Performance Implications of Adopting a Customer-Focused Sales Campaign

Abstract

Through field experiments conducted in two business-to-business firms, the authors evaluate the financial and relational consequences of adopting a customer focus in sales campaigns. In both the experiments, salespeople adopting the customer-focused sales campaign coordinated their sales calls with the objective of selling all the products that a customer was predicted to purchase only at the time the customer was expected to purchase. The authors compare this strategy with the current practice in the organization in which salespeople for each product category independently contacted the customers who were expected to purchase in that category without any guidance on the expected timing of customer purchase. The experiments show that adopting a customer-focused sales campaign can significantly increase firm profits and return on investment. The total incremental profits obtained from implementing the customer-focused sales campaign was more than $1 million. High-revenue customers were the source of improvements in the efficiency of marketing contacts, whereas low-revenue customers were the source of improvements in the effectiveness of the marketing contacts. A customer-focused sales campaign also improved the relationship quality between the customer and the firm. This research provides empirical evidence for theoretical expectations of the benefits provided by a customer-focused sales campaign. Organizations can use the field experiments illustrated in this study as a template for implementing the first step in migrating to a customer-centric organization.