SALESPERSON TRUST IN CUSTOMER AND SELLING BEHAVIOUR ON BUISNESS-TO-BUSINESS MARKET

Abstract

Trust between companies is discussed in management literature mainly from the angle of buyer point and his relation to the supplier. From the perspective of the supplier, attention is paid in particular to actions that build customer’s trust in salespeople and reputation of their company. The reverse look, focused on the trust of the supplier to the customer, is sporadic. In our text, we strive to partially fill this gap by considering the supplier’s trust in potential
customer. This paper is a theoretical and empirical one, the research was based on a simulation in which sales managers reported the level of confidence in the new customer and made the decision to start working with that customer. The study confirms the assumption of other researchers about the impact of personality traits, which is the tendency to trust potential customers by the salespeople. At the same time, however, the level of their trust does not affect their willingness to work with a new customer. In conclusions, these results are confronted with the results presented by other researchers who deal with the issue of trust. Salespersons approach new customer with a certain level of trust in pre-relationships stage. By acquiring customers, the sellers interpret new or unclear information in accordance with their beliefs and individual propensity to in trust. The level of trust does not affect the willingness to cooperate with a new partner. This may be due to the fact that the seller's tasks include acquiring new customers, regardless of how much they trust them.
Key words: trust, sales management, business-to-business relationships
JEL: L14