Adaptive Selling, Buyer-Seller Similarity and Intermediate Sales Goals: A Causal Path Analysis

Abstract

This paper reports the results of a causal path analysis of a partial model of salesperson performance. The results were obtained by measuring both buyer and seller views of shared trade relationships. Adaptive selling was shown not to be a major influence on performance although it had some effect when mediated by salesperson resources. The links between performance and intermediate sales goals such as perceived similarity, expertise, trust and liking of the seller were significant. Perceived similarity of the seller was shown to be effective only when working through trust and liking. Lastly, buyer-seller similarity in weight, but not height, was strongly linked to sales performance.