Although salesperson perceptions dictate whether customer relationships are managed effectively, our understanding of these perceptions is still limited. To resolve this shortcoming, the authors introduce the salesperson perceptual (in)accuracy framework to model antecedents and financial consequences of accurate and inaccurate salesperson perceptions. Using matched survey and performance data from salesperson-customer dyads within a global industrial supplier, response surface analyses illustrate how salesperson perceptions impact profitability as customer relationships mature. Surprisingly, findings show accurate salespeople profit more from high, as well as low, quality relationships supporting a U-shaped effect; as perceptions grow more inaccurate, profits decrease at an increasing rate. Once customer relationships progress to build-up and maturation, accurate salespeople produce increased profit gains while inaccurate salespeople are shielded from losses due to poor perceptions. Finally, antecedents like self-efficacy and customer orientation foster inaccurate salesperson perceptions though managers can implement behavior-based control systems to reduce these errors.

Keywords: salesperson accuracy, relationship marketing, dyadic modeling, perception bias.