TY - CHAP
T1 - Exploring the Deliberate and Creative Problem Solving Routines of Business-to-Business Salespeople in the Context of Solution Selling
T2 - A Conceptual Framework
AU - Madhavaram, Sreedhar
AU - Badrinarayanan, Vishag
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2015, Academy of Marketing Science.
PY - 2015
Y1 - 2015
N2 - The provision of innovative solutions has been recently identified as one of the five under-researched areas that are vital to sales performance. Specifically in business-to-business markets, very little research exists on the mechanisms employed by salespeople in solving customer problems and providing appropriate solutions. Although management and marketing academics have long been studying the problem solving skills of managers that can help in facilitating specific managerial activities, research efforts with reference to problem solving and personal selling and sales management are very limited. In recent times, sales researchers have begun to introduce the concept of problem solving into sales literature. However, in the context of business-to-business salespeople, there is no systematic research on creative and deliberate problem solving. That is, there is no research that addresses the potential firm-level and individual-level antecedents of creative and deliberate problem solving routines of business-to-business salespeople. Similarly, there is no research that addresses the issue of potential consequences of creative and deliberate problem solving routines. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a conceptual framework and corresponding propositions that detail the potential antecedents and consequences of the creative and deliberate problem solving routines of business-to-business salespeople in the context of solution selling. This is an important research topic that can inform business-to-business organizations on how they can improve the creative and deliberate problem solving routines of salespeople and firm performance in the context of solution selling.
AB - The provision of innovative solutions has been recently identified as one of the five under-researched areas that are vital to sales performance. Specifically in business-to-business markets, very little research exists on the mechanisms employed by salespeople in solving customer problems and providing appropriate solutions. Although management and marketing academics have long been studying the problem solving skills of managers that can help in facilitating specific managerial activities, research efforts with reference to problem solving and personal selling and sales management are very limited. In recent times, sales researchers have begun to introduce the concept of problem solving into sales literature. However, in the context of business-to-business salespeople, there is no systematic research on creative and deliberate problem solving. That is, there is no research that addresses the potential firm-level and individual-level antecedents of creative and deliberate problem solving routines of business-to-business salespeople. Similarly, there is no research that addresses the issue of potential consequences of creative and deliberate problem solving routines. Therefore, in this paper, we develop a conceptual framework and corresponding propositions that detail the potential antecedents and consequences of the creative and deliberate problem solving routines of business-to-business salespeople in the context of solution selling. This is an important research topic that can inform business-to-business organizations on how they can improve the creative and deliberate problem solving routines of salespeople and firm performance in the context of solution selling.
KW - Conceptual Framework
KW - Firm Performance
KW - Innovative Solution
KW - Sales Management
KW - Systematic Research
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85125066884&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-10951-0_232
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-10951-0_232
M3 - Chapter
AN - SCOPUS:85125066884
T3 - Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science
SP - 635
BT - Developments in Marketing Science
PB - Springer Nature
ER -