Can New Product Selling and Innovation in Sales Be Improved by Using Internal Marketing and Empowerment?

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of internal marketing and empowerment on new product selling and sales innovativeness. The link between sales innovativeness and new product selling was studied as well. Design/Methodology/Approach – Data was collected through a questionnaire aimed at sales professionals. PLS structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the data. Findings and implications – The results show that internal marketing (IM) and empowerment positively affect new product selling and sales innovativeness. A link between sales innovativeness and new product selling was not found. The current study highlights new relationships among different constructs (e.g. internal marketing, empowerment, new product selling and innovativeness) in the sales context. Due to the above-mentioned linkages, top, sales and new product development managers can plan internal marketing activities and empower their salesforce, thus gaining better new product commercialization and enhancing their innovativeness. Limitations – The current study has few limitations. Due to the survey sample size, it was not tested for unobserved heterogeneity. With regard to the link between sales innovativeness and new product selling, it would be recommended to include moderator and mediator variables. Other antecedents of new product selling and sales innovativeness should be investigated as well. Originality – The paper identifies the relationships among constructs in the sales context which, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, have not been subject of previous research and have received limited attention in the literature.