Antecedents and consequences of relationship marketing - Insights from business service salespeople

Relationships between suppliers and buyers are very important in effective marketing strategies. For example, General Motors, Xerox, Black & Decker, and Nieman Marcus are looking at relationships with their suppliers to achieve stronger marketing and competitive positions. We developed a model regarding the antecedents and consequences of relationship marketing concerning salespeople's behaviors along with propositions. Using a theory-in-use perspective, we examined the insights of business service salespeople from three service industries in two countries analyzing their critical role as boundary spanning agents in relationship marketing. Through in-depth interviews, we explored the nature of salesperson-customer relationships. This research suggests that relationship marketing is regarded by salespeople as a two-way path and the development of relationships requires engaged relationship building activities from both buyers and sellers. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.