Relationship‐oriented characteristics and individual salesperson performance

TLDR

Sales research increasingly emphasizes relational buyer‑seller interactions, yet empirical evidence linking relational selling dimensions—such as customer orientation, adaptability, and service orientation—to individual salesperson performance is limited. The study investigates how these relational selling characteristics influence individual salesperson performance. The authors empirically examined the relationships between relational selling traits and sales performance using data on individual salespeople. Results show a positive association between customer orientation and average annual sales dollars, indicating its critical role in driving sales performance.

Abstract

One of the recent trends in sales research has been a growing focus on relationally based buyer‐seller interactions. Although existing sales literature is in general agreement as to the theoretical composition of buyer‐seller relationships, a lack of empirical evidence exists for the interrelationships of various aspects of relational selling (e.g. customer orientation, adaptability, and service orientation) on individual salespersons’ performance. Investigates the effect of these relational selling characteristics on the performance of individual salespeople. The results show a positive relationship exists between customer orientation and actual performance as measured by average annual sales dollars. Implications of the results for sales managers and sales researchers are discussed.