What Salespeople Feel in their Hearts: The Sales Force-Brand Relationship Olympic Rings

Using the qualitative and quantitative research of my PhD studies, I have been able to clearly identify relationship patterns between salespeople and their brands — patterns similar to the interpersonal relationship characteristics that occur when two people like or love each other. Before we look at the facets of these relationships let us see how research defines this widely used term. The British psychologist and ethnologist Robert A. Hinde puts forward four central conditions that allow us to talk about a relationship:1 1. When both partners actively and independently exchange with each other. 2. When both partners decide to engage while being driven by mutual aims. 3. When the relationship allows both partners to benefit from each other. 4. When the commitment’s dynamic slightly changes and evolves over time. It could be said that it is impossible to interact with brands since they are just simple objects. How can someone actively enter into a relationship with an object, a logo or a product? This argument is exactly why it is so important to bring our brands to life, to breathe a soul in them, to make them human.