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Anne Felicitas Seelmann was presented with the 2026 Science Award by the Federal Association of Direct Selling in Germany (BDD) for the best bachelor's thesis at the Direct Selling Congress in Potsdam. The graduate of the Business Management & Psychology (BMP) degree programme presented the findings of her research at the event. In her English-language bachelor's thesis, ‘Discrepancies in Value Perception: Salespeople Perceive Lower Value Compared to Customers’, Seelmann examined a question of direct relevance to sales and pricing: Can salespeople realistically assess the price customers are willing to pay for products and services? Or do the value perceptions of both sides differ? Surprisingly willing to pay For her research, she conducted two empirical studies involving a total of 111 participants. She compared customers’ statements regarding their willingness to pay and their perceptions of fair prices with the assessments made by salespeople. The studies focused on cleaning products and building renovation services. The findings are essential for the sales departments of any company: in the majority of cases, salespeople underestimated their customers’ willingness to pay compared to what the customers themselves stated! These findings have practical relevance for businesses: anyone who fails to correctly assess the value of an offer from the customer’s perspective risks approaching their pricing arguments and customer communication with incorrect assumptions. The study thus provides starting points for sales training, customer-oriented pricing and further research. A degree programme with a unique approach The bachelor's thesis was supervised by Prof. Dr Kai-Markus Müller, Professor of Consumer Behaviour at HFU. The project illustrates the approach of the Business Management & Psychology degree programme: combining psychological research questions with business challenges and investigating them using empirical methods. For Seelmann, the award was also an opportunity to present her research to a specialist audience from the direct sales sector. Background The Science Award from the Federal Association of Direct Selling in Germany recognises academic work relating to direct selling. The Business Management & Psychology (BMP) degree programme at HFU combines business and psychological perspectives

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