Introduction
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(1) What types of service situations constitute more and less promising sales opportunities for service technicians?
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(2) Do technicians exploit promising sales opportunities more often than less promising ones? If not, to what extent do they make suboptimal choices when engaging in selling?
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(3) Do these choices depend on technician-specific moderators that firms can leverage to optimize sales outcomes by service technicians?
Background
Field service technicians
Related literature
Determinants | Outcome variables | Research design | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Study | Organizational | Employee-related | Sales approach-related | Situational | Selling activity | Selling success | Industry | Research method | Type of data |
Evans et al. (1999) | × | × | Retail banking | Survey | Cross-sectional | ||||
Güneş et al. (2010) | × | × | Retail banking | Observation | Longitudinal | ||||
Schepers et al. (2011) | × | × | × | Printing | Survey | Cross-sectional | |||
Jasmand, Blasevic, and De Ruyter (2012) | × | × | × | Various industries | Survey | Cross-sectional | |||
Yu et al. (2012) | × | × | × | Retail banking | Survey | Cross-sectional | |||
Patterson et al. (2014) | × | × | × | Various industries | Survey | Cross-sectional | |||
Yu et al. (2015) | × | × | × | × | Retail banking | Survey | Cross-sectional | ||
Rapp et al. (2015) | × | × | × | × | Hospitality | Survey | Cross-sectional | ||
Sok et al. (2016) | × | × | Pharmaceuticals | Survey | Cross-sectional | ||||
Ogilvie et al. (2017) | × | × | × | Hospitality | Survey | Cross-sectional | |||
Gabler et al. (2017) | × | × | × | Hospitality | Survey | Cross-sectional | |||
Faia and Vieira (2017) | × | × | × | × | Retail banking | Survey | Cross-sectional | ||
Becker et al. (2020) | × | × | Telecommunication | Experiments | Cross-sectional | ||||
This study | ( ×)* | ( ×)* | × | × | × | Machinery/B2B | Observation | Longitudinal |
Conceptual development
Pre-study I | Pre-study II | |
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Context | Turning and milling machines, holistic solutions in additive manufacturing | Extrusion, printing and converting machines for the production of packaging |
Sample size | 20 field service technicians, 1 service manager | 12 field service technicians |
Method | Depth interviews (field service technicians, service manager) | Defined scenarios and depth interviews (field service technicians) |
Purpose | Identification of situational determinants | Validation of situational determinants and exploration of resulting service situations |
Pre-study I: Identification of situational determinants
Partner company A | Partner company B | |
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Name | DMG Mori | Windmöller & Hölscher |
Website | ||
Industry | Manufacturer of turning and milling machines; holistic solutions in additive manufacturing | Manufacturer of extrusion, printing and converting machines for the production of packaging |
Target markets | 87 countries (worldwide) | 130 countries (worldwide) |
Revenue (in 2020) | 1,831.3 Mio. € | 929 Mio. € |
Number of employees (in 2022) | 6,800 | 3,100 |
Number of customers (in 2022) | > 100,000 firms | 5,000 firms |
“I just had the case…a client really only wanted to have the bare minimum done. Even though I really urged him to fix the issue properly, he said… ‘the machine is back up and running, let us keep it working for now.’” (Interview 9)
“In the case of out-of-warranty jobs, some customers already pay attention to how long I sit at the machine at X euros per hour.” (Interview 18)
Pre-study II: Validation of determinants and exploration of service situations
“It’s a win-win situation when the service technician gets there and does his job. And the customer can get back into production with his machine more quickly. Both are then euphoric. [...] I have shown my expertise. I did what I was supposed to do. The customer then trusts me even more.” (Interview 11)
“Of course, I am dissatisfied with myself in these situations, even if it is not my fault that the machine isn’t running. But I didn't get my job done. So I cannot imagine that the customer is particularly happy with the situation in that case.” (Interview 11)
“[Under warranty, the expectation of customers is like] ’I bought it this way and it is supposed to work! Anything that does not work is up to you.’” (Interview 12)
“[The customer sees it like this:] ’We just bought the machine, but it doesn’t work as it should.’ Then you either have to step up your performance to make it work or you can’t get it to work yourself. And then, of course, the atmosphere is different.“ (Interview 10)
Conceptual framework
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Expectancy = expectation that the task can be performed successfully,
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Instrumentality = perception that performing the task will lead to a specific outcome, and
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Valence = perceived value of the outcome.
Service situation | |||||
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“Out-of-warranty service failure” (OWSF) | “Out-of-warranty service success” (OWSS) | “Within-warranty service failure” (WWSF) | “Within-warranty service success” (WWSS) | ||
Selling outcomes | Selling success (SUC) | highest (H1) | lower (higher) than OWSF (WWSS) (H3b) | lower (higher) than OWSF (WWSS) (H3a) | lowest (H2) |
Selling activity (ACT) | lower (higher) than OWSS (WWSF) (H6a) | highest (H5) | lowest (H4) | lower (higher) than OWSS (WWSF) (H6b) |
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Technical specialization. Companies often intentionally seek and develop employees to achieve different skill levels (Ferreira & Sah, 2012; Landier et al., 2009). In our case, some technicians are trained on many machines and thus have a relatively broad skill set (generalists), while others specialize in a few machines for a narrower but more detailed knowledge about a limited number of machines (specialists). A broader, more generalist (versus specialized) knowledge not only directly expands a technician’s catalog of suitable product and service recommendations for the customer, but should also improve their ability to assess (service) situations more holistically (Bunderson & Sutcliffe, 2002; Kang & Snell, 2009).
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Sales education. In a traditional sales context, among the key tools companies use to improve salespeoples’ performance is their (theoretical) education through training programs (Farrell & Hakstian, 2001). As trainings improve knowledge, skills, attitudes and behavior, they should also foster the selling performance of service technicians, including their ability to identify sales opportunities during service visits.
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Sales expertise. Given that selling is an optional (secondary) task, differences in the extent of selling activities among technicians exist. Those who make frequent offers build up a relatively large body of sales-specific knowledge and skills. Similar to salespeople, technicians should learn to avoid situations expected to lead to failure, based on accumulated experience with such failures (Boichuk et al., 2014; Schulman, 1999). With this acquired expertise, technicians should be particularly capable of achieving above-average sales performances, which includes the ability to identify promising and less promising sales opportunities (Schmidt et al., 1986).
Data and methodology
Research setting
Data collection and variable operationalization
Variable | Name | Definition | Operationalization |
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Dependent variables | |||
Selling activity | ACT | Indicator whether a service technician engaged in selling activity during a respective service visit | 1 = selling activity; 0 = no selling activity |
Selling success | SUC | Indicator whether a selling activity was successful (i.e. resulted in a sale) | 1 = selling success; 0 = no selling success |
Service situations | |||
“Out-of-warranty service failure” | OWSF | Situation characterized by unsuccessful service job and non-existence of warranty | 1 if service job = unsuccessful AND warranty = non-existing; 0 otherwise |
“Out-of-warranty service success” | OWSS | Situation characterized by successful service job and non-existence of warranty | 1 if service job = successful AND warranty = non-existing; 0 otherwise |
“Within-warranty service failure” | WWSF | Situation characterized by unsuccessful service job and existence of warranty | 1 if service job = unsuccessful AND warranty = existing; 0 otherwise |
“Within-warranty service success” | WWSS | Situation characterized by successful service job and existence of warranty | 1 if service job = successful AND warranty = existing; 0 otherwise |
Covariates | |||
Technical specialization | SPEC | Indicator for degree of specialization of the service technician (vs. generalist) | Herfindahl concentration index based on distribution of the service technician’s internal skill certificates for a subset of 27 product lines offered by the company; range from 0 = generalist to 1 = specialist |
Sales education | TRAIN | Indicator whether the service technician participated in specific sales training prior to the respective service visit | 1 = training; 0 = no training |
Sales expertise | LEAD | Indicator for overall sales activity of service technician prior to respective service visit | # of sales leads of the service technician in the quarter prior to current service visit |
Technician’s service experience | TEXP | A service technician’s recorded service experience across all customers | # of service visits (at any customer) made prior to the focal visit |
Technician’s prior service success | TSERV | A service technician’s track record of successful service visits (i.e., machine operational upon departure) | # of successful service visits (at any customer) made prior to the focal visit |
Joiner | JOIN | Indicator whether a service technician joined the job during the observation period | 1 = joiner; 0 = other |
Leaver | LEAV | Indicator whether a service technician left the job during the observation period | 1 = leaver; 0 = other |
Customer size | SIZE | Indicator for size of customer based on internal A/B/C/D segmentation system | 1 = larger customers (A, B); 0 = smaller customers (C, D) |
Customer openness to selling activities | OPEN | Indicator for customer’s responsiveness to service technicians’s selling activities | # of total successful selling activities by all technicians for the respective customer prior to the focal service visit |
Customer’s service experience | CEXP | Indicator for the customer’s experience with the seller’s products and services | Duration of the business relationship between the customer and the cooperating company in months |
Customer’s prior service success | CSERV | A customer’s record of successful service visits (i.e., machine operational upon departure) by any technician | # of successful service visits (by any technician) at the customer prior to the focal visit |
Familiarity with the customer | FAM | Indicator for the specific knowledge the service technician has acquired about the customer | # of hours that the technician spent with the customer in the past 360 days prior to the focal visit |
Machine status at arrival | ASTAT | Indicator whether the machine was operational or not operational at the beginning of the service visit | 1 = operational; 0 = not operational |
Visit duration | DUR | Indicator for the length of the respective service visit | # of hours that the technician spent at the customer’s site during the focal service visit |
Number of proposed items | ITEMS | Indicator for the number of products/services that the service technician recommended | # of technical equipment pieces offered by the service technician during the focal visit |
Average lead time | LTIME | Indicator for the length of the decision process for the quote | # avg. number of days elapsed from date of the service visit to sales date by the specific service technician |
Recent payout | PAY | Indicator for whether the technician recently (past 30 days) closed a sales lead and earned commission | 1 = recent payout; 0 = no recent payout |
Model-free evidence
Variables | Name | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | |
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1 | Selling activity | ACT | 1.000 | ||||||||||
2 | Selling success | SUC | .191 | 1.000 | |||||||||
3 | “Out-of-warranty service failure” | OWSF | -.002 | .081 | 1.000 | ||||||||
4 | “Out-of-warranty service success” | OWSS | .131 | .048 | -.372 | 1.000 | |||||||
5 | “Within-warranty service failure” | WWSF | -.035 | .002 | -.032 | -.162 | 1.000 | ||||||
6 | “Within-warranty service success” | WWSS | -.131 | -.122 | -.161 | -.825 | -.070 | 1.000 | |||||
7 | Technical specialization* | SPEC | -.082 | -.072 | .025 | -.056 | .010 | .044 | 1.000 | ||||
8 | Sales education | TRAIN | .016 | .010 | -.011 | .008 | -.006 | -.000 | -.008 | 1.000 | |||
9 | Sales expertise | LEAD | .217 | .051 | -.004 | .044 | -.014 | -.042 | -.160 | .053 | 1.000 | ||
10 | Technician’s service experience | TEXP | -.006 | .037 | .051 | .034 | -.000 | -.064 | .042 | .113 | .170 | 1.000 | |
11 | Technician’s prior service success | TSERV | -.003 | .037 | .041 | .034 | -.002 | -.060 | .025 | .117 | .174 | .990 | 1.000 |
12 | Joiner | JOIN | .007 | .003 | -.017 | -.022 | -.003 | .034 | .137 | .164 | .002 | -.200 | -.203 |
13 | Leaver | LEAV | -.017 | -.007 | -.008 | -.001 | -.001 | .001 | .008 | -.033 | -.057 | -.058 | -.059 |
14 | Customer size | SIZE | -.006 | .096 | -.027 | -.034 | .012 | .049 | .016 | -.006 | -.001 | -.059 | -.053 |
15 | Customer openness to selling activities | OPEN | .067 | .134 | -.006 | .068 | -.009 | -.067 | -.040 | .071 | .119 | .137 | .145 |
16 | Customer’s service experience | CEXP | .024 | .061 | .032 | .095 | -.004 | -.121 | -.022 | .001 | .001 | .068 | .066 |
17 | Customer’s prior service success | CSERV | .019 | .110 | -.001 | .046 | -.001 | -.044 | -.005 | .069 | .057 | .227 | .230 |
18 | Familiarity with the customer | FAM | .029 | .089 | -.026 | .016 | .000 | -.003 | .022 | -.018 | .026 | -.043 | -.040 |
19 | Machine status at arrival | ASTAT | .011 | -.010 | -.220 | .023 | -.101 | .127 | -.003 | -.002 | .005 | -.062 | -.058 |
20 | Visit duration | DUR | .132 | .128 | -.040 | .060 | -.008 | .040 | .041 | -.009 | -.010 | -.160 | -.153 |
21 | Number of proposed items | ITEMS | .835 | .127 | -.005 | .116 | -.030 | -.114 | -.074 | .014 | .199 | -.015 | -.012 |
22 | Avg. lead time | LTIME | NA | -.264 | -.028 | -.038 | -.002 | .069 | .005 | -.073 | -.074 | -.169 | -.169 |
23 | Recent payout | PAY | .122 | .088 | -.003 | .037 | -.011 | -.035 | -.129 | .038 | .443 | .121 | .127 |
N | 127,659 | 16,771 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | ||
Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -.1.246 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
Max | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3.324 | 1 | 49 | 1355 | 1086 | ||
Mean | .131 | .407 | .067 | .656 | .014 | .263 | -.001 | .135 | 5.069 | 254.564 | 230.353 | ||
SD | .338 | .491 | .251 | .475 | .116 | .440 | .999 | .341 | 5.418 | 198.771 | 175.783 |
Variables | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | |
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1 | Selling activity | ||||||||||||
2 | Selling success | ||||||||||||
3 | “Out-of-warranty service failure” | ||||||||||||
4 | “Out-of-warranty service success” | ||||||||||||
5 | “Within-warranty service failure” | ||||||||||||
6 | “Within-warranty service success” | ||||||||||||
7 | Technical specialization* | ||||||||||||
8 | Sales education | ||||||||||||
9 | Sales expertise | ||||||||||||
10 | Technician’s service experience | ||||||||||||
11 | Technician’s prior service success | ||||||||||||
12 | Joiner | 1.000 | |||||||||||
13 | Leaver | -.023 | 1.000 | ||||||||||
14 | Customer size | .028 | -.001 | 1.000 | |||||||||
15 | Customer openness to selling activities | .097 | -.027 | .232 | 1.000 | ||||||||
16 | Customer’s service experience | .007 | -.008 | .209 | .180 | 1.000 | |||||||
17 | Customer’s prior service success | .085 | -.028 | .314 | .669 | .228 | 1.000 | ||||||
18 | Familiarity with the customer | -.017 | -.007 | .182 | .283 | .094 | .271 | 1.000 | |||||
19 | Machine status at arrival | .029 | -.005 | .018 | .012 | -.018 | .006 | .030 | 1.000 | ||||
20 | Visit duration | .029 | .024 | .124 | .102 | .071 | .101 | .191 | -.062 | 1.000 | |||
21 | Number of proposed items | .012 | -.016 | .008 | .081 | .025 | .029 | .046 | .011 | .175 | 1.000 | ||
22 | Avg. lead time | -.033 | .060 | -.061 | -.112 | -.006 | -.118 | -.057 | -.013 | -.017 | -.001 | 1.000 | |
23 | Recent payout | -.009 | -.036 | .014 | .103 | .005 | .059 | .034 | .005 | -.006 | .107 | -.123 | 1.000 |
N | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 127,659 | 16,771 | 127,659 | |
Min | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
Max | 1 | 1 | 1 | 72 | 76 | 356 | 775.250 | 1 | 199.750 | 17 | 510 | 1 | |
Mean | .069 | .007 | .559 | 1.464 | 20.746 | 20.512 | 13.441 | .523 | 10.198 | .178 | 70.538 | .281 | |
SD | .253 | .083 | .497 | 3.718 | 11.899 | 29.862 | 38.652 | .499 | 12.555 | .549 | 85.180 | .449 |
Service success | ||||||
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Dimension | Overall | Yes | No | |||
# Unique technicians | 344 | 344 | 344 | |||
# Unique customers | 10,641 | 10,471 | 4,187 | |||
# Visits | 127,659 | 117,310 | 10,349 | |||
Dependent variables | ||||||
# Visits w/ selling activity | 16,771 | (13,1%) | 15,609 | (13.3%) | 1,162 | (11.2%) |
# Visits w/ successful sale | 6,826 | (5.3%) | 6,187 | (5.3%) | 639 | (6.3%) |
Focal independent and moderator variables | ||||||
# Visits w/ warranty | 35,258 | (27.6%) | 33,523 | (28.6%) | 1,735 | (16.8%) |
Avg. technical specialization* | .346 | .345 | .364 | |||
# Visits after sales education | 17,206 | (13.5%) | 15,961 | (13.6%) | 1,245 | (12.0%) |
Avg. number of recent sales leads (sales expertise) | 5.069 | 5.084 | 4.901 | |||
Covariates | ||||||
Avg. technician’s service experience [# visits] | 254.357 | 251.810 | 285.782 | |||
Avg. technician’s prior service success [# visits] | 230.353 | 228.411 | 252.368 | |||
# Visits by joiners | 8,769 | (6.9%) | 8,201 | (7.0%) | 568 | (5.5%) |
# Visits by leavers | 888 | (0.7%) | 837 | (0.7%) | 51 | (0.5%) |
# Visits at large customers (A/B segments) | 71,361 | (55.9%) | 65,911 | (56.2%) | 5,450 | (52.7%) |
Avg. customer openness to selling activities | 1.464 | 1.474 | 1.347 | |||
Avg. customer’s service experience [months] | 20.746 | 20.643 | 21.918 | |||
Avg. customer’s prior service success [# visits] | 20.512 | 20.593 | 19.597 | |||
Avg. familiarity with the customer [h] | 13.441 | 13.711 | 10.383 | |||
# Visits with non-operational machine at arrival | 60,954 | (47.7%) | 51,757 | (44.1%) | 9,197 | (88.9%) |
Avg. visit duration [h] | 10.198 | 10.348 | 8.498 | |||
Avg. proposed items per visit | .178 | 0.181 | .145 | |||
Avg. lead time [days] | 70.538 | 71.193 | 61.744 | |||
Avg. visits w/ recent payout | .281 | 0.282 | .269 |
Model specification and estimation
Results
How service situations affect selling success and how well technicians exploit them
Selling success | Selling activity | ||||||
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Name | Expectation [success|activity] | Estimate | Robust SE | Estimate | Robust SE | ||
Common intercept | .371 | (.308) | -1.600*** | (.045) | |||
Service situation | |||||||
“Out-of-warranty service success” | OWSS | mid | high | -.371*** | (.041) | .073** | (.027) |
“Within-warranty service failure” | WWSF | mid | low | -.145 | (.221) | -.768*** | (.065) |
“Within-warranty service success” | WWSS | low | mid | -.669*** | (.096) | -.528*** | (.035) |
Technician-specific covariates | |||||||
Technical specialization | SPEC | -.061* | (.028) | -.131*** | (.026) | ||
Sales education | TRAIN | -.034 | (.062) | .110** | (.035) | ||
Sales expertise | LEAD | .004 | (.004) | .021*** | (.035) | ||
Covariates | |||||||
Technician’s service experience | TEXP | .001 | (.001) | .000 | (.000) | ||
Technician’s prior service success | TSERV | -.001 | (.001) | -.000 | (.000) | ||
Joiner | JOIN | -.128 | (.082) | -.107 | (.074) | ||
Leaver | LEAV | .310 | (.263) | -.287 | (.214) | ||
Customer size | SIZE | .140*** | (.022) | -.072*** | (.011) | ||
Customer openness to selling activities | OPEN | .015*** | (.004) | .013*** | (.002) | ||
Customer’s service experience | CEXP | .002 | (.001) | .001** | (.000) | ||
Customer’s prior service success | CSERV | -.000 | (.001) | -.002*** | (.000) | ||
Familiarity with the customer | FAM | .000 | (.000) | -.000 | (.000) | ||
Machine status at arrival | ASTAT | .019 | (.022) | .057*** | (.013) | ||
Visit duration | DUR | .005** | (.002) | .011*** | (.000) | ||
Number of proposed items | ITEMS | .191*** | (.017) | ||||
Avg. lead time | LTIME | -.006*** | (.000) | ||||
Recent payout | PAY | .042** | (.013) | ||||
Year dummies | YEAR | Yes | Yes | ||||
Month dummies | MON | Yes | Yes | ||||
Technician-specific random effects | Yes | Yes | |||||
Technician-clustered standard errors | Yes | Yes | |||||
Rhoa | -.173 | (.153) | |||||
Pseudo log likelihood | -53,157.242 | ||||||
# technicians | 344 | ||||||
# customers | 10,641 | ||||||
Observations (# visits) | 127,659 |
Technician-specific moderators
Selling success | Selling activity | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Name | Estimate | Robust SE | Estimate | Robust SE | |||
Common intercept | .504 | (.306) | -1.695*** | (.053) | |||
Service situation | |||||||
“Out-of-warranty service success” | OWSS | -.445*** | (.073) | .155*** | (.042) | ||
“Within-warranty service failure” | WWSF | -.364 | (.320) | -.607*** | (.093) | ||
“Within-warranty service success” | WWSS | -.700*** | (.112) | -.362*** | (.046) | ||
Technician-specific moderations | |||||||
Technical specialization | SPEC | -.055 | (.047) | -.160*** | (.036) | ||
Sales education | TRAIN | -.084 | (.113) | .249** | (.076) | ||
Sales expertise | LEAD | -.004 | (.007) | .033*** | (.006) | ||
“Out-of-warranty service success” × tech. specialization | OWSS × SPEC | -.006 | (.041) | -.017 | (.025) | ||
“Within-warranty service failure” × tech. specialization | WWSF × SPEC | -.714* | (.299) | .021 | (.025) | ||
“Within-warranty service success” × tech. specialization | WWSS × SPEC | .040 | (.053) | .062* | (.030) | ||
“Out-of-warranty service success” × sales education | OWSS × TRAIN | .040 | (.113) | -.147* | (.067) | ||
“Within-warranty service failure” × sales education | WWSF × TRAIN | -.219 | (.553) | -.465 | (.264) | ||
“Within-warranty service success” × sales education | WWSS × TRAIN | .131 | (.155) | -.155 | (.085) | ||
“Out-of-warranty service success” × sales expertise | OWSS × LEAD | .008 | (.006) | -.017 | (.010) | ||
“Within-warranty service failure” × sales expertise | WWSF × LEAD | .005 | (.021) | -.010 | (.006) | ||
“Within-warranty service success” × sales expertise | WWSS × LEAD | .004 | (.006) | -.021*** | (.006) | ||
Covariates | |||||||
Technician’s service experience | TEXP | .000 | (.001) | .000 | (.000) | ||
Technician’s prior service success | TSUC | -.001 | (.001) | .000 | (.000) | ||
Joiner | JOIN | -.128 | (.082) | -.108 | (.074) | ||
Leaver | LEAV | .318 | (.264) | -.287 | (.212) | ||
Customer size | SIZE | .142*** | (.021) | -.072*** | (.011) | ||
Customer openness to selling activities | OPEN | .015** | (.004) | .013*** | (.002) | ||
Customer’s service experience | CEXP | .002 | (.001) | .001** | (.000) | ||
Customer’s prior service success | CSUC | .000 | (.001) | -.002*** | (.000) | ||
Familiarity with the customer | FAM | .000 | (.000) | .000 | (.000) | ||
Machine status at arrival | ASTAT | .017 | (.022) | .059*** | (.013) | ||
Visit duration | DUR | .005** | (.001) | .011*** | (.000) | ||
Number of proposed items | ITEMS | .190*** | (.017) | ||||
Avg. lead time | LTIME | -.006*** | (.000) | ||||
Recent payout | PAY | .042** | (.013) | ||||
Year dummies | YEAR | Yes | Yes | ||||
Month dummies | MON | Yes | Yes | ||||
Technician-specific random effects | Yes | Yes | |||||
Technician-clustered standard errors | Yes | Yes | |||||
Rhoa | -.204 | (.146) | |||||
Pseudo log likelihood | -53,114.497 | ||||||
# technicians | 344 | ||||||
# customers | 10,641 | ||||||
Observations (# visits) | 127,659 |
Effects of the four service situations | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Hypothesis | Perspective | Result | Rel. change in probability | |
H1 | Selling success is highest in the context of an “out-of-warranty service failure” situation | Customer | (Partially) supported | 0% (baseline) |
H2 | Selling success is lowest in the context of a “within-warranty service success” situation | Customer | Supported | -40% |
H3a H3b | Selling success in the context of “out-of-warranty service success” and “within-warranty service failure” situations is lower (higher) than in an “out-of-warranty service failure” (“within-warranty service success”) situation | Customer | (Partially) supported | “Out-of-warranty service success”: -22% “Within-warranty service failure”: -5% |
H4 | Selling activity is lowest in the context of a “within-warranty service failure” situation | Technician | Supported | -72% |
H5 | Selling activity is highest in the context of an “out-of-warranty service success” situation | Technician | Supported | + 10% |
H6a H6b | Selling activity in the context of “out-of-warranty service failure” and “within-warranty service success” situations is lower (higher) than in an “out-of-warranty service success” (“within-warranty service failure”) situation | Technician | Supported | “Out-of-warranty service failure”: 0% (baseline) “Within-warranty service success”: -14% |
Technician-specific moderations | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
H7a | Technical specialization Selling activity is higher for generalists than for specialists in the context of the most promising service situation (“out-of-warranty service failure”) Selling activity is lower for generalists than for specialists in the context of the least promising service situation (“within-warranty service success”) | |||
H7b | Sales education Selling activity is higher for technicians that underwent sales training; however, no significant difference in the context of the most and least promising service situations | |||
H7c | Sales expertise Selling activity is higher, the more sales leads technicians generated during recent visits in the context of the most promising service situation (“out-of-warranty service failure”) Selling activity is lower, the more sales leads technicians generated during recent visits in the context of the least promising service situation (“within-warranty service success”) |
Discussion and implications
Understanding selling in service situations
Economic impact
Optimized revenues | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Service Situation | Predicted revenues per sales offer | Δ Main effects | Δ Technical specialization | Δ Sales expertise | |||
“Out-of-warranty service failure” | 989.15 € | + 331,367 € | (+ 22.32%) | + 760,659 € | (+ 65.56%) | + 114,742 € | (+ 11.01%) |
“Out-of-warranty service success” | 338.43 € | ± 0 € | (± 0%) | - 7,445 € | (- 0.13%) | + 98,821 € | (+ 2.34%) |
“Within-warranty service failure” | 392.51 € | ± 0 € | (± 0%) | + 3,533 € | (+ 16.98%) | + 393 € | (+ 1.59%) |
“Within-warranty service success” | 129.61 € | - 43,418 € | (- 13.19%) | - 98,113 € | (- 58.37%) | - 10,239 € | (- 3.79%) |
Total | + 287,948 € | (+ 3.94%) | + 658,634 € | (+ 11.40%) | 203,716 € | (+ 3.70%) |