Towards a Framework of a Salesperson's Resource Facilitation and Interaction

Abstract

Positive outcomes for buyers and sellers often occur when both parties readily share resources, resulting in a trusting and communicative relationship. As boundary spanners, salespersons play an important role in facilitating the use of customer resources together with the resources of their own firm which leads to value creation. Extant research focuses on how salespersons use these internal resources to create customer value, but has not explored the processes involved in also using the customer's resources. This research investigates the salespersons relationship building processes activities and interactions in conjunction with the accessing of customer resources. The study has its focus on the salesperson bonds, resource ties, and activity links based on the IMP interaction model. In this research, in-depth interviews of managers with sales responsibility explore the nature of customer resources and identify six sales persons’ activities important in accessing these resources.