Appropriate Relational Messages in Direct Selling Interaction: Should Salespeople Adapt to Buyers' Communicator Style?

Abstract

Study One determined that buyers are more interested in the task, rather than the social, aspects of the buyer-seller relationship. They prefer sellers who are trustworthy, composed, and task-oriented. Study Two showed that sellers are well aware of buyer's preferences for task related interaction, but they may slightly overestimate the value of social interaction. Four complex communica tor style profiles were obtained through cluster analysis. Buyer preferences did not vary across Communicator style profiles, which suggests that adaptive selling advice may be misguided. However, for buyers, the profiles revealed that Apprehensive, Social, or Competitive sellers may need more communication skill training than Cooperative sellers.

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