Proceedings of 6th Annual American Business Research Conference
9 - 10 June 2014, Sheraton LaGuardia East Hotel, New York, USA, ISBN: 978-1-922069-52-8
Creating the Virtual Relationship in Sales
Monica J. Favia and Loreen Powell
Today, due to technological advances and budget cuts salespeople are relying more and more on
online exchanges with customers ranging from email exchanges to use of social media. Marshall, et
al (2012) found that in some instances salespeople are having completely virtual relationships with
customers. Frequently, this is at the instance of the customer (Marshall, et al, 2012). Marshall, et al
(2012) contend that the face-to-face relationship of salespeople and customers is likely to diminish in
predominance. Marshall et al (2012) believe that it will be necessary to rethink what constitutes a
good relationship in the view of social media and other technologies. Therefore, how do salespeople
develop relationships and maintain trust in this virtual world?
Dwyer, Schurr and Oh (1987) drawing on the work of Scanzoni (1979) and Thibaut and Kelly (1959),
proposed a framework for how buyer-seller relationships developed. Their well-established
framework includes five stages of development, (1) awareness, (2) exploration, (3) expansion, (4)
commitment and (5) dissolution (Dwyer, Schurr and Oh 1987).
Dwyer, Schurr and Oh (1987) developed their model based on the premise of face-to-face interaction
between salespeople and their customers using the analogy between buyer-seller relationships and
the interpersonal relationships between men and women specifically leading to marriage, as a basic
model. However, salespeople today are using a variety of technologies to connect with customers.
Giamanco and Gregoire (2012) document a completely virtual sale by a sales rep from PGi who
completed the entire sales process virtually starting with Twitter.
Using Dwyer, Schurr and Oh’s relationship framework and drawing on the literature in information
technology (IT), sales, communications, sociology and psychology and online dating we propose
that the relationship model can be adapted to a virtual world using the various technological tools in
specific ways.
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Bloomsburg University, 400 E. Second St., Bloomsburg, PA. 17815; mfavia@bloomu.edu, lpowell@bloomu.edu