Leveraging B2B field service technicians as a “second sales force”: How service situations affect selling activity and success
研究了B2B企业现场服务技术人员在服务情境中从事销售活动的决策与成功率，发现技术人员在成功概率低的情境中销售活动反而更高，未能有效利用销售机会。
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.