Preferences for relationships with salespeople: Profit intention in the context of ruralpolitan buyers

Most research that has examined preferences for relational sales approaches has considered the seller's perspective. Differences in relational preferences in the context of consumer and industrial purchases have not been considered. Empirical study of buyer preferences for relational sales approaches in the context of ruralpolitan buyers with varying degrees of profit intention, whose employment includes on- and off-farm work, merges these two research streams and adds to knowledge in both areas. The practical applications of this study help improve sales effectiveness of practitioners and set training agendas for their managers. This study considered three primary factors that influence preferences for relational sales approaches among ruralpolitan buyers. Information seeking behavior in proximity to a purchase contributed the most observed variance in a regression with relationship preference as the dependent variable. A new variable was introduced, profit intention, which significantly contributed to relationship preference for business buyers. The continuous measure of profit intention was categorized to business, consumer, and hobbyists, who form a large segment of ruralpolitan respondents. Buyer confidence seeking behavior was the third primary factor which was also a positive contributor to relationship preference. The length of time since purchase (negatively related) and gender (positively related for females) were also significant factors. The predictiveness of the model of relationship preference as a continuous variable was compared with the predictiveness of discriminantly analyzed relationship preference as a binary variable. The classification predictiveness of relationship preference as a continuous variable demonstrated fewer errors than the model with relationship preference as a binary variable.