Selling and the Salesman: Prediction of Success and Personality Change

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Abstract
By administering a personality inventory and attitude questionnaire to 201 college-student salesmen prior to and after a selling experience, an attempt was made to (1) measure the predictive value of several personality and attitudinal variables in regard to sales success and (2) assess any personality changes after a short selling period. None of the main predictor variables (Extraversion, Self-esteem, and Machiavellianism) correlated significantly with the two criteria of sales success. Combining the variables via a discriminant function analysis did not result in significant discrimination of sales success among salesmen. However, at the end of the selling period, all salesmen showed a significant increase on the extraversion ( p < .005) and self-esteem scales ( p < .005). Several possible explanations for these results were discussed.

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