Salesforce Transformation to Solution Selling
: Salonen Anna, Terho Harri
: Marko Kohtamäki, Tim Baines, Rodrigo Rabetino, Ali Ziaee Bigdeli, Christian Kowalkowski, Rogelio Oliva, Vinit Parida
: Cham
: 2021
: The Palgrave Handbook of Servitization
: 343
: 354
: 978-3-030-75770-0
: 978-3-030-75771-7
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-75771-7_22
: https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-75771-7_22
: https://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/68491087
A central part of a manufacturer’s transformation to solution selling involves recruiting and training salespersons who enact the critical relational processes of solution selling at the customer interface. Such solution selling involvement by the salespeople plays a key role in ensuring subsequent solution selling performance. However, given that the requirements for solution selling differ drastically from product selling, ensuring salesperson solution selling involvement is a challenging task in a transformation context. Given these difficulties, we suggest that the manufacturer undergoing a solution transformation can choose between two approaches. One alternative is to create a dedicated solution selling salesforce staffed with salespeople who possess the right set of motivations and abilities. The other is to implement a broader transformation program that facilitates the ability of the existing product-centric salesforce to engage in solution selling. It is likely that a dedicated solution salesforce staffed with suitable salespeople precedes a broader salesforce wide transformation.