This shift toward relationship sell

This shift toward relationship selling has altered both the roles played by salespeople and the activities and skills they exercise in carrying out these roles-the selling process itself. Today’s more contemporary selling process is embedded within the relationship marketing paradigm. As such, it emphasizes the initiation and nurturing of long-term buyer-seller relationships based on mutual trust and value-added benefits. The nature of problem-solving activity common to relationship selling requires deliberate and purposeful collaboration between both parties. These joint efforts are directed at creating unique solutions based on an enhanced knowledge and understanding of the customer’s needs and the supplier’s capabilities so that both parties derive mutual benefits. The nature of this integrative, win-win and collaborative negotiation relies on augmented communication and interpersonal skills that nurture and sustain the reciprocal trust that allows all parties to fully share information and work together as a strategic problem-solving team.