Abstract EN:

Payan and McFarland (2005) argue that sales influence tactics (SITs) with more complete argument structure are more effective in gaining influence with customers (e.g., providing information on product features and discussing why these are beneficial is a more complete argument vs. solely providing information on product features). The authors extend this work by integrating argument structure theory with information processing theory and argue that while this is true for customers who are lower on product expertise (i.e., SITs with more complete argument structure are more effective with novices), contrary to existing theory, they argue that the opposite is true for customers with higher levels of product expertise (i.e., SITs with less complete argument structure are more effective with experts). The authors further contend that information diagnosticity mediates the relationship between these interactions and the effectiveness of influence tactics (what is termed manifest influence). Results from five experiments, including one field study, conducted in the context of interactions between customers and salespeople in retail stores provide strong support for the hypotheses. Theoretical implications and managerial guidelines for matching influence tactics to customer expertise are discussed. Building on prior research on the use of influence tactics by frontline salespeople, this research develops theory regarding the interaction between sales influence tactic types (emotional vs. informational tactics) and customer shopping goal specificity levels (a nonspecific goal—just shopping around vs. a specific goal—having a specific product in mind) on purchase intention within a brick-and-mortar retail shopping context. This research contributes to the sales influence tactics literature and information processing literature and specifies strategic recommendations for frontline salespeople and sales managers.