How the introduction of digital sales channels affects salespeople in business-to-business contexts: a qualitative inquiry

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.