Research On The Relationship Between Empowerment And Sales Performance Of Front-line Salespeople In Enterprise

With the acceleration of the process of economic globalization, sales competition among enterprises is increasing, the scope of which customers choose products is greatly expanding. When customers buy products or receive services, they pay more attention to experience and perception in the process of service contact with salespeople in enterprises. The voluntary and active behaviors of salespeople and the response to customer needs and requirements determine the on-site contact quality between salespeople and customers, and become an important factor influencing customer buying behavior. When customers come to enterprises, they first contact front-line salespeople. The service contact between front-line salespeople and customers is the important moment of customer perceptions of service. How to grasp the moment of truth is critical to front-line salespeople in enterprises.The practice of Continental Airlines has brought us an important revelation:in on-site sales management, managers in enterprise empower front-line salespeople, which will make front-line salespeople grasp the moment of truth, improve the on-site contact quality between salespeople and customers, increase customer satisfaction, enhance the possibility of buying products or accepting services on site, increase the possibility of repeat purchase and recommending friends and families and positive word of mouth, therefore, bring the improvement of sales performance of front-line salespeople and enterprises. As a new management tool, empowerment has been widespread concerned by academic community. However, the comprehensive study of empowerment construct and the exploration how front-line salespeople's empowerment influence job behaviors and job results of front-line salespeople from the perspective of superiors and subordinates, are still very rare in empowerment management theory.Based on the literature of empowerment, this paper has constructed the structure model of the relationship between empowerment and sales performance of front-line salespeople in enterprises, carried out empirical research with the effective sample of 403 front-line salespeople in Chinese enterprises, and obtained some valuable research findings. Research findings and contributions of this paper mainly lie in four areas:1. This paper has constructed the structure model of the relationship between empowerment and sales performance of front-line salespeople in enterprises. This paper first clearly defines empowerment and sales performance of front-line salespeople. We define front-line salespeople's empowerment as an interconnected process that superiors empower front-line salespeople and develop psychological state of empowerment of front-line salespeople. Sales performance of front-line salespeople is the work results that front-line salespeople interact with customers on site and contribute to sales objectives of enterprise. Based on definitions of relevant concepts of front-line salespeople's empowerment and conclusions of relevant research findings, this paper further clarifies the relationship between empowerment and sales performance of front-line salespeople in enterprises. Through the analyses of the impact of the elements of superior empowerment behavior on the elements of front-line salespeople's perception of empowerment, the impact of front-line salespeople's perception of empowerment on the dimensions of on-site contact quality of front-line salespeople and the impact of the dimensions of on-site contact quality on the dimensions of sales performance of front-line salespeople, this paper constructs and tests the structure model of the relationship between empowerment and sales performance of front-line salespeople in enterprises. In the model, front-line salespeople's empowerment is composed of superior empowerment behavior and front-line salespeople's perception of empowerment; On-site contact quality of front-line salespeople is mediating variables of between front-line salespeople's empowerment and sales performance.2. This paper has developed the scales of front-line salespeople's empowerment and sales performance in on-site sales management in Chinese enterprises.The research on the structure and its measurement tool of empowerment abroad is rich, but there is no domestic mature scale for relevant empirical research. According to characteristics of Chinese culture, this paper has developed the scales of enterprise empowerment environment readiness, front-line salespeople's empowerment readiness, superior empowerment behavior, front-line salespeople's perception of empowerment, on-site contact quality of front-line salespeople and sales performance of front-line salespeople. And the assessment of reliability and validity of all the scales has passed. These scales are appropriate to assess Chinese enterprises.3. This paper has evaluated the status quo of front-line salespeople's empowerment and sales performance in Chinese enterprises.This research shows that superiors in Chinese enterprises have better performance of sharing authority and responsibility and vision communication, but they don't attach importance on trust and respect. After superiors empower front-line salespeople, front-line salespeople have a higher degree of perception of self-competence and meaning, but they have a lower degree of perception of impact and self-determination. When front-line salespeople have perception of superior empowerment behavior, they have better performance of on-site relationship maintenance and future sales expectation, but they have poor performance of on-site sales results. To sum up, superior empowerment behavior and front-line salespeople's perception of empowerment in Chinese enterprises is just so-so, and after superiors empower front-line salespeople, front-line salespeople's sales performance is also poor. The findings reflect that the state quo of front-line salespeople's empowerment in Chinese enterprises is not satisfying. This condition is not conducive to the enhancement of front-line salespeople's sales performance and enterprises'sales performance, but also not conducive to the improvement of the level of on-site sales management in Chinese enterprises. The empowerment management is urgently needed in Chinese enterprises.4. This paper has revealed the effect mechanism between front-line salespeople's empowerment and sales performance in Chinese enterprises.Through empirical research, this paper has confirmed that superior empowerment behavior has direct positive impact on front-line salespeople's perception of empowerment; front-line salespeople's perception of empowerment has direct positive impact on on-site contact quality of front-line salespeople; on-site contact quality of front-line salespeople has direct positive impact on sales performance of front-line salespeople. This mechanism shows that front-line salespeople's empowerment has no direct impact on its sales performance, but it has indirect impact on its sales performance through on-site contact quality of front-line salespeople. On-site contact quality of front-line salespeople is directly related to front-line salespeople's sales performance. If an enterprise wants to increase its sales performance through the implementation of front-line salespeople's empowerment, it is necessary to improve on-site contact quality of front-line salespeople, in order to achieve the purpose. In other words, on-site contact quality of front-line salespeople is the key to implementing front-line salespeople's empowerment, and it plays a decisive role in the success of front-line salespeople's empowerment.In this paper, the deep discussion of the relationship between empowerment and sales performance of front-line salespeople through empirical research has innovative significance, research on the application of empowerment in on-site sales management of front-line salespeople is a new theme, and domestic research on this theme is rare. The research findings of this paper will certainly enrich on-site sales management theory and promote the development and perfection of the theory.From the actual situation of domestic empowerment management, enterprises pay more attention to empowerment in the process of management, so there is an urgent need to carry out research on empowerment. This paper clears up the necessity of front-line salespeople's empowerment in Chinese enterprises. The research findings of the paper can guide the work in on-site sales management, provide theoretical guidance for front-line salespeople's grasping the moment of truth and improving the on-site contact quality between salespeople and customers, provide new ways and means for solving problems, such as the serious loss of customers in on-site sales, lower customer satisfaction and poor enterprise image, provide a new angle of view for increasing front-line salespeople's sales performance, provide theoretical support for improving mode of on-site sales management, and provide practical guidance for upgrading the level of enterprise management.