Adaptability

Adaptability, or adaptive selling is defined as, “altering of sales behaviours during a customer interaction or across customer interactions based on perceived information about the nature of the selling situation” (Weitz, Sujan, & Sujan, 1986, p. 175). One of the conditions suitable for adaptive selling, according to Weitz, Sujan and Sujan (1986), is that “salespeople encounter a wide variety of customers with different needs”. Therefore, adaptability becomes one of the key advantages of personal selling as a marketing tool (McIntyre, Claxton, Anselmi, & Wheatley, 2000).

Spiro, Perreault and Reynold (1977) noted that buyer and seller strategies are interdependent and may be modified based on actual sales negotiations. Spiro and Weitz (1990) incorporate the following into the practice of adaptive selling: Recognition that different selling approaches are needed in different sales situations; confidence in the ability to use a variety of different sales approaches; confidence in the ability to alter the sales approach during the customer interaction; the collection of information to facilitates adaptation; the actual use of different approaches (p. 61). Thus, adaptive selling may present the framework for using the appropriate selling approach for each customer. Jolson (1997) believes adaptability in selling context be a part of the relationship selling process, as it entails salesperson’s adjustment during sales interactions based on his or her perceptions of customers’ needs. This view was

confirmed by Williams (1998), as adaptability has implication for the salesperson to delay immediate gratification and aim for long-term relationship.

Adaptability and satisfaction

Adaptive selling is classified as relationship selling due to its nature of adapting to the specific needs and beliefs of each customer and implementing a sales presentation tailored to each customer. This has implication for customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction is often a determinant of customer retention, as indicated in relationship marketing literature (e.g., Storbarka et al., 1994). In conceptualising of the sales process, Spiro et al. (1977) recognized that the buyer-seller relationship is affected by the personal characteristics of both the individual buyer and seller. These factors lead to the need for adaptation of interpersonal strategies by the seller. While salespeople have the opportunity to match their behaviour to the specific customer and situation they encounter, the salesperson is able to evaluate each selling situation and adapt his or her behaviour to the appropriate expectations of the buyer. When customer needs are satisfied, the potential of establishing long-term relationship can be anticipated.

Although few studies have linked adaptability directly with customer satisfaction, the evidenced relationship between adaptability and sales performance or sales effectiveness has implications for customer satisfaction and customer retention. According to Schultz and Good (2002), when a customer is satisfied with the salesperson, a relationship between the buyer and seller can be built and developed; once the relationship is established, the customer tends to buy more from the salesperson who thus achieves sales effectiveness. Empirically, this selling approach

has been evidenced to have direct impact on a salesperson’s performance (e.g., Franke & Park, 2006; Park & Holloway, 2003; Spiro & Weitz, 1990). A meta-analysis conducted by Franke and Park in late 2006 reports that there is strong positive relationship between adaptability and self-rated performance.

Adaptability in service settings

Adaptiveness is also applicable in service settings. Adaptability in service contexts is reflected as service employees being flexible and adapting their behaviours to meet the changing needs and requests of customers during service encounter interactions. Hartline and Ferrell (1996) define adaptability in service settings as “the ability of customer-contact service employees to adjust their behaviour to the interpersonal demands of the service encounter” (p 55). It can be described as a continuum ranging from conformity to service personalisation, in which employees must adapt to serve individual customers. The authors indicate that this definition is consistent with that of adaptive selling in the sales management literature proposed by Spiro and Weitz (1990). They are functionally equivalent, because both definitions include two common components: 1) the ability to adjust behaviour and 2) interpersonal situations (Hartline & Ferrell, 1996).

Bitner et al. (1990; 1994) indicated that service employees need to be able to recognise customers’ various needs and inappropriate behaviours in the service encounter can result in dissatisfaction. Being adaptive is the ability of the boundary spanners to adjust their behaviour to the interpersonal demands of the service encounter, and it can be described as a service personalization, in which employees

must adapt to serve individual customers (Hartline & Ferrell, 1996). Empirically, Humphrey and Ashforth (1994) provide evidence that employee adaptability is linked with customers’ perceptions of the service encounter. Bitner (1990) and Bitner et al. (1990) show that service employees’ adaptability in meeting customers’ special needs and requests leads to customer encounter satisfaction. Hartline and Ferrell (1996) attempted to establish a relationship between service employee’s adaptability in service encounter and customer’s perceived service quality; but the result showed no association between the two constructs.

However, the direct relationship between adaptability and performance has not been evidenced in service context. Researchers in sales literature advocate personal selling as being the only promotional vehicle which allows its messages to be adapted and adjusted specifically to meet the communication needs of the receiver. William and Spiro (1985) examined the communication styles of sales representatives and customers and determined that self-oriented styles tend to reduce the sales amount and that task-oriented communicators did not perform well with any type of buyer. The authors concluded that the one who adapts their communication style appropriately to interact with the customer is proved to be most successful salesperson. An important aspect of practising effective adaptive selling behaviours is having knowledge of the customer’s communication style (Weitz, 1978).

Weitz (1978) was the first one to have posited the relationship between salesperson adaptive selling and performance. The author suggests that the salesperson must recognize and adapt to fit different customer communication styles. Weitz’s (1978) model of the sales process suggests that the salesperson’s success in influencing the

customer is related to his or her ability to perform five activities. The five activities are: developing impressions, formulating strategies, transmitting messages, evaluating reactions, and making appropriate adjustments. The adjustments should be made throughout the whole selling process. Empirically, he found the ability of the salesperson to adjust to the customers led to greater sales performance, by testing the impression formation and strategy formulation constructs of the model with industrial salespeople and their customers. Anglin, Stoltman and Gentry (1990) also found that high sales performers engaged in more adaptive selling behaviour than low performers.

However, previous findings regarding the relationship between adaptive style and performance are inconsistent. For example, Predmore and Bonnice (1994) found a strong relationship between adaptive selling and sales success. Weilbaker (1990), in two studies involving pharmaceutical salespeople, found adaptive selling was positively related to some measures of performance, but unrelated to others. Using a sample of Korean automobile salespeople, Park and Holloway (2003) found that salesperson adaptability contributed to sales performance and job satisfaction. This study implies the possibility of applying adaptive approach in non-English speaking culture. Given the wide range of findings regarding adaptability and performance relationship in other settings, this research re-examines this relationship by placing them in casino settings, specifically the encounter between casino key accounts and key account representatives; hence the following hypothesis is formed:

Hypothesis 4b: adaptability is positively related to the service performance of casino key account representatives

In examining the determinants of selling effectiveness, Szymanski (1988) noted that customer orientation is a concept which puts emphasis on the customer’s product or service acquirement, as indicated in the definition provided by Saxe and Weitz (1982) that customer orientation is referred as “the degree to which salespeople practice the marketing concept by trying to help customers make purchase decisions that will satisfy customer needs” (p. 344). Szymanski argued that a successful deal was not only accounted for by the strategy focusing on a firm’s offering such as products or services, but by the employee’s adaptability in sales presentations during the interactions with customers.

On the other hand, as indicated by Saxe and Weitz (1982), highly customer-oriented employees engage in behaviours aimed at increasing long-term customer satisfaction, avoiding actions which sacrifice customer interest to increase the probability of making an immediate sale. Although using customer orientation leads to long-term benefits, the authors also indicated that opportunity cost arises by sacrifising short- term sales, because in some situations the impact of an immediate sale outweighs the potential impact of future sales. This particularly applies to casino context.

Although casino marketers are aware of the benefits of having long-term relationships with customers, casino customers do not always appreciate the casino’s customer retention tactics. Particularly there is no cost for them to switch to the new “supplier”, who always attempts to match or exceed what the competitor offers (Klebanow,

2004). On the other hand, as gaming is “playing games of chance to win money”, which is to win by chance of luck (Productivity Commission Submission, 2004), but luck of winning is opportunistic, because “most gamblers would be the first to concede that recreational casino gambling is a sure way to lose money. They are aware that the odds of various games are against them” (Kale, 2003). Any gaming activity has risk of losing, not all customers can afford the risk for long term. Being customer-oriented by trying to satisfy these customers’ needs does not guarantee a long-term business relationship with them, or the on-going relationship does not generate benefit for the casino. In this case, customer-orientated behaviours may be an advantage taken by the unproductive customers.

Furthermore, in “When, Why and How to ‘fire’ a customer”, Steven Karoul (2006), the former Vice President of Casino Marketing for Foxwoods Resort Casino, stated that “not all customers are good for your casino’s overall well being”, especially those abusive and conducting cheating behaviours in casinos. Being customer-oriented by offering “Comp” or other free items may endanger the casino in high risk of losing money when the offering is provided to those unprofitable customers. Therefore, the contact employee shall be able to identify different types of customers and tailor the services; inappropriate behaviours may end with customer’s negative word-of-mouth (Lam, 2005).

Being adaptive means the customer-contact employee tailors encounter behaviours to the customer, and makes rapid strategy adjustments based on the observed customers’ reactions to the behaviours (Weitz, Sujan, & Sujan, 1986). In defining the adaptive style in selling encounter, Spiro and Weitz (1990) indicate that adaptiveness indicates

the concept of the recognition that different approaches are needed in different situations; confidence in the ability to use a variety of different approaches; and confidence in the ability to alter the approach during the customer interaction. Marks, Vorhies and Badovick (1996) interpret this as a customer-contact employee’s beliefs of being adaptive in interaction with customers. The authors further indicate that, in some situations, these beliefs do influence behaviour and translate beliefs into performance. In the context of casino key account representatives with key accounts, being adaptive may imply less customers being offended; less angry customers may imply less complaint which implies better job performed by the representative. Based on the above corollary, it can be proposed that:

Hypothesis 4c: Compared to Customer orientation, adaptability is the better predictor of the service performance of casino key account representatives

3.6 A hierarchical relationship between basic personality traits, surface traits,