Personal selling and sales management: A relationship marketing perspective

The authors examine how the practice of personal selling and sales management is changing as a result of the increased attention on long-term, buyer-seller relationships and identify some implications of these changes. Changes in the traditional personal selling and sales management activities are needed to support the emergence of the part-nering role for salespeople. For salespeople in the part-nering role, the personal selling shifts from a focus on influencing buyer behavior to managing the conflict inherent in buyer-seller relationships. The emphasis on building relationships rather than making short-term sales and the use of sales teams dictates changes in the way firms select, train, evaluate, and compensate salespeople and members of sales teams. In this article, the authors have suggested some issues concerning the emerging partnering role for salespeople that deserve the attention of scholars interested in personal selling and sales management research. Barton A. Weitz is the J. C. Penney Eminent Scholar Chair in Retail Management at the Warrington College of Business Administration at the University of Florida. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University and his research interests are in the areas of personal selling effectiveness, salesperson motivation, and channel relationships. His research has been published in theJournal of Marketing, theJournal of Marketing Research, Marketing Science, theJournal of the Academy of Marketing Science, andAdministrative Science Quarterly. He has coauthored two textbooks,Selling: Building Relationships andRetail Management. Kevin D. Bradford is an assistant professor of marketing at the University of Notre Dame. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Florida. His research interests include issues in buyerseller relationships and increasing salesperson effectiveness.