Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/309296 
Year of Publication: 
2023
Citation: 
[Journal:] Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science [ISSN:] 1552-7824 [Volume:] 52 [Issue:] 3 [Publisher:] Springer US [Place:] New York, NY [Year:] 2023 [Pages:] 736-761
Publisher: 
Springer US, New York, NY
Abstract: 
To extract the full revenue potential of their front line, B2B firms use their technical field service force for selling activities. However, as selling is only a complementary activity embedded in technicians' main service tasks, they may struggle to sell effectively. The authors investigate the service situation as a key driver of (i) the technician's decision to engage in selling (selling activity) and (ii) the customer's decision to purchase (selling success). They identify four types of service situations with unique effects on these outcomes. Notably, technicians' selling activity is highest (+ 10% compared to baseline) in service situations that offer a lower (-22%) likelihood of success, whereas activity is lower in the most promising situations. Thus, technicians do not properly exploit sales opportunities. The extent of inefficiencies moreover varies by employee-specific moderators, such that specialized technicians and those with little practical experience have particular difficulty exploiting excellent sales opportunities.
Subjects: 
Service-sales ambidexterity
Service technicians
B2B
Bivariate probit
Heckman selection model
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Creative Commons License: 
cc-by Logo
Document Type: 
Article
Document Version: 
Published Version

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