New Research: Shy Salespeople?

DALLAS, April 7 /PRNewswire/ -- It's infuriating! Having to endlessly wait -
or clear your throat melodramatically - to get the attention of a salesperson
is the norm at some stores. That inattention can drive sales to competitors.

Psychologist, Dr. Bill Gordon, wanted a new, top-of-the-line Lexus. When he
visited his local Lexus dealership the salesperson tried to make Gordon feel
like "a little lad from the country." "I drove down the street and bought an
Infiniti," Gordon said. CEO and bestselling author, Shannon L. Goodson had a
similar experience. Goodson was shopping for several high-end desktop
computers systems. Responding to newspaper advertising, she visited a computer
retailer only to have the sales staff ignore her as they pecked away on their
desktops. Goodson did buy her computer systems - somewhere else. "Maybe it's
because I'm a woman, I don't know. But I do know I don't have the time to shop
at retailers like that."

Historically, retailers haven't placed as much emphasis on responsive customer
engagement as their direct sales counterparts. After all, good products and
services sell themselves. Right?

Not according to a research study just presented at the April, 2009 annual
convention of the Southwestern Psychological Association in San Antonio,
Texas. Researchers George W. Dudley and Trelitha R. Bryant, scientists at
Behavioral Sciences Research Press in Dallas, examined the customer engagement
behavior of 1,160 retail salespeople in the U.S. A smaller sample of 209
non-U.S. salespeople was also examined for comparison purposes. The
researchers investigated how many times the retail salespeople actually
initiated conversation with "walk-in" prospective buyers during the previous
work week. The results were unexpected. During the measurement period, 43.3%
(502) engaged prospective walk-in customers only 1-5 times.

To find out why so many failed to engage walk-ins, the sample was further
divided into groups based on the number of contacts made. Then, contacts made
were correlated with scores the salespeople obtained on a diagnostic
psychological test specifically designed to detect emotional discomfort
associated with initiating contact with prospective buyers. "Salespeople with
under-average customer contacts had significantly higher levels of Sales Call
Reluctance," Bryant said. "The low customer engagement group had higher scores
on ten of twelve known Call Reluctance types, plus an additional overall
measure. Clearly, something is limiting the effectiveness of this group."

The results obtained by Bryant and Dudley are consistent with their recently
reported multi-nation study of 199,000 salespeople scattered across companies,
industries and sales settings. "That study uncovered a formerly unknown
behavioral self-contradiction: People currently working in sales who don't
want to talk to anyone," Bryant said. How many? "Our data suggests 7-9%
worldwide," Bryant estimated. Among additional results, the researchers
reported:

-- Gender Comparison: 19.6% of currently employed salesmen and 16.6% of
saleswomen say they are uncomfortable starting conversations with
people
they don't know.
-- Country Comparisons: Canadian salespeople (19%) are more reticent than
U.S. salespeople (17%) but less than U.K. salespeople (21%).
-- Faking Sociability: 31% of the salespeople in the U.K. say they are
reluctant to engage others in conversation. However, the number
shrinks
to 27% for applicants for sales positions. "That could indicate
applicant faking," Dudley said. "Our data shows faking
sociability may not be adequately detected in the U.K., China, South
Africa and other countries where we found lower scores for applicants
than employed salespeople."

-- Upward Trend: The number of socially challenged salespeople is
growing.
In 2004, 17.6% of the salespeople sampled globally said they were
hesitant to initiate conversation. In 2008 it was 19.7%.

"This study is loaded with practical implications for people who manage sales,
customer service or other customer engagement positions," Dudley said. "It
shows downward economic pressures may be driving people who are not normally
interested in selling to apply for sales positions. However, to maintain sales
during extraordinarily troublesome times, retailers need to make sure they
hire salespeople who can sell. Many hiring organizations, though, seem
unwilling, unable or indifferent to effectively screening out applicants who
are not suited for sales. To do that, they need to revisit the way they select
their salespeople. The procedures they use should at least be able to screen
out applicants who don't want to talk to people."

SOURCE Behavioral Sciences Research Press

Jeanne Ketchersid, Media Liaison of Behavioral Sciences Research Press,
+1-972-243-8543, jeanne.ketchersid@bsrpinc.com