Universities of Warwick, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden; School of Management, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Private Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa; University of Pretoria, Department of Marketing Management, South Africa; Division of Industrial Marketing, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Lindsredsvagen 30, 10044, Stockholm, Sweden
Lilford, N., Universities of Warwick, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden; Vigar-Ellis, D., School of Management, University of KwaZulu-Natal, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Private Bag X01, Scottsville, Pietermaritzburg 3209, South Africa, Division of Industrial Marketing, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Lindsredsvagen 30, 10044, Stockholm, Sweden; Nel, D., University of Pretoria, Department of Marketing Management, South Africa
Identifying the personality traits of effective sales people has been a long-standing challenge to sales managers and researchers in a wide range of contexts from business-to-business, to retail and services. A definitive identification of the characteristics of the ideal salesperson remains elusive. We investigate the impact of the Big Five personality traits on the performance of salespersons in a large financial services organization, our purpose being to graphically illustrate how personality traits differ according to different levels of sales performance. We present the results graphically using Chernoff faces. The study demonstrates that this approach provides valuable insights to sales managers and has several possible applications in relation to financial salesperson performance management. © 2014 Macmillan Publishers Ltd.