RESEARCH SYNTHESIS

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The shift in sales organizations in business-to-business services markets

Arun Sharma

University of Miami, Coral Gables, Florida, USA

Abstract Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to examine shifts in sales organizations utilized to sell services to business-to-business customers. The paper also examines the changes expected in personal selling and sales management. Design/methodology/approach – Extant academic literature and emerging practices are examined to determine trends. Findings – The paper suggests that the traditional service-focused sales organization is evolving in two distinct directions. First, enhanced sales automation is resulting in a reduction in salespeople’s contact with customers. Second, an enhancement in the level of customer contact is leading to a growth of customer-focused sales organizations and an increase in global account management teams. Research limitations/implications – Additional research is needed in this area. Practical implications – Changes are required in the manner in which personal selling and sales management is practiced in organizations. Firms need to make these changes or their sales forces will be less efficient and less effective. Originality/value – This important area is very infrequently examined in literature. This is the first attempt to examine this area.

Keywords Business-to-business marketing, Customer service management, Sales force, Sales automation

Paper type Research paper

An executive summary for managers and executive

readers can be found at the end of this issue.

Introduction

The area of business-to-business services marketing is an emerging area of research and interest. The primary reason is that the majority of purchasing within organizations takes place in the context of business-to-business services, and enhanced global competition is increasing the pressure on the marketing function to perform better. In spite of this increased attention, the organization of selling activities of business-to-business firms has been infrequently examined. This paper outlines the history of sales practice and suggests directions of future change. Sales organizations associated with business-to-business services marketing have changed in the last three decades, and continue to change. In this context, the paper examines the decline of the “service- oriented” sales force and suggests that the traditional service- focused sales organization is evolving in two distinct directions. First, enhanced sales automation has resulted in a reduction in the face-to-face contact that salespeople have with their customers. Second, there is an enhancement of salesperson-customer relationships that will lead to growth of customer-focused sales organizations and an increase in global account management teams. Specifically, using extant research, shifts in sales organizations, and changes in personal selling and sales management in emerging organizations is highlighted in this paper.

The focus of this paper is on understanding current practice

and research in the personal selling sales management area in

business-to-business service markets and presenting the

future direction of practice and research. The paper borrows

heavily from and extends previous research with colleagues

(Sharma, 2001; Sheth and Sharma, 2007). This section

introduces our research focus. The next section discusses

business-to-business marketing and sales force research and

practice. The third section discusses the attributes of the

service firm and the service economy and the reasons for the

evolution of the sales force, and subsequent sections examine

the shifts in sales organization and sales practice. The final

sections discuss managerial implications and limitations.

Business-to-business marketing and sales force

Webster (1980) observed:

With well over half of America’s economic activity accounted by industrial marketing, as distinct from the sale of products and services to business customers, it has been remarkable how little attention, relatively, industrial marketing has received in the professional literature and in academic research.

This observation is true even today as the majority of global

marketing research focuses on consumers rather than business

customers. The research output is even smaller when research

in business-to-business services marketing is compared to

research in business-to-business products marketing. Within

this context, personal selling and sales management issues

associated with selling of business-to-business services, the

focus of this paper, have been even less frequently examined

(Crosby et al., 1990). In the examination of literature, few papers have addressed this issue (e.g. Ulaga and Sharma,

2001; Shepherd, 1999). When business-to-business sales organizations initially

emerged, salespeople sold products, worked from a specific

location, and served a geographical area. This was referred to

as the “local office.” Salespeople were assigned customers in a

The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at

www.emeraldinsight.com/0887-6045.htm

Journal of Services Marketing

21/5 (2007) 326–333

q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0887-6045]

[DOI 10.1108/08876040710773633]

326Business to Business Services - Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century : Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Katherine Tyler, et al., Emerald Publishing Limited, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/harrisburg-ebooks/detail.action?docID=320647. Created from harrisburg-ebooks on 2020-12-01 07:23:03.

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“local” area, and customers typically interacted with the

assigned salesperson during business hours. Also at this stage,

salespeople were typically product experts who could explain

the attributes and functionality of their products. Due to the

required product expertise, some firms had multiple sales

forces selling different products. Thus, salespeople sold a

product in a specific location during business hours. The

product salesperson was an expert on the output of his or her

own product and product selling, had a relationship with a

key buyer, and did not acquire in-depth knowledge of the

buying organization’s processes. At this stage, two additional types of sales forces emerged.

For some firms, their business customers became larger and

national in scope, and firms created a national account

management sales force – a sales force that could provide

higher levels of service to important customers. Also, a small

number of firms recognized that some sales force functions

can be automated, i.e. did not need the participation of

salespeople. An example is order and payments through mail

systems. Sales automation was not extensively adopted by

firms, as the cost of salespersons and each sales call was low,

allowing firms to develop a sales force for their customers. We

explicate the sales force in Figure 1.

Attributes of the service firm and economy

In the initial stages of services selling and sales management,

the typical product sales force organization was utilized. This

form of sales force became less successful in the context of

service firms and the emergence of the services economy. The

sales force requirements associated with selling of services

posed some special challenges. First, salespeople needed to

use unique sales strategies as business customers perceived a

higher level of variability and uncertainty in the purchase of

services. In addition, the behavior of salespeople influenced

business customers’ perceptions of quality more in a service

setting than in a product context (Crosby et al., 1990).

Second, in contrast to product selling, service selling required

in-depth knowledge of the customer’s processes. The service

salespersons needed to understand how their service

processes matched the processes and desired outcomes of

the buying firm. Therefore, the service salesperson needed to

be a customer expert rather than a service or product expert.

Third, in some cases, the service salesperson was also

responsible for implementation of the service, a requirement

that was not present for product salespersons. The constructs of the persuasion knowledge model and

information asymmetry are discussed next, to further

highlight the nature of services selling.

Persuasion knowledge model

The persuasion knowledge model (PKM) is used to

understand customers’ processing of salespeople’s behavior and presentations (Kirmani and Campbell, 2004; Friestad

and Wright, 1999; Friestad and Wright, 1994). This section utilizes arguments from Sharma (2001), as he also examined a

service situation. Both salespeople and customers develop knowledge regarding persuasion strategies. Customers’

knowledge contains three persuasion elements. These are topic knowledge (e.g. service knowledge), persuasion

knowledge (e.g. message meanings), and agent knowledge

(e.g. characteristics of the salesperson). Customers’ topic knowledge is their level of knowledge of

the service to be provided. Topic knowledge facilitates comprehension of the persuasion message and can be used

to verify the claims that the salesperson is making (Friestad and Wright, 1994). Customers have knowledge about the

goals and actions of salespeople and the actions that customers can take to cope with the persuasion process.

Two coping tactics are discounting and message elaboration (see Friestad and Wright, 1994). Customers feel that the sales

presentation’s information content will likely reflect the

position of the salesperson. Normally, the customer’s own- thought is that the primary purpose of the sales message is to

sell the service. Thus, own-thoughts typically counter the sales message, and discounting of the sales message takes

place. Agent knowledge or salesperson knowledge is also part of

the critical process of persuasion in service settings. The behavior of salespeople influences business customers’

perceptions of quality in most service selling situations (Crosby et al., 1990). The reason is that salesperson behaviors reflect the company’s attitude toward customers and selection and training of employees. Signaling is particularly important

in areas such as services where the quality cannot be observed

(Kirmani and Rao, 2000). Signaling theory also suggests the importance of salespeople’s behavior in the evaluation of a

service as signaling cues. The relevance of signaling may be high due to four reasons

in the services context. First, for services that are experience- or credence-oriented, customers want to reduce the perceived

risk of not choosing the correct service (Jacoby et al., 1971; Olson, 1977). Second, customers are unable to a priori

evaluate quality of experience and credence services (Kirmani and Rao, 2000; Rao and Monroe, 1988). Third, in some

cases, quality is difficult or too time consuming to evaluate

(Allison and Uhl, 1964; Hoch and Ha, 1986). Finally, customers have a need for information (Nelson, 1970) and

signaling is a very relevant cue. Buying of most services would reflect all four conditions to some degree. The behavior of the

salesperson operates as a signal that serves as a heuristic in assessing the quality of offerings being considered for

purchase (see Dawar and Parker, 1994). The context is similar to research that highlights the importance of credence

and intangibility in business-to-business services markets. Salespeople’s behaviors may influence persuasion because

business customers need to interact with salespeople after the

Figure 1 Services sales force circa 1970

The shift in sales organizations in business-to-business services markets

Arun Sharma

Journal of Services Marketing

Volume 21 · Number 5 · 2007 · 326–333

327Business to Business Services - Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century : Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Katherine Tyler, et al., Emerald Publishing Limited, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/harrisburg-ebooks/detail.action?docID=320647. Created from harrisburg-ebooks on 2020-12-01 07:23:03.

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sales interaction. This characteristic, labeled “centrality,”

refers to the role of the salesperson in the business customer’s

marketplace relationship, and is regarded as important by

business customers (Friestad and Wright, 1994). Business

customers feel that their knowledge of salespeople becomes

more important when there are expectations of continued

relationship. For example, business customers may expect to

interact with salespeople during the service design or delivery

process. Similarly, if the service fails to perform to

expectations, business customers need to be able to contact

the salesperson. Finally, salespeople may be seen as a

reflection of the organization, as the behavior of the

salespeople may reflect the subsequent service that will be

available from the company (Friestad and Wright, 1994).

Perceived information asymmetry

The cognitive state of perceived information asymmetry

captures the “knowledge gap” experienced by prospective

customers when they feel less knowledgeable about the service

than the salesperson. The two aspects of information

asymmetry are structural aspects and information processing

aspects.

Structural aspects of perceived information asymmetry Information asymmetry occurs when the service provider

knows – but customers do not – the extent and nature of the

efforts the service provider will expend in delivering the

service (Milgrom and Roberts, 1987; Nayyar and Templeton,

1994). Holmstrom (1984) suggests that output of services is

represented as a mathematical function of the service

providers’: . time and effort; . abilities, training, and education; and . uncertainties under which the service provider operates.

The third element of this model is most interesting in the

context of the paper. For a large number of services (e.g.

legal, financial) the outcome is not known before the

commencement of the service. In cases where the outcome

is known and certain (e.g. flying from point A to point B), the

performance of the service is a reflection of the effort and

ability of the service provider. However, if the outcome is

uncertain, the performance of the service may not be a

reflection of the effort and ability of the service provider.

Thus, customers have no objective method of determining the

effort and ability of a service provider based on their past

performance. As an example, a positive outcome from a tax

appeal may be due to a very strong position, a good tax team,

or both. Information asymmetry exists because of the nature of the

lack of customers’ topic knowledge. In cases where customers

have limited knowledge of a service, customers have no

objective method of verifying the amount of effort that the

service provider plans to expend. As an example, it would be

difficult to verify the service recovery efforts of a firm until a

service failure occurs. Second, unknowledgeable customers

normally have difficulty in evaluating the ability of certain

types of service providers, such as credence-service providers.

For example, firms have difficulty determining the

competency of health maintenance organization (HMO)

networks. Finally, if the outcome is uncertain (e.g. legal

service), service customers need to rely on the service

provider and are unable to determine whether the result (e.g.

winning or losing a lawsuit) is due to the situation or the effort of the service provider.

Information processing aspects of perceived

information asymmetry

Information asymmetry persists even when service sellers disclose “full” information to customers. Customers’ persuasion knowledge may suggest that salespeople will not provide them with full and accurate information because salespeople will withhold information not conducive to obtaining new business. Also, customers may discount the information (positive toward the service provider) provided by salespeople because they believe that salespeople have an ulterior motive in disclosing that information. Discounting is expected to be especially pronounced in

services buying. Business customers have no objective method of verifying service attributes (compared to product attributes). In addition, business customers perceive greater variability and risk in services (Murray and Schlacter, 1990). Variability increases the perceived information asymmetry because business customers do not have the time or opportunity to analyze available service alternatives in detail. The reasons are consistent with Tellis and Gaeth’s (1990) suggestion that information asymmetry is heightened because of: . proliferation of competing brands that increases the cost

of exhaustive search or sampling; . sellers’ biases that are reflected in service evaluations that

they provide; . constant introduction of new services that requires

frequent re-evaluation; and . business customer mobility that requires a reassessment of

services.

In summary, the nature of a service transaction, coupled with the manner in which customers are likely to process information provided by service salespeople, are the underlying reasons for the non-applicability of product- focused sales force in the context of service industries.

Shift in sales organizations

This section highlights the shift in sales force organizations and utilizes trends suggested by Sheth and Sharma (2007). The previous section discussed the reasons why the traditional product-focused sales force was ill suited for the service context. In concert, traditional product-focused organizations were declining due to multiple reasons. First, the rise of multi- channels, specifically in the case of inexpensive and effective channels such as the Internet, was causing firms to reexamine the cost of the traditional sales force. Internet channels are inexpensive when compared to the traditional sales force, as salesperson costs have risen tenfold in the last five decades, now approaching about $3,000 per order in the US. For example, costs of lead generation and qualifying from an Internet site are insignificant when compared to a salesperson performing the same functions. In a similar manner, it costs a firm about $500 when a salesperson receives an order, but the same transaction can be accomplished on the Internet for less than $10. Second, buying firms were moving from a focus on

attribute-based products and services to solution-based products and services. Increasingly more firms are seeking a pay-per-use model (Prasad et al., 2003; Libai et al., 2003). In

The shift in sales organizations in business-to-business services markets

Arun Sharma

Journal of Services Marketing

Volume 21 · Number 5 · 2007 · 326–333

328Business to Business Services - Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century : Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Katherine Tyler, et al., Emerald Publishing Limited, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/harrisburg-ebooks/detail.action?docID=320647. Created from harrisburg-ebooks on 2020-12-01 07:23:03.

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this model, business customers pay for the solution service

that is used. In this context, the role of the salesperson is

changing from that of a service-based expert to a solution- or

customer-based expert. Third, inexpensive and more exhaustive communication

tools such as the internet and email were reducing the need

for salespeople to be primary communicators of service

attributes. Most business service firms have web sites that

provide extensive data on their services. Similarly, most firms have downloadable brochures. In addition, technologies such

as EDI were making ordering automatic, with the result that

some sales processes, such as order taking, have become less

relevant. These environmental shifts have led to changes in the

traditional service-based sales force. Sales organizations are

evolving in two distinct directions (Figure 2). First, there is a

reduction in salespeople’s contact with customers due to enhanced sales automation. Sales automation through

communication technologies such as the Internet and

telephone has reduced costs and in some cases has

enhanced customer satisfaction. Second, due to a solution

and customer-based focus, there is an enhancement in the level of customer contact. For the majority of firms there will

be an increase in the deployment of customer-focused sales

organizations. In these sales organizations, the role of a

salesperson will change from that of a persuasion agent to that

of a consultant and implementation agent to the buying firm. In the case of large customers there is an increase in key

account and global account management teams. In key and

global account management, the role of a salesperson is more

that of a general manager marshalling internal and external

resources for the customer. These forms of sales organizations are discussed next, and descriptions from Sheth and Sharma

(2007) are utilized.

Enhanced sales automation

Sales automation is increasingly prominent in business-to- business services selling. There are multiple reasons for the

growth in sales automation. First, sales automation systems

allow firms to operate 24/7, matching the needs of customers

that increasingly operate in a 24/7 world. Sales automation

also allows customers to deliberate on their decisions, specifically in the context of when the service is co-created

(e.g. payroll services), a process that customer firms prefer.

Second, sales automation reduces errors, as customers input

their requirements directly into an ordering system, bypassing

the error-prone transcription. Third, due to the high costs of

selling, firms are attempting to reduce the cost of sales

through automation. In addition, sales automation allows

firms to focus on their entire service line rather than on the

prominent one or two services that salespeople emphasize.

Automation of information provisioning Almost all business-to-business service firms have internet

sites that provide service specifications and information to

customers. This has reduced the need for salespeople to

provide information to customers (Sharma, 2002; Sharma

and Sheth, 2004). The information that these sites provide

are more detailed than salespeople can provide. When the

information is query-based, i.e. information is tailored to

customer query, the internet is better at instantaneously

providing that type of information. The example of travel sites

is appropriate, as travel agents could provide only a limited

amount of flight information to business travelers, whereas

Internet sites can provide all the information that a customer

may need.

Automation of sales processes Some of the traditional processes of prospecting, qualifying,

and tiering customers are increasingly being done by CRM

software. For example, when a firm contacts a marketing firm,

the caller ID or IP address recognizes the customer and

automatically routes it to the most appropriate personnel in

the sales organization.

Business-to-business selling on the internet This area of business marketing is growing, with expectations

of sales of about $5 trillion in 2005. The arena is dominated

by product firms such as Dell, Cisco, and Grainger. Although

the services sector is expected to be a small part of this

growth, research suggests higher levels of participation (Day

and Bens, 2005).

Reverse auctions and surplus auction sites Reverse auctions have come to the product space where a

buyer opens a fixed-duration bidding event in which multiple

suppliers compete for business. Similarly, auction sites such as

eBay and liquidation.com sell B2B surplus products. The

auction sites currently concentrate on product, but the future

looks bright for services. Since services are perishable, surplus

supply will be a ripe area for auctions.

Decline of the product/service-focused sales force and

rise of the customer-focused sales force

Developing from the traditional sales organizations that were

product-focused, as firms started selling services, the

salespeople became service salespeople. As firms have

become more specialized and need different types of

services, service salespeople have became more customer

experts rather than service experts. The customer-focused

sales organization performed better than the service-focused

sales organization, increasing the movement away from a

service focus. Also, the service focus of both businesses and

sales organizations is changing toward a solution- and

satisfaction-based service model that is being recognized as

the dominant logic in marketing (Vargo and Lusch, 2004).

Therefore, the service focus of salespeople has evolved toward

a customer- or solution-based service focus that may not

include even the firm’s product, as in the case of IBM.

Figure 2 Services sales force circa 2005

The shift in sales organizations in business-to-business services markets

Arun Sharma

Journal of Services Marketing

Volume 21 · Number 5 · 2007 · 326–333

329Business to Business Services - Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century : Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Katherine Tyler, et al., Emerald Publishing Limited, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/harrisburg-ebooks/detail.action?docID=320647. Created from harrisburg-ebooks on 2020-12-01 07:23:03.

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The shift toward solution selling has changed the role of a salesperson from a spokesperson for the firm’s services to that of a consultant for the buying firm. This involves salespeople being solution experts and seeking solutions for the customer firm (Hannan, 1995; Liu and Leach, 2001). In fact, earlier research has suggested that an expected evolution from product selling to solution selling (customer-focused sales force) to trusted partner will take place (Sharma et al., 1999).

Enhancement in global account management (GAM)

and key account management (KAM)

National account management has evolved into key account management and global account management. National firms have become global firms that necessitated the conversion of national account management teams to global account management teams. In the case of national accounts, firms classified some of their accounts as being critical to the firm and labeled these accounts key accounts, and developed a sales force that they labeled as key account management sales force. Customers also like key and global account sales forces, as 80 percent of purchasing managers are already working with suppliers who have key account programs, and 74 percent see their contact with their key account suppliers increasing for strategic reasons (Napolitano, 1997). The growth of global account management has been wide, and has drawn increased interest in academic research (e.g. Millman, 1996; Arnold et al., 2001; Harvey et al., 2003; Wilson and Millman, 2003; Shi et al., 2005).

Shift in personal selling and sales management

The focus of the paper is also on examining the shifts in sales force that will address the needs of business-to-business service customers and the implications of the evolution on practice. In this section, the changes in personal selling and sales management associated with shifts in sales organizations are discussed. Some exemplars are provided in Table I.

Selection and training

In traditional organizations, salespeople were selected based on their ability to sell products and services. Consultative selling requires salespeople that are problem-solvers rather than persuaders. There will be a shift from the use of charisma and aggressiveness, to customer understanding and the ability to provide high levels of customer service (Sharma, 2000). Sales organizations also seek salespeople who can adapt

their communications based on customers’ needs and wants. Some salespeople are better at adapting sales presentations, and these salespeople have higher levels of performance

(Sujan et al., 1988a, b; Leong et al., 1989; Szymanski and

Churchill, 1990; Sujan et al., 1991; Sharma et al., 2000).

Research has demonstrated that experience and education

lead to higher levels of adaptiveness (Levy and Sharma,

1994). Finally, the kind of salespeople selected should

demonstrate high levels of effort with regard to satisfying

the needs of customers. Effort has been shown to enhance

performance (Morales, 2005; Sharma and Stafford, 2000). With regard to training, salespeople need to be trained to be

better problem solvers and to be more adaptive. Both shifts

require an increase in the richness of salespeople’s knowledge

structures. Knowledge structures contain information about

customers and how to address their needs. Training should

involve teaching salespeople to categorize consumers based on

consumers’ needs and wants. Categorization can be aided by

market research reports and expert salespeople (Sujan et al.,

1988a). Specific sales presentations for different consumer

categories can also be developed with the help of expert

salespeople, marketing research reports, and experimental

research. This training leads to adaptations in a salesperson’s

actual sales behavior (Weitz et al., 1986; Sujan et al., 1988a).

Adaptation had been regarded as critical in business

relationships (Johanson et al., 1991; Brennan and Turnbull,

1999; Brennan et al., 2003; Ford et al., 2003). Salespeople also need to be more accurate about their

customers. In training terms, first, salespeople and managers

should be provided with market research information about

their customers (Sujan et al., 1988a). Another method of

increasing the accuracy of salespeople is to schedule

customer-salespeople meetings that evaluate the

performance of the marketing firm. These meetings provide

valuable feedback to the customers, as well as informing

salespeople about the performance of the company. Finally,

continuous training to improve questioning and listening skills

can increase the accuracy of salespeople.

Evaluation and compensation

In the era of consultative selling, both evaluation and

compensation systems will need to change. For evaluation,

traditional sales quota will need to be enhanced with a profit

component and an indicator of customer satisfaction. In that

context, salespeople’s incentives need to be based on sales

growth, profit growth, and customer satisfaction. This

compensation would be in the spirit of a balanced scorecard

(Sharma, 1997).

Table I Examples of shifts in personal selling and sales management in business-to-business services

Personal selling and sales management Traditional sales organization Emerging sales organization

Salesperson selection (key attributes) Persuasion agents Problem solvers/relationship managers

Additional salespeople skills Hunter (get new customers) Farmer (implementation of solutions)

Information provisioning Salesperson Internet, salesperson

Client selection (prospecting/qualifying) Salesperson CRM, internet, salesperson

Key metrics for salespeople Sales Profitability, satisfaction, loyalty

Sales managers Supervise salespeople Maintain customer relationships

Internal marketing requirements No Critical

Compensation Salary þ sales commission Salary only or salary þ profit commission þ satisfaction commission

The shift in sales organizations in business-to-business services markets

Arun Sharma

Journal of Services Marketing

Volume 21 · Number 5 · 2007 · 326–333

330Business to Business Services - Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century : Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Katherine Tyler, et al., Emerald Publishing Limited, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/harrisburg-ebooks/detail.action?docID=320647. Created from harrisburg-ebooks on 2020-12-01 07:23:03.

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Managerial implications

This paper discusses the expected changes in sales

organization in business-to-business services and

demonstrates that sales organizations associated with

business service markets have changed and continue to

change. The paper suggests that the traditional sales

organization – service-focused sales organization is

declining. In contrast, sales automation, customer-focused

sales organizations, and global and key account management

organizations are increasing. The relevant managerial question that arises is how

managers should plan for these changes. In order to address

the issue, a model is developed that will allow firms to

examine the direction of their sales force (Figure 3). We first

divide the market based on the development, in that the needs

are predominantly service-based or solution-based. The

conceptual distinction has been previously discussed.

Clearly, solution-based needs require a customer-focused

sales force, whereas service-based needs can be met through a

traditional service-focused sales force. The second dimension

is type of service – search (e.g. on-time delivery for DHL),

experience (e.g. airline service), and credence (e.g. legal).

Search services require little customer focus, whereas

credence services require higher levels of customer focus.

There are six cells and we discuss strategy based on type of

service.

Search services

In search services, it is expected that most sales processes in

business-to-business services markets will move toward

automation for both solution and services marketplaces.

The reason is that search service attributes can be easily

presented in an automated information provisioning platform.

Since search services gravitate toward price parity, a reduction

in costs will be the desired outcome. In the case of the

solution marketplace, there may be a need for salespeople, in

which case the customer-focused sales force will be deployed.

Experience services

Experience services require a higher level of interaction before

consumption. We expect the primary means of

communication in business-to-business services market will

be through the sales force. The only difference is that in the

service-dominated marketplace, the traditional service-

focused sales force will be used. In contrast, in a solution-

dominated marketplace, the customer-focused sales force will

be used. Both markets will use sales automation to insource

some routine sales tasks.

Credence services

Credence services require a very high level of interaction

before consumption. We expect the primary means of

communication in business-to-business services market will

be through the traditional global and key account

management teams. For the smaller accounts, different

tactics will be used. In the service-dominated marketplace,

the traditional service-focused sales force will be used. In

contrast, in a solution-dominated marketplace, the customer-

focused sales force will be used.

Limitations

The paper develops expectations of sales force changes, but

these changes are based on extant literature and practice.

There are reasons for empirically examining these

expectations. In addition, most case studies in this paper are

US and Western Europe-based. There is a need to extend the

models to developing countries and even to some developed

countries in Asia. Finally, the model expects the technology

changes to take place and the markets to be more open.

Models with violations of these assumptions also need to be

examined.

References

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The shift in sales organizations in business-to-business services markets

Arun Sharma

Journal of Services Marketing

Volume 21 · Number 5 · 2007 · 326–333

331Business to Business Services - Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century : Multiple Markets and Multi-Disciplinary Perspectives for the Twenty-First Century, edited by Katherine Tyler, et al., Emerald Publishing Limited, 2007. ProQuest Ebook Central, http://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/harrisburg-ebooks/detail.action?docID=320647. Created from harrisburg-ebooks on 2020-12-01 07:23:03.

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