For casinos involved in targeting high-end clients, relationship building and customer retention are important marketing activities. This paper investigates the effectiveness of two marketing approaches, namely customer orientation and adaptability. The paper explores how these approaches influence the performance of frontline employees operating in the casino high-end market. The investigation involved a survey administered to frontline service representatives within the VIP gaming areas of one of the world’s largest casinos. The questionnaire focused on the issues of customer orientation, adaptability and service performance. Various statistical analyses including multiple regression were deployed to analyse the data generated by the 152 valid responses. It is concluded that relationship-oriented selling behaviours are significant predictors of service performance. The predictive capacity of adaptability was particularly strong in terms of the criterion variable.
American Marketing Association (1985) The definition of marketing. Marketing News, 1 March, p. 2.
2.
Anderson RE ( 1996) Personal selling and sales management in the new millennium . The Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management16(4): 17-32.
3.
Anglin KA, Stolman JJ and Gentry JW ( 1990) The congruence of manager perception of salesperson performance and knowledge-based measures of adaptive selling. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management10(4): 81-90.
4.
Berry LL ( 1983) Relationship marketing. In: Berry L, Shostack G and Upah G (eds) Emerging Perspectives on Services Marketing. Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association.
5.
Bitner M. and Hubbert A. ( 1994) Encounter satisfaction versus overall satisfaction versus quality: the customer’s voice. In: Rust R and Oliver R (eds) Service Quality: New Directions in Theory and Practice. Newbury Park, CA: Sage .
6.
Bitner MJ, Booms BH and Tetreault MS ( 1990) The service encounter: diagnosing favorable and unfavorable incidents. Journal of Marketing54: 71-84.
7.
Bitner MJ, Booms BH and Mohr LA ( 1994) Critical service encounters: the employee’s viewpoint . Journal of Marketing58(4): 95-106.
8.
Brown TJ, Mowen JC, Donovan DT and Licata JW ( 2002) The customer orientation of service workers: personality trait effects on self-and supervisor performance ratings. Journal of Marketing Research39(1): 110-119.
9.
Catell RB ( 1966) The scree test for number of factors. Mutivariate Behavioural Research1(2): 245-276.
10.
Crosby LA, Evans KA and Cowles D. ( 1990) Relationship quality in services selling: an interpersonal influence perspective. Journal of Marketing54: 68-81.
11.
Daniel K. and Darby DN ( 1997) A dual perspective of customer orientation: a modification, extension and application of the SOCO scale. International Journal of Service Industry Management8(2): 131-147.
12.
DeCormier RA and Jobber D. ( 1993) The counselor selling method: concepts and constructs . Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management13: 39-60.
13.
Franke GR and Park Jeong-Eun ( 2006) Salesperson adaptive selling behaviour and customer orientation: a meta-analysis. Journal of Marketing Research43(4): 693-702.
14.
Goff BG, Boles JS, Bellenger DN and Stojack C. ( 2001) The influence of salesperson selling behaviours on customer satisfaction with products. Journal of Retailing73(2): 171-183.
15.
Grönroos C. ( 1997) Value-driven relational marketing: from products to resources and competencies. Journal of Marketing Management13(5): 407- 419.
16.
Guenzi P., Pardo C. and Georges L. ( 2004) The impact of key account managers’ behaviours on customer trust. Available at: http://mediatheque.ceram.fr/DocumentPrint.htm?numrec=031020979920270 (accessed 31 January 2005).
17.
Hartline MD and Ferrell OC ( 1996) The management of customer-contact service employees: an empirical investigation. Journal of Marketing60: 52-70.
18.
Hennig-Thurau T. ( 2004) Customer orientation of service employees: its impact on customer satisfaction, commitment, and retention. International Journal of Service Industry Management15(5): 460-478.
19.
Hoffman KD and Kelley SW ( 1994) The influence of service provider mood states on prosocial behaviors and service quality assessments. In: Park CW and Smith DC (eds) Renaissance in Marketing Thought and Practice. St. Petersburg : American Marketing Association Winter Educators Conference, 288-289.
20.
Honeycutt ED, Siguaw JA and Hunt TG ( 1995) Business ethics and job-related: a cross-cultural comparison of automotive salespeople. Journal of Business Ethics14: 235-248.
21.
Howe V., Hoffman KD and Hardigree DW ( 1994) Exploring the relative effects of salesperson interpersonal process attributes and technical product attributes on customer satisfaction . Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management16(3): 47-57.
22.
Humphrey RH and Ashforth BE ( 1994) Cognitive scripts and prototypes in service encounters . Advances in Services Marketing and Management2: 175-199.
23.
Jolson MA ( 1997) Broadening the scope of relationship selling. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management17(4): 75-88.
24.
Kale SH ( 2003) CRM in gaming: it’s no crapshoot!Gaming Research and Review Journal7: 43-54.
25.
Kale SH ( 2005) Optimally managing casino high-end market. Available at: http://www.urbino.net (accessed 1 March 2006).
26.
Keillor BD, Parker RS and Pettijohn CE ( 1999) Sales force performance satisfaction and aspect of relational selling: implications for sales managers. Journal of Marketing7(1): 101-115.
27.
Keillor BD, Parker RS and Pettijohn CE ( 2000) Relationship-oriented characteristics and individual salesperson performance. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing15(1): 7-22.
28.
Kelly SW ( 1992) Developing customer orientation among service employees . Journal of the Academy of Marketing Services20(1): 27-36.
29.
Klebanow AM ( 2002) Developing the casino marketing plan. UNLA Gaming Research and Review Journal6(2): 63-71.
30.
Lam D. ( 2007) A sustainable casino business model in Macau. Available at: www.urbino.net (accessed May 2007).
31.
Lambkin M. and Day GS ( 1989) Evolutionary processes in competitive markets: beyond the product life cycle. Journal of Marketing53: 4-20.
32.
Lucas AF, Kilby J. and Santos J. ( 2002) Assessing the profitability of premium players. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly43(3): 65-78.
33.
Macintosh G., Anglin KA, Szymanski DM and Gentry JW ( 1992) Relationship development in selling: a cognitive analysis . Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management12(4): 23-34.
34.
Macomber DM ( 1999) Target guest entertainment experience delivery system . Marketing Educators’ Proceedings of the American Marketing Association. Available at: http://www.urbino.net (accessed 30 May 1999).
35.
Marks R., Vorhies DW and Badovick GJ ( 2001) A psychometric evaluation of the ADAPTS scale: a critique and recommendations. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management16(4): 53-65.
36.
O’Hara BS, Boles JS and Johnston MW ( 1991) The influence of personal variables on salesperson selling orientation. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management11(1): 61-78.
37.
Palmer A. and Bejou D. ( 1994) Buyer-seller relationships: a conceptual model and empirical investigation. Journal of Marketing Management20(1): 22-27.
38.
Park JE and Holloway BB ( 2003) Adaptive selling behaviour revisited: an empirical examination of learning orientation, sales performance and job satisfaction. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management23(3): 239-251.
39.
Predmore CE and Bonnice JG ( 1994) Sales success as predicted by a process measure of adaptability . Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management14(4): 55-66.
40.
Productivity Commission Submission (2004) Australia’s gambling industries. Available at: http://www.pc.gov.au/inquiry/gambling (accessed March 2005).
41.
Reichheld FF, Markey RG and Hopton C. ( 2000) The loyalty effect - the relationship between loyalty and profits. European Business Journal12(3): 134-139.
42.
Rust RT and Zaborik AJ ( 1993) Customer satisfaction, customer retention, and market share. Journal of Retailing69(2): 193-215.
43.
Rust RT, Zahorik AJ and Keiningham TL ( 1995) Return of quality: measuring the impact of your company’s quest for quality. Journal of Marketing59(2): 58-70.
44.
Saxe R. and Weitz BA ( 1982) The SOCO scale: a measure of the customer orientation of salespeople. Journal of Marketing Research19(14): 343-351.
45.
Schultz DE and Bailey S. ( 2000) Customer/brand loyalty in an interactive marketplace. Journal of Advertising Research40(3): 41-52.
46.
Siguaw J. and Honeycutt ED Jr ( 1995) An examination of gender differences in selling behaviours and job attitudes. Industrial Marketing Management24: 45-52.
47.
Siguaw JA and Brown G. ( 1994) The influence of the market orientation of the firm on sales force behaviour and attitudes. Journal of Marketing Research31(1): 106-116.
48.
Singh J. ( 2000) Performance productivity and quality of frontline employees in service organizations. Journal of Marketing64(2): 15-35.
49.
Spiro R., Perreault W. and Reynolds F. ( 1977) The personal selling process: a critical review and model . Industrial Marketing Management5: 351-364.
50.
Spiro RL and Weitz BA ( 1990) Adaptive Selling: Conceptualization, Measurement, and Nomological Validity. Journal of Marketing Research27(1): 61-69.
51.
Stevens J. ( 1996) Applied Multivariate Statistics for the Social Sciences (3rd Edition). Mahway, NY: Lawrence Erlbaum.
52.
Steven K. ( 2006) Physics, psychology and the casino industry. Available at: http://www.urbino.net (accessed June 2006 ).
53.
Swartz TA, Bowen DE and Brown SW ( 1992) Fifteen years after breaking free: services then, now and beyond. In: Swartz TA, Bowen DE and Brown SW (eds) Advances in Services Marketing and Management 1 .Greenwich, CT: JAI Press, 1-22.
54.
Swenson MJ and Herche J. ( 1994) Social values and salesperson performance: an empirical examination. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science22: 283-289.
55.
Szymanski DM ( 1988) Determinants of selling effectiveness: the importance of declarative knowledge to the personal selling concept. Journal of Marketing52(1): 64-77.
56.
Tabachnick BG and Fidell LS ( 2001) Using Multivariate Statistics (4th Edition). New York: HarperCollins .
57.
Weibaker DC ( 1990) The identification of selling abilities needed for missionary type sales. Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management10(3): 45-58.
58.
Weitz BA ( 1978) The relationship between salesperson performance and understanding of customer decision making. Journal of Marketing Research15(4): 501-516.
59.
Weitz BA ( 1981) Effectiveness in sales interactions: a contingency framework . Journal of Marketing45(1): 85-103.
60.
Weitz BA and Bradford KD ( 1999) Personal selling and sales management: a relationship marketing perspective. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science27(2): 241-254.
61.
Weitz BA, Sujan H. and Sujan M. ( 1986) Knowledge, motivation, and adaptive behaviour: a framework for improving selling effectiveness. Journal of Marketing50: 174-191.
62.
Williams KC and Spiro RL ( 1985) Communication style in the salesperson-customer dyad. Journal of Marketing Research22(2): 434-442.
63.
Williams MR ( 1998) The influence of salesperson’s customer orientation on buyer-seller relationship development. Journal of Business and Industrial Marketing13: 271-287.
64.
Wortuba RR ( 1996) The transformation of industrial selling: causes and consequences . Industrial Marketing Management25(12): 327-338.
65.
Zeithaml VA, Berry LL and Parasuraman A. ( 1996) The behavioral consequences of service quality. Journal of Marketing60: 31-46.
66.
Zeithaml VA, Rust RT and Lemon KN ( 2001) The customer pyramid: creating and serving profitable customers. California Management Review43(4): 118-142.
