The role of lead management systems in inside sales performance

Abstract

Understanding how the use of IT influences the performance of inside sales is imperative, yet there is a lack of research in this area. This study empirically validates a conceptual model based on the Technology-Task-Fit theory, capturing the impact of lead management systems (LMS) on inside sales performance through the following mediators: task characteristics (call quantity and lead follow-up intensity), selling behavior (adaptive selling), and salesperson characteristics (technical and salesmanship skills). Using PLS-SEM on 108 responses collected from sales professionals, our analysis shows that the use of LMS in inside sales affects performance via improving salespeople's adaptive selling and lead follow-up intensity, technical and salesmanship skills; together these variables explain over a half (55%) of the variance of sales performance. Our findings aim to inform academics and practitioners on the key enablers of inside sales performance and IT usage approaches that can optimize marketing output in the inside sales industry.