Practitioners have touted sales enablement as a prominent solution to the challenges of the evolving buying and selling environments; however, empirical research on this concept is nonexistent in extant literature. Furthermore, while the pervasiveness of sales domain scholarship suggests that salespeople will continue to influence sales practice through expanded opportunities, firms must also blend the art and science of engaging customers in a profitable and sustainable manner. To address these scholarly demands, the authors designed an empirical study that conceptualizes sales enablement and offers an in-depth perspective on how organizations enable their sales force. The authors employ an ethnographic inquiry comprising various data sources, including 41 depth interviews with professionals responsible for sales enablement architecture and/or execution. Findings offer a multi-dimensional conceptualization of sales enablement and introduce a process model which explicates how firms develop sales enablement as a dynamic capability. This study expands current knowledge by offering foundational insights and advanced theories of sales enablement, while also providing strategic implications for sales organizations responding to evolving customer demands and selling environments.

中文翻译：

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销售支持：概念化和发展动态能力

从业者吹捧销售支持是应对不断变化的买卖环境挑战的重要解决方案；然而，现有文献中并不存在对这一概念的实证研究。此外，虽然销售领域奖学金的普遍性表明销售人员将通过扩大机会继续影响销售实践，但公司还必须融合艺术和科学以盈利和可持续的方式吸引客户。为了满足这些学术需求，作者设计了一项实证研究，将销售赋能概念化，并提供了有关组织如何赋能其销售队伍的深入视角。作者采用了包含各种数据源的民族志调查，包括对负责销售支持架构和/或执行的专业人士的 41 次深度访谈。调查结果提供了销售支持的多维概念化，并引入了一个流程模型，该模型解释了公司如何将销售支持开发为一种动态能力。这项研究通过提供销售支持的基础见解和先进理论来扩展当前的知识，同时还为响应不断变化的客户需求和销售环境的销售组织提供战略意义。