Persisting changes in sales due to global pandemic challenges

Abstract

The global health pandemic triggered many challenges for businesses and society, forcing organizations and salespeople alike to pivot, alter their sales strategies, accelerate their digital transformation, and adjust to a ‘new norm’ going forward. Since some of the changes wrought by the pandemic are likely to persist into the post pandemic era, we asked the questions, how has personal selling and sales management been transformed? What have we learned? And where do we go from here? We identified trends, which we categorized into six broader themes, including sales strategy, sales force design, technology, leadership, salesperson wellness, and customer engagement. Each broader theme includes multiple future research questions on sub-topics such as internationalization, risk management, sales enablement, artificial intelligence, motivation, ethics, mental health concerns, buyer-seller relationships, and more. We first begin by highlighting current research in the field and end with these future research directions to inspire ongoing investigations that will inform and transform both scholarship and practice.