Abstract In B2B markets, firms seek to provide customer solutions instead of merely selling goods or services. As boundary-spanners, salespeople are pivotal for implementing this strategic shift. Yet, extant literature provides limited insights into salesperson’s resources and competencies required for customer solutions, particularly in the early phases of solution selling. This research focuses on salesperson’s value opportunity recognition competence (VOR), which is a central requirement for salespeople to be able to navigate the early phases of solution selling. Analyzing large-scale, multi-level data of 799 salespeople and their respective sales managers in 29 sales organizations, the authors investigate the role of different salesperson resources and work environment characteristics for strengthening their VOR. The authors find that salespeople need both customer and technical knowledge, but customer knowledge is more important. Salespeople also can substitute individual technical knowledge with strong internal relations, but strong customer relations are no substitute for individual knowledge about customers’ business models and processes. Formalization turned out to be a double-edged sword in the context of VOR development, while transformational leadership has positive effects only. The findings bear concrete implications for improving the selection, training, and work environment of solution salespeople.

中文翻译：

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解决方案销售中销售人员价值机会识别能力的驱动因素和结果

摘要 在 B2B 市场中，公司寻求提供客户解决方案，而不仅仅是销售商品或服务。作为跨界者，销售人员是实施这一战略转变的关键。然而，现有文献对销售人员的资源和客户解决方案所需的能力提供了有限的见解，尤其是在解决方案销售的早期阶段。本研究侧重于销售人员的价值机会识别能力 (VOR)，这是销售人员能够驾驭解决方案销售早期阶段的核心要求。作者分析了 29 个销售组织中 799 名销售人员及其各自销售经理的大规模、多层次数据，调查了不同销售人员资源和工作环境特征对加强其 VOR 的作用。作者发现销售人员需要客户知识和技术知识，但客户知识更为重要。销售人员也可以用强大的内部关系代替个人技术知识，但强大的客户关系并不能代替关于客户商业模式和流程的个人知识。在 VOR 发展的背景下，形式化被证明是一把双刃剑，而变革型领导只具有积极影响。研究结果对改善解决方案销售人员的选择、培训和工作环境具有具体意义。但强大的客户关系并不能替代对客户商业模式和流程的个人了解。在 VOR 发展的背景下，形式化被证明是一把双刃剑，而变革型领导只具有积极影响。研究结果对改善解决方案销售人员的选择、培训和工作环境具有具体意义。但强大的客户关系并不能替代对客户商业模式和流程的个人了解。在 VOR 发展的背景下，形式化被证明是一把双刃剑，而变革型领导只具有积极影响。研究结果对改善解决方案销售人员的选择、培训和工作环境具有具体意义。