In-depth Study Research

This section describes the process of carrying out the current research in the development of long-term salesperson-customer relationships. After the introduction on in-depth study research, this section will be divided into three subsections which highlight the different phases of data collection: the pilot phase (Section 5.6.2.1), the main phase (Section 5.6.2.2) and the subsequent phase (Section 5.6.2.3). These subsections also describe how the data collection phases proceeded.

An in-depth study can be quantitative or qualitative in nature (Bryman, 2012). A quantitative study is typically survey-based, whereas a qualitative study is usually interview-based and focuses on a single interviewee. This study is designed as an in-depth qualitative study (Bell, 2010) that includes the following steps: (1) plan by identifying the relevant research aim, objectives and questions (Section 1.3); (2) design by formulating a definition of the samples to be studied (Section 5.7.1), identify the research design (Section 5.6), and define the quality procedure (Section 5.7.7); (3) prepare to collect data, such as from interviews (Section

5.7.2), and observations (Section 5.7.3) for the in-depth study by improving the skills of the

researchers, developing the in-depth study protocol and conducting a pilot study (Section

5.6.2.1); (4) collect in-depth study data with the help of the study protocol (Section 5.6.2.2),

and use different data sources (Section 5.6.2.3); (5) analyse the in-depth study data with the chosen analytical technique (Section 5.7.4), explore the explanations and display the data separately from the interpretation (Section 5.7.5); (6) report the in-depth study data by composing the material, presenting enough evidence so a conclusion can be drawn. Finally, rewrite and review until a satisfactory result is achieved.

As indicated at the beginning of this section, the data collection in this study was divided into a pilot, a main and a subsequent phase. An overview of the participants, sample breakdown and data collection phase is provided in Table 8.

Table 8: Participants and Sample Breakdown, including Data Collection Phase

Participants Sample breakdown Data collection phase

3 salespeople from 3 different high- technology companies

1 vice president application and sales 1 area sales manager

1 key account manager

Pilot phase

15 salespeople from 15 different high- technology companies

4 sales managers

1 application and sales manager 5 sales directors

1 sales and marketing director 4 chief executive officers and sales directors

Main phase

4 customers from 4 different high- technology companies

3 purchase directors

1 head of division logistics and purchasing

Main phase

3 observations of initial salesperson- customer meetings from 6 different high-technology companies

3 senior salespeople and 3 senior customers

Subsequent phase

C h ap te r: R E SE A R C H M E T H O D O L O G Y

The pilot phase for initially testing the interview guides and for getting used to the interview process took place with three salespeople; one working as a vice president of application and sales, one as an area sales manager and one as a key account manager. In the main phase of the data collection, interviews took place with a total of 15 sales personnel and four customers, each from a high-technology B2B company in Central Europe. Finally, in a subsequent phase, three observations were undertaken, each with one senior salesperson and one senior customer. The interview guides can be found in Appendices A and B, and the structured observation protocol in Appendix C.

An in-depth study procedure is one of the most difficult to follow, because no standard procedure can be followed (Silverman, 2015). For this study, the researcher had to develop his own data collection procedure and relevant data collection tools such as the two interview guides and the structured observation protocol. These tools were developed in various steps and as the researcher gain experience of the study procedure. All of the data collected had to be of the highest quality and relevant data had to be included for the chosen analysis techniques. The pilot phase helped the researcher to overcome these initial uncertainties (Section 5.6.2.1).

5.6.2.1 Pilot Phase

During the pilot phase, the first interviews for this study were conducted with three participants from the greater Zurich area (Section 5.6.2, Table 8). The appointments were made by telephone. All the pilot interviews were conducted in Swiss German, transcribed into German afterwards and finally, typical quotes were translated into English. During the interviews, the answers were tape-recorded and the main points were written down at the same time in an interview protocol. At the end of each interview, oral approval was received from the interviewees so that all the data collected could be used in this study. All the oral approvals were tape-recorded and are safely stored with the researcher of this study.

During the pilot phase, the researcher realised that he needed to be more patient and more focused when listening to the participants; he also had to work out exactly which answers needed to be listened to more closely to achieve the research aim and to reach the research objectives appropriately. After these new findings, the interview guide for the sales personnel could be defined in more detail, also in part due to the researcher’s deepening understanding of the literature review process. The interviews became more predictable over time, which meant the researcher could carry them out more easily as he progressed. The pilot study revealed the following results and helped the researcher to make necessary adjustments, which were then later implemented in the in-depth study:

• Throughout the three pilot interviews, the questions for the salesperson’s interview guide could be adjusted and improved until a final interview guide for salespeople was developed (Appendix A). In this way, the weakness of badly articulated interview questions could be counteracted.

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• Throughout the three pilot interviews, the questions for the customer’s interview guide could be adjusted and improved until a final interview guide for customers was developed (Appendix B). In this way, the weakness of badly articulated interview questions could be counteracted.

• Throughout these interviews, additional evidence such as emerging topics and concepts was discovered, which led the researcher to adapt the research design and develop the guiding framework (Section 1.2, Table 1) and the conceptual framework

(Section 4.3.1, Table 15) further.

In summary, within the pilot phase, the apparent weaknesses of interviews were eliminated, and the strengths, such as their direct focus on the study topic, came to the fore (Silverman, 2015). Furthermore, the questions were reworked and the research design and conceptual framework were supplemented, as is suggested by Yin (2009). The reworked questions were used for the interviews in the main phase (Section 5.6.2.2).

5.6.2.2 Main Phase

In contrast to the interviews in the pilot phase (Section 5.6.2.1), the interviews in the main phase required less time and resources. For this reason, it was important to define the parameters and to learn from the pilot phase to decide on and define the next steps (Silverman, 2015). In such situations, Denscombe (2011) suggests that the participants should not be randomly selected, but rather chosen in accordance with certain requirements. As mentioned earlier, senior executive salespeople and high-level customers from the high- technology B2B sector in Central Europe were purposively selected for this study. This provided a detailed insight and data into the development and maintenance of the salesperson-customer relationships and enabled the topics and concepts of the five social domains of experience to be identified, explored and elaborated.

The participants for the main phase were chosen based on their experience as a sales manager, area of operations in Central Europe and work within the high-technology B2B sector with complex and customised products and services. As in the pilot phase, there were salespeople interviewed with several years of experience in the business. According to Denscombe (2011), this deliberate selection of participants is an essential part of the methodology. In addition to that, the participants for this study were also selected in accordance with the criteria of access, convenience and geographic proximity (Yin, 2009). During this main phase, 15 interviews with senior executive salespeople and four high-level interviews with customers were conducted in Central Europe. The appointments were also made by telephone. As in the pilot phase, all the main interviews were conducted in Swiss German, transcribed into German afterwards and finally, typical quotes were translated into English. During the interviews, the answers were tape-recorded and the main points were written down at the same time. At the end of each interview, oral approval was received

C h ap te r: R E SE A R C H M E T H O D O L O G Y

from the interviewees so that all the data collected could be used in this study. All the oral approvals were tape-recorded and are safely stored with the researcher of this study.

5.6.2.3 Subsequent Phase

In the subsequent phase, three structured participant observations of initial salesperson- customer meetings were carried out. Each of the participants worked in different high- technology companies in Central Europe. All the salespeople and customers observed worked at senior executive level.

These initial meetings were each set up by the researcher’s second supervisor, who has been engaged in postgraduate management education for more than 20 years at various universities and therefore has a network of over 1,000 alumni. He is involved in business development and entrepreneurship with his network of highly experienced, locally based partners. The researcher was present as part of normal business and as a sales consultant to give feedback to the salesperson in question at the end of the discussion so that his relationship with the customer could be successfully established. The researcher was not involved in the initial discussions at any time. Hence, the researcher’s role was to observe and to answer any sales-related questions which arose at the end of the meetings.

The meetings were held in Swiss German. Field notes were made in German. Typical field notes and descriptions of scenes were translated into English and used for the present study. During the observations, relevant field notes on the topic and concepts of the social domain of certainty (Section 7.2.1) were written. Details of the procedure can be found in the structured participant observation protocol in Appendix C. At the end of each observation, the researcher explained to the participants in the meetings that they had been observed for the present study. Moreover, approval was received from the interviewees so that all the data collected could be used further.