Increasing Sales by Managing the Interlocking Contingencies Between Sales Representatives and Customers Using Behavioral Self-Monitoring

The interlocking contingencies that exist between a customer and sales representatives may contribute to buying decisions. The purpose of this study is to redesign the sales call verbal process of five sales representatives to shape the verbal behaviors most likely to result in a sale. Using the behaviors found to be statistically significant through a correlational analysis, behaviors related to closing sales were identified by sales representatives in a focus group meeting and were used to develop a self-observation check sheet. After five weeks of self-monitoring, the sales representatives began to receive weekly feedback on the targeted behaviors. On average, the six targeted verbal behaviors related to sales increased eight percentage points over baseline compared to a two percentage point increase in the comparison group. While the self-monitoring phase was associated with an average increase of 12 percentage points over baseline, the subsequent feedback phase was associated with an average increase of four percentage points over baseline. These changes were associated with 130% more sales during the intervention period for the experimental group. For each sales representative, this increase in sales translates into $1,126,528 more in annualized revenue and $4,989 more in annualized sales commission.