Salesmanship Skills in COVID-19 Times

Abstract

The activities that depend on direct interaction with the customers were the most affected by COVID-19's restrictions. These include the activities developed by salespeople. This study aims to analyse the impact of salesmanship skills on sales strategy implementation and salesperson performance during the COVID-19 crisis. To achieve the research objective, the authors collected a set of data through a survey (n=517) to test a proposed conceptual model based on the literature. The findings of the study demonstrate that the salesmanship skills are an important resource in highly disruptive environments and impacts sales strategy implementation and salesperson performance. In addition, the study also reveals the important role of digital skills and intrinsic motivation during COVID-19 times. The results attained can be used as a guide to design an effective strategy for sales activities in adverse times.