Sales Force Agility, Strategic Thinking, and Value Propositions

Chonko, Larry; Jones, Eleri

doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199569458.003.0019

Cited by 1 publication

(2 citation statements)

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“…Training is always useful, but to have an agile salesforce, it is easier to start with a salesperson who already has the agile selling mentality and abilities. Since responding requires the flexibility to leave the beaten path to craft new value propositions (Chonko and Jones, 2011), managers should look for creativity during the hiring process.…”

Section: Exploiting Changes As Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Salesforce responsive roles in turbulent times: case studies in agility selling

Bourguignon

Boeck

Alejandro

2021

JBIM

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Purpose Salespeople are at the forefront of the external environment where they act as the first responders to critical events and their resulting business turbulence. How the salesforce responds to turbulence is, therefore, of great interest both theoretically and in practice. The paper aims to rekindle interest in agility selling, which is the most adequate behavioral sales model to exploit environmental uncertainty. Design/methodology/approach An organizational autoethnography complemented with data from in-depth interviews with key salespeople involved in turbulence resulted in the development of eight case studies. Findings Salespeople use agility selling through four possible responsive roles. They amplify, innovate, cooperate or mitigate turbulence to exploit its ensuing opportunity or minimize its negative effect for both the supplier and the customer. The article enhances the agility selling model by putting three core abilities in the forefront: (1) forecasting turbulence from critical events, (2) responding to changes quickly and adequately and (3) exploiting changes as opportunities. Research limitations/implications The article argues that critical events are the cause of the turbulence that the salesforce must deal with before it hits the dyad. Agility selling represents an untapped research opportunity in business-to-business sales, and sales management, as well as within the overall agile organization. Practical implications Sales organizations would greatly benefit in implementing training of agility selling’s core abilities because responsiveness is a valuable tool for salespeople in times of turbulence. Originality/value The study is the first to empirically demonstrate the existence of agility selling.

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Section: Exploiting Changes As Opportunitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…They take advantage of them and perceive them to be opportunities. Agile “salespeople and sales organizations are willing to consider new evidence, change direction, and consider adjustments to strategy, offering new value propositions in light of new or anticipated customer developments” (Chonko and Jones, 2011, p. 2).…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%