Do Technology-Based Sales Support Materials Make a Difference in Personal Selling? The Impact of Technology Usage by Gender in the Personal Selling Process

• Published in: Journal of marketing education Vol. 42; no. 3; pp. 272 - 283
• Main Authors: Lee, Youngsu, Heinze, Timothy
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01-12-2020; SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC
• Subjects: College Students; Competition; Customer relationship management; Gender Differences; Influence of Technology; Merchandising; Personal selling; Role Playing; Salesmanship; sales competition; PSP scale; gender; field experiment; PSP; technology-based sales support materials; personal selling process; TSSM; role-play; confirmatory factory analysis; CFA
• ISSN: 0273-4753; 1552-6550
• DOI: 10.1177/0273475320925124

Technology usage is widespread across most fields of business. In sales, “back-end” technologies, such as customer relationship management or salesforce automation, offer a foundation for effective and efficient “front-line” interactions in the personal selling process (PSP). In many instances, “front-line” technology applications have replaced traditional, hard-copy sales support materials. However, do these technology-based sales support materials (TSSM) offer meaningful utility in the PSP? Using a randomized field experiment, the current study answers the question through examining the use of TSSM within the PSP and across genders. Results indicate that the use of TSSM offers utility during the presentation and objection-handling stages of the PSP. There are no gender effects associated with technology use. The study offers educators pedagogical recommendations regarding the use of TSSM within the PSP. The study also validates the PSP scale.