Sales call anxiety: Investigating the role of fear in a selling situation

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to investigate sales call anxiety (SCA) amongst insurance sales staff in Port Elizabeth. The study was based on past research and uses a modified questionnaire developed in previous research. The sample (N=112 sales persons) was drawn using a simple random sampling technique. Results confirm four dimensions of SCA identified by Verbeke and Bagozzi (2000), namely negative self-evaluation, negative evaluation from clients, physiological symptoms and protective actions. Significant differences in SCA between black and white salespeople were further observed. These findings have important implications for training of salespeople.