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Preliminary Development of a Scale of Interaction Competence: Results of a
Qualitative Study
(Working Paper No. 2)
Gefördert durch:
Preliminary Development of a Scale of Interaction Competence: Results of a
Qualitative Study (Working Paper No. 2)
Markus Blut1, Alke Töllner2, Isabelle Kes3, Vera Schulte4, Jasmin Ulrich5 1,2,5TU Dortmund, 3TU Braunschweig,4IFEM Institut für effizientes Marketing GmbH
Forschungsprojekt „Inter|drive“
Steigerung der Interaktionskompetenz zur Umsetzung von Marktführerstrategien in der Dienstleistungswirtschaft
(Förderkennzeichen: 290118002)
2011
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Table of Content
Abstract .................................................................................................................. 3
1. Introduction ................................................................................................... 4
2. Conceptual Background ................................................................................ 5
3. Method and Sample ...................................................................................... 6
4. Results of the Seller Interviews ..................................................................... 7
5. Results of the Buyer Interviews ..................................................................... 9
6. Development of the FEIC-Scale .................................................................. 10
7. Implications ................................................................................................. 11
8. Limitations and further research .................................................................. 12
References ........................................................................................................... 13
Appendix .............................................................................................................. 17
Information on the Inter|drive Team ...................................................................... 20
Partners ................................................................................................................ 21
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Abstract
This research examines the interaction competence of frontline employees. Since the interaction between salespeople and customers is discussed to be of utmost importance for establishing long-term relationships, this research explores the dimensions of a salesperson’s interaction competence using 41 in-depth interviews with frontline employees and purchasing managers from different industries. Results indicate that dimensions of interaction competence differ in their relevance across the stages of the interaction process. Based on these findings, we develop the FEIC-scale which helps managers to better select and train salespeople.
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1. Introduction
Since firms in industrial markets are no longer able to compete by just providing well-engineered products, both researchers and managers try to find new ways of differentiation in the marketplace (Jacob; Ulaga, 2008). Against this background, the service dominant logic highly emphasizes the relevance of intangible resources and close buyer-seller-relationships that go along with the co-creation of value (Vargo; Lusch, 2004). Hence, frontline employees (FLEs), particularly salespeople, become crucial and are frequently considered as a key factor to success (Singh, 2000). As they are expected to solve complex business problems in co-operation with the customer, their interpersonal (service) interaction becomes increasingly important and in many cases determines the company’s profit.
Sheth (1976) pointed out, that the “essence” of buyer-seller-relationships is interpersonal interactions. As industrial relationships are based on person-to-person interactions from the beginning (Williams; Spiro; Fine, 1990), the salespeople’s characteristics as well as their behaviour patterns are critical in getting the relationship started. Given the obvious influence of salespeople on how the customer feels and how attached he is to the supplier firm (Lee; Dubinsky, 2003), they are responsible for building the basis of a close and reliable long-term relationship that results in higher firm profit. Salespeople’s job involves nonroutine tasks, boundary-spanning requirements, and successfully performing in a multiplicity of roles and contexts (Dubinsky et al., 1986). Thus, salespeople are one of the most interesting types of FLEs.
As researchers have clearly demonstrated, interactions with the customer are fundamental for increasing customer switching costs (Huffman; Skaggs, 2010), creating customized services (Gwinner et al., 2005), as well as developing product and process innovations (Foss; Laursen; Pedersen, 2006). Although a lot of studies from the contexts of personal selling and buyer-seller interaction concentrate on selected characteristics or skills of FLEs to successfully interact with customers (e.g., Churchill et al., 1985), literature is lacking studies that provide an overall measure of relevant interaction competences as well as a classification of these competences according to the different stages of an interaction process.
Thus, the aim of our research is threefold. First, we explore FLEs’ competences, particularly those of salespeople that are highly relevant for customer interaction. Second, our study investigates which competences are needed most across the different stages of an interaction process and precisely how these competences vary in relevance across the interaction stages. Third, we develop a measurement of interaction competence (FEIC-Scale). Hence, we provide an overall measure for a set of relevant interaction competences divided into subsets according to the various interaction stages. An improved understanding of the characteristics and behaviour patterns of successful salespeople provides researchers and managers with an overall measure of interaction competence to evaluate salespeople’s interaction skills. It enables managers not only to select the right salesperson but also helps to develop tools for employee trainings.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. At first, we provide a brief literature review on personal selling and buyer-seller interaction. Then, we present the method we deployed to explore salespeople’s interaction competence and give a
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description of our sample. Results show that salespeople’s interaction competence consists of four components. These components differ in relevance across the various stages of an interaction process. Next, we present the scale of interaction competence which we developed according to our results. We conclude by outlining managerial implications as well as implications for further research.
2. Conceptual Background
With respect to our research questions we focus on two different research streams which are relevant for developing the scale of FLEs’ interaction competence: personal selling and buyer-seller interaction.
Within the context of personal selling there are a lot of studies which focus on individual sales skills of successful salespeople. These skills can be divided into three distinct components, namely interpersonal skills, salesmanship skills, and technical skills (Rentz et al., 2002). While Castleberry and Shepherd (1993) as well as Ramsey and Sohi (1997) concentrate on salesperson listening, McBane (1995), Pilling and Eroglu (1994) investigate salespeople’s empathy and Schulman (1999) as well as Strutton and Lumpkin (1993) focus on salespeople’s optimism. In addition to these interpersonal skills, a lot of studies explore salesmanship skills, particularly the relationship between salespeople’s adaptability and selling effectiveness (Boorom; Goolsby; Ramsey, 1998; Vink; Verbeke, 1993; Goolsby; Lagrace; Boorom, 1992; Spiro; Weitz, 1990; Weitz; Sujan; Sujan, 1986), or concentrate on consultative selling (DeCormier; Jobber, 1993) and negotiation and questioning (Schuster; Danes, 1986). Moreover, technical skills like customer knowledge (Smith; Owens, 1995), client evaluation cues (Szymanski; Churchill, 1990) or buyer-seller relationship management (Han; Wilson; Dant, 1993) are regarded as relevant selling skills.
Although there is a lot of research regarding individual selling skills, these studies focus just on one or two selected skills. Literature is lacking studies that explore the right combination of diverse skills that shape a successful salesperson. In addition, given that selling skills have been described as “the individual’s learned proficiency at performing the necessary tasks for the sales job” (Rentz et al., 2002), there are two further aspects that draw our attention to the context of buyer-seller interaction: on the one hand our research investigates interaction competences. Drawing on Spencer and Spencer (1993) competence is defined as the “underlying characteristic of an individual that is causally related to criterion-referenced effective and/or superior performance in a job or situation“ and consists of five elements: motives, traits, self-concept, knowledge and skills. Hence, some of these elements can be learned, while other competences are not learnable. On the other hand we focus on long-term interactions and assume that an interaction does not stop with concluding a contract. In today’s business environment, salespeople strive for a long-term relationship between the buyer and seller firm and thus, continuously care about the customer.
Accordingly, the context of buyer-seller interaction serves as a second relevant research stream. Following Jones and Gerard (1967) a “dyadic interaction commences when two persons begin to behave in each other's presence. Each comes into the situation with certain goals in mind, certain cognitions about how these goals may be achieved, and a pattern of attitudes about the situation and the
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other person” (505 f.). Hence, direct interactions allow both the supplier and the customer to obtain information about their counterpart. While the supplier gets information about the customer’s business model, the needs and requirements, the customer acquires knowledge regarding the supplier’s skills, abilities as well as his level of commitment (Huffman; Skaggs, 2010).
Therefore, studies which deal with buyer-seller interaction either focus on the FLEs’ personality and personal characteristics (for instance dominance, endurance, social recognition, empathy, age or formal education) to optimize the interpersonal interaction (e.g., Huang; Ryan, 2011; Kidwell; McFarlamd; Avila, 2007; Lee; Dubinsky, 2003; Fine; Schumann, 1992; Lamont; Lundstrom, 1977) or examine the communication content and style (communication code and rules) during the interaction (e.g., Köhler et al., 2011; Williams; Spiro; Fine, 1990; Notarantonio; Cohen, 1990; Williams; Spiro, 1985; Sheth, 1976).
Reeves and Barksdale (1984) propose a framework for classifying this research. They provide a 2x2 matrix that distinguishes between static and dynamic aspects as well as a one-way and two-way perspective. While one-way, static approaches focus on the identification of characteristics of FLE, one-way, dynamic approaches are also concerned with behaviors and reactions of FLE or customers. Two-way, static approaches concentrate on characteristics of both FLEs as well as customers and two-way, dynamic approaches deal with the adjustment process, whereby the FLEs tailor their behavior to the customer based on the customer’s reactions.
In order to cope with long-term relationships researchers develop different interaction models to cover all factors that impact the interaction process. The IMP group, for instance, created a model that describes a dyadic relationship using variables specifying the characteristics of the parties involved (supplier and buyer firm), task characteristics, environmental factors as well as outcome factors (Wilson; Möller, 1995).
Although these models, in fact, take long-term interactions into account, they refer to the organizational level and neglect to represent the interaction process itself; more precisely, most of these models do not consider the process characteristics of an interaction between a salesman and the customer. In line with Reeves and Barksdale (1984) we provide a one-way, dynamic approach and adapt Dubinsky’s (1980) model of a personal selling process as we add a further stage regarding the salesman’s activities after concluding a contract.
3. Method and Sample
In response to our research objectives – the conceptualization of interaction competence and its relevance across the different interaction stages – we employed an explorative design. To achieve a thorough understanding of the issue, we conducted in-depth interviews (Miles; Huberman, 1994). Additionally, a purposive sampling procedure was used (Engel; Schutt, 2010), since it ensured the participation of different FLEs from several selling firms as well as purchasing managers from various buying firms.
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In particular, we conducted semi-structured interviews (Mason, 2006) with 32 FLEs (salespersons, marketers, and service personnel) as well as with nine purchasing managers from different companies operating in various B2B-sectors (mobility, energy, ICT and industrial manufacturing). Data collection took about three months and all interviews took place in a one-on-one setting lasting between 30 to 90 minutes. All interviews were semi-structured and focused on the individual’s conception of interaction competence and its relevance across the interaction process. The semi-structured format allowed participants to add their own ideas and determine the type and direction of communication within a given framework (Mason, 2006). Specific questions clarified the interviewees’ ideas and to capture their individual perspectives.
For a better contextualization of statements, every interview was recorded and protocols were followed to ensure the consideration of all relevant aspects, as well as to facilitate the comparability of the interviews across the different interviewees (Patton, 2004). Because we were interested in understanding and interpreting the perspectives and experiences of our interviewees, we followed Spiggle’s (1994) suggestions of qualitative data analysis. Two independent researchers separately analyzed each interview, reviewing the transcripts line by line in order to ascertain the meanings of our interviewees. Given the exploratory design of our study, we used an inductive coding technique (Huberman; Miles, 1998). We try to identify emergent categories from the data classifying, and by labelling units of data into different categories. The categorization process supported grouping of similar data. In the early stages of the coding process, initial categories were considered to be provisional in order to allow flexible interpretation. The final categories were then combined into more general higher-order categories (Spiggle, 1994). After coding the data, the categories were jointly discussed by the judges to prove consensus (Perreault; Leigh, 1989). Additionally, we discussed the resulting categories with all interviewees as a means of validating our findings.
4. Results of the Seller Interviews
To identify specific dimensions of interaction competence (IAC), we develop a general process of interaction between buyer and seller. Based on the revealed lack of adequate models, we provide an interaction process referring to the existing model of Dubinsky (1980). The first stage includes the earliest contact between FLE and customer as well as the identification and specification of the customer’s demands. “It is crucial to know, what situation the customer is in, which problem does he have? How are the circumstances at the customer’s place? Only if I know everything about the customer I can start to decide or consult the customer on which might be the right product. The customers don’t always know that and that’s the job of the salesperson… […].“ The second stage covers the whole process of negotiation from a first offer to the final contract closing. What differs from previous interaction processes is a stage the interviewees mentioned between contract closing and a following negotiation. “You can call our philosophy „the next order starts right after the last order”. We want to keep our customers in the long run. This doesn´t work by just supplying and billing them, without talking to them again. We also need to follow up.” Therefore we extended our model by including a relationship care stage that starts with the delivery or implementation of the product or service and ends up with
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a new negotiation. The stage includes complaint handling as well as the maintenance of the contact to a customer. This extension of the interaction model takes account of the long-term nature of interactions in B2B settings. “The relationship between company and customer does not end with a contract close but becomes strengthened especially during the period after contract close in which the FLE is contact person for the customer whatever it may concern.”
Beside the new structure of the interaction process, the interviews revealed various dimensions of IAC that contribute to an increasing productivity. Thus, FLEs need to possess diverse personality traits that we categorized referring to the BIG 5 classification (Tupes; Christal, 1958; Norman, 1963). We identified dimensions of IAC that we subsumed to emotional stability, openness, extroversion, goodnaturedness and diligence. Additionally, FLEs should provide professional skills (e.g., expertise, presentation techniques) and act in accordance with given norms and values (e.g., politeness, punctuality). Finally, the interviews revealed the disposition and willingness to learn as an important component of IAC: “...and you learn from every customer contact. You might be able to use every information you´re getting from customers successfully within further conversation to other customers.” Three different types of the willingness to learn could be differentiated: learning from customers, colleagues and own experiences. Additionally, we identified the ability to reflect past experiences as a component of the disposition to learn.
Furthermore, the interviews revealed a differing degree of learnability across the dimensions of IAC. Thus, the components can be classified to learnable and natural dimensions. The personality traits that were grouped according to the BIG 5 as well as the willingness to learn are classed among the not learnable dimensions of IAC. Professional skills and norms of interaction, however, can be learned, enlarged and optimized by trainings.
Based on the acknowledged stages and the dimensions of IAC we identified the crucial components for each interaction stage. Our interviews revealed some striking results: Firstly, different dimensions were identified as continuously relevant during the whole process of interaction and contribute to the success and productivity of a FLE. Thereby values and norms of interaction play an essential role. Dimensions such as politeness, authenticity, punctuality, objectiveness, promptness, as well as a correct behaviour and appearance are mentioned most often by the interviewees. “He needs to have good social skills and poise, self-confidence and needs to be reliable ... the name of the game is to be reliable.” Additionally, facets of diligence are continuously important to a successful FLE. In this context not only reliability but also structured working, time management, self-organisation and engagement are mentioned.
Besides the continuously important dimensions of IAC, the interviews revealed a differing need for skills and personality traits depending on the considered interaction stages. Starting with the initiation stage persuasiveness, enthusiasm and attentiveness were emphasized by our interviewees. Furthermore the professional skills, especially technical and commercial knowledge, as well as a detailed knowledge about the customer are crucial for a high degree of IAC. “When we start with a new customer, we think about four important aspects: who is the customer, what is the core business, who are the main competitors and which measures should be taken to win this customer for us.” Finally the ability to explain complex facts in a simple way as well as the ability to learn from the customer are essential for a
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successful initiation stage. Those traits and skills are particularly important for a first contact between seller and buyer and crucial for the identification of the customer’s problems and needs.
The negotiation stage is dominated by aspects of goodnaturedness such as the ability to find a compromise in critical situations and to communicate directly with the customer. However, the interviewees emphasized an intuition to negotiate and interact adequately with each customer. Besides, the norms of fairness and transparency were identified as crucial for the negotiation. “[…] the correct demeanor. He needs to be open minded … I mean… I don´t have to describe that in detail, do I?! And he needs to be reliable in 100% […].”
The stage of relationship care particularly takes the long-term character of buyer-seller relationships into account. One main aspect is goodnaturedness again, though focussing on the ability to cooperate with the customer and solve problems in conflict situations. Additionally the interviewees emphasized an intuition for the right level of contact to the customer and certain modesty, again. “Well, you can only pass elegantly along this chess board with all those minefields, when you have know-how, experience and most of all when you know how to interact with the customer intuitively to finally win the chess game.” Finally our interviews revealed a striking importance of flexibility as well as the ability to adapt to varying situations as crucial for the maintenance of a long-term relationship between FLE and customer.
5. Results of the Buyer Interviews
To include the customer’s point of view and increase the validity, we conducted nine buyer interviews and compared it to our previous results. First of all, the interviews confirmed the dimensions of IAC and the basic structure of our interaction process. The classification according to personality traits, professional skills, norms and values as well as the willingness to learn was verified as well. Furthermore, we revealed various correlations regarding the assignment of the identified dimensions to the different interaction stages. Especially the elementary personality traits that were revealed as continuously relevant for the interaction process could be confirmed basically. In this context, the great importance of norms and values, for a high degree of IAC, could be validated. With regard to the classification of dimensions to the different stages of interaction, the strong relevance of extroversion during the first stage was emphasized by our interviewees. Furthermore, the high importance of goodnaturedness in negotiation and relationship care stage could be underlined.
Despite the strong consistency of seller and buyer perspectives, we identified some striking differences that help to increase the validity of our FEIC-scale. First of all, the buyer interviews revealed a slightly varying classification of dimensions that gives a deeper insight into the understanding of IAC.
First of all, the customers focus more strongly on a correct appearance, fairness and affability. Due to negative experiences, they perceive those dimensions much more critically. They emphasize the importance of first impressions, which, once made, are difficult to change. One of the interviewees underlined the advantages of a good first impression: “A salesperson that seems to be pleasant at first sight will be given some
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more information about the customer.” Another one, describing a negative experience, said: “The problem was that he was a heavy smoker which led to many complaints by the customers.”
An interesting difference could be discovered regarding the intensity of a “friendly” relationship between buyer and seller. While FLEs are sure that a private connection increases confidence, the customers are given to be suspicious of the sellers and their motives. “I never trust a salesperson. He just wants to make a deal.” Another interviewee emphasized the negative effect of a private contact to a professional relationship: “A buyer usually has to appease a private contact, if he doesn’t want to be cheated.” Instead, the interviewees established that reliability, transparency and neatness increase the confidence of a sales representative. The customers emphasize the required objectivity and underline the importance in negotiation-phase to prevent unneeded problems: “If you negotiate careless, it often leads to critical situations between buyer and seller.”
Not surprisingly, the buyers place a stronger focus on the customer orientation of FLEs. They emphasize the ability to adapt, to cooperate and the willingness to learn from the customers. The buyers desire a continuous focus to their requests and perceive those dimensions as general characteristics for a distinct IAC. “We always expect that the seller adapts to our requests.” “A good salesman always adapts to the customer.” As the FLE has to pursue the company’s aims however, a customer orientation that determines the whole process of IAC can only partially be complied.
While stress resistance was named less often by the customers, perseverance was not even mentioned. As these dimensions reflect an internal view, they are supposed to be judged much better by the FLE. If the seller manages stress and pressure well, the customer will not notice the necessity of stress resistance or perseverance.
Finally, there are some dimensions that were not mentioned by FLEs, but played a major role for the customer’s view of IAC. The customer prefers a modest FLE that conveys a certain unobtrusiveness. One of the interviewees announced: “If he’s too convinced of himself – we are the best, we can do it all – it’s an absolute no go!” Another customer described the ability to keep up with the customer appropriately: “The seller shouldn’t annoy me all the time. He should call me if it’s necessary.” To relate those findings to the seller’s statements, we sum these characteristics to the dimension “intuition” of a FLE that was mentioned quite often during the seller interviews.
In summary, the inclusion of the buyer perspective basically confirmed the results of our seller interviews. Apart from a few differences according to the relevance of the identified dimensions across the interaction stages the previous findings could be supported (see Table 1 and 2 in the appendix).
6. Development of the FEIC-Scale
The development of the Frontline Employee Interaction Competence (FEIC) scale followed the procedure suggested by Churchill (1979). After a comprehensive review of the relevant literature (personal selling and buyer-seller interaction) we conducted several qualitative interviews with appropriate FLEs as well as with purchasing
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managers to generate a sample of items. The customer’s statements helped us to improve the understanding of IAC and increase the validity of our results. Thus, we could identify various dimensions of IAC and were able to generate a list of items for each of these components.
More precisely, we identified four components of IAC, namely personality traits, norms of interaction, professional skills as well as willingness to learn. Altogether, we generated 41 items (27 items to measure personality traits, 4 items to measure norms of interaction, 6 items to measure professional skills and 4 items to measure willingness to learn) which vary in their relevance across the interaction process stages. The Measures are available upon request.
Next, the 41 items were included in a pre-test survey presented to several salespeople in order to assure that the items are clear in meaning and relevant to the respondents. The items are measured on a 7-point Likert-scale with 1= strongly disagree and 7= strongly agree. As the pre-test is not finished yet, the remaining steps of scale development (purifying the measure, assessing the reliability with new data, assessing construct validity) will follow soon.
7. Implications
Based on the gained results we offer some implications to improve the productivity of salespeople in B2B-markets. First, our study emphasizes the relevance of IAC during the communication between seller and buyer. Increased IAC helps to optimize the process operations and to generate long-term customer relationships. A high degree of IAC enhances the confidence of customers and intensifies the relationship. The interviews revealed, however, that a salesperson has to manage the right balance between closeness and distance. An interaction competent salesperson should provide sufficient information without annoying the customer. Thus, a salesperson has to be unobtrusive and figure out the optimal degree of intensity for each customer relationship.
Second, we provide a scale that helps to improve the human resource management in B2B-companies. The FEIC-scale might be used to enhance the recruitment of adequate salespeople. As we identified various dimensions of IAC that cannot be learned and are inherent, we suggest a recruitment test that helps to select better salespeople and prevent the employing of inappropriate salespeople. With reference to the learnable dimensions of IAC, we suggest an improvement of salesperson’s training methods. Our scale helps to identify the weaknesses of each salesperson and provides a possibility to enhance the abilities and to initiate affirmative trainings.
Third, the assignment of each interaction dimension to an appropriate stage support a detailed understanding of IAC for salespeople. Per stage the trainings can be improved, in accordance to the necessary components of IAC. Furthermore, the stage classification offers the opportunity to compensate the weaknesses of a salesperson in the specific stages of interaction. For example, managers might provide an engineer in initiation stage to support the salesperson in case of highly complex products. Thus, the IAC might be improved and the building of long-term relationships can be supported.
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8. Limitations and further research
The following advices for further research are based on the limitations of the current study and our request to obtain a deeper insight to IAC in B2B-markets.
Our examination included nine buyer interviews in relation to 32 seller interviews. We aimed to identify the construct of IAC from the viewpoint of a seller consciously and used the buyer’s statements to confirm previous results. Further studies should stress the customer’s view of IAC and validate the scale by conducting customer surveys increasingly.
Additionally, we specialized in the IAC of salespeople because this type of FLEs faces one of the most comprehensive fields of responsibility. However, further research should stress the extension to frontline-employees in general. The particular characteristics of FLEs should be revealed and integrated to our IAC scale.
In order to ensure the classification of traits and abilities to each stage of the interaction process, our interviews focused on the phenomenon of IAC as well as the development of an overall measure for IAC. Additional studies should concentrate on the determinants and consequences to enhance the further understanding of IAC. Thus, the nomological validity needs to be verified and an overall research model should be developed.
Summarizing, we suggest further examinations in this field of research to gain a deeper understanding of interaction competence. The interaction between seller and buyer provides many approaches to increase productivity and profitability further. Our research gives a first contribution to reach this purpose.
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Appendix
TABLE 1: Dimensions of IAC across the interaction stages
Dimensions Traits and skills Initiation stage Negotiation stage Relationship-care stage Overall Learnability
Pers
onal
ity tr
aits
emotional stability
ability to handle criticism x
not learnable
self-confidence x stress resistance x backbone x resilience x
extroversion
ability to convince x enthusiasm x attentiveness x assertiveness x x open-mindedness x ability to communicate x affability x
openness ability to adapt x flexibility x
goodnaturedness
empathy x compilation of problems x honesty x intuition x x directness x ability to find consensus x ability to cooperate x ability to solve problems x
diligence
stamina x reliability x self-organization x engagement/motivation x structuredness x
norms of interaction
fairness x
learnable transparency x politeness x punctuality x
professional skills
technical know-how x
learnable commercial know-how x knowledge about customers x general education x ability to abstract x rhetoric x
willingness to learn
learning from customers x
not learnable ability to reflect x learning from experiences x learning from colleagues x
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TABLE 2: The Frontline Employee Interaction Competence Scale
Initiation stage Negotiation stage Relationship care stage Overall
The following questions refer to the first stage of an interaction process that contains the first contact between buyer and seller as well as the specification of customer's requests.
The following questions refer to the second stage of an interaction process that starts with the negotiation and ends up with contract closing:
The following questions refer to the third stage of an interaction process that contains the delivery / implementation of the product as well as complaint handling and the maintenance of contact to the customer.
The following questions refer to fundamental traits and skills that a salesperson needs to bring along to the whole process of interaction:
The salesperson… The salesperson… The salesperson… The salesperson…
…acts convincingly.
…succeeds in fascinating the customer.
…is very attentive.
…empathizes with the customer.
…realizes customer problems very easily.
…tries to find an individual solution for the customer's problem.
…possesses great specific knowledge.
…possesses great commercial knowledge.
…acquires as much knowledge about the customer as possible.
…possesses great general knowledge.
…succeeds in presenting complex issues in an easy way.
…is able to prevail.
…has a sure feeling for handling the customer during the negotiation.
…has the courage to address issues directly.
…is able to find a compromise in difficult situation.
…acts fair toward the customer.
…discloses information.
…possesses great commercial knowledge.
…possesses great juristic knowledge.
…is decisive.
…is able to take criticism.
…is able to prevail.
…is able to adapt to differing situations in dealing with the customer.
…reacts flexible to the customer.
…has a sure feeling to find the right balance of contact intensity.
…has a sure feeling to find the right balance of modesty.
…is able to find a solution in conflict situations.
…is able to come to a compromise in difficult situations.
…is anxious to keep up with the customer continuously.
…shows a healthy degree of self-confidence.
…is good with stress handling.
…is open-minded towards the customer.
…is able to communicate with the customer.
…is friendly.
…is honest.
…is able to cooperate with the customer.
…is reliable.
…works well-structured.
…is able to organize himself.
…offers great engagement in dealing with the customer.
…responds quickly to the customer's needs.
…is honest if he has no clue.
…has a well-groomed appearance.
…is able to stay objective in emotional situations.
…is polite.
…is punctual.
…is authentical.
…is equipped with rhetorical abilities.
…strives to learn from experiences.
…strives to learn from colleagues.
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Information on the Inter|drive Team
Prof. Dr. Hartmut Holzmüller Technische Universität Dortmund Lehrstuhl für Marketing Otto-Hahn-Strasse 6 D-44221 Dortmund [email protected]
Prof. Dr. David M. Woisetschläger Technische Universität Braunschweig Lehrstuhl für Dienstleistungsmanagement Schleinitzstr. 23a 38106 Braunschweig [email protected]
JProf. Dr. Markus Blut Technische Universität Dortmund Juniorprofessur für Marketing Otto-Hahn-Str. 6 D-44227 Dortmund [email protected]
Isabelle Kes TU Braunschweig Lehrstuhl für Dienstleistungsmanagement Schleinitzstr. 23a 38106 Braunschweig [email protected]
Christian H. Martin Technische Universität Dortmund Lehrstuhl für Marketing Otto-Hahn-Str. 6 D-44227 Dortmund [email protected]
Marc Schnöring Technische Universität Braunschweig Lehrstuhl für Dienstleistungsmanagement Schleinitzstr. 23a 38106 Braunschweig [email protected]
Alke Töllner Technische Universität Dortmund Lehrstuhl für Marketing Otto-Hahn-Str. 6 D-44227 Dortmund [email protected]
Vera Schulte IFEM Institut für effizientes Marketing GmbH Welle 8 33602 Bielefeld [email protected]
Jasmin Ulrich Technische Universität Dortmund Juniorprofessur für Marketing Otto-Hahn-Str. 6 D-44227 Dortmund [email protected]
General Information: http://interdrive.org
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