Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-2007
Abstract
Salespeople play a critical boundary-spanning role in establishing productive relationships with their buyers. In doing so, they employ diverse selling approaches that resulting in a wide range of customer experiences—some that align well with the overall marketing strategies and some that conflict with the intent of the organization. Several theoretical explanations for the variations in selling approaches, but no singular theory provide us a lens to understand how salespeople approach various selling opportunities. The primary goal of this inquiry is to compile the extant theoretical knowledge from various disciplines in order to develop a conceptual framework for future empirical research work. The research suggests sales opportunity crafting allows salespeople to selectively employ pre-established routines or improvise a task by reconfiguring its boundaries—physically, cognitively, and relationally. This research posits that the improvisation levels used by salespeople are determined collectively by their cognitive assumptions about the customer’s needs and their interaction levels with the customer.
Keywords
salesmen and salesmenship, job crafting, Improvisation, routines, customer-oriented solutions, proactive behavior, sales performance
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Kumar, Ganesh, "Sales Opportunity Crafting: Explaining Diverse Selling Approaches" (2007). Student Scholarship. 367.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/367