The Impact of Stigma: Negative Stereotypes of Salespeople

Academic Article Fall 2007 47compensation system. However, given theoutcome-based versus process-based controlsystem, it is likely that unscrupulousindividuals looking for low control may selfselect the commission-based compensationsystem. This self selection leads to a higherproportion of ‘sales oriented’ and/oropportunistic individuals in outcome-basedcompensation systems.Management is faced with the dilemma ofavoiding outcome-based compensation oraccepting the possibility that customers willhave some negative views about the sales role.This study suggests other options tomanagement for avoiding unethical behaviorsand resultant stigmatization beyond usingoutcome-based compensation. As we outlinenext, an integrated series of sales managementpractices could alleviate some of the moredeleterious consequences of stigmatization ofthe sales profession.Our first recommendation is that managersshould not ignore or discount the possibilitythat a stigma is associated with their firm’s salespositions. When using commission-based salescompensation, it is important to determine ifyour sales people feel customers hold negativeviews about the sales position. Care should betaken to ensure that the salespeople areexpressing their opinion about the position andnot customer opinions about them asindividuals. It is quite possible that thesalesperson could reason that the customerdoesn’t hold a positive opinion of the sales rolebut thinks quite highly of them. The questionsincluded in the stigma scale, in the appendix tothis paper, are a good guide to the questions amanager should ask of sales people.Sales managers can confirm the influence ofstigma consciousness by querying theirsalespeople about the sales process. Managersshould seek to identify any role inaccuraciesthat may be the result of stigmatization.Managers should look for inaccurate estimatesof the amount and types of effort necessary toachieve a successful transaction. Managersshould also look for inaccuracies in estimatesof the reward achieved for a successful sale. Asalesperson that overestimates the effortrequired to complete a sale or incorrectlyestimated the reward earned by a sale that hasalso expressed stigma-consciousness indicatesa problem.The second step for the manager is todetermine if, in the aggregate, there areenough salespeople aware of customerstigmatization. Managers are cautioned toremember that not all salespeople will expressawareness of the stigma even if it exists.Salespeople have coping mechanisms to dealwith the stigma and thus may not exhibit aconsciousness of the stigma. A cautionarynote about one coping mechanism is in order.A focused qualitative study found that someautomobile salespeople cope by reversing theroles and stigmatizing the customers as theinferior group with negative characteristics(Felcher 1995). This particular copingmechanism may require extensive retraining toavoid it devolving into deceitful andopportunistic behaviors.For the sales manager, the most importantgroup is the salespeople that express anawareness of the stigma. The results of thisstudy indicate that managers can mediate theeffects of stigmatization on effort. The key isVol. 7, No. 4