Improving Salesperson Performance: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
Valerie Good, PhD, Douglas E. Hughes, PhD, Ahmet H. Kirca, PhD, and Sean McGrath, PhD Candidate
Year after year, companies allocate extensive resources toward developing and tracking incentive programs to effectively motivate sales employees. But, do these extrinsic motivators lead to increased sales? In this study, we examine how different types of motivation affect salesperson performance.
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Navigating Technostress and Entitled Employees
Kenneth J. Harris, PhD, Ranida B. Harris, PhD, Matthew Valle, PhD, John Carlson, PhD, Dawn S. Carlson, PhD, Suzanne Zivnuska, PhD, and Briceön Wiley, PhD
While technology has undoubtedly brought many benefits to the workplace, it has also brought a new form of stress known as "technostress." By understanding how technostress negatively influences employee turnover, work-family conflict, and family burnout, firms can better manage potential stressors and create a more positive and productive work environment.
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Influencing Negotiations: Salesperson Favor Requests
Veronica L. Thomas, PhD, Stephanie M. Mangus, PhD, and Dora E. Bock, PhD
Consumers often believe that salespeople do not have consumers' best interests in mind and, thus, dread the idea of engaging in negotiations with a salesperson. In our research, we focus on the interpersonal relationship between the consumer and the salesperson and examine whether a favor request from a salesperson to the consumer will encourage engagement and the idea of negotiation.
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Connecting with Clients: Best to Be Funny or Clever?
Holly S. Howe, PhD, Lingrui Zhou, PhD, Rodrigo S. Dias, PhD Candidate, and Gavan J. Fitzsimons, PhD
Humor has been a popular marketing strategy throughout the years. In our research, we argue that if a brand wants to use humor, they benefit more from using clever humor versus merely being funny. When a brand uses clever humor, it is better able to connect with the audience, which can lead to more positive brand attitudes and greater brand engagement.
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Leader Affect Variability and Employee Engagement
Jiaqing Sun, PhD, Sandy J. Wayne, PhD, and Yan Liu, PhD
It is widely understood that a leader's daily emotional expressions can have a significant impact on employees' emotions and work performance. But what about the variability of leaders' emotional expressions across different days? Our research examines how leader affect variability impacts employee work engagement and performance.
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INSIDER: I Love It Here
Parker Cannon, MBA Candidate
Creating a workplace that employees love is foundational to any successful organization, and real estate is no exception. In his book, Clint Culver explains how through effective management, you can create an environment where your employees engage, grow, and never want to leave.
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INSIDER: Mind Management, Not Time Management
Carson Solley, MBA Candidate
We live in a fast-paced and constantly changing world, and most of us have hundreds of things to accomplish in a short, 24-hour window before we must do it all over again. David Kadavy proposes a new approach to productivity that encourages success by focusing on managing one's mind rather than managing one's time.
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Fostering a Sense of Purpose in Salespeople
Valerie Good, PhD, Douglas E. Hughes, PhD, and Hao Wang, PhD
Most people think of extrinsic motivators like salary, time off, and healthcare benefits when thinking about workplace motivation. We find, though, that contributing to something greater than themselves—or feeling a sense of purpose—is a huge motivator for employees, which can drastically impact the value individuals bring to a firm and to clients.
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When “Too Much” is Just Too Much
Lisa Beeler, PhD, Alex Zablah, PhD, and Adam Rapp, PhD
Salespeople are often indoctrinated to love what they sell, but too much enthusiasm from the salesperson may cause the customer to feel pressured and form a tendency to avoid the salesperson and the brand altogether. While brand attachment is important in terms of salesperson effort and performance, it may be equally off-putting for customers.
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From the Outside Looking In: Using Social Media to Improve Well-Being
James A. Roberts, PhD and Meredith E. David, PhD
Humans are wired to seek out social interaction, and the Internet gives us endless opportunities to connect. But, contrary to the goal of bringing people together, recent research links increased social media usage to loneliness and perceived isolation. We studied social media use and examined whether it is how social media is used (passively vs. actively) that determines its effects on users’ perceived social connection and well-being.
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Calibrating Emotions to Increase Sales
Blair Kidwell, PhD, Jonathan Hasford, PhD, Broderick Turner, PhD, David M. Hardesty, PhD, and Alex R. Zablah, PhD
Emotional intelligence has historically been considered a key performance indicator, but our research finds that those with emotional calibration, or high emotional intelligence paired with high emotional self-efficacy (how one uses emotions), is a better indicator for sales success.
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INSIDER: Culture Built My Brand
Alexa Mathias, MBA
If you are looking for a way to unleash your culture, motivate your team, drive better results, and attract more customers, then you are not alone. Aligning your culture with your brand to build a marquee culture can help launch your company’s performance to new levels. In Culture Built My Brand, Mark Miller and Ted Vaugh provide practical ways to transform your internal culture to fuel success and performance.
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INSIDER: Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy
Carson Solley, MBA Candidate
In Your Next Five Moves: Master the Art of Business Strategy, Patrick Bet-David takes a deep dive into a practical methodology that can be applied to all areas of life, especially business. In just five simple moves, Bet-David lays out what you must do to differentiate yourself from the competition, attract and retain top talent, grow a company exponentially, and identify who you want to be and how you will get there.
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Speaking or Writing? The Impact of Expression Modalities
Jonah Berger, PhD, Matthew D. Rocklage, PhD, and Grant Packard, PhD
Word of mouth has become a pivotal factor in what shapes consumers' thoughts and actions. We break down two modes of communication and find that writing does not have the same effect as speaking. This research offers insight as to how and when to use each form of communication in order to maximize agent success.
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Boost Your Social Media: Organic Facebook Posts
Yash Chawla, PhD and Prof. Grzegorz Chodak
Social media is the fastest-growing advertising media class in the world and is an incredible tool that can be leveraged to grow business, even when promoting your business organically via non-paid promotions. In this research, we answer two questions: What is the optimal time to post? How are engagement and effectiveness of an organic post affected by the visual location of the web link in the post?
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The Effects of Gratitude vs. Indebtedness
Stephanie M. Mangus, PhD, Dora E. Bock, PhD, Eli Jones, PhD, and Judith Anne Garretson Folse, PhD
Nearly all business exchanges are built around the practice of reciprocity—or exchanging things with others for mutual benefit—which paves the way for feelings of gratitude and indebtedness. This study specifically focuses on how the salesperson's feelings of gratitude and indebtedness impact seller-buyer relationship quality, relationship satisfaction, and customer word of mouth.
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Power Distance Belief: A Tool to Design Tailored Appeals to Persuade Your Audience
Lingjiang Lora Tu, PhD, JaeHwan Kwon, PhD, and Huachao Gao, PhD
In consumer-based businesses, understanding how to effectively design marketing messages is key. Our research on power distance belief brings salespeople one step closer to understanding what is going on in the minds of different consumers which increases the power to persuade audiences through appeals tailored directly toward specific consumer mindsets.
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INSIDER: Huddle: How Women Unlock their Collective Power
Isabella Ip, MBA Candidate
For females in the workplace or in leadership, it is easy to feel isolated, out of place, and exhausted after consistently managing perceptions. In her new book, Huddle, Brooke Baldwin examines the powerful concept of a huddle, which empowers women to replace these negative feelings with feelings of being seen, of deserving the position they hold, and of being ready to take risks and challenge the norms in place.
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INSIDER: The High 5 Habit: Take Control of Your Life with One Simple Habit
Tyler O'Mary, MBA
The constant hustle and bustle of daily life can overwhelm us to the point that we lose sight of the most important thing: ourselves. In The High 5 Habit, Mel Robbins explains that the simple act of high-fiving yourself in the mirror first thing every morning can help you take charge of your life by restoring confidence and positivity. This daily boost will help you escape negative thoughts, push through anxiety, and turn dreams into reality.
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Navigating Ethical Dilemmas: The Lone Wolf Salesperson
Bruno Lussier, PhD, Nawar N. Chaker, PhD, Nathaniel N. Hartmann, PhD, and Deva Rangarajan, PhD
Within the remote-work culture of real estate, it is not unusual to find a lone wolf salesperson, one who prefers to work independently when making decisions, setting priorities, and accomplishing goals. These lone wolf salespeople sometimes have a "sell at all costs" mentality, which can lead to ethical dilemmas. In this research, we explore the relationship between lone wolf sales tendencies and ethical behavior.
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Co-Worker and Supervisor Support During Pregnancy
Kristen P. Jones, PhD, Jacquelyn M. Brady, PhD, Alex P. Lindsey, PhD, Lilia M. Cortina, PhD, and C. Kendall Major, MD
Workplace stress can impact prenatal and postpartum health, which in turn, affects return to the workplace and subsequent productivity. This research reports on two factors that can mitigate stress pregnant women encounter at work: coworker support and supervisor support received during pregnancy—both of which can alleviate stress during pregnancy, leading to lower incidence of postpartum depression, faster physical recovery, and greater ease of transition back into the workplace for the mother.
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Effects of Sales Managers’ Leadership Worthiness on Salesperson Turnover
Vishag Badrinarayanan, PhD, Aditya Gupta, PhD, and Nawar N. Chaker, PhD
Salesperson turnover is an important issue for real estate. Building on the familiar saying, "People don't quit jobs, they quit bosses," our study proposes a new concept, sales managers' leadership worthiness, and demonstrates that perceived leadership worthiness increases salespersons' trust in and identification with their managers, ultimately reducing turnover intentions.
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Making Every (Employee) Voice Count
Marlene S. Neill, PhD, APR and Shannon A. Bowen, PhD
Organizational communication managers are tasked more and more with prioritizing employee communication due to an increase in remote work. Listening, one of the primary components of communication, which also influences employee turnover, has not received much attention in research or in practice. We conducted our study to learn more about the state of listening in U.S. companies and organizations.
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Digital Information Flow Continuum: A Service Dominant-Logic Perspective
James Peltier, PhD, Andrew Dahl, DBA, and Eric Swan, DBA
The emergence of digital information platforms allowing consumer-to-consumer communications is changing how service ecosystems establish and create value for service innovations. The communications regarding these innovations have transitioned from pure "one-to-one" communication and engagement processes to "many-to-many" informational touchpoints. Our study assesses these information flows in service ecosystems and how they influence decision-making of digital innovations.
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INSIDER: The First-Time Manager
Brandon Chenevert, MBA Candidate
So, you've been promoted to manager-now what? In this Insider, we examine The First-Time Manager, which is a resourceful guide to help ease nerves, learn the ropes, recognize new responsibilities, relationships, and risks, and make a lasting impact on your organization and others around you through your new management role.
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INSIDER: Emotional Intelligence for the Modern Leader
Tyler O'Mary, MBA Candidate
The best predictor of long-term success in the workplace is emotional intelligence. Emotional intelligence, or EQ, is what takes leaders from average to extraordinary. Having a better understanding of how emotions influence behavior will enable you to make more intelligent decisions, overcome obstacles, and transform the way you lead.
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Fostering Success through Goal-Focused Leadership
Sara Jansen Perry, PhD, Lars U. Johnson, PhD, L.A. Witt, PhD, and Daniel P. McDonald, PhD
Real estate management and agents often work under high stress and performance pressure, leading to burnout in the workplace. Our research explores how goal-focused leadership, paired with non-discriminating behaviors and high cohesion among coworkers, can equip employees to avoid emotional exhaustion, even as they work longer hours and face other demands.
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How Screen Time Affects Sleep and Work Performance
Haiyang Liu, PhD, Yueting Ji, PhD, and Scott B. Dust, PhD
Have you ever been told to turn off electronics and give your brain some rest from screen time right before you go to bed? You may have been told that it will disrupt your sleep schedule and have a negative effect on your well-being the next day. Our research illustrates that this is only sometimes true.
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Reducing Social Anxiety to Boost Sales Performance
Bruno Lussier, PhD, Matthew Philp, PhD, Nathaniel N. Hartmann, PhD, and Heiko Wieland, PhD
Numerous professions, including real estate sales, involve duties that can lead employees to experience social anxiety, which can be detrimental to a salesperson, especially when working directly with customers. This research explores strategies to mitigate social anxiety in order to boost sales performance.
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Making the Brand-to-Customer Relationship Work
Claudio Alvarez, PhD, Danielle J. Brick, PhD, and Susan Fournier, PhD
When it comes to buying products, we all tend to have favorite brands to which we are loyal. To better understand how brand relationships change, our research takes a deeper look at how consumers’ actions create, maintain, transform, and terminate brand relationships over time.
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INSIDER: Sales Secrets
Isabella Ip, MBA Candidate
While there are an overwhelming number of resources available to help one build sales success, experienced salespeople with proven performance outcomes may be the most effective sources of inspiration. In Sales Secrets, Brandon Bornancin shares advice and perspectives from 104 accomplished sales professionals to help novice and experienced salespeople succeed in what can be a long-lasting and lucrative career.
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INSIDER: Think Again
Tyler O'Mary, MBA Candidate
You never know when someone has an idea (but is too scared to say it) that could drastically change your firm. In Think Again: The Power of Knowing What You Don't Know, Adam Grant examines how "thinking again" can help you find new solutions to old problems and spot problems that were not addressed in old solutions that will elevate your career and your firm.
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Making Tough Choices Today for an Easier Tomorrow
Ashley S. Otto, PhD, Joshua J. Clarkson, PhD, Nathanael S. Martin, PhD ABD
Consumers make countless decisions every day. Some situations require minimal decision-making effort, while others require more thought and effort to reach a decision. Our research finds that there are two situations, driven by a motivation to achieve cognitive closure, in which people will put more effort into the decision-making process in order to simplify the process in the future.
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The Power of a Feminine Brand Name
Ruth Pogacar, PhD, Justin Angle, PhD, Tina M. Lowrey, PhD, L. J. Shrum, PhD, and Frank R. Kardes, PhD
A brand's name is often the first interaction a brand or firm has with a consumer, and it has more power than most individuals or companies realize. Our research finds that linguistically feminine brand names enhance attitudes and choice and are correlated with better brand performance, as they activate associations with "warmth," based on the stereotype content model.
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Why Marketers Fail to Understand Their Customers: The False Consensus Effect
Walter Herzog, PhD, Johannes D. Hattula, PhD, and Darren W. Dahl, PhD
Marketing is all about understanding customer preferences and providing solutions that match these preferences. However, marketers’ perceptions of their target customers’ preferences can be biased through the so-called false consensus effect, whereby marketers project their personal preferences onto customers.
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Skill Discretion and Work Demands Impact on Salesperson Burnout and Job Satisfaction
Lucy M. Matthews, DBA and Brian N. Rutherford, PhD
Understanding how to reduce burnout is a key to keeping agents satisfied and motivated. Our research examines the impact individual facets of burnout have on job satisfaction, what impact skill discretion and hindrance demands have on job satisfaction, and whether burnout mediates the relationship between discretion and demands in relation to job satisfaction.
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The Secrets of Social Media in Salesperson Performance
Melanie Bowen, PhD, Christine Lai-Bennejean, PhD, Alexander Haas, PhD, and Deva Rangarajan, PhD
Social media has become a core component of communication within our society, and as social media has positively impacted personal life, it has also positively impacted business. Our study focuses specifically on the relationship between social media usage, key selling tasks, salesperson performance, and peer social media usage as a relationship moderator.
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INSIDER: Do the Hard Things First
Brandon Chenevert, MBA Candidate
It’s time to start winning the battle that has consumed your life—the battle against procrastination. In Do the Hard Things First, Scott Allan analyzes the bad habit of procrastination and teaches his audience how to reverse this practice in order to implement a new set of behaviors and develop a new identity.
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INSIDER: Think Like a Rocket Scientist
Corrie A. H. Penraat, MBA
You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to start thinking like one. In Ozan Varol’s book, Think Like a Rocket Scientist, he challenges readers to risk failure, question the status quo, and engage in critical thinking as he shares invaluable insights from some of the greatest triumphs and catastrophes in human history.
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Job Flexibility Enhances Working Mothers’ Career Aspirations and Reduces Gender Gaps
Julia B. Bear, PhD
The gender gap in pay in the real estate industry is larger than the average gap across industries, and there are also stark gender gaps in career advancement to top leadership positions in the real estate industry. This research explores how job flexibility increases, rather than detracts from, promotion aspirations among working mothers, an important implication for managers looking to recruit and promote female employees and chip away at persistent gender gaps.
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Eliminating Toxicity through Servant Leadership
Mitchell J. Neubert, PhD, Emily M. Hunter, PhD, and Remy C. Tolentino, MSN
Incivility, rudeness, and a general disrespect for others has risen steeply in the workplace in recent years, affecting not only employees, but also customers and third parties in contact with employees. Servant leaders, those who put the needs of others above their own, serve as a critical force in preventing group-level incivility through promoting a virtuous work climate.
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The Science Behind a Smile and a Social Media Share
Daniel McDuff, PhD and Jonah Berger, PhD
The benefits of earned media–or zero-cost advertising through social media sharing–within the real estate industry are invaluable. Contrary to prior studies, our research finds that specific emotional expressions have distinct effects on social sharing, allowing firms to more easily pinpoint what emotions an advertisement should aim to evoke and thus what content is more likely to be shared.
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What to Look for in Your Next Sales Hire
Willy Bolander, PhD, Cinthia B. Satornino, PhD, Alexis M. Allen, PhD, Bryan Hochstein, PhD, and Riley Dugan, PhD
What do you prioritize on a job candidate resume? Prior selling experience or a formal sales education? Our research examines the effects of both on newly hired salespeople's performance trajectories over time, along with the impact of manager coaching behaviors. Our results provide insights into the benefits and drawbacks of each hiring heuristic along with recommendations for how to coach new salespeople depending on which heuristic led to their hire.
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Applying Adaptive Selling Techniques: Exploring How
Dr. Sascha Alavi, Dr. Johannes Habel, and Dr. Kim Linsenmayer
While research suggests adaptive selling is a core ingredient of sales success, the question of how salespeople should alter their behavior in response to varying customer attributes has remained unclear. Our research and recommendations offer managerial insight to capitalize on the genuine benefits of adaptive selling to lead to greater success organization-wide.
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INSIDER: The Power of Discipline
Corrie A. H. Penraat, MBA
Did you know only about 10% of New Year's resolutions are achieved? Research cites the biggest reason people fail is a lack of self-discipline. In this Insider, we explore Daniel Walter's advice on how to increase self-discipline and move your ordinary to extraordinary.
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INSIDER: Shut Up and Listen!
Kristen Koehler, MBA Candidate
In his latest book, business leader Tilman Fertitta emphasizes that even when you think your business is performing at its best, there is always something lurking around the corner that could make your business obsolete. Fertitta warns that you should never, ever stop worrying about your business.
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Why Do Houses Sell Above Listing Price?
Geoffrey K. Turnbull, PhD, Velma Zahirovic-Herbert, PhD, and Bennie D. Waller, PhD
Why do some houses sell above listing price while similar neighboring houses do not? Is it because sellers underprice their property? Are some real estate agents particularly skilled at bringing in high value buyers, or does it just come down to luck?
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Marketing Your Agents: Effort vs. Talent
Fine F. Leung, PhD, Sara Kim, PhD, and Caleb H. Tse, PhD
When highlighting exceptional performance of real estate agents, firms often credit the success to either sheer effort or natural talent. The way in which you market your agents, though, can impact their relationship formation with clients and, ultimately, the success of your firm.
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Creating Customer Engagement on Social Media
Fernando de Oliveira Santini, PhD, Wagner Junior Ladeira, PhD, Diego Costa Pinto, PhD, Má́rcia Maurer Herter, PhD, Claudio Hoffmann Sampaio, PhD, and Barry J. Babin, PhD
The goal of your social media marketing should not be to simply increase social media impressions, but instead, to increase positive impressions. In this study, we examine the role of trust and commitment in driving positive relationships and customer engagement in social media.
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How Work-Family Balance Impacts Workplace Success
Merideth J. Thompson, PhD, Dawn S. Carlson, PhD, and K. Michele Kacmar, PhD
Due to the nature of real estate, working beyond the walls of the office is accessible and frequently encouraged. But how does this balancing act impact others in your firm? We examine how an agent's family functioning relates to their interactions with coworkers, thereby shaping the coworker's job attitude and experiences.
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Adaptive Selling: Finding the Perfect Fit
Richard G. McFarland, PhD
Now more than ever, clients expect a uniquely tailored experience and product. This research aims to build upon already-utilized aspects of adaptive selling while increasing your understanding of adaptive selling and providing recommendations to further hone your own adaptive selling techniques.
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INSIDER: Nine Lies about Work
Corrie A. H. Penraat, MBA
As firms seek to standardize job roles, they are losing out on some of the most creative and quirky aspects of their workforce. In Nine Lies about Work, Marcus Buckingham and Ashley Goodall uncover nine lies that we encounter every day at work and seek evidence to discover the less popular truth about work.
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INSIDER: The Adaptation Advantage
Kristen Koehler, MBA Candidate
Robots will eventually take your job! Truth is, they may indeed take it one day, but they also may help guide you into your next position. The Adaptation Advantage explains why it's hard for humans to change, how the world will continue to advance, and what individuals can do to make themselves adaptable in a constantly-changing world.
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Why Saying “Thank You” is Better than “Sorry”
Yanfen You, PhD, Xiaojing Yang, PhD, Lili Wang, PhD, and Xiaoyan Deng, PhD
An apology by a service provider may help restore customer satisfaction to a certain degree, but our research suggests that using a statement of appreciation rather than an apology could increase customer satisfaction even further.
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Aligning Motivation for a Value-Based Sales Strategy
Ryan Mullins, PhD, Bulent Menguc, PhD, and Nikolaos G. Panagopoulos, PhD
In addition to winning over potential clients, engaging in value-based selling leads to increased customer retention, growth, and salesperson performance. This study examines the influence of different motivational sources — self, supervisor, customer, and team — to uncover how to motivate and benefit from implementing VBS in your organization.
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How to Communicate During Organizational Change
Linjuan Rita Men, PhD, APR, Marlene Neill, PhD, APR, and Cen April Yue, PhD
In real estate, it is important to integrate employee-centered, symmetrical communication into change management in order to yield employees who are engaged in the change process. Our research examines how communication between managers and employees can impact employee engagement, commitment to change, and behavioral support for proposed change.
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Consumer-to-Brand Sharing: Will Your Clients Share the Bad News?
Chris Hydock, PhD, Zoey Chen, PhD, and Kurt Carlson, PhD
Every successful firm knows that understanding consumer sentiment, both positive and negative, is essential for success. Our team conducted multiple studies to uncover tendencies concerning consumer-to-brand sharing and steps managers can take to receive unbiased information that is vital for a firm’s success.
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Advertising in 360 Degrees
Yang Feng, PhD, Quan Xie, PhD, and Chen Lou, PhD
Research confirms that 360-degree video ads increase social media click rates by 29% as compared to similar videos in standard format. Our research
identifies the optimal scenario and mechanisms in which 360-degree video ads outperform standard version videos, and we provide suggestions on how to create videos that will drive engagement in promising new ways.
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INSIDER: Virtual Selling: A Quick-Start Guide
Kayla Wilson, MBA
At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world was faced with an unprecedented tremor that necessitated a transition to a virtual world, immediately altering sales as we knew it. In his latest book, Jeb Blount provides techniques that turn virtual communication platforms into powerful and effective sales tools, making virtual selling more human and helping organizations acquire a distinct competitive advantage that will extend beyond the lifetime of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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INSIDER: The Catalyst: How to Change Anyone’s Mind
Kristen Koehler, MBA Candidate
People often tackle change by attacking the problem head on and pushing through obstacles no matter the amount of resistance. In The Catalyst, Jonah Berger explains why "roadblock elimination" is the most effective way to pursue change and how to become a change catalyst—someone who facilitates change—within your organization.
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Interpersonal Trust During Market Turbulence
Stephanie M. Mangus, PhD, Eli Jones, PhD, Judith Anne Garretson Folse, PhD, and Shrihari Sridhar, PhD
As market turbulence increases, strain occurs that impacts the customer-salesperson relationship. We examine how a strong foundation of both business and personal trust between the buyer and the seller is essential to building a relationship that can withstand unstable times.
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Improvised Marketing Interventions: The Future of Impactful Real Estate Marketing?
Abhishek Borah, PhD, Sourindra Banerjee, PhD, Yu-Ting Lin, PhD, Apurv Jain, and Andreas B. Eisingerich, PhD
Consumers are faced with more advertisements than ever, leading to consumer fatigue and ineffective marketing strategies. We explain how improvised marketing interventions—highly effective social media actions which utilize quick wit in real time in response to a situation or event—can help you attain a competitive advantage, even in an overly saturated environment like social media.
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Creating Success through Sales Influence Tactics
Richard G. McFarland, PhD and Andrea L. Dixon, PhD
The success of your business depends on how effectively salespeople can
influence your clients. In real estate, it is vital to understand how salespeople influence customers and how they can improve those skills. Our research provides additional resources for salespeople to better understand the full set of sales influence tactics at their disposal.
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Improving Sales Performance with Manager Likeability
Edward L. Nowlin, PhD, Doug Walker, PhD, and Nwamaka A. Anaza, PhD
Is it important for salespeople to like their managers? Research has established that people will do things for people they like, but does this have an impact on a firm’s sales performance? In this research, we examine several steps and practices that can increase your likeability as a manager, which can be a powerful driver of organizational sales performance.
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Encouraging eWOM on Social Media
Taemin Kim, PhD, Hyejin Kim, PhD, and Yunhwan Kim, PhD
Roughly 50 million businesses have a Facebook profile, and users share more than 2.5 billion comments a month on those business profiles. Consumer engagement with these businesses on social media is
a significant marketing goal, and our study explores how businesses’ Facebook posts, both informational and emotional, affect customers’ electronic word-of-mouth.
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INSIDER: Words that Change Minds
Brian LeCompte, MDiv/MBA
Good leaders understand the people they are leading well enough to know their “language,” which they then use to influence employees’ or followers’ decisions and actions. Learning the language that influences others is particularly important for managers and team leaders and is the focus of Shelle Rose Charvet’s book, Words That Change Minds: The 14 Patterns for Mastering the Language of Influence.
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INSIDER: Loonshots
Kayla Wilson, MBA Candidate
Loonshots are ideas that, at face value, appear to be entirely outlandish, but that have the potential for great success. In Safi Bahcall's Loonshots: Nurture the Crazy Ideas That Win Wars, Cure Diseases, and Transform Industries, we learn that the vitality of loonshots extends into the board room and is dependent upon careful nurturing and cultivation of these loonshot ideas.
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Communication Climate and Organizational Identification: The Keys to Change Management?
Marlene Neill, PhD, Linjuan Rita Men, PhD, and Cen April Yue, PhD Candidate
Change is inevitable for long-term organizational sustainability, but change management is commonly viewed as a difficult
endeavor. Our research identifies and examines two key factors that can increase the odds for success for your firm's change initiatives.
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Using Images to Increase Social Media Engagement
Yiyi Li, PhD and Ying Xie, PhD
Images are likely a key component to your social media strategy, but are you using the right images in the right manner? Our research quantifies the impact of image content and makes recommendations to help increase your client engagement on social media.
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Effects of Emotional Exhaustion on Ethical Behavior
Bruno Lussier, PhD, Nathaniel N. Hartmann, PhD, and Willy Bolander, PhD
With tight deadlines and sales goals to meet, agents often face temptations to behave unethically in order to get ahead. Our research suggests that unethical behavior actually decreases overall sales performance and that emotional exhaustion increases the likelihood of those unethical behaviors.
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Avoiding Burnout to Preserve Performance
Richard G. McFarland, PhD and Andrea L. Dixon, PhD
Salespeople are subjected to high levels of stress on a day-to-day basis, which often leads to burnout. In this research, we examine how interpersonal mentalizing skills and oscillating between actively addressing stressors and giving yourself a break can reduce the chances of burnout occurring.
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What Drives Customer Engagement on Instagram?
Robert Rietveld, PhD Candidate, Willemijn van Dolen, PhD, Masoud Mazloom, PhD, and Marcel Worring, PhD
Do your Instagram posts contain emotional or informative appeals? This research defines the difference and examines which type best influences customer engagement on social media.
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INSIDER: The Ride of a Lifetime
Corrie A. H. Penraat, MBA Candidate
In Robert Iger's Ride of a Lifetime, he shares the lessons he learned leading more than 200,000 employees as CEO of The Walt Disney Company for nearly 15 years. Through this journey, he explores the principles necessary for effective leadership in any business venture.
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INSIDER: Company of One
Jacob Brenton, MDiv/MBA
In Company of One: Why Staying Small is the Next Big Thing for Business, entrepreneur Paul Jarvis discusses a variety of perspectives on how small business owners and entrepreneurs can redefine success in business, focusing on quality over quantity.
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Earning Effective Referrals with the Right Incentives
Rachel Gershon, PhD, Cynthia Cryder, PhD, and Leslie K. John, PhD
Referrals are an important source of new business for real estate agents, but our study shows that most businesses are not implementing referral incentive programs in the most effective manner.
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How Older Adult Couples Make Downsizing Decisions
Nikki Buckelew, PhD
Whether specializing in the mature market or simply employing lead generation strategies, agents are likely to encounter older adult home sellers. This study examines why older adult couples, who intend to age in place until death, may ultimately elect to sell their home and move into a congregate setting.
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The Secret to Linking CSR to Financial Profitability
Sean Yim, PhD, Young Han Bae, PhD, Hyunwoo Lim, PhD, and JaeHwan Kwon, PhD
In today's socially conscious environment, social responsibility is an increasingly important strategy for business. Our study answers the question of how corporate social responsibility (applied in many businesses today) can lead to financial profitability.
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Beat the Averages: How to Write More Engaging Facebook Posts
Keith A. Quesenberry, M.S. IMC and Michael K. Coolsen, PhD
Reaching consumers on Facebook through organic or non-paid advertising has become a challenge. Our research finds a three-part social media viral framework to help you write more engaging posts to reach more buyers.
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How Psychological Resourcefulness Increases Sales Performance
Bruno Lussier, PhD and Nathaniel N. Hartmann, PhD
How can you increase sales with no new software, gimmick, or miracle? Our research examines how psychological resourcefulness, characterized by optimism and resilience, will help salesperson performance and the bottom line.
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INSIDER: Atomic Habits
Maria Morales Menendez, MBA
If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you'll end up 37 times better by the time it's all said and done. In Atomic Habits, James Clear, one of the world's leading experts on habit formation, outlines the framework for getting 1% better every day.
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INSIDER: The Technology Fallacy
Brian LeCompte, MDiv/MBA Candidate
How can companies best manage rapid and constant change in technology? We explore The Technology Fallacy, which suggests that managing technological disruption is not about managing technology at all—it is about managing people.
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Bottom-Line Mentality: How it Affects Performance
Matthew J. Quade, PhD, Benjamin D. McLarty, PhD, and Julena M. Bonner, PhD
Profits are essential to managing a business, but can an emphasis on the bottom-line impact employees? Our research examines how supervisors with high bottom-line mentality garner negative perceptions from employees, leading to decreased employee performance.
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#Retweet: How to Compose Shareable Tweets
Nima Y. Jalali, PhD and Purushottam Papatla, PhD
Your Twitter followers can be some of your best brand ambassadors, but are you actually capturing their attention with your tweets? Our study analyzes whether the occurrence of topic-related words at the beginning of the tweet affects your number of retweets.
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Are You on the Right Scent?
Anna Girard, PhD, Marcel Lichters, PhD, Marko Sarstedt, PhD, and Dipayan Biswas, PhD
The market for ambient scents is growing rapidly, and research reveals that pleasant ambient scents have a positive influence on consumers’ brand perceptions. We further examine how repeated subconsciously processed ambient scents enhance your potential homebuyers’ evaluation of their service experience.
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Is Internal Support Key to Building Customer Relationships?
Kevin Duane Bradford, PhD, Yongmei Liu, PhD, Yuying Shi, PhD, Barton Weitz, PhD, and Jun Xu, PhD
A customer’s problem is the opportunity for the salesperson to create value for customers. This research investigates how the buyer-seller relationship is affected by the effectiveness of the salesperson’s ability to coordinate internal resources.
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Corporate Social Responsibility & Consumer Loyalty
Didier Louis, PhD, Cindy Lombart, PhD, and Fabien Durif, PhD
Does your firm have a greater responsibility outside of your legal obligations and goals? As corporations grow a sense of social responsibility, our research investigates the impact of philanthropy, environmental sustainability, customer respect, and worker respect on customer loyalty.
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INSIDER: The Infinite Game
Maria Morales Menendez, MBA
Like all infinite games, in the game of life, the goal should never be to win, but instead to perpetuate the game. This article summarizes how to adopt the five essential practices necessary to adopt an infinite mindset in order to perpetuate the infinite game of business.
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INSIDER: The Happiness Advantage
Jacob Brenton, MDiv/MBA
Living a happier life takes work. We examine Shawn Achor's seven principles that can lead you to have a "happiness advantage" in your personal life and your real estate career.
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Social Media Addiction & Work-Life Balance
Suzanne Zivnuska, PhD, John R. Carlson, PhD, Dawn S. Carlson, PhD, Ranida B. Harris, PhD, and Kenneth J. Harris, PhD
Internet addiction is regarded as a growing health concern in many parts of the world. Our research examines how social media can drain resources in the workplace and how employees react to social media posts by their colleagues, ultimately impacting job performance.
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Ensuring Newcomer Agent Success
Danny P. Claro, PhD, Carla Ramos, PhD, Gabriel R. Gonzalez, PhD, and Robert W. Palmatier, PhD
Even as U.S. companies spend more than $900 billion on building sales forces, salesperson turnover has reached 27%, and average tenures are as short as two years. This article addresses how your firm can help new agents successfully gain entry into a network of interconnected contacts.
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Creating Charisma
Sandra Pauser, PhD, Udo Wagner, PhD, and Claus Ebster, PhD
Do you use charisma to convey messages in a convincing manner to charm your clients? Our findings show that specific, learnable, and culturally appropriate displays of charismatic behavior can enhance client impressions and ultimately increase sales.
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Office Politics: Training Ground for Adaptive Sellers
Takuma Kimura, PhD, Belén Bande, PhD, and Pilar Fernández-Ferrín
Although much research has been focused on a salesperson’s externally directed behavior, we found that political skill and intrinsic motivation have effects on adaptive selling and sales performance. In light of this evidence, we recommend that every sales manager assist his/her salespeople with developing these intrapreneurial abilities.
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Reclaiming Competitive Advantage with Web Design
Alexander Bleier, PhD, Colleen M. Harmeling, PhD, and Robert W. Palmatier, PhD
With the quick availability of online listings and resources, some buyers may feel they no longer need the specialized services of a real estate agent. Have you considered how the content and design of your web site might help you reclaim competitive advantage, while connecting with potential clients on a deeper level?
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INSIDER: Rehumanize Your Business
Maria Arauz, MBA
Today, email is the standard method of business communication, but traditional emails are not always effective at allowing your personality to shine through. In Rehumanize Your Business, authors Ethan Beute and Steve Pacinelli examine how adding a personal video element to your emails can help generate leads and increase sales.
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INSIDER: Conversational Marketing
Jacob Brenton, MDiv/MBA Candidate
In their book Conversational Marketing, authors David Cancel and Dave Gerhardt share why online conversational marketing creates a better, more natural, and more profitable sales climate.
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Dodging Burnout and Minimizing Turnover
Fred O. Walumbwa, PhD, I-Chieh Hsu, PhD, Cindy Wu, PhD, Everlyne Misati, PhD Candidate, and Amanda Christensen-Salem, PhD
Studies have shown that service-related jobs, like those in real estate, can have negative impact on employees, including burnout and decreased motivation, leading to higher employee turnover. Our research examines how agencies and managers can lessen these impacts on their employees and decrease turnover within their organization.
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Timing is Everything: A Scheduled Plan for Your Social Media Presence
Vamsi K. Kanuri, PhD, Yixing Chen, PhD Candidate, and Shrihari (Hari) Sridhar, PhD
When you post social media content is just as important as what you post. In this article, we examine the impacts of social media posts based on time of day, emotionality of your content, and the results of boosting posts.
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Boosting Sales Force Morale in Highly Dynamic, Complex Markets: The Role of Job Resources
Nikolaos G. Panagopoulos, PhD, Bryan Hochstein, PhD, Thomas L. Baker, PhD, and Michael A. Pimentel, PhD Candidate
Improving sales force morale can be a valuable strategy to enhance job performance and reduce employee turnover. Despite the benefits that can come from high morale, little is known about what factors impact it. We examine what market demands impact morale and what resources you can leverage to boost morale in your organization.
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Riding the Wave: How to Make Your Videos Go Viral
Gerard J. Tellis, PhD, Deborah J. MacInnis, PhD, Seshadri Tirunillai, PhD, and Yanwei Zhang, PhD
Virality is the new ad currency. The key driver of virality is sharing of videos, but what drives sharing among your followers? Our research reveals that sharing is not a matter of luck or art, but it can be ascertained by scientific research. In this article, we examine what type of videos you should create to maximize sharing of and virality of your ads.
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Entrepreneurship: The Path to Well-Being
Nadav Shir, PhD, Boris N. Nikolaev, PhD, and Joakim Wincent, PhD
Entrepreneurs typically enjoy higher levels of job and life satisfaction. However, in contrast to the benefits, entrepreneurs may also experience high stress and longer working hours, while also fearing lower income. In this study, we examine how autonomy mediates the relationship between entrepreneurship and personal well-being.
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INSIDER: Breathe to Succeed: Increase Workplace Productivity, Creativity, and Clarity through the Power of Mindfulness
Corrie A. H. Penraat, MBA Candidate
In today’s real estate environment, it isn’t often you get a chance to just be still and breathe. The demands of multitasking and meeting deadlines under extreme pressure never seem to stop. In Sandy Abrams’ Breathe to Succeed, we learn how breath, self-awareness, and small changes in our daily routine can be a big part of our overall individual wellness solution, which can, in turn, lead to increased creativity, positivity, and productivity.
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