Putting Your Best Face Forward: The Impact of Customer Mood on Salesperson Evaluation

This investigation examines the response of customers to a salesperson whose feelings ostensibly differ from those that customers are personally experiencing. When customers in a bad mood encounter a salesperson who appears to be happy, they feel even worse than they otherwise would. These feelings, in turn, decrease their evaluations of the products the salesperson is promoting. Finally, unhappy customers tend to avoid a happy salesperson unless the decision is sufficiently important that they are motivated to ignore the effects of their bad mood.