EFFECT OF SALESPERSON’S SERVICE BEHAVIOUR ON SALES PERFORMANCE IN THE B2B CONTEXT IN NIGERIA

In today’s competitive business environment, many salespersons appear to struggle in meeting sales targets and build long-term, profitable business relationships with customers. This paper examined the effect of salesperson’s service behaviour on sales performance in Henkel-Egil Limited, South-East, Nigeria. Four specific objectives and hypotheses guided this paper. A survey research design was employed and the sample size was 324 salespersons in the organization. The Census method was used in sampling respondents and the major instrument of data collection was a structured questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics such as frequencies, percentages, mean score, Likert scale, and Pearson Product Moment Correlation, which helped test hypotheses. Findings revealed that there is a positive but weak relationship between diligence and sales performance. It also indicated that information communication has a significant effect on sales performance. Results also showed a positive correlation between sportsmanship and sales performance. Again, it was observed that empathy has a significant effect on significantly sales performance. This paper concluded that without diligence, information communication, sportsmanship, and empathy, salespersons might be performing below average until adequate consideration is given to these important service behaviors. It recommended among others, that as firms begin to recognize the importance of salespersons’ role in not just closing sales but also providing service to customers, it is important periodic training is given to them as to increase their service orientation and sales performance. Managers should emphasize both service excellence and sales targets during recruitment, training, design of reward systems, and promotion decisions.  Article visualizations: