Relationship Management: a sales role, or a state of mind? An investigation of functions and attitudes across a business-to-business sales force
| dc.contributor.author | Davies, Iain A. | - |
| dc.contributor.author | Ryals, Lynette | - |
| dc.contributor.author | Holt, Sue | - |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2011-09-08T10:40:11Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2011-09-08T10:40:11Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2010-10-01T00:00:00Z | - |
| dc.description.abstract | Commentators suggest that the business-to-business sales role is changing and evolving into relationship management. Previous research indicates that a relationship management role is very different from ‘traditional' sales, and that it may require a different attitude on the part of the relationship manager. This research explores attitudes towards various aspects of relationship management across an entire international business-to-business sales force in a service industry context. We find that attitudes towards relationship management do not in fact align with job role. A cluster analysis reveals three attitudinal types of sales person: Self-Directed; Team Leaders; and Strategic Sellers. Our findings suggest that some individuals may have attitudes that are inappropriate to their roles, and that attitudes should be taken into account when selecting relationship manager | en_UK |
| dc.identifier.issn | 0019-8501 | - |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.indmarman.2009.12.007 | - |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://dspace.lib.cranfield.ac.uk/handle/1826/4931 | |
| dc.publisher | Elsevier Science B.V., Amsterdam. | en_UK |
| dc.title | Relationship Management: a sales role, or a state of mind? An investigation of functions and attitudes across a business-to-business sales force | en_UK |
| dc.type | Article | - |