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Listening to your customers: The impact of perceived salesperson listening behavior on relationship outcomes

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Abstract

A thorough understanding of how businesses gain and maintain long-term relationships with clients is critical in today’s environment. This study develops a scale for salesperson listening behavior and investigates the impact of customers’ perceptions of salespeople’s listening behavior on trust, satisfaction, and anticipation of future interaction. A structural equations model is developed and empirically tested using a sample of new car buyers. The research results suggest that listening is a higher-order construct composed of three dimensions: (a) sensing, (b) evaluating, and (c) responding. When customers perceive a high level of listening behavior by a salesperson, it enhances their trust in the salesperson and leads to greater anticipation of future interaction. Implications and future research issues are discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eastern Kentucky University, USA

    Rosemary P. Ramsey

  2. the University of Nebraska, Lincoln

    Ravipreet S. Sohi

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  1. Rosemary P. Ramsey
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  2. Ravipreet S. Sohi
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Her research interests include measurement issues, buyer-seller relationships, sales technology, and creativity. She has published inJournal of Retailing, Journal of Business Research, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management, and various other journals and proceedings.

His research interests include issues in personal selling, sales management, and channels of distribution. He has published inEuropean Journal of Marketing, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Journal of Macromarketing, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, Journal of Retailing, Psychology and Marketing, and various conference proceedings.

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Ramsey, R.P., Sohi, R.S. Listening to your customers: The impact of perceived salesperson listening behavior on relationship outcomes. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 25, 127–137 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02894348

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