Salesperson's listening in buyer–seller service relationships

Abstract

Research has consistently shown that salesperson's active listening behavior leads to strong sales performance. Yet the influence of management policies on listening has received very limited attention, and prior research linking listening to customer retention has led to mixed findings. This study examines how listening is enhanced through control systems and the influence of listening on customer retention in a service context. Dyadic data from salespeople and their customers show that a behavior-based control system (measured as a second-order construct) positively influences listening and the salesperson's customer orientation totally mediates the influence of listening on customer commitment to the salesperson and loyalty to the service company. Our findings indicate that listening is a necessary but not sufficient condition for assuring relationship development. More specifically, customer orientation is the generative mechanism through which listening is able to influence customer retention. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Keywords:

• service encounter
• active listening
• customer retention
• control systems
• salespeople

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank the three anonymous reviewers, Youjae Yi (Associate Editor) and Eileen Bridges (Editor-in-Chief) for their valuable and constructive comments on prior drafts of this article.