Business Buyers’ Expectations in Buyer-Seller Encounters
Selling has changed. Selling has taken on aspects of
relationship marketing and sales force play a critical role in
developing long-term relationships between buyers and sellers which
is seen to serve the company’s targets and create success for a long
run. The purpose of this study was to examine what really matters in
buyer-seller encounters and determine what expectations business
buyers have. We studied 17 business buyers by a qualitative
interview. We found that buyers appreciate encounters where the
salesperson face the buyer as a way he or she is as a person, map the
real needs to improve buyers’ business and build up cooperation for
long-term relationship. This study show that personality matters are a
key elements when satisfying business buyers’ expectations.
[1] Blocker, C. P., Cannon, J. P., Panagopoulos, N. G. & Sager, J. K.
(2012), “The Role of the Sales Force in Value Creation and
Appropriation: New Directions for Research” Journal of Personal
Selling & Sales Management. Winter 2012, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p. 15-28. [2] Borg, S. W. & Johnston, W. J. (2013): The IPS-EQ Model: Interpersonal
skills and emotional intelligence in a sales process. Journal of Selling
and Sales Management 1 (winter 2013), 39-51.
[3] CEB 2013, Corporate Executive Board. Downloaded 18.1.2015:
http://www.executiveboard.com/exbd-resources/content/digitalevolution/
index.html
[4] Dion, P., Easterling, D. & Miller, S. J. (1995): What is really successful
buyer/seller relationships? Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 24, 1.
[5] Dixon, A. & Tanner, J. F. (2012): Transforming Selling: Why it is Time
to Think Differently about Sales Research. Journal of Personal Selling &
Sales Management, Vol. 32 (1), 9-13.
[6] Doney, P. M. & Cannon, J. P. (1997): An Examination of the Nature of
Trust in Buyer-Seller Relationships. Journal of Marketing. , Vol. 61,
(April), 35-51.
[7] Haas, A., Snehota, I. & Corsaro, D. (2012). Creating value in business
relationships: The role of sales. Industrial Marketing Management. Jan
2012, Vol. 41 Issue 1, p.94-105.
[8] Hohenschwert, L. (2012). Salespeople’s value creation roles in customer
interaction: An empirical study. Journal of Customer Behaviour. Vol. 11
(2), 145-166.
[9] Håkansson, H., Ford D., Snehota, I. & Waluszewski, A. (2009).
Business in Networks. Wiley & Sons.
[10] Järlström, M. (2000). Personality preferences and career expectations of
Finnish business students. Career Development International, Vol. 5 (3),
144-154.
[11] McMurrain, R. Srivastava, T. & Homes, T. (2002). The impact of selfefficacy
and adaptive selling in a personal selling context. American
Marketing Association. Journal of Selling & Major Account
Management.
[12] Myers, I. & McCaulley, M. H. (1990): Manual. A Guide to the
Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. CA:
Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.
[13] Rodriguez, M., Dixon, A., & Peltier, W. (2014): A review of the
interactive marketing literature in the context of personal selling and
sales management. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 8,
4, 294–308.
[14] Routamaa, V. (2011). Personality Types and Entrepreneurial
Orientation. In. Enterprise Management in a Transitional Economy and
Post Financial Crisis. Ed. Joel Glassman, China: Nanjing University.
[15] Routamaa, V. & J. Ou (2012). Cultures and Managers’ Type Structures:
A Comparison of China, Finland and South Africa. Proceedings of the
The 16th International Business Research Conference. Dubai April 2012
[16] Routamaa, V., Yang, H. & Ou, J. (2010). Managers’ Type Distributions
in Three Continent - Do Cultures Matter, Proceedings of the Seventh
Psychological Type and Culture—East and West: A Multicultural
Research Symposium, Honolulu, Hawaii, January.
[17] Salomonson, N., Åberg, A & Allwood, J. (2012). Communicative skills
that support value creation. A study of B2B interactions between
customers and customer service representatives. Industrial Marketing
Management, Vol. 41, 1.
[18] Shannahan, R. J., Bush, A. J., Moncrief, W. C. & Shannahan, K. L. J.
(2013): Making sense of the customer´s role in the personal selling
process: A theory of organizing and sense making perspective. Journal
of Selling & Sales Management, 3 (summer 2013), 261-275.
[19] Spiro, R. & Weitz, B. (1990): Adaptive selling: Conceptualization,
measurement, and nomological validity. Journal of Marketing Research,
Vol. 27, 1.
[20] Tuli K., Kohli, A. & Bharadwaj, S. (2007): Rethinking Customer
Solutions: from product bundles to relational processes. Journal of
Marketing, 71 (July), 1-17.
[21] Weitz, B., Sujan, H. & Sujan, M. (1986): Knowledge, motivation, and
adaptive behavior: a framework for improving selling effectiviness. The
Journal of marketing, Vol. 50, 4.
[1] Blocker, C. P., Cannon, J. P., Panagopoulos, N. G. & Sager, J. K.
(2012), “The Role of the Sales Force in Value Creation and
Appropriation: New Directions for Research” Journal of Personal
Selling & Sales Management. Winter 2012, Vol. 32 Issue 1, p. 15-28. [2] Borg, S. W. & Johnston, W. J. (2013): The IPS-EQ Model: Interpersonal
skills and emotional intelligence in a sales process. Journal of Selling
and Sales Management 1 (winter 2013), 39-51.
[3] CEB 2013, Corporate Executive Board. Downloaded 18.1.2015:
http://www.executiveboard.com/exbd-resources/content/digitalevolution/
index.html
[4] Dion, P., Easterling, D. & Miller, S. J. (1995): What is really successful
buyer/seller relationships? Industrial Marketing Management, Vol. 24, 1.
[5] Dixon, A. & Tanner, J. F. (2012): Transforming Selling: Why it is Time
to Think Differently about Sales Research. Journal of Personal Selling &
Sales Management, Vol. 32 (1), 9-13.
[6] Doney, P. M. & Cannon, J. P. (1997): An Examination of the Nature of
Trust in Buyer-Seller Relationships. Journal of Marketing. , Vol. 61,
(April), 35-51.
[7] Haas, A., Snehota, I. & Corsaro, D. (2012). Creating value in business
relationships: The role of sales. Industrial Marketing Management. Jan
2012, Vol. 41 Issue 1, p.94-105.
[8] Hohenschwert, L. (2012). Salespeople’s value creation roles in customer
interaction: An empirical study. Journal of Customer Behaviour. Vol. 11
(2), 145-166.
[9] Håkansson, H., Ford D., Snehota, I. & Waluszewski, A. (2009).
Business in Networks. Wiley & Sons.
[10] Järlström, M. (2000). Personality preferences and career expectations of
Finnish business students. Career Development International, Vol. 5 (3),
144-154.
[11] McMurrain, R. Srivastava, T. & Homes, T. (2002). The impact of selfefficacy
and adaptive selling in a personal selling context. American
Marketing Association. Journal of Selling & Major Account
Management.
[12] Myers, I. & McCaulley, M. H. (1990): Manual. A Guide to the
Development and Use of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator®. CA:
Consulting Psychologists Press, Inc.
[13] Rodriguez, M., Dixon, A., & Peltier, W. (2014): A review of the
interactive marketing literature in the context of personal selling and
sales management. Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 8,
4, 294–308.
[14] Routamaa, V. (2011). Personality Types and Entrepreneurial
Orientation. In. Enterprise Management in a Transitional Economy and
Post Financial Crisis. Ed. Joel Glassman, China: Nanjing University.
[15] Routamaa, V. & J. Ou (2012). Cultures and Managers’ Type Structures:
A Comparison of China, Finland and South Africa. Proceedings of the
The 16th International Business Research Conference. Dubai April 2012
[16] Routamaa, V., Yang, H. & Ou, J. (2010). Managers’ Type Distributions
in Three Continent - Do Cultures Matter, Proceedings of the Seventh
Psychological Type and Culture—East and West: A Multicultural
Research Symposium, Honolulu, Hawaii, January.
[17] Salomonson, N., Åberg, A & Allwood, J. (2012). Communicative skills
that support value creation. A study of B2B interactions between
customers and customer service representatives. Industrial Marketing
Management, Vol. 41, 1.
[18] Shannahan, R. J., Bush, A. J., Moncrief, W. C. & Shannahan, K. L. J.
(2013): Making sense of the customer´s role in the personal selling
process: A theory of organizing and sense making perspective. Journal
of Selling & Sales Management, 3 (summer 2013), 261-275.
[19] Spiro, R. & Weitz, B. (1990): Adaptive selling: Conceptualization,
measurement, and nomological validity. Journal of Marketing Research,
Vol. 27, 1.
[20] Tuli K., Kohli, A. & Bharadwaj, S. (2007): Rethinking Customer
Solutions: from product bundles to relational processes. Journal of
Marketing, 71 (July), 1-17.
[21] Weitz, B., Sujan, H. & Sujan, M. (1986): Knowledge, motivation, and
adaptive behavior: a framework for improving selling effectiviness. The
Journal of marketing, Vol. 50, 4.
@article{"International Journal of Business, Human and Social Sciences:71509", author = "Pia I. Hautamäki", title = "Business Buyers’ Expectations in Buyer-Seller Encounters", abstract = "Selling has changed. Selling has taken on aspects of
relationship marketing and sales force play a critical role in
developing long-term relationships between buyers and sellers which
is seen to serve the company’s targets and create success for a long
run. The purpose of this study was to examine what really matters in
buyer-seller encounters and determine what expectations business
buyers have. We studied 17 business buyers by a qualitative
interview. We found that buyers appreciate encounters where the
salesperson face the buyer as a way he or she is as a person, map the
real needs to improve buyers’ business and build up cooperation for
long-term relationship. This study show that personality matters are a
key elements when satisfying business buyers’ expectations.
", keywords = "Business-to-Business, Business buyer-seller
encounters, Business buyer, Expectations, Perceived similarity,
Personal selling, Personality types.", volume = "9", number = "4", pages = "1344-6", }
