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Why Do Salespeople Spend So Much Time Lobbying for Low Prices?

Author

Listed:
  • Duncan Simester

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142)

  • Juanjuan Zhang

    (Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Sloan School of Management, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142)

Abstract

In business-to-business settings a company's sales force often spends considerable time lobbying internally for authorization to charge lower prices. These internal lobbying activities are time consuming, and divert attention from other tasks, such as interacting with customers. We explain why internal lobbying activities serve an important role. They help the firm elicit truthful reporting of demand information from the sales force. As a result, it may be profitable for the firm to require lobbying (and make the requirement onerous), even though lobbying is a nonproductive activity that creates an additional administrative burden and imposes a deadweight loss.

Suggested Citation

  • Duncan Simester & Juanjuan Zhang, 2014. "Why Do Salespeople Spend So Much Time Lobbying for Low Prices?," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 33(6), pages 796-808, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:ormksc:v:33:y:2014:i:6:p:796-808
    DOI: 10.1287/mksc.2014.0856
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Citations

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    3. Anthony Dukes & Yi Zhu, 2019. "Why Customer Service Frustrates Consumers: Using a Tiered Organizational Structure to Exploit Hassle Costs," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(3), pages 500-515, May.
    4. Özalp Özer & Upender Subramanian & Yu Wang, 2018. "Information Sharing, Advice Provision, or Delegation: What Leads to Higher Trust and Trustworthiness?," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 64(1), pages 474-493, January.
    5. Juanjuan Zhang, 2016. "Deadlines in Product Development," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 62(11), pages 3310-3326, November.
    6. Jian Chen & He Huang & Liming Liu & Hongyan Xu, 2021. "Price Delegation or Not? The Effect of Heterogeneous Sales Agents," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(5), pages 1350-1364, May.
    7. Sandro Shelegia & Joshua Sherman, 2022. "Bargaining at Retail Stores: Evidence from Vienna," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 68(1), pages 27-36, January.
    8. Tinglong Dai & Kinshuk Jerath, 2019. "Salesforce Contracting Under Uncertain Demand and Supply: Double Moral Hazard and Optimality of Smooth Contracts," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(5), pages 852-870, September.
    9. Matthias Kräkel & Anja Schöttner, 2020. "Delegating Pricing Authority to Sales Agents: The Impact of Kickbacks," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 66(6), pages 2686-2705, June.
    10. Long Gao, 2023. "Optimal Incentives for Salespeople with Learning Potential," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 69(6), pages 3285-3296, June.
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    12. Sumitro Banerjee & Alex P. Thevaranjan, 2019. "Targeting and salesforce compensation: When sales spill over to unprofitable customers," Quantitative Marketing and Economics (QME), Springer, vol. 17(1), pages 81-104, March.
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    15. Colleen E. McClure & Justin M. Lawrence & Todd J. Arnold & Lisa K. Scheer, 2023. "The opportunities and costs of highly involved organizational buyers," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 51(2), pages 480-501, March.

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