Sales management. Re-engineering the sales force for relationship marketing

Nikoaos Tzokas, Michael Saren and Panayiotis Kyziridis

This paper provides a brief review of what relationship marketing (RM) is and can be, and what the consequences are for marketing management and marketing research.

Sales management. Re-engineering the sales force for relationship marketing

Panayiotis KyziridisUniveristy of Stirling, United Kingdom; Michael SarenUniversity of Stirling, United Kingdom andNikolaos TzokasUniversity of Stirling, United Kingdom

INTRODUCTION

After forty years of adherence to principles of short-term, discrete transactions, marketing's orientation is currently shifting towards the development and maintenance of long-lasting relationships between the firm and its customers (Gummesson 1987; Christopher et al. 1991; Webster 1992).

Whilst some authors wonder whether or not this is a 'flavour of the month' (Barnes 1994) approach to marketing, others seem to agree that relationship marketing (RM) represents...

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