‘It's almost like taking the sales out of selling’—Towards a conceptualization of value-based selling in business markets

Contract functions in service exchange governance: evidence from logistics outsourcing

“…Codification of service activities, resources and performance levels is more accurate and 'stable' when partners have already developed good understanding of service operations realities and one another's requirements, rather than when such knowledge is absent and the counterparts rely on invalid assumptions to specify and design service delivery (Terho et al 2012;Tuli et al 2007). However, it is recognised that broader roles and responsibilities of the counterparts can also be codified during prolonged contracting processes, even when there is limited relational experience .…”

Local and regional energy companies offering energy services: Key activities and implications for the business model

“…1), they also began to engage more actively with their customers' internal processes. In this, the transition from providing input to a process (with more passive customers) and promising output from a process may create challenges because of the differences between the product and the service perspectives on value creation (Grönroos and Ravald, 2011;Terho et al, 2012), as well as the instilling of trust in the customers. One customer argued that the main "barrier to buying energy services is the fear of letting go of our own control."…”

Making value co-creation a reality – exploring the co-creative value processes in customer–salesperson interaction

“…These approaches enable salespeople to not only act as partners and relationship managers for a customer, but also to co-operate with the latter to identify their explicit and latent needs. As the salesperson acquires an in-depth understanding of the customers' processes, they are able to help craft a market offering that has the potential to engender both value-in-use and value-in-exchange for the benefit of the buyer (Terho et al, 2012;Tuli, Kohli, & Bharadwaj, 2007).…”

“…However, the specific function of salespeople in joint value realisation and the actual processes they are involved in remain unclear (Blocker et al, 2012;Corsaro & Snehota, 2010;Terho et al, 2012). Our study adds to marketing management thought by advancing the co-creation of valuein-use from its current conceptual state towards understanding how it can be achieved in reality.…”

“…Our conceptualisation also extends the service co-creation framework of Hilton, Hughes and Chalcraft (2012), as well as the insights into co-creative practices outlined by Kowalkowski et al (2012), by making the precise roles of the actors involved in co-creation more palpable. These refinements are highly relevant as, in many service industries, salespeople have evolved from being mere sales makers into consultative value co-creators and partners, who act as the customer's advisor and main contact person throughout their entire service experience (Terho, Haas, Eggert, & Ulaga, 2012;Weitz & Bradford, 1999). This particularly applies to professional service contexts in which the 'salesperson' also delivers the service itself, such as lawyers, real estate agents, financial advisers and travel agents.…”