Document Type
Article
Publication Date
12-1-2007
Abstract
This paper examines the spontaneous, situational, adaptive capabilities in successful business-to-business salespeople. Salespeople craft appropriate sales value propositions that resonate with buyers to achieve a sale. Findings indicate sales value propositions occur in four distinct patterns, as a combination of a salespeople’s choice in emphasizing the value of their relationship and/or the solution itself. This paper combines contingency selling approaches with job crafting to suggest a new construct—“sales opportunity crafting (SOC)”—to explain how salespeople frame a sales opportunity and then decide on a sales value positioning response. The suggested model highlights the role of antecedents— such as influence over customers’ decisions, ability to fulfill customers’ needs, and the importance of the sales opportunity— in shaping a salesperson’s response to and effort exerted in a particular selling situation. Findings may help organizations better understand and manage the aspects influencing sales force performance.
Keywords
sales personnel--rating of, sales force management, adaptive selling behavior, contingency theory, job crafting, organizational improvisation, sales identities, relationship selling, sales performance, solution selling
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 How Salespeople Craft Value Propositions in Business-to-Business Selling" (2007). Student Scholarship. 368.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/368