Abstract

Supplier firms in business-to-business (B2B) contexts increasingly are introducing digital sales channels. This marks a fundamental change for salespeople, in particular, given the extended capabilities of contemporary digital sales applications. While prior research has begun to explore the benefits of introducing digital sales channels for salespeople, insights into the challenges remain vague and fragmented. In addition, knowledge about contextual boundary conditions that help salespeople cope with the introduction of digital sales channels is scarce. Drawing on in-depth interviews with key decision-makers from supplier firms (21 interviews) and buyer firms (18 interviews), this article advances current theoretical knowledge by identifying three main challenges for salespeople, namely (1) the amplification of professional purchasing’s strategic reorientation, (2) the threat of purchasers pitting personal and digital sales channels against each other, and (3) tightrope acts in buyer education. Furthermore, this research offers insights into contextual boundary conditions, which are (1) sales buy-in for e-commerce and (2) sales empowerment for multichannel selling. These findings extend personal selling, multichannel, and strategic change implementation research. Moreover, they offer actionable practical implications.

摘要

企业对企业 (B2B) 环境中的供应商公司越来越多地引入数字销售渠道。这标志着销售人员发生了根本性的变化，特别是考虑到当代数字销售应用程序的扩展功能。虽然之前的研究已经开始探索为销售人员引入数字销售渠道的好处，但对挑战的洞察仍然模糊不清。此外，帮助销售人员应对引入数字销售渠道的上下文边界条件的知识很少。本文通过对来自供应商公司（21 次采访）和买方公司（18 次采访）的关键决策者的深入采访，通过确定销售人员面临的三个主要挑战来推进当前的理论知识：即（1）专业采购战略重新定位的放大，（2）购买者个人和数字销售渠道相互竞争的威胁，以及（3）买家教育的走钢丝行为。此外，这项研究提供了对上下文边界条件的见解，即 (1) 电子商务的销售支持和 (2) 多渠道销售的销售授权。这些发现扩展了个人销售、多渠道和战略变革实施研究。此外，它们提供了可操作的实际意义。它们是 (1) 电子商务的销售支持和 (2) 多渠道销售的销售授权。这些发现扩展了个人销售、多渠道和战略变革实施研究。此外，它们提供了可操作的实际意义。它们是 (1) 电子商务的销售支持和 (2) 多渠道销售的销售授权。这些发现扩展了个人销售、多渠道和战略变革实施研究。此外，它们提供了可操作的实际意义。