6 drivers of change in relationship selling and sales management

International Journal of Business and Management

August, 2009

Salesperson Professional Selling and the Effect on Buyer and Salesperson Relationship
Maznah Wan Omar
Faculty of Business Management, Universiti Teknologi MARA
Kedah, Malaysia
Tel: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Kamaruzaman Jusoff (Corresponding author)
Department of Forest Production, Faculty of Forestry, Universiti Putra Malaysia
43400 UPM Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Tel: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Mohd Noor Mohd Ali
Department of Physics, Universiti Teknologi MARA
Pulau Pinang, Malaysia
Tel: [phone]

E-mail: [e-mail]

Abstract
Regardless of the growing importance and emphasis on relationship marketing, a complete operation of this concept is still unclear. There is a lack of studies that explore the impact of factors such as salesperson professional selling on customer loyalty. This study seeks to verify the relationship between salesperson knowledge and adaptive selling.
Computer retail customers with different cultural backgrounds were used as respondents in this study. Respondents were asked to rate their evaluations of customer loyalty towards the salesperson knowledge and adaptive selling skills through a self-administered questionnaires which were written in English language and Bahasa Malaysia. Correlation analyses with Pearson’s r coefficient were performed to identify the degree of one variable’s position that occupies the same relative position on another variable. In addition, preliminary analyses were carried out to ensure no violation of the assumptions for linearity, normality, and homoscedasticity. No violations of the assumptions were found. The results of inter-correlation variables of the study indicate that the salesperson professional selling abilities which comprise of salesperson knowledge and adaptive selling managed to show a strong relationship with customer loyalty.

References: Anderson, E. W., Fornell, C., & Lehmann, D.R. (1994). Customer satisfaction, market share, and profitability: findings from Sweden Cravens, D.W. (1995). The changing role of the sales force. Marketing Management, 4 (Fall), 48-57. Ganesan, S. (1994). Determinants of long-term orientation in buyer-seller relationships. Journal of Marketing, 58(April), 1-19. Marshall, G.W., Moncrief, W.C., & Lassk, F.J. (1999). The current state of sales forces activities. Industrial Marketing Management, 28 (January), 87-98. Moncrief, W.C. (1986). Selling activity and sales position taxonomies for industrial sales forces. Journal of Oliver, R.L. (1997). Satisfaction: A Behavioral Perspective on the Consumer. New York: The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Reeves, C. C. (1992). Quantitative research for the behavior sciences. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Reichheld, F. (1993). Loyalty based management. Harvard Business Review, 71 (March-April), 64-73. Sekaran, U. (2003). Research Methods for Business: A Skill Building Approach. 4th ed., John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 292-295. Wetzels, M., Ruyter, K. d., & Birgelen, M.V. (1998). Marketing service relationships: the role of commitment. Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing, 13(4/5), 406-423. Wood, M.F. (1995). Get more for your product or service: develop value added buyers. American Salesman, 40(April), 3-7.