The influence of selling behaviors on customer relationships in financial services

Purpose - To compare the selling orientation (SO) versus customer orientation (CO) selling behavior of a service employee and examine the impacts of SO versus CO behavior on customer relationship quality and retention in financial services selling. Specifically, this research hypothesizes that a salesperson's SO is negatively related to relationship quality while salesperson's CO is positively related to relationship quality. Design/methodology/approach - A conceptual framework is proposed that considers customer retention as a consequence, and a service employees' SOCO behavior as an antecedent of, relationship quality. Structural equation modeling techniques are applied to data collected from customers in the two important financial services (insurance and banking) in Taiwan to test the framework. Findings - A service employee with CO approach increases relationship quality while a SO approach decreases relationship quality with customers. Furthermore, relationship quality is verified to positively affect customers' future retention. Research limitations/implications - Although the sample may be representative of the financial industry in general, it is possible that results may vary for specific service industries. Also, the fact that data were collected in Taiwan raises the question of its transferability into other cultural regions. Practical implications - The results should lead managers to consider the importance of emphasizing a CO approach when service employees are selling services. This study suggests that service employee training emphasizing CO can add additional value to a company's service offering and influence future retention of the service firms. Originality/value - This is the first study to completely compare the CO approach with SO approach in a service selling.