The role of sales presentations in developing customer relationships

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2005

Abstract

Personal selling and personal sales professionals use a number of tools to develop customer relationships. Among these, the sales presentation offers a number of advantages to the sales representative, including strategic advantages. Yet a review of the sales literature reveals that most research on personal selling tools tends to view the sales presentation as a tactical, not strategic, tool. Moreover, very little attention has been given to the special needs of services marketing and how sales presentations can add strategic value to the service marketing mix. This article reviews the literature on the role of sales presentations in relation to trust, relationship development, and communication theory and suggests that sales presentations may be used as a strategic tool for developing customer relationships. The value of this new strategic view of sales presentations for the marketing of services is also explored. © 2005 by The Haworth Press, Inc. All rights reserved.

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