An Investigation of the Impact of Selling Orientation and Salesperson Expertise on Salesperson Performance According to the Mediator Role of Customer Trust (Case Study: Selling Agencies of Imported Vehicles in Mashhad)

It is obvious that all human efforts and activities take palce to achieve a specific and clear outcome and the outcome of a person, a team, a company or an organization activity in the field of commerce and trade, highly depend on their success in sales. This success depends on activity, sales strength and salesperson performance. According to the extensive relationships between consumer and seller in the automotive industry and high influence of seller behavior on buyer decision, the main issue of this research is to investigate the role of selling orientation and salesperson expertise on salesperson performance according to the mediator role of customer trust among the selling agencies of imported vehicles in Mashhad. The nature of this research is an applied one and the five proposed hypotheses were approved using survey-descriptive method. Data were collected via survey among 70 salespersons of the selling agencies of imported vehicles in Mashhad using questionnaire. In addition, the research construct validity was confirmed using confirmatory factor analysis and its reliability was confirmed using Cronbach's alpha (α>0.7). Furthermore, data were analyzed using structural equation modeling via "SMART PLS" software. The analysis of data indicated that there is a positive significant relationship between selling orientation and salesperson expertise with salesperson performance. Also there is a positive significant relationship between selling orientation and salesperson expertise with customer trust. Finally, there is a positive significant relationship between customer trust and salesperson performance.