TY - JOUR
T1 - The coordination strategies of high-performing salespeople
T2 - Internal working relationships that drive success
AU - Steward, Michelle D.
AU - Walker, Beth A.
AU - Hutt, Michael D.
AU - Kumar, Ajith
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2010 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2010
Y1 - 2010
N2 - The authors fill a gap in the salesperson performance literature by exploring the process that salespeople follow in coordinating the activities of ad hoc team members during high-opportunity customer engagements in the business market. In a two-phase study, the authors conduct depth interviews with salespeople and survey sales managers from a Fortune-100 company to identify the processes involved in the coordination of expertise. In Phase I, analysis of qualitative data reveals that higher-performing salespeople are more likely to (1) consider relational as well as technical skills when matching team members to customer requirements, (2) attract their preferred experts to the team, including a member to perform the project manager role, and (3) define the appropriate time in the sales cycle to initiate contact with the customer and deploy the team to the customer organization. Adopting a social network perspective in Phase II, the reputation of a salesperson's internal working relationships and, to a lesser extent, the diversity and strength of their relationship ties are central in explaining effective coordination of expertise. In turn, coordination of expertise is linked to salesperson performance.
AB - The authors fill a gap in the salesperson performance literature by exploring the process that salespeople follow in coordinating the activities of ad hoc team members during high-opportunity customer engagements in the business market. In a two-phase study, the authors conduct depth interviews with salespeople and survey sales managers from a Fortune-100 company to identify the processes involved in the coordination of expertise. In Phase I, analysis of qualitative data reveals that higher-performing salespeople are more likely to (1) consider relational as well as technical skills when matching team members to customer requirements, (2) attract their preferred experts to the team, including a member to perform the project manager role, and (3) define the appropriate time in the sales cycle to initiate contact with the customer and deploy the team to the customer organization. Adopting a social network perspective in Phase II, the reputation of a salesperson's internal working relationships and, to a lesser extent, the diversity and strength of their relationship ties are central in explaining effective coordination of expertise. In turn, coordination of expertise is linked to salesperson performance.
KW - Ad hoc selling teams
KW - Coordination of expertise
KW - Internal working relationships
KW - Sales management
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U2 - 10.1007/s11747-009-0170-0
DO - 10.1007/s11747-009-0170-0
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:77955848949
SN - 0092-0703
VL - 38
SP - 550
EP - 566
JO - Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
JF - Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science
IS - 5
ER -