Using a stimulus-response model (a sophisticated version of the “right set of circumstances” theory), and incorporating findings from behavioral research, J.A. Howard explains buying behavior in term of the purchasing decision process, viewed as phase of the learning process.
Four essential elements of the learning process included in the stimulus-response model are drive, cue, response, and reinforcement, described as follows:
- Drives are strong internal stimuli that impel the buyer’s response. There are two kinds:
- Innate drives stem from the physiological needs, such as hunger, thirst, pain, cold, and sex.
- Learned drives, such as striving for status or social approval, are acquired when paired with the satisfying of innate drives. They are elaborations of the innate drives, serving as a façade behind which the functioning of the innate drives is hidden. Insofar as marketing is concerned, the learned drives are dominant in economically advanced societies.
- Cues are weak stimuli that determine when the buyer will respond.
- Triggering cues activate the decision process for any given purchase.
- No triggering cues influence the decision process but do not active it, and may operate at any time even though the buyer is not contemplating a purchase. There are two kinds:
- Product cues are external stimuli received from the product directly, for example, color of the package, weight, or price.
- Informational cues are external stimuli that provide information of a symbolic nature about the product. Such stimuli may come from advertising, conversations with other people (including sales personnel), and so on.
- Specific product and information cues may also function as triggering cues. This may happen when price triggers the buyer’s decision.
- Response is what the buyer does.
- Reinforcement is any even that strengthens the buyer’s tendency to make a particular response.”
Howard incorporates these four elements into an equation:
B = P x D x K x V
Where
B = response or the internal response tendency, that is, the act of purchasing a brand or patronizing a supplier
P = predisposition or the inward response tendency, that is, force of habit
D =present drive level (amounts of motivation)
K =“incentive potential” that is, the value of the product or its potential satisfaction to the buyer
V =intensity of all cues: triggering, product, or informational
The relation among the variables is multiplicative. Thus, if any independent variable has a zero value, B will also be zero and there is no response. No matter how much P there may be, for example, if the individual is unmotivated (D = 0), there is no response.
Each time there is a response—a purchase in which satisfaction (K) is sufficient to yield a reward, predisposition (P) increases in value. In other words, when the satisfaction yields a reward, reinforcement occurs, and, technically, what is reinforced is the tendency to make a response in the future to the cue that immediately preceded the rewarded response. After reinforcement, the probability increases that the buyer will buy the product (or patronize the supplier) the next time the cue appears—in other words, the buyer has learned.
Buyer-seller dyad and reinforcement: In the interactions of a salesperson and a buyer, each can display a type of behavior that is rewarding, that is reinforcing, to the other. The salesperson provides the buyer with a product (and the necessary information about it and its uses) that the buyer needs; this satisfaction of the need is rewarding to the buyer, who, in turn, can reward the salesperson by buying the product. Each can also reward the other by another type of behavior, that of providing social approval. The salesperson gives social approval to a buyer by displaying high regard with friendly greetings, warm conversation, praise, and the like.
In understanding the salesperson-client relation, it is helpful to separate economic aspects from social features. The salesperson wishes to sell a product and the buyer wishes to buy it—these are the economic features. Each participant also places a value and cost upon the social features. Behavior concerning these features of the relationship consists of sentiments, or expressions of different degrees of liking or social approval. Salesperson attempt to receive rewards (reinforcements) either in sentiment or economic by changing their own behavior or getting buyers to change theirs
Salesperson’s influence process: The process by which the salesperson influence the buyer is explainable in terms of the equation B = P x D x K x V. The salesperson influences P (predisposition) directly, for example, through interacting with the buyer in ways rewarding to the buyer. The greatest effect on P, however, comes from using the product. The salesperson exerts influence through D (amount of motivation), this influence being strong when the buyer seeks information in terms of international cues. If the ends to be served are not clearly defined, by helping to clarify these, the buyer’s goals, the salesperson again exerts influence through D. When the buyer has stopped learning—when the buyer’s buying behavior becomes automatic—the salesperson influence D by providing triggering cues. When the buyer has narrowed down the choices to a few sellers, the salesperson, by communicating the merits of the company brand, can cause it to appear relatively better, and thus affect K (its potential satisfaction for the buyer). Finally, the salesperson can vary the intensity of his or her effort, so making the difference in V (the intensity of all cues).
Salesperson’s role in reducing buyer dissonance: According to Fastener’s theory of cognitive dissonance, when individuals choose between two or more alternatives, anxiety or dissonance will almost always occur because the decisions, people expose themselves to information that they perceive as likely to support their choices, and to avoid information likely to favor rejected alternatives.
Although Festinger evidently meant his theory to apply only to post decision anxiety, it seems reasonable that it should hold for prerecession anxiety. Hauk, for instance, writes that a buyer may panic on reaching the point of decision and rush into the purchase as an escape from the problem or put it off because of the difficulty of deciding. It seems, then, that a buyer can experience either prerecession or post decision dissonance, or both.
Reducing pre- and prerecession anxiety or dissonance is an important function of the salesperson. Recognizing that the buyer’s dissonance varies both according to whether the product is an established or a new one, and whether the salesperson-client relationship is ongoing or new, these are four types of cases involving the salesperson’s role.
An established product—an ongoing salesperson-client relationship Unless the market is unstable, the buyer tends toward automatic response behavior, in which no learning is involved and thus experiences little, if any, dissonance; but insofar as it does occur, the salesperson is effective because the salesperson is trusted by the buyer.
An established product—a new salesperson-client relationship The salesperson, being new, is less effective in reducing dissonance.
A new product—an ongoing salesperson-client relation- Points to Ponder ship. Unless the buyer generalizes from personal experience with an established similar product, the buyer experiences dissonance, especially if it is an important product. Because of the established relationship with the buyer, the salesperson can reduce dissonance.
A new product—a new salesperson-client relationship The buyer needs dissonance reduction, and the sales, and the salesperson is less capable of providing it.
How can a salesperson facilitate the buyer’s dissonance reduction? Two ways are (1) to emphasize the advantages of the product purchased, while stressing the disadvantages of the forgone alternatives, and (2) to show that many characteristics of the chosen item are similar to products the buyer has forgone, but which are approved by the reference groups. In other words, the buyer experiencing cognitive dissonance needs reassuring that the decision is or was a wise one; the salesperson provides information that permits the buyer to rationalize the decision
