Customer-centric sales organizations

Abstract

Selling practices have shifted from being product- to customer-centric in nature. Moreover, the adoption of digital technologies has significantly reshaped the business environment. A comprehensive review of sales organization studies suggests a transition from a reliance on traditional, outside sales forces to the use of inside sales personnel, forming hybrid sales structures that accommodate online methods of buyer–seller interaction and leverage technological advances in sales automation and business intelligence to boost sales performance. We present a model that captures the relationship between customers and sales organizations in the Internet era, incorporating three key factors: (1) Integration of inside sales, outside sales, and the online channel in one system that enables effective and seamless collaboration, (2) Interactions between customers and various contact points including salesforce and digital channels, and (3) Innovation through sales-aided customer-centric technologies such as customer relationship management and sales automation tools.