Positive social behaviors and suggestive selling in the same service encounter Magnus So ¨derlund Center for Consumer Marketing, Stockholm School of Economics, Stockholm, Sweden Abstract Purpose – This study aims to examine customers’ reactions in service encounters in which the customer contact person (CCP) initially engages in positive social behaviors and then turns to suggestive selling. Design/methodology/approach – An experimental between-subjects design was employed. The participants interacted in a service encounter with a CCP who engaged in positive social behaviors. At the end of the service encounter, participants were exposed to: no suggestive selling; congruent suggestive selling; or incongruent suggestive selling. Findings – Customers’ intentions to buy additional products were lower in the two suggestive selling conditions than in the condition without suggestive selling. This outcome should be viewed in light of the contrast effect that occurs when the CCP’s role comprises both rapport-building activities and sales activities: suggestive selling near the end of a service encounter may “break the spell” of initial positive social behaviors. However, in terms of the customer’s attitude toward the CCP, it was mainly the incongruent suggestive sales attempt that had a negative effect, presumably because congruent suggestive selling contrasts less with positive social behaviors than incongruent suggestive selling. Originality/value – Researchers have acknowledged that many CCPs who are instructed to engage in positive social behaviors in service encounters are under increasing pressure to also actively engage in sales efforts. However, few studies have examined the reactions of customers exposed to both activities within the same service encounter. Keywords The service encounter, Suggestive selling, Cross-selling, Customers, Behaviour Paper type Research paper In many service firms, the customer contact person (CCP) is instructed to engage in positive social behaviors (e.g. displaying positive affect, smiling, making eye contact, greeting the customer, and expressing empathy) in service encounters. This appears to be a wise practice – many researchers have shown that such behaviors have a positive impact on customers’ evaluations of the firm (Barger and Grandey, 2006; Ford, 1995; Gabbott and Hogg, 2000; Gremler and Gwinner, 2008; Pugh, 2001; So ¨derlund and Rosengren, 2008; Winsted, 2000). However, the instructions given to CCPs have evolved over time. In other words, the scripts (Tansik and Smith, 1991) or specifications (Pinto and Johnston, 2004) prescribed by management to control CCP behavior in the service encounter are changing. Changes in this area reflect novelty in firms’ internal dealings, and they have been labeled “organizational innovation” in the service literature (Camarero and Garrido, 2012), “administrative innovation” in the general marketing literature (Han et al., 1998), and “process innovation” in the management literature (Friedrich et al., 2010). More The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at www.emeraldinsight.com/0960-4529.htm Managing Service Quality Vol. 23 No. 4, 2013 pp. 305-320 r Emerald Group Publishing Limited 0960-4529 DOI 10.1108/MSQ-03-2013-0045 The author wants to thank Torsten So ¨derbergs Stiftelse in Stockholm, Sweden, for financial support for this study. 305 Positive social behaviors