영업사원은 고객의 욕구를 충족시키는 제품과 서비스를 제공하고 차별화된 자사의 제품과 이미지를 고객에게 전달하는 영업업무를 수행하며, 고객과의 원활한 관계구축 및 자신의 회사를 대표하는 역할을 수행하는 기업의 중요한 구성요소이다. 이러한 영업사원의 역할은 고객만족도와 판매성과에 직접적인 영향을 미치며, 영업사원이 어떠한 판매행동을 적용하여 고객을 응대하는가에 따라 영업사원의 판매성과는 달라질 수 있다. 본 연구에서는 고객의 문제점과 욕구를 영업사원이 함께 고민하여 솔루션을 제안하고, 고객이 미처 생각하지 못한 가치를 고객에게 제공하는 등 고객이 원하는 바를 달성하도록 돕는 자문적 영업역량과 고객과의 상호작용에서 영업사원이 획득한 정보를 바탕으로 다양한 고객의 욕구와 판매상황에 맞도록 판매방식을 바꾸는 적응적 판매행동에 따른 영업성과를 살펴보았다. 또한 영업사원의 적응적 판매행동과 고객자산, 그리고, 영업성과 간 관계에서 자문적 영업역량의 역할을 규명하고자 하였다. 이를 위해 한국산업용재협회 회원기업의 용접재료 판매 및 유통업체 종사자를 대상으로 설문조사하여 총 84부를 수집하고 실증분석하였다. 경로분석을 이용한 가설 검증 결과 산업재 시장에서 영업사원의 적응적 판매행동은 고객자산에 긍정적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났고, 고객자산 중에서 고객의 가치자산과 브랜드자산은 고객충성도에 긍정적 영향을 미치는 것으로 나타났다. 영업사원의 적응적 판매행동과 고객자산 간 관계에서 영업사원의 자문적 영업역량의 조절효과는 고객자산 중 고객의 브랜드 자산에만 나타났다.
Purpose: A salesperson provides the products and services to meet customers’ needs, and also performs the sales business to deliver the differentiated products and image of his/her company to customers. Also, a salesperson is an important corporate element that helps to establish smooth relationships with customers and represents his/her company beyond the simple activities of selling products or services. These roles of the salesperson have direct effects on customer satisfaction and sales performance. In particular, according to the kinds of selling behavior that has been used for receiving customers, the salesperson’s sales performance could be changed. In the consultative selling that is handled in this study, a salesperson helps customers achieve their goals by thinking about their problems and needs together, suggesting a solution, and then providing them with value that they had never thought of before. Adaptive selling is defined as changing the selling methods that are suitable for various customer needs and sales conditions based on the information the salesperson acquired from interactions with customers. Even though there has been much research related to adaptive selling behavior, there is not much research on the mechanism related to the effects of a salesperson"s adaptive selling behavior on sales performance. Moreover, there is very limited preceding research that systematically presents the results of study, and especially, it is very rare to find preceding research on the mediating variable between adaptive selling behavior and sales performance, or the moderating role of consultative selling competency. Research design, data, and methodology: Thus, this study aims to develop a research model, including the consultative selling competency, on the relation between a salesperson’s sales performance of adaptive selling behavior and customer equity. In addition, the study will examine the influential relationship between the sales performance of adaptive selling behavior and empirical evidence. Within this background, this study conducted a survey targeting the workers of distributors and salespeople handling the welding materials in companies registered in the Korea Industrial Materials & Tool Dealers Association Inc. Using the SPSS 21.0 and AMOS 21.0 Statistical Package Program based on a total of 84 collected questionnaires, this study verified the frequency analysis, reliability analysis, confirmatory factor analysis, reliability, convergent validity, and discriminant validity. Results: The main results of the analysis in this study could be summarized as follows. First, in the industrial goods market, the adaptive selling behavior of the salesperson had positive effects on customer equity. This means the adaptive selling behavior has positive effects on each of value equity, brand equity, and relationship equity of customers. Second, the value equity and brand equity of customer equity had positive effects on customer loyalty. This result implies both customer value and brand are very important factors affecting the customer loyalty. Third, in the moderating effects of consultative selling competency on the relation between adaptive selling behavior and customer equity, the consultative selling competency showed the moderating effects only on the brand equity among customer equity. This means when the consultative selling competency of a salesperson is greater, the effects of adaptive selling behavior on brand equity get bigger. This result means the companies that purchase industrial goods perceive as more important the consultative selling competency based on the brand reputation that guarantees the product quality and performance rather than the value equity they felt or the relationship equity formed with the salesperson. Conclusions: The results of this study above imply the necessity to recruit salespeople equipped with excellent interpersonal relationship abilities that could increase the customer equity and customer loyalty, and also to develop and continuously provide the professional educational programs that could improve their adaptive selling ability and consultative selling competency. Moreover, it would be necessary to establish the measures for helping customers by mobilizing sufficient resources, and also emphasizing the value of strategic achievement of customers’ goals.