The relationship sales process in VUCA times – theoretical aspects (Part 1)

Research objectives and hypothesis/research questions In every enterprise, it is increasingly said that acquiring a new customer is several times more expensive than retaining an existing one. This more or less means that building relationships with customers is often much more important than sales. The pinnacle of success is the transformation of building relationships in the sales process, which is why recently a lot of attention has been paid to developing these skills. The concept of relationship selling hides an entire long-term process, often starting long before meeting a potential customer. Relationship selling is based on the ability to sell services or products based on understanding all the emotional needs of the customer. To learn about the most important needs, the seller must establish a relationship with the customer. Most often, this type of sales is useful in the service segment, such as insurance or investments, where the customer does not see a tangible product at the moment, but the promise of future benefits must be enough for him to make a decision. The aim of the article is to present the results of a critical analysis of the literature on the evolution of the relationship sales process based on the verification of publications in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. Research methods Critical analysis of domestic and foreign literature. Main results As a result of the analysis of the literature on the subject, four approaches to verifying the definition of the relationship sales process were noted: individual sales, which indicates that the beginnings of relationship sales are associated with the traditional, individual sales process; a place of purchase, where the exchange between the buyer and the seller was not discreet on both sides, and the most important thing was a lasting relationship that should be nurtured at every stage; adaptive selling, i.e. personal selling, focused on identifying the customer’s needs and desires; customer focus and modern sales solutions, in line with the general market shift towards a service-based economy and greater customer focus. Implications for theory and practice In terms of the analysis of the definition of relationship sales, it can be noted that in the Polish literature on the subject there are no publications presenting a synthetic description of the evolution of this process, while in the case of implications for practice, this aspect is more limited, however, it indicates the need to change the approach in order to move away from traditional sales to relational in the business sector.