B1 - Sales Management Design for Value-Creating Sales
Final Report Abstract
The objective of this research project was to comprehensively examine the optimal configuration of sales management design factors to create value-centered work environments. To reach this goal, we structured our work program into three separate studies, which contribute to our understanding of the development of relationships in the context of value-centered offerings. Our first study contributes to the understanding on the work environment for sales in value-centered business models. Our findings on six design factors, that are 1) external communication, (2) internal communication, (3) technology, (4) autonomy and authority, (5) work climate, and (6) long-term orientation, lay the foundation for future research directions to explore the optimal configuration of sales management design factors that enable the sales force to co-create value with their customers. The second study addresses the right encouragement behavior of sales managers in value-centered business models, which has received limited attention in previous literature. We find that in valuecentered business models, high in-role encouragement is more effective regarding financial firm performance as compared to high extra-role encouragement of sales managers. Firm managers must encourage sales managers in value-centered business models to engage in in-role encouragement and thus intensify their micromanagement. In our third study, we address the use of remote activities and examine the long-term effects of remote activities on the business relationship. We show that depending on different customer and relationship characteristics, remote activities can have different effects on profit. Drawing on relationship life-cycle theory, we identify a customer’s project share, the business relationship length, and a customer’s bargaining toughness as important relationship characteristics that have a moderating impact on the main effect. The results show that firms should keep an eye on the buyer–seller relationship and customer characteristics when using remote activities. Depending on the strength and characteristics of the relationship, remote activities may have a positive or negative effect. Therefore, the sales force should be aware that remote selling is not a universal remedy. All three studies make substantial contributions to the literature as outlined in our report above and open new interesting avenues for future research.
Publications
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Sales manager encouragement behavior in value-centered business models. European Journal of Marketing, 57(3), 771-793.
Hoffmann, Clara; Alavi, Sascha & Schmitz, Christian
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“Sales Manager Encouragement Behavior in Value-Centered Business Models”, AMA Summer Academic Conference, Virtual/Chicago, 2022
Hoffmann, Clara, Sascha Alavi & Christian Schmitz
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Guest editorial: Value-creating sales and digital technologies. European Journal of Marketing, 57(3), 653-658.
Kassemeier, Roland; Alavi, Sascha; Habel, Johannes; Schmitz, Christian & Wieseke, Jan
