A1 Vertaisarvioitu alkuperäisartikkeli tieteellisessä lehdessä
Drivers and outcomes of salespersons' value opportunity recognition competence in solution selling
Tekijät: Böhm Eva, Eggert Andreas, Terho Harri, Ulaga Wolfgang, Haas Alexander
Kustantaja: Taylor & Francis
Julkaisuvuosi: 2020
Journal: Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management
Tietokannassa oleva lehden nimi: JOURNAL OF PERSONAL SELLING & SALES MANAGEMENT
Lehden akronyymi: J PERS SELL SALES M
Vuosikerta: 40
Numero: 3
Aloitussivu: 180
Lopetussivu: 197
Sivujen määrä: 18
ISSN: 0885-3134
eISSN: 1557-7813
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/08853134.2020.1778484
Rinnakkaistallenteen osoite: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/49277526
In B2B markets, firms seek to provide customer solutions instead of merely selling goods or services. As boundary-spanners, salespeople are pivotal for implementing this strategic shift. Yet, extant literature provides limited insights into salesperson's resources and competencies required for customer solutions, particularly in the early phases of solution selling. This research focuses on salesperson's value opportunity recognition competence (VOR), which is a central requirement for salespeople to be able to navigate the early phases of solution selling. Analyzing large-scale, multi-level data of 799 salespeople and their respective sales managers in 29 sales organizations, the authors investigate the role of different salesperson resources and work environment characteristics for strengthening their VOR. The authors find that salespeople need both customer and technical knowledge, but customer knowledge is more important. Salespeople also can substitute individual technical knowledge with strong internal relations, but strong customer relations are no substitute for individual knowledge about customers' business models and processes. Formalization turned out to be a double-edged sword in the context of VOR development, while transformational leadership has positive effects only. The findings bear concrete implications for improving the selection, training, and work environment of solution salespeople.
Ladattava julkaisu This is an electronic reprint of the original article. |  |
