The article reports the results of an exploratory study that focused on the relative importance sales personnel place on different selling techniques. More specifically, this research paper attempts to systematically describe the techniques salespeople use in the field by identifying the underlying dimensions of these selling techniques. To achieve this objective, the paper reviews briefly some background literature, describes the research methodology, reports the results, and discusses the implications of the study. A useful structure for understanding the sales process and the various selling techniques salespeople might use in the sales process is captured in the personal selling process (PSP). The PSP consists of a set of steps a salesperson may pass through when making a sale. The results of the study suggest that within each step of the PSP, the various selling techniques can be reduced to their underlying factors. The present study, then, has been the first empirical attempt to systematically describe the selling techniques that salespeople use. The result of this kind of analysis may yield a taxonomy of salespeople based upon the techniques salespeople prefer to use.
