commitment is their verbal, written, or im-
plied intent to purchase. Fulfillment is the completion of the purchase.
The relationship between commitment and fulfillment thus seems
simple but is actually quite complicated, and attempts to understand
these interactions are fraught with issues. Customers could have any
number of motives for leading the salesperson to predict fulfill-
ment—not wanting to reject the salesperson; wanting to get out of the
interaction without conflict; or, quite possibly, a sincere intent to fulfill
that, for any number of reasons, the customer is unable to actualize
(Johnston & Marshall, 2013). An unfulfilled commitment is only that: a
commitment, not a sale.
2.2. Contingencies and contexts: the selling situation, selling strategies, and
customer-salesperson relationships' impact on fulfillment
In 1981, Weitz created the contingency research model, which re-
cognizes that personal selling involves an interaction between the
selling situation and the salesperson's behavior as dual response levels.
The first level involves the salesperson's behavior during interactions
with the customer; the second level focuses on the sales situation, in-
cluding the customer, the facts of the order, and the selling strategies
M. Clark
used (Weitz, 1981). Weitz argued that, in addition to the nature of the
buying task, the effectiveness of sales behavior across customer inter-
actions is contingent upon or moderated by (a) the salesperson's re-
sources (such as their trait and characteristics) and (b) the customer-
salesperson relationship and interactions (such as influence tactics).
Weitz continues, stating that “in general, the salesperson who adapts
his/her behavior to the specific interaction situation will be better at
presenting a product as a solution to the customer's problem” (1981 p.
94). Later, Weitz, Sujan, & Sujan, 1986added to the contingency model
by expanding and clarifying its first level, the characteristics of the
salesperson.
Research has likewise shown that different selling situations affect
salesperson behavior, which in turn impacts outcomes such as in-
cidence of purchase and customer satisfaction (e.g., Goff, Boles,
Bellenger, & Stojack, 1997). In other words, the context in which
salesperson-customer interactions occur affects the chance that com-
mitment will lead to fulfillment. As Harris, Eric, Mowen, and Brown
(2002) point out, different learning techniques and performance or-
ientations influence self-regulation and the salesperson's behavior. In
light of such findings, it is imperative that part of the research focus
remains on the salesperson.
2.3. The salesperson: orientations, behaviors, and tactics, and motivations
The impact of a salesperson on sales outcomes can be broken down
into two categories: interaction-specific influence behaviors and gen-
eral, trait-like characteristics. Interaction-specific influence tactics are
behaviors that change across interactions with customers. On the other
hand, general, trait-like characteristics are stable within the salesperson
and do not change across interactions.
2.3.1. Long-term orientation
The long-term orientation of a salesperson is defined as his/her
perception of the interdependence of results where both the customer's
outcomes and the salesperson's outcomes are expected to benefit the
salesperson in the long run (Ganesan, 1994). When a salesperson takes
a long view of his or her own career, the continuity of the business, and
the individual customer's lives and shifting needs, customer fulfillment
is transformed from a short-term, self-interested opportunity to a long-
term, collaborative relationship whereby each party's needs are fulfilled
through the exchange of information, time, and capital. A salesperson
with a long-term orientation focuses on developing relationships with
his/her customers that maximize sales over multiple interactions as
opposed to focusing on one large transaction early in the relationship.
Therefore, long-term orientation is expected to assist salespeople in
achieving their sales goals (Chakrabarty, Oubre, Brown, & Widing II,
2008).
2.3.2. Customer orientation
When a salesperson focuses mainly on the customer's needs, wants,
problems, and satisfaction, they are said to have customer orientation
(Saxe & Weitz, 1982). Customer orientation is part of a research stream
concerning a salesperson's focus on making a sale (sales orientation)
and meeting customer needs (customer orientation). Research on sales-
orientation and customer-orientation (SOCO) behavior supports the
distinction made here between the two orientations, but they are not
diametrically opposed to one another (Brown et al., 2002).
There is little debate in the literature about whether customer or-
ientation leads to successful selling (e.g. Saxe & Weitz, 1982). It is
generally accepted that customer orientation is by far preferred over
sales orientation for sales success. However, the prevalence of sales
orientation (Boichuk et al., 2014) indicates that people continue to
practice sales orientation. Yet studies showing that sales orientation is
efficacious (e.g., Wachner, Plouffe, & Gregoire, 2009) are scarce. Since
sales orientation is a widespread praxis with little proven success, more
research into a prescription for sales practitioners in this area is needed.
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Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
In addition, the role that customer orientation plays in long-term or-
ientation suggests that this construct should be included in studies of
the relationship between commitment and fulfillment.
2.3.3. Adaptive selling behavior
Giacobbe, Ralph, Jackson, Crosby and Bridges (2006 p. 116) note
that adaptive selling behavior involves “altering sales related behaviors
during a customer interaction or across interactions based on perceived
information about the nature of the selling situation.” In their discus-
sion of conceptualizing and measuring selling behavior, Spiro and
Weitz (1990) suggest that the concept consists of six elements: re-
cognizing that different selling approaches are needed in various selling
situations, salesperson confidence in his/her ability to use a variety of
different sales approaches, salesperson confidence in his/her ability to
alter his/her approach during the customer interaction, the knowledge
base needed to recognize various sales situations and utilize appro-
priate strategies for each one, the ability to collect information about
the sales situation in order to adapt, and the actual use of different
approaches when appropriate. The first three elements relate to the
salesperson's motivation, the fourth and fifth to his/her capabilities,
and the last to his/her actual behavior (Spiro & Weitz, 1990). The basic
understanding of adaptive selling behavior as a modification of a
salesperson's behavior therefore requires that he/she has the will-
ingness, ability, and knowledge necessary to change his/her sales be-
havior when the sales situation calls for it.
Whether an alteration of a salesperson's sales behavior during the
customer interaction is effective depends on the selling environment
and the salesperson's capabilities (Weitz et al., 1986). Some studies
have found a positive relationship between adaptive selling behavior
and sales performance. For example, Boorom, Goolsby, and Ramsey
(1998) found adaptive selling to have a strong positive influence on a
salesperson's regular sales performance. Additionally, Spiro and Weitz
(1990) found a significant positive relationship between adaptive
selling behavior and a salesperson's self-evaluation of his/her perfor-
mance. However, because each of these studies used subjective, self-
reported salesperson performance evaluations, whether adaptive selling
behaviors drive real customer purchase behavior remains to be seen.
2.3.4. Influence tactics
Frazier and Summers (1984) introduced the concept of influence
tactics after conducting personal interviews about the sorts of influence
tactics frequently used by manufacturers' representatives. The research
identifies six influence tactics: threats, legalistic pleas, promises, re-
quests, recommendations, and information exchange. Frazier and
Summers (1984, p. 46) define influence tactics as “compliance gaining
tactics that channel members use to achieve desired actions from
channel partners”.
Venkatesh, Kohli, & Zaltman, 1995contributed to the existing re-
search on influence tactics by investigating an intra-organizational
context and studying buying centers. Their main objective was to study
the pervasiveness of alternative influence tactics in buying centers and
to compare those findings to those reported for inter-firm or channel-
partner relationships. Venkatesh et al. (1995) used the same tactics
mentioned above (threats, legalistic pleas, promises, requests, re-
commendations, and information exchange) in studying the use of in-
fluence strategies in a buying center context. The findings suggest that,
at least in the buying center context, several additional variables related
to source and target persons determine whether salespeople use alter-
native influence tactics (Venkatesh et al., 1995).
In 2006, influence tactics were examined in a third context: per-
sonal selling. Personal selling is described as a person-to-person re-
lationship in which the unit of analysis is the individual relationship
(McFarland et al., 2006). McFarland focused on the influence tactics
identified in the customer's relationships with the channel and the
buying center to determine whether they were relevant in a personal
selling relationship. The study also sought to identify whether
M. Clark
Table 1
Sales influence processes.a
Process Process definition
Compliance Involvement for specific, extrinsic rewards
Identification Involvement based upon desire for affiliation
Internalization Involvement based upon value congruence
a
Based off of the work of Kelman (1958) and McFarland et al., 2006.
salespeople recognize which tactics should be used with different types
of customers in order to achieve desired results (as suggested by the
concept of adaptive selling).
McFarland et al., 2006define six salesperson influence tactics. The
authors go on to posit that each of the salesperson influence tactics
operate through one of Kelman's (1958, 1961) influence processes (see
Table 1). Specifically, information exchange and recommendations are
thought to function through the process of internalization, threats and
promises are posited to function through the process of compliance, and
ingratiation and inspirational appeals operate through the process of
identification (McFarland et al., 2006). According to Kelman (1958),
the method with which the customer processes the salesperson's influ-
ence tactic determines the success of that influence. Compliance is re-
lated to a social reward for accepting the influence (Kelman, 1958,
1961). An individual will comply with the influencer's request to avoid
a specific punishment or gain a specific reward (Kelman, 1958, 1961).
Identification is based on a relationship with the influencing individual
or group; in other words, the connection with the influencer is so strong
that the individual adopts the behavior regardless of the details
(Kelman, 1958, 1961). The crux of identification hinges on the in-
dividual's desire to begin or continue a relationship with the influencer
(Kelman, 1958, 1961). Kelman (1958) defines internalization as the the
customer's successful assimilation of the sales message and states that
“Internalization can be said to occur when an individual accepts in-
fluence because the content of the induced behavior…is intrinsically
rewarding” (Kelman, 1958, p. 53). The intrinsic reward is that the
product or service being sold somehow fulfills the customer's need (real
or perceived) and/or desire (Kelman, 1958, 1961). All of these influ-
ence tactics are intended to drive fulfillments, but research often only
looks at the tactics' relationships to self-reported commitments rather
than actual purchases or even a “hard” variable such as sales perfor-
mance (Plouffe et al., 2014).
McFarland et al. (2006) connected the SITs to these various influ-
ence processes. The next step in fully elucidating SITs involves a de-
termination as to which influence processes result in successful sales-
person performance. The gap in the literature strengthens the case for
the necessity of the research proposed herein. In fact, Evans,
McFarland, Dietz, and Jaramillo (2012) specifically call for research on
the effects of influence tactics on sales performance. There also exists a
need to address the predictive relationships among influence tactics,
commitment, and eventual fulfillment. However, little research has
attempted to predict concrete sales outcomes such as performance or
fulfillment based on the influence tactics utilized by the salesperson.
Similar to sales research as a whole, the research on influence tactics
has focused on dependent variables that are intention based instead of
behavior based (e.g., Yukl, Kim, & Chavez, 1999). Previous studies
demonstrate the lack of fulfillment or any concrete purchase variable as
a dependent variable in many of the influence studies. Because the
business ultimately wants its salespeople to guide customers toward the
fulfillment behavior (Plouffe et al., 2014), the existing research areas
are not sufficient to describe the relationship between customer com-
mitment and customer fulfillment.
2.4. Summing up: relevance of orientations and tactics to the present study
Influence tactics based on compliance (threats and promises)
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Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Tactics
Threats and promises
Ingratiation and inspirational appeals
Information exchange and recommendations
motivate the customer extrinsically, but a commitment made via ex-
trinsic motivation will not be as strong as one made intrinsically and
will thus attenuate the relationship between purchase commitment and
purchase fulfillment. Influence tactics that operate through identifica-
tion (ingratiation and inspiration) tie positive customer feelings to the
salesperson instead of to the product or service. In other words, the
value is placed on the relationship between the customer and the
salesperson, which undermines the value the customer places on the
product or service. That lack of value assigned to the product or service
undermines the relationship between purchase commitment and pur-
chase fulfillment. Influence tactics that use internalization (information
exchange and recommendations) rely on intrinsic motivation, em-
ploying logic and existing values to gain commitment. Commitments
made with intrinsic motives are strong and therefore should lead to
purchase fulfillments.
Put simply, the literature suggests that long-term, customer-or-
iented, and adaptive selling behaviors that rely on and mobilize cus-
tomers' intrinsic motivations are more likely to lead customers in the
purchase-commitment stage to fulfill that commitment by actually
following through with the purchase. By practicing customer orienta-
tion, salespeople can uncover and better meet customer needs.
Salespeople who employ adaptive selling behaviors similarly meet
customer needs by adjusting their strategy to match the customer's
uncovered needs. When customers feel that a purchase properly meets
their needs, they are much more likely to fulfill their purchase com-
mitment. Thus, customer orientation, adaptive selling behaviors, and
influence tactics that rely on intrinsic motivation should all lead to the
fulfillment of purchase commitments.
3. Research model and hypotheses
Customer commitment is the intention of the customer to purchase.
Fulfillment is the actual behavior of the purchase. Therefore, in order to
describe the relationship between commitment and fulfillment, the
relationship between intentions and behaviors must be uncovered.
More than three decades of research on the relationship exists (e.g.,
Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980), which indicaties that intention is the best
predictor of behavior (Ajzen, 1991). Therefore, a customer's commit-
ment should have a positive relationship with fulfillment of the pur-
chase.
H1. Customer Commitment will have a positive relationship with sales
fulfillment.
Chakrabarty et al., 2008find that long-term orientation explained
26.5% of the variance in sales performance exhibited by their data.
They conclude that “selling organizations engaged in relationship
marketing should assess the long-term orientation of its sales force to
maintain sales success” (PAGE NUMBER?) Long-term-oriented sellers
are able to translate customer needs into commitment and then lead
customers directly down the path to sales fulfillment. Unlike short-
term-oriented sellers, who focus on transactions, long-term-oriented
sellers may look beyond a single commitment and instead engage the
customer's future purchase intentions, which shift over time. This
adaptive selling skill can increase the salesperson's ability to translate
commitment into sales fulfillments.
H2. Long-term Orientation will positively moderate the relationship
M. Clark
between customer commitment and sales fulfillment such that
salespeople with high long term orientation will be more likely to
convert customer commitments into sales fulfillments than salespeople
with low long term orientation.
Customer-oriented salespeople concentrate on engaging their cus-
tomers and listening to them so the salesperson can fully understand
and best satisfy their needs (Saxe & Weitz, 1982). Salespeople with
customer orientation attempt to maximize long-term gains by estab-
lishing a meaningful relationship with the customer (Wachner et al.,
2009). A thoroughly fascinating study by Bagozzi et al. (2012) closely
examines the neurological and genetic properties of salespeople with
customer orientation. The results indicate that salespeople with cus-
tomer orientation are biologically predisposed toward opportunity re-
cognition and empathy, both of which may lead to higher purchase-
fulfillment rates.
Because customer orientation is related to repeat sales and long-
term gains, it is likely that a customer working with a customer-or-
iented salesperson would agree to a commitment and actually fulfill the
purchase. Goff et al. (1997) found that customer orientation was related
to positive customer emotion and used the research of Babin, Boles, &
Darden, 1995) to further theorize that the positive customer emotion
elicited by customer orientation affects customer purchases. The
salesperson's willingness and ability to connect with the customer on a
meaningful and individual level should facilitate the relationship be-
tween customer commitment and purchase fulfillment.
H3. Customer Orientation will positively moderate the relationship
between customer commitment and sales fulfillment such that
salespeople with high customer orientation will be more likely to
convert customer commitments into sales fulfillments than salespeople
with low customer orientation.
Adaptive selling is the process by which salespeople change strategy
in order to better meet the needs of the specific customer. This sales-
person behavior likely improves customer relationships by accom-
modating customer needs and making adjustments if necessary. As
such, many studies have reported a positive relationship between
adaptive selling and salesperson performance across many different
selling contexts (e.g., Spiro & Weitz, 1990; Weitz et al., 1986). In ad-
dition, the research posits a positive relationship between adaptive
selling and other positive sales outcomes (e.g., Park & Holloway, 2003).
Because the salesperson focuses on the customer's needs and makes
adjustments as the interaction requires them, the likelihood that the
commitment will fall through before it is fulfilled remains low. The
salesperson will likely be flexible and adjust to make sure the com-
mitment is fulfilled.
H4. Adaptive Selling will positively moderate the relationship between
customer commitment and sales fulfillment such that salespeople high
in adaptive selling will be more likely to convert customer
commitments into sales fulfillments than salespeople low in adaptive
selling.
Threats and promises are posited to operate through the com-
pliance-influence process (Kelman, 1958). Compliance results from the
social reward for accepting the related influence (Kelman, 1961). An
individual will comply with the influencer's request in order to avoid a
specific punishment or gain a specific reward (Kelman, 1958). In other
words, shared beliefs do not drive the target to adopt specific behaviors;
rather, the extrinsic reward is the motivation. In the case of threat
tactics, the customer may commit to a purchase because he or she wants
to avoid negative consequences. Giving into threat tactics is an easy,
quick way for the customer to solve the immediate problem and avoid
negative actions the salesperson threatened to take. However, the
customer only made the commitment because he or she feared that not
doing so would lead to negative consequences, not because the cus-
tomer perceived the purchase as beneficial or valuable. Promises are
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Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
similar to threats in that they may elicit a commitment based solely on
the customer's desire for the promised extrinsic reward. This is a tried-
and-true promotional activity seen in everything from cereal box toys to
infomercials.
The use of threats and promises may be an effective way to gain a
commitment by means of operationalizing an extrinsic reward (Deci,
Koestner, & Ryan, 1999), but motivating a customer with an extrinsic
reward, as in compliance, can reduce their intrinsic motivation to fulfill
their purchase commitment (Deci et al., 1999). Therefore, customers
may not actually fulfill a commitment based on threats or promises
because the rewards are not intrinsic (Deci et al., 1999).
H5. Tactics operating through compliance, (a) threats and (b) promises,
will negatively moderate the relationship between customer
commitment and sales fulfillment such that salespeople using tactics
that operate through compliance will be less likely to convert customer
commitments into sales fulfillments than salespeople not using tactics
that operate through compliance.
Ingratiation and inspirational influence tactics are thought to op-
erate through the identification process (Kelman, 1958). Identification
is based upon a relationship with the influencing individual or group
(Kelman, 1958). The connection with the influencer is so strong that the
individual adopts the behavior regardless of its associated details.
Identification occurs when an individual accepts the reasons the influ-
encer offers as justification for the individual's decision to begin or
continue a relationship with the influencer (Kelman, 1961). Salespeople
who use ingratiation-influence tactics are attempting to connect with
customers (Kumar & Beyerlein, 1991). In order to better forge a re-
lationship with customers, a salesperson utilizing ingratiation tactics
will talk about common goals and interests, be extremely cordial, and
be forthcoming and generous with praise and compliments (Kipnis &
Schmidt, 1988). Such behavior will—initially, at least—make the cus-
tomer feel amiable toward the salesperson. A salesperson engaging in
inspirational influence tactics will appeal to a customer's ideals and
thus arouse a positive affective response in said customer (Yukl &
Tracey, 1992). This, in turn, connects positive emotional responses in
the customer's mind to the salesperson. Thus, influence tactics oper-
ating through the identification-influence process evoke warm feelings
and emotions toward the salesperson.
However, with identification, the target individual may respect the
influencer's values but not accept them as their own. Since the in-
dividual does not adopt the influencer's values as their own, and the
values are still tied to the influencer, the individual's commitment is
only valid when the relationship with the influencer is salient, such as
when the influencer is in the presence of the individual (Kelman, 1961).
Moreover, in many business settings—and especially that of a sales
relationship—it is not always possible for the salesperson to be present
when it comes time for the customer to fulfill the commitment. Further,
the emotions are tied to the salesperson, not the product or service.
Salespeople utilizing the identification tactic focus more on commu-
nicating warm feelings to the customer than on communicating the
merits of the product or service. This seriously undermines the power of
a commitment-and-fulfillment relationship processed through identifi-
cation. Thus, influence tactics operating via identification (ingratiation
and inspirational appeals) will be most effective only when the re-
lationship with the salesperson is salient (Kelman, 1958).
H6. Tactics operating through identification, (a) ingratiation and (b)
inspiration, will negatively moderate the relationship between
customer commitment and sales fulfillment such that salespeople
using tactics that operate through identification will be less likely to
convert customer commitments into sales fulfillments than salespeople
not using tactics that operate through identification.
Information-exchange and recommendation influence tactics op-
erate via the internalization influence process (Kelman, 1958). Inter-
nalization occurs when an individual accepts a salesperson's influence
M. Clark
because it matches their existing values (Kelman, 1961). The reward for
adopting the behavior is intrinsic to the individual. The influencer's
reasons for purchase are so congruent with the customer's values that
his or her acceptance of the influence seems inherent to the customer.
Using information exchange, the salesperson teaches the customer
about the salesperson's business model, operations, products, and ser-
vices. Salespeople who use recommendation-influence tactics offer their
customers unambiguous propositions and logical arguments for ful-
filling the purchase (Frazier & Summers, 1984).
Internalization represents the strongest type of commitment process
because it is intrinsic to the individual. In fact, internalization has been
shown to lead to behavioral compliance (e.g., fulfillment) in addition to
verbal compliance (e.g., commitment) (O'Reilly III & Chatman, 1986).
Therefore, influence tactics operating through the process of inter-
nalization are posited to most successfully lead to or create fulfillment.
Kelman (1958) argues that tactics operating via internalization will be
the most effective overall for obtaining sales fulfillments. When a
salesperson uses the information-exchange tactic, this information is
internalized and remains with the customer in their purchase decision,
prompting them to fulfill their commitment to purchase. Further, re-
commendations prompt customers to effectively consider their options.
Therefore, the customer internalizes the recommendations, which then
endure long after the sales call ends (Kelman, 1958). The customer is
able to recall the specific recommendation as their own when making
future purchase decisions, aiding in the conversion of purchase com-
mitment to sales fulfillment.
H7. Tactics operating through internalization, (a) information
exchange and (b) recommendations, will positively moderate the
relationship between customer commitment and sales fulfillment such
that salespeople using tactics that operate through internalization will
be more likely to convert customer commitments into sales fulfillments
than salespeople not using tactics that operate through internalization.
This research uses the forward-looking and future-focused approach
developed by Nevins, Bearden, and Money (2006) for long-term or-
ientation. The purpose of focusing on long-term orientation in this
study is to forgo short-term, transactional sales in favor of long-term
customer relationships. The current view of long-term orientation va-
lues planning, persistence, and hard work as tools with which to foster
later and multiple successes (Nevins, Bearden et al., 2006). This view is
the most appropriate for the study at hand because of its focus on long-
term, downstream purchase fulfillments. Concentrating on long-term
outcomes should direct salespeople's focus toward purchase fulfillments
rather than short-term customer commitments.
4. Method
The best approach to answering the research questions addressed in
this study is to assess naturally occurring field sales interactions. The
ideal sample for this study would include actual salespeople who en-
counter multiple commitment situations on a continual basis and, due
to the timing of the sales cycle, have enough time to affect the com-
mitment/fulfillment relationship with the variables being tested. A fast-
paced clothing-retail environment would certainly provide enough in-
teractions for an appropriate study; however, due to the nature of the
fast-paced sales interactions, there is little chance that salespeople will
be able to affect the commitment/fulfillment relationship, and they
have even less time to capture the variables during the interaction. On
the other hand, a product with a much slower sales cycle such as a
house would provide ample time to influence the fulfillment of a
commitment and capture the variables of interest during interactions.
However, slow-selling, large-ticket items such as houses are not likely
to provide a large enough data supply for a timely study. Therefore, the
ideal sample would balance the number of interactions and the quality
of the variables of interest. The preferred sample would consist of
salespeople who encounter multiple customers each day in order to
6
Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
provide enough interactions for a large enough pool of data points per
salesperson. Furthermore, the ideal sample's sales cycle would require
that the salesperson spend enough time in front of the customer to build
a relationship and for the customer to be impacted by the salesperson's
characteristics and influence tactics over multiple encounters. In short,
the ideal sample for this study would consist of repeat interactions with
each customer over time and interactions with multiple customers per
day.
Furthermore, the outcome variable is binary and based on actual
purchase decisions (i.e. 1 = purchase, 0 = no purchase). Therefore, the
ideal analytic technique for this study would allow the researcher to
analyze the relationship between metric moderating variables and the
binary dependent variable such as binary logistic regression, which the
present study indeed employs. Binary logistic regression is often used in
marketing research (Akinci, Kaynak, Atilgan, & Aksoy, 2007) because it
allows the researcher to use a set of continuous variables to predict the
likelihood that an event outcome will occur. Here, that event outcome
is the fulfillment of a commitment in the form of an actual purchase.
4.1. Sample
Respondents were six salespeople from a distributor for an inter-
national beauty-product company focused on selling their product line
in a business-to-business context that includes salons, spas, and hotels.
Their products include a variety of shampoo and conditioner lines
(often designed for specific hair concerns such as dryness, color treat-
ment, etc.) as well as lotions, body washes, candles, makeup, and other
beauty-related commodities. The firm's customers and prospective
customers are salons and spas that are often independently owned by
hairstylists and beauticians with limited business experience. In other
words, these aren't corporate/franchise-type operations. Respondents
sell the company's products in various “retail package” combinations to
salons and spas that then resell them to their clients and customers.
Respondents are compensated with a base salary along with a bonus
they receive upon hitting particular quotas. This means that they are
incentivized to close the deal (get customers to fulfill rather than
merely commit) but that they don't necessarily feel the constant pres-
sure to close that they might if they were commission-only salespeople.
The respondent pool consists of a sales force small enough that a single
manager evaluates each salesperson on an individual basis. This man-
ager frequently rides with salespeople, and all respondents are highly
interconnected socially despite living and/or working in different
geographic territories.
Respondents have an average of 8.5 years of experience in the in-
dustry, ranging from zero years to 20 years, and are organized based on
geographic territories that cover major metropolitan areas. Salespeople
call on an average of 17 prospective customers per week, which re-
sulted in a dataset of 258 sales interactions and an average of 43 major
deals during the study timeframe (approximately 15 months). A “major
deal” is defined as a new account placement or a significant upsell to
buy-ins to a new product line. This context is ideal for the study of how
commitments become actual purchase decisions because the typical
selling opportunity for this organization involves a delay between the
commitment and the fulfillment due to various reasons such as a need
to make shelf space, a need to consult with partners, feedback from
clients, time to allow the stylists to try the product, and the need to
train the staff on the product.
Data collection occurred in two phases: an initial survey re-
spondents completed once at the commencement of the data collection
and an interaction-specific survey completed after each commitment
interaction. Self-report surveys were created using Qualtrics online
survey software. The initial survey, completed by each of the sales-
people, sought to capture stable salesperson characteristics and other
information. The interaction-specific surveys were also self reported
and created using Qualtrics online survey software. Following any in-
teraction with a customer during which the salesperson made an effort
M. Clark
Table 2
Relevant sample results.
Salesperson Industry tenurea LTO CO AS # Usable interactions
1 20 7 7 6 53
2 9 5 7 4.67 33
3 0 6.5 7 7 32
4 3 6 5.25 4.67 42
5 7 6.75 6.5 5.67 51
6 10 6 6 7 47
LTO = Long Term Orientation, CO = Customer Orientation, AS = Adaptive
Selling, Scales 1–7 see Appendix A.
a 1981; Hu & Bentler, 1998). Further, complex models such as this are
In years.
to close the sale or asked for a commitment, each salesperson com-
pleted the interaction-specific survey, providing specifics about that
particular interaction and its elements. Table 2 shows relevant sample
results per salesperson.
4.2. Measures
All constructs were self reported by the salesperson via an online
questionnaire. The dependent variable, actual purchase, was collected
from company records and measured as a dichotomous 0/1. To capture
salespeople's stable individual characteristics, all salespeople completed
an initial survey. This survey measured long-term orientation using a
scale adapted from Bearden et al. (2006). The Spiro and Weitz (1990)
scale was used to measure adaptive selling. Trait customer orientation
was captured with a scale adapted from Saxe and Weitz (1982) and
Brown et al., 2002An example of the initial survey is included in Ap-
pendix A.
In addition to the initial survey, the interaction-specific survey
asked questions to obtain interaction-specific information. Such in-
formation included the size of the company (number of full- and part-
time employees) and the number of objections the customer made
during the interaction. Moreover, the interaction survey also captured
sales influence tactics. The sales influence tactics—information ex-
change, recommendations, threats, promises, ingratiation, and in-
spirational appeal—were measured using scales developed by
McFarland et al. (2006). Each tactic had three items and was measured
on a 7-point Likert scale. A customer's purchase commitment was
captured as a percentage based on the salesperson's perception of the
strength of the customer's commitment to purchase, if any, where
100% = “very strong” and 0% = “no commitment.” These interaction-
specific variables were captured using online surveys the salespeople
completed after each sales call. An example of this survey is included in
Appendix B. Salespeople were asked to complete these surveys after all
customer interactions in which a sale was attempted (i.e., not merely
maintenance calls) on an ongoing basis over a 15-month period. All
salespeople were included in the study and were strongly encouraged to
include all relevant sales calls. Therefore, a sample from a non-response
group was not available for use in conducting non-response bias testing.
Instead, non-response bias was addressed at the data-collection stage. In
order to maximize responses, respondents were offered incentives in
$100 increments. Additionally, weekly reminders were emailed to the
respondents, and respondents were assured anonymity. Missing data
was deleted listwise. This resulted in 258 useable responses (sales calls).
5. Analysis and results
5.1. Measurement model results
A confirmatory factor analysis was performed in AMOS with items
not permitted to cross-load. The measurement model was tested with
items loading onto their respective factors and was found to have a
good overall fit (χ2 = 299.489, df = 120; RMSEA = 0.076;
7
Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
CFI = 0.967; TLI = 0.958). However, Information Exchange and
Recommendations loaded on to one factor, and items were thus aver-
aged together to form the variable Internalization. Inspiration and
Ingratiation also loaded on to one factor; items were averaged together
to form the variable Identification. This combining and naming process
made sense theoretically according to Kelman's (1958) influence pro-
cesses. The new measurement model was also found to have an ac-
ceptable fit (χ2 = 467, df = 122; RMSEA = 0.105; CFI = 0.937;
TLI = 0.921). A significant chi-square value was expected because chi-
square is sensitive to large sample sizes (n > 200; Marsh, Balla, &
McDonald, 1988; Bearden, Sharma, & Teel, 1982; Fornell & Larcker,
prone to yield higher RMSEA values, and researchers are cautioned
against using an absolute cutoff RMSEA score as a means of evaluating
model fit in models with fewer than 1000 data points and urged to look
at the other fit statistics instead (Kenny, Kaniskan, & McCoach, 2014).
Construct reliability estimates ranged from 0.843 to 0.955, indicating
that the measures used in the analysis were reliable. The average var-
iances extracted (AVE) of each latent factor were above 0.50, signifying
convergent validity (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Support was found for
discriminant validity by comparing the AVE for each construct to the
respective squared correlation between variables in the model (Fornell
& Larcker, 1981). Full confirmatory factor analysis results, including
average variances extracted, composite reliabilities, and correlations
among the constructs, are provided in Table 3.
5.2. Method
Hypothesis testing was centered on examining to what extent the
moderating variables affect the commitment-fulfillment relationship.
Because the dependent variable was based on actual purchase decisions
(i.e. 1 = purchase, 0 = no purchase), binary logistic regression was
used to analyze the relationship between metric moderating variables
and the binary dependent variable. Binary logistic regression allows the
researcher to use a set of continuous variables to predict the likelihood
of an event's occurrence and is frequently used in marketing research
(Akinci et al., 2007). Applications include the analysis of preference for
purchase upgrades (Bolton, Lemon, & Verhoef, 2008) or product choice
(Schaefers, 2014).
For each customer interaction in the sample, the interaction be-
tween the moderators and the independent variable of commitment
were used to estimate the chances that customers belonged to the group
who fulfilled their purchase commitment. Interpretation of logistic re-
gression results is based on two types of coefficients (Hosmer &
Lemeshow, 2000). The logistic coefficient represents the impact of a
moderator on the likelihood of a customer fulfilling a purchase com-
mitment. This coefficient indicates the direction of the relationship. If a
moderator has a positive coefficient, an increase in the variable in-
creases the likelihood of the dependent variable occurring; a negative
coefficient, on the other hand, reveals a negative impact of the mod-
erator on the estimated likelihood of the dependent variable's occur-
rence. To analyze the magnitude of a relationship, the exponentiated
logistic coefficient Exp(B), which represents the change in the odds
value, is also used. The exponentiated coefficient minus one equals the
percentage change in odds. In other words, a value of 1.5 reveals that
an increase of the moderator variable by one point increases the odds of
the predicted event occurring by 50%.
5.3. Model validation
Several statistics are commonly used to interpret a logistic regres-
sion model's validity and goodness-of-fit (Hair, Black, Babin, &
Anderson, 2010; Hosmer & Lemeshow, 2000). The significant like-
lihood-ratio test rejects the null hypothesis of all covariates in the
model being zero. Furthermore, the Hosmer-Lemeshow test (Hosmer &
Lemeshow, 2000) compares observed and expected values of the
M. Clark Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 3
Intercorrelations, descriptive statistics, reliabilities and validity estimates.
Construct 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

1. Threat 0.940
2. Promise 0.522 0.870
3. Identification 0.075 0.264 0.880
4. Internalization 0.079 0.169 0.501 0.980
5. LTO 0.152 0.234 0.383 0.123 0.954
6. Customer orientation 0.043 0.010 0.337 0.127 0.712 0.879
7. Adaptive selling 0.053 −0.010 0.184 0.185 0.301 0.387 0.793
8. Commitment 0.184 0.163 0.182 0.380 0.063 0.044 0.381
9. Fulfillment −0.262 −0.025 0.045 0.373 −0.065 0.096 0.260 0.591

Descriptive statistics
M 1.490 1.970 5.500 4.940 6.340 6.290 5.980 69.630 0.520
SD 1.340 1.670 1.860 1.890 0.590 0.450 1.010 39.140 0.500

Reliability and validity

Cronbach's alpha 0.969 0.916 0.942 0.962 0.952 0.923 0.859 -a –
Composite reliability 0.955 0.906 0.953 0.843 0.968 0.909 0.772 – –
Average variance extracted 0.875 0.763 0.774 0.970 0.910 0.773 0.629 – –

Notes: n = 258, Square root of AVE is show on the diagonal. Correlations are shown below the diagonal
LTO = Long-term orientation.
a
Single item measures. Reliability and validity estimates not applicable.

dependent variable based on the predictors; the non-significant test
statistic shown in Table 4 (0.56) is another indication of adequate
model fit. Finally, Nagelkerke's R2 of 0.816 provides additional support
for the tested model. To additionally ensure the explanatory power of
the independent variables, a controls-only model and a main-effects-
only model were analyzed. These models however, revealed sig-
nificantly lower model fits regarding Nagelkerke's R2 (0.533 and 0.753,
respectively) Overall, the study found that an adequate validity level for
the hypothesized model.
5.4. Logistic regression results
The results displayed in Table 4 show significant effects for four of
the seven moderators. None of the salesperson traits and character-
istics—Adaptive Selling (B = 0.902 p = .305), Customer Orientation
(B = 1.128 p = .166), or Long Term Orientation (B = 0.975
p = .444)—were found to significantly influence the relationship be-
tween commitment and fulfillment. However, the influence tactics de-
monstrate significant effects. Threat has a significant negative effect
(Fig.1).
(B = −7.409 p = .005) on the relationship between commitment
and fulfillment. An increase in the threat variable by one unit is ex-
pected to decrease the likelihood of fulfillment by 99% (Exp
(B) = 0.001). Promise has a significant negative effect (B = -1.279
p = .075) on the relationship between commitment and fulfillment. An
increase in the promise variable by one unit is expected to decrease the
likelihood of fulfillment by 72.2% (Exp(B) = 0.278). Identification has a
significant negative effect (B = -1.577 p = .051) on the relationship
between commitment and fulfillment. An increase in the identification
variable by one unit is expected to decrease the odds of fulfillment by
79.3% (Exp(B) = 0.207). Internalization has a significant positive effect
(B = 1.601 p = .041) on the relationship between commitment and
fulfillment. An increase in the internalization variable by one unit is
expected to increase the likelihood of fulfillment by almost 5 times (Exp
(B) = 0.4956).
Figs. 2–5 provide a visual representation of the significant re-
lationships found in the results. All of the graphs show a generally
positive relationship between commitment and the probability of ful-
fillment; high commitment is related to higher probability of fulfill-
ment. The moderating effect of Threat tactics on the commitment-ful-
fillment relationship is shown in Fig. 2. With low use of Threat tactics,
the probability of fulfillment is very near 1 at low commitment levels
and moves closer to 1 as commitment increases. However, with high
use of.
Threat tactics, the probability of fulfillment doesn't even reach 0.2
and quickly slopes toward 0 as commitment increases. Fig. 3 shows the
moderating effect of Promise tactics on the commitment-fulfillment re-
lationship. Unlike Threat tactics, both the high and low slopes of the
moderator (Promise) eventually trend toward a probability of 1 as
commitment increases. However, when commitment is low, high use of
Promise tactics results in a much lower probability of fulfillment (0.4)
than when Promise tactics have low use (> 0.8). The moderating effect
of Identify tactics on the commitment-fulfillment relationship is shown
in Fig. 4. This relationship is visually similar to the relationship de-
picted in Fig. 3 (Promise). When commitment is low, high use of Identify
tactics results in a much lower probability of fulfillment (< 0.4) than
when Identify tactics have low use (close to 0.9). Finally, Fig. 5 re-
presents the moderating effect that Internal tactics have on the com-
mitment-fulfillment relationship. Unlike any of the other tactics, In-
ternal tactics have a positive effect on the relationship. We can see this
because the line representing high Internal tactic use has a much higher
probability of fulfillment than the line representing low Internal tactic
use when commitment is low. Another way to think of this is that low
commitment generally results in low fulfillment, but when the high use
of Internal tactics is applied, that probability gets extremely high (0.9).
6. Discussion
This research is among the first influence-tactics studies that uses a
concrete, behavioral dependent variable and has implications that can
be managerially relevant to all sales organizations hoping to fulfill
customer commitments. This study shows that, by offering re-
commendations and exchanging information with customers, sales-
people can increase the likelihood that customer's purchase commit-
ments will actually be fulfilled. It was also revealed that salespeople
generally fail to convert commitments into fulfillments using threats,
promises, ingratiation, or inspirational influence tactics. Additionally,
long-term orientation, customer orientation, and adaptive selling be-
haviors were not found to have an impact on the commitment-fulfill-
ment relationship.
6.1. Managerial implications
First, purchase commitment does have a positive relationship with
purchase fulfillment, but debate continues regarding the extent to
which intention (commitment) leads to an actual behavior (fulfillment);

8
M. Clark Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Table 4 into making a purchase decision; the facts should lead the customer to
Binary logistic regression model results. the fulfillment if the expert has made the proper recommendations.
Controls only Main effects Full model The use of referent power based on identifying with the salesperson
was also shown to impede the relationship between commitment and
β Exp(B) β Exp(B) β Exp(B) fulfillment. This result may appear to be the most counterintuitive
given the attention paid in the literature to “relationship selling.”
Predictor effects
Commitment 2.178⁎⁎ 8.827 2.652⁎⁎ 14.18 2.522⁎⁎ 12.458 However, relationship selling is about a business relationship and pro-
Tenure (control) −0.018 0.982 0.06 1.062 0.08 1.083 viding value to customers, not deliberate flattery intended to produce a
Objection count −0.983⁎⁎ 0.374 −0.692⁎ 0.501 −0.813 0.444 sale via emotional manipulation. Salespeople can still build solid re-
(control) lationships with customers and then leverage those relationships to gain
Fulltime −0.005 0.995 0.057 1.058 0.035 1.036
access to the customer and build credibility by sharing information
employees
(control) regarding the product or service. Focusing on the attributes of the
Parttime −0.019 0.981 0.012 1.012 0.226 1.254 product or service yields better results in the long run than does simply
employees relying on relationship tactics.
(control)
Third, the findings of this study that are most directly related to
LTO −0.710⁎ 0.492 −1.235⁎ 0.291
Adapt 0.052 1.053 −0.24 0.787
increasing the relationship between customer commitment and pur-
CO 1.254⁎ 3.504 1.128 3.09 chase fulfillment are the influence tactics processed through inter-
Threat −1.273⁎⁎ 0.28 1.951⁎ 7.036 nalization: information exchange and recommendation. This suggests
Promise −0.664⁎ 0.515 −0.348 0.706 that the customer adopts the salesperson's ideas into their own schema
Identification −0.702⁎ 0.496 −0.294 0.745
and that those ideas endure long after the customer's commitment. This
Internalization 1.061⁎⁎ 2.888 0.482 1.619
finding indicates that using logic and reasoning to help the customer
Interactions with commitment
arrive at a product decision results in a preferred outcome. The sales-
Tenure (control) −0.074 0.929
Objection count 0.772 2.164 person needs expert knowledge of the product, the competition, and the
(control) market in order to provide thorough information to the customer.
Fulltime 0.099 1.104 Finally, these results have a far-reaching impact on the relative
employees importance of the stable salesperson traits and characteristics versus
(control)
Parttime −0.507⁎ 0.602
certain salesperson behaviors and tactics that are less consistent or not
employees inherent to the salesperson and his or her work. This is important be-
(control) cause many sales organizations utilize personality tests in hiring
LTO 0.975 2.652 salespeople to search for certain stable characteristics that the sales
Adapt 0.902 2.465
organization believes to be crucial to obtaining sales fulfillments.
CO 0.051 1.052
Threat −7.409⁎ 0.001 However, the findings of this study indicate that the influence tactics
Promise −1.279⁎ 0.278 used during each interaction actually have the most impact on sales
Identification −1.577⁎ 0.207 fulfillments. In other words, effective sales behavior can be taught;
Internalization 1.601⁎ 4.956 salespeople are not merely “born” effective or not effective.
Cox & Snell R2 0.4 0.565 0.612
Nagelkerke R2 0.533 0.753 0.816
−2 log 219.381 138.351 109.737 6.2. Limitations and future research
likelihood
Hosmer- 0.603 0.035 0.560 This study contains several limitations and suggests avenues for
Lemeshow
future research. The relationships of interest here are looked at from the
LTO = Long term orientation, Adapt = Adaptive selling, CO = Customer or-
salesperson perspective and related to the managerial recommenda-
ientation tions that might help a salesperson convert commitments into fulfill-
The dependent variable in all models is Fulfillment ments. Saliency occurs in a customer's mind and is therefore not re-
⁎
=0.05 significance level levant as a variable in this particular study. Furthermore, tapping into
⁎⁎
=0.00 significance level the customer's mentality to measure salience would necessitate myriad
other variables, which puts the inclusion of saliency as a variable be-
however, this study clarifies and narrows previous findings due to its yond the scope of this research. It would also be interesting to in-
inclusion of actual purchases as the dependent variable. The results of vestigate salesperson influence tactics from the customer's point of
this study suggest that there is a main effect of customer commitment view. An examination of the relationship between the customer com-
on purchase fulfillment prior to the addition of any moderating re- mitment and the sales fulfillment focused on the customer's perception
lationships. This is congruent with the research on intentions and be- could add nuance and depth to the expanding literature on customer
havior (Ajzen, 1991; Ajzen & Fishbein, 1980). However, the intent of perception of salespeople. It would be particularly interesting to com-
this study was to provide practitioners with actionable items that they pare and contrast the customer and salesperson perspectives on an in-
can use to convert commitments into purchase fulfillments. For that teraction-by-interaction basis.
reason, the focal point of this study's implications are the variables that Thankfully, a distributor for a well-known international salon-pro-
moderate the relationship between customer commitment and purchase ducts company was willing to participate in an in-depth, ongoing data
fulfillment. collection process for this research. This sample provided a large data
Second, the relationship between customer commitment and pur- set for the research. However, the nature of the instrument, the ques-
chase fulfillment is severely undermined by commonly used influence tionnaire, was to be filled out by each salesperson. Three of the con-
tactics. The relationship between commitment and fulfillment is gen- structs were dependent upon stable characteristics inherent to each
erally strong, but threats, promises, and ingratiation influence tactics salesperson, and variation was thus dependent on the size of the com-
each attenuate that relationship. For managers and salespeople, this pany's sales force. Unfortunately, the sales force only consisted of six
means that although threats, promises, and ingratiation may seem like salespeople, which severely limited the variation of three of the model's
worthwhile tactics, they actually lower the chance that commitment constructs because the unit of analysis was the interaction rather than
will lead to fulfillment. An expert should not have to coerce a customer the salesperson. A way to offset this problem in future research would
be to expand the data collection to a much larger salesforce in an effort

9
M. Clark
Fig. 1. Research model.
Fig. 2. Graph of Threat Moderator on Commitment-Fulfillment Relationship.
Fig. 3. Graph of Promise Moderator on Commitment-Fulfillment Relationship.
to capture more variation across the stable salesperson characteristics.
Ideally, each individual interaction would still constitute the unit of
analysis, but increasing the size of the respondent pool would help find
variance in these three constructs.
Purchase fulfillment often requires that salespeople engage clients
in multiple, seemingly fruitless sales calls in order to build the re-
lationship to the point that it will lead to sales fulfillment. However,
that issue was not the focus of this research, and data was captured after
relationships with clients had already begun to be established. To ex-
tend this research further, future researchers should address the length
of the salesperson/customer relationship. Relationships are thought to
deepen and strengthen over time and as the parties have more
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Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
Fig. 4. Graph of Identify Moderator on Commitment-Fulfillment Relationship.
Fig. 5. Graph of Internal Moderator on Commitment-Fulfillment Relationship.
interactions. An interesting method by which to do this would involve a
growth model that could account for relationship length and investigate
how and whether salespeople repeat the use of certain influence tactics.
The results of this study are limited to interactions between sales-
people and customers. However, the finding that threats, promises, and
ingratiation negatively affect the interaction, coupled with habitual use
of those tactics in other situations, begs more questions that demand
answers. For instance, in terms of sales management, would inter-
nalization tactics (information exchange and recommendations) be
more effective than the frequent threat of job loss? Does the promise
influence tactic frequently used in many promotions actually impair
purchase fulfillment? If not, what other factors affect that relationship
M. Clark Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

and make it different from the salesperson and customer situation?

Appendix A. Initial survey example Please indicate the degree to which you agree or disagree with each of the following statements using
a 1–7 scale where 1 = Strongly Disagree and 7 = Strongly Agree

Long Term Orientation Strongly

Disagree
Strongly
Agree
I plan for the long term. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I work hard for success in the future. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I don’t mind giving up today’s fun for success in the future. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Persistence is important to me. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Focus on Customers Strongly

Disagree
Strongly
Agree
I try to figure out what might help motivate a Salon to make a purchase. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I try to show Salons how their purchases will benefit them. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I have the Salon’s best interests in mind. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I try to learn about the decision maker’s interests and motivations when asking for an order. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Your Selling Approach Strongly

Disagree Neither
Strongly
Agree
I believe each Salon requires a unique approach. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
When I feel that my influence approach is not working, I can easily change to another approach. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
I like to experiment with different influence approaches. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

How long have you been working for this organization?

_____ years _____ months
How much experience do you have in the Sales industry?
_____ years _____ months

On average, how many hours a week do you work? ______________hrs per week.

11
M. Clark Industrial Marketing Management xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Appendix B. Interaction survey example

What type(s) of objections did you encounter from this Salon during this sales call. Please check all that apply.
Too expensive Price point not high enough Not enough retail space
Don’t want to bring on the full line Education
Alliance with a competitor Not exclusive enough Had this product in the past
Other, what? _______________________________________________
To what extent did you use the following influence tactics on this call (0=not at all, 7 = used a lot)?
Information Exchange Not Used Used
It At
To what extent did you… All A Lot
Present information related to the various purchase options 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Talk about all the possible applications of the Aveda products and services 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Ensure the decision maker received all materials relevant to purchase decisions 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Recommendations Not Used Used

It At
To what extent did you… All A Lot
Make it clear that by following your recommendations, the Salon would benefit 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Make a logical argument for expecting success from your suggestions 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Provide a clear picture of the positive impact your suggestions would have on the Salon 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Potential Consequences Not Used Used

It At
To what extent did you… All A Lot
Emphasize the potential consequences of not purchasing now (e.g., impending price 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
increase, not being ready for event/busy season, etc.)
Emphasize the potential loss of an incentive (i.e., free class, shelf, etc.) if a commitment 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
is not made today
Mention that Aveda plans to open in this market (which can produce $X) and we would 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
love to do it with you if you accept the opportunity now (e.g., “If you don’t do it now, a
competitor will”)

Promises Not Used Used

It At
To what extent did you… All A Lot
Offer to give special attention to the Salon if a decision was made to purchase 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Offer to provide incentive to the Salon for agreeing to your purchase requests 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Offer a specific deal for the Salon to change its position on certain issues 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Ingratiation Not Used Used

It At
To what extent did you… All A Lot
Act in a friendly manner prior to asking for what you wanted 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Compliment and praise the Salon and it’s achievements 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Make the decision maker feel good about themselves before making your sales pitch 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

Inspirational Appeals Not Used Used

It At
To what extent did you… All A Lot
Try to get the Salon excited about Aveda 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Appeal to the Salon’s values and ideals when asking for business 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Make a sales pitch that appealed to emotions 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Did this sales call end in a commitment? Yes No
If yes, how certain are you that the salon will actually fulfill the commitment? ________________% certain

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