Adaptive selling capabilities enable salespeople achieve success with their customers. Despite numerous studies, there is very little understanding on Show moreAdaptive selling capabilities enable salespeople achieve success with their customers. Despite numerous studies, there is very little understanding on the mechanisms salespeople use to adapt to various selling situations. Current sales management practices overlook a salesperson’s capability to craft customer specific sales strategies, relying excessively on end-results and activities based controls. This paper aims to increase knowledge by conceptualizing relational behaviors as trust building and value creating efforts, and measuring adaptive selling as a salesperson’s capacity to vary these behaviors depending on customer relationships. Our empirical analysis establishes a positive link between trust building behaviors and sales effectiveness and performance levels. Keywords: Adaptive selling; relational selling behaviors; buyer-seller relationships Doctorate of Management Programs Show less