Key Accounts and Team Selling: A Review, Framework, and Research Agenda

As sales organizations increase their reliance on sales teams, they must learn how organizational and interpersonal relationships influence sales teams, how sales teams play a learning role for organizations, and what makes sales teams effective. Presenting a model of interrelationships among members of the selling firm and between the selling and buying firms, we identify five key team selling relationships between (1) members of the same team, (2) members of different teams within the firm, (3) the selling team and the buying center, (4) the selling team and other groups in the selling firm, and (5) the selling team and the firm’s strategy. This model leads to a conceptual framework highlighting relationship drivers, factors, and outcomes instrumental to team selling success. After presenting propositions for future research, theoretical and methodological suggestions are included to facilitate research in this area. We conclude with perspectives on the future of research and practice in key accounts and team selling.

[1]  S. Ray,et al.  Corporate Entrepreneurship: How? , 2006 .

[2]  Steven P. Brown,et al.  The Changing Environment of Selling and Sales Management , 2005 .

[3]  Das Narayandas,et al.  Building and Sustaining Buyer–Seller Relationships in Mature Industrial Markets , 2004 .

[4]  James A. Roberts,et al.  Organizational variables, sales force perceptions of readiness for change, learning, and performance among boundary-spanning teams: A conceptual framework and propositions for research , 2004 .

[5]  Jukka Ojasalo,et al.  Key network management , 2004 .

[6]  P.H.M. Sins,et al.  The influence of goal orientation and self-efficacy on the quality of cognitive processes during a computer-based modeling task , 2004 .

[7]  Andreas Eggert,et al.  Key Account Managers' Role Within the Value Creation Process of Collaborative Relationships , 2003 .

[8]  J. Bonache,et al.  Assessing the team environment for knowledge sharing: an empirical analysis , 2003 .

[9]  Nigel F. Piercy,et al.  Transformation of the Traditional Salesforce: Imperatives for Intelligence, Interface and Integration , 2003 .

[10]  Jule B. Gassenheimer,et al.  Identifying the Lone Wolf: A Team Perspective , 2003 .

[11]  T. Millman,et al.  The global account manager as political entrepreneur , 2003 .

[12]  P. Senge.  The Leader’s New Work: Building Learning Organizations , 2003 .

[13]  Christian Homburg,et al.  Intraorganizational determinants of key account management effectiveness , 2003 .

[14]  David A. Garvin,et al.  Creating a Learning Organization , 2003 .

[15]  Jukka Ojasalo,et al.  Key Account Management in information-intensive services , 2002 .

[16]  R. Abratt,et al.  Customer–supplier partnerships: Perceptions of a successful key account management program , 2002 .

[17]  Terry L. Boles,et al.  The role of personality in task and relationship conflict. , 2002, Journal of personality.

[18]  Christian Homburg,et al.  A Configurational Perspective on Key Account Management , 2002 .

[19]  Kenneth R. Evans,et al.  Strategic Collaborative Communication by Key Account Representatives , 2002 .

[20]  Jule B. Gassenheimer,et al.  Bridging the Distance Between Us: How Initial Responses to Sales Team Conflict Help Shape Core Selling Team Outcomes , 2002 .

[21]  A. Carrón,et al.  Team cohesion and team success in sport , 2002, Journal of sports sciences.

[22]  Omar N. Toulan,et al.  Can Selling Be Globalized? The Pitfalls of Global Account Management , 2001 .

[23]  A. Carrón,et al.  Role Ambiguity, Task Cohesion, and Task Self-Efficacy , 2001 .

[24]  Omar N. Toulan,et al.  Global Account Management in Multinational Corporations: Theory and Evidence , 2001 .

[25]  Greg W. Marshall,et al.  Research Priorities in Sales Strategy and Performance , 2001 .

[26]  Joseph P. Cannon,et al.  Buyer–Supplier Relationships and Customer Firm Costs , 2001 .

[27]  O. Jensen.  Key-Account-Management , 2001 .

[28]  E.,et al.  GROUPS : INTERACTION AND PERFORMANCE , 2001 .

[29]  J. Ruiz Moreno.  [Organizational learning]. , 2001, Revista de enfermeria.

[30]  Christian Homburg,et al.  Fundamental changes in marketing organization: The movement toward a customer-focused organizational structure , 2000 .

[31]  Jorge F. S. Gomes,et al.  Critical success factors for cross‐functional teamwork in new product development , 2000 .

[32]  Rajesh Sethi.  New Product Quality and Product Development Teams , 2000 .

[33]  Charles S. Madden,et al.  Replications and Extensions in Marketing and Management Research , 2000 .

[34]  L. Eby,et al.  Perceptions of Organizational Readiness for Change: Factors Related to Employees' Reactions to the Implementation of Team-Based Selling , 2000 .

[35]  Joseph P. Cannon,et al.  Buyer–Seller Relationships in Business Markets , 1999 .

[36]  Catherine Pardo,et al.  Key account management in the business‐to‐business field: a French overview , 1999 .

[37]  Avan R. Jassawalla,et al.  Building collaborative cross-functional new product teams , 1999 .

[38]  A. Edmondson.  Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams , 1999 .

[39]  Alfred M. Pelham.  Influence of Environment, Strategy, and Market Orientation on Performance in Small Manufacturing Firms , 1999 .

[40]  Steven P. Brown,et al.  The Influence of Goal Orientation and Self-Regulation Tactics on Sales Performance: A Longitudinal Field Test , 1999 .

[41]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  Personal selling and sales management: A relationship marketing perspective , 1999 .

[42]  Scott m. Widmier,et al.  Examining the Use of Team Selling by Manufacturers’ Representatives , 1999 .

[43]  D. Strutton,et al.  Effects of Ingratiation on Lateral Relationship Quality within Sales Team Settings , 1998 .

[44]  Gary S. Lynn,et al.  New Product Team Learning: Developing and Profiting from Your Knowledge Capital , 1998 .

[45]  M. McDonald,et al.  Key Account Management: Learning from supplier and customer perspectives , 1998 .

[46]  Greg W. Marshall,et al.  Selling and Sales Management in Action: The Role of Strategic Selling in the Company Turnaround Process , 1998, Journal of Personal Selling & Sales Management.

[47]  P. Dishman,et al.  National Accounts Revisited , 1998 .

[48]  A. Griffin.  PDMA Research on New Product Development Practices: Updating Trends and Benchmarking Best Practices , 1997 .

[49]  S. G. Cohen,et al.  What Makes Teams Work: Group Effectiveness Research from the Shop Floor to the Executive Suite , 1997 .

[50]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Product quality: Impact of interdepartmental interactions , 1997 .

[51]  V. Marsick,et al.  Teams as Learners , 1997 .

[52]  Tsuneo Nakahara,et al.  Innovation in a Borderless World Economy , 1997 .

[53]  Douglas J. Ayers,et al.  An Exploratory Investigation of Organizational Antecedents to New Product Success , 1997 .

[54]  D. W. Barclay,et al.  The Effects of Organizational Differences and Trust on the Effectiveness of Selling Partner Relationships , 1997 .

[55]  M. Saren,et al.  Building relationship platforms in consumer markets: a value chain approach , 1997 .

[56]  T. Millman.  Global key account management and systems selling , 1996 .

[57]  Robert G. Cooper,et al.  Overhauling the new product process , 1996 .

[58]  David Lei,et al.  Dynamic Core Competences through Meta-Learning and Strategic Context , 1996 .

[59]  George S. Yip,et al.  Global account management: the new frontier in relationship marketing , 1996 .

[60]  James S. Boles,et al.  What national account decision makers would tell salespeople about building relationships , 1996 .

[61]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Clarifying the Entrepreneurial Orientation Construct and Linking It To Performance , 1996 .

[62]  S. Gross,et al.  Reinforcing Team Effectiveness Through Pay , 1995 .

[63]  John C. Narver,et al.  Market Orientation and the Learning Organization , 1995 .

[64]  Susan Albers Mohrman,et al.  Designing Team-Based Organizations: New Forms for Knowledge Work , 1995 .

[65]  K. Eisenhardt,et al.  PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT: PAST RESEARCH, PRESENT FINDINGS, AND FUTURE DIRECTIONS , 1995 .

[66]  S. McKenna.  Moving a business forward through team learning , 1995 .

[67]  David E. McNabb,et al.  Culture, Climate, and Total Quality Management: Measuring Readiness for Change , 1995 .

[68]  Laura B. Cardinal,et al.  Strategic Planning and Firm Performance: A Synthesis of More Than Two Decades of Research , 1994 .

[69]  M. Thibodeaux,et al.  Organizational Design for Self‐managed Teams , 1994 .

[70]  R. M. Monczka,et al.  Effective Cross-Functional Sourcing Teams: Critical Success Factors , 1994 .

[71]  C. Baden‐Fuller,et al.  Creating corporate entrepreneurship , 1994 .

[72]  Glenn M. Parker.  Cross Functional Teams: Working with Allies, Enemies, and Other Strangers , 1994 .

[73]  James S. Boles,et al.  Revitalizing Your National Account Marketing Program , 1994 .

[74]  Gerald E. Ledford,et al.  The Effectiveness of Self-Managing Teams: A Quasi-Experiment , 1994 .

[75]  L. Stern,et al.  Conducting Interorganizational Research Using Key Informants , 1993 .

[76]  Gina J. Medsker,et al.  RELATIONS BETWEEN WORK GROUP CHARACTERISTICS AND EFFECTIVENESS: IMPLICATIONS FOR DESIGNING EFFECTIVE WORK GROUPS , 1993 .

[77]  A. Donnellon.  Crossfunctional Teams in Product Development: Accommodating the Structure to the Process , 1993 .

[78]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Markor: A Measure of Market Orientation , 1993 .

[79]  H. P. Sims,et al.  Business Without Bosses: How Self-Managing Teams Are Building High- Performing Companies , 1993 .

[80]  J. Pinto,et al.  Antecedents and consequences of project team cross-functional cooperation , 1993 .

[81]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market Orientation: Antecedents and Consequences , 1993 .

[82]  Ruth Butler,et al.  Effects of task- and ego-achievement goals on information seeking during task engagement , 1993 .

[83]  Shaker A. Zahra,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Entrepreneurship as Firm Behavior: A Critique and Extension , 1993 .

[84]  John W. Henke,et al.  Cross-Functional Teams: Good Concept, Poor Implementation! , 1993 .

[85]  E. Salas,et al.  Application of cognitive, skill-based, and affective theories of learning outcomes to new methods of training evaluation. , 1993 .

[86]  J. L. Naman,et al.  Entrepreneurship and the concept of fit: A model and empirical tests , 1993 .

[87]  D. W. Barclay,et al.  Team Selling Effectiveness , 1993 .

[88]  J. Farley,et al.  Corporate Culture, Customer Orientation, and Innovativeness in Japanese Firms: A Quadrad Analysis , 1993 .

[89]  Zenas Block,et al.  Corporate Venturing: Creating New Businesses Within the Firm , 1993 .

[90]  Gareth R. Jones,et al.  Managing Internal Corporate Entrepreneurship: An Agency Theory Perspective , 1992 .

[91]  Jon R. Katzenbach,et al.  The Wisdom of Teams: Creating the High-Performance Organization , 1992 .

[92]  R. E. Miles,et al.  Causes of Failure in Network Organizations , 1992 .

[93]  J. Pels.  Identification and Management of Key Clients , 1992 .

[94]  G. Day.  Continuous Learning about Markets , 1992 .

[95]  Frank V. Cespedes.  Once more: How do you improve customer service? , 1992 .

[96]  David Wilemon,et al.  Successful new product team leaders , 1992 .

[97]  J. F. Volkwein,et al.  The Cultural Approach to the Formation of Organizational Climate , 1992 .

[98]  Barton A. Weitz,et al.  Selling: Building Partnerships , 1992 .

[99]  D. Slevin,et al.  A Conceptual Model of Entrepreneurship as Firm Behavior , 1991 .

[100]  C. Prahalad,et al.  Corporate imagination and expeditionary marketing. , 1991, Harvard business review.

[101]  E. Schein.  Organizational Culture and Leadership , 1991 .

[102]  W. Souder,et al.  An information transfer model for integrating marketing and R&D Personnel in new product development projects , 1990 .

[103]  Bernard J. Jaworski,et al.  Market Orientation: The Construct, Research Propositions, and Managerial Implications , 1990 .

[104]  Jan B. Heide,et al.  ALLIANCES IN INDUSTRIAL PURCHASING - THE DETERMINANTS OF JOINT ACTION IN BUYER-SUPPLIER RELATIONSHIPS , 1990 .

[105]  David B. Balkin,et al.  Effectiveness of Individual and Aggregate Compensation Strategies , 1989 .

[106]  Rosabeth Moss Kanter,et al.  Swimming in Newstreams: Mastering Innovation Dilemmas , 1989 .

[107]  Hollister B. Sykes,et al.  Corporate venturing obstacles: Sources and solutions , 1989 .

[108]  David M. Szymanski.  Determinants of selling effectiveness: The importance of declarative knowledge to the personal selling concept. , 1988 .

[109]  F. Dwyer,et al.  Developing Buyer-Seller Relationships , 1987 .

[110]  Gregory G. Dess,et al.  Environment, Structure, and Consensus in Strategy Formulation: A Conceptual Integration , 1987 .

[111]  Robert W. Ruekert,et al.  Marketing's Interaction with Other Functional Units: A Conceptual Framework and Empirical Evidence , 1987 .

[112]  J. Hackman,et al.  The design of work teams , 1987 .

[113]  John Barrett.  Why major account selling works , 1986 .

[114]  M. Hitt,et al.  Corporate distinctive competence, strategy, industry and performance , 1985 .

[115]  William D. Todor,et al.  Relationships Between Leader Reward and Punishment Behavior and Group Processes and Productivity , 1985 .

[116]  Raymond P. Fisk,et al.  Theory construction in marketing : some thoughts on thinking , 1984 .

[117]  David J. Miller,et al.  The Correlates of Entrepreneurship in Three Types of Firms , 1983 .

[118]  D. Hambrick.  Some tests of the effectiveness and functional attributes of Miles and Snow's strategic types. , 1983, Academy of Management journal. Academy of Management.

[119]  Douglas N. Behrman,et al.  Measuring the performance of industrial salespersons , 1982 .

[120]  John E. G. Bateson,et al.  Exploring Complex Decision Making Units: A New Approach , 1982 .

[121]  R. Katz.  The Effects of Group Longevity on Project Communication and Performance. , 1982 .

[122]  Benson P. Shapiro,et al.  National account management : emerging insights , 1982 .

[123]  R. Guzzo.  Improving group decision making in organizations : approaches from theory and research , 1982 .

[124]  L. Phillips.  Assessing Measurement Error in Key Informant Reports: A Methodological Note on Organizational Analysis in Marketing , 1981 .

[125]  M. Tushman.  Work Characteristics and Subunit Communication Structure: A Contingency Analysis. , 1979 .

[126]  Wesley J. Johnston,et al.  The social psychology of industrial buying and selling , 1978 .

[127]  T. G. Cummings.  Self-Regulating Work Groups: A Socio-Technical Synthesis , 1978 .

[128]  D. Herold.  Improving the Performance Effectiveness of Groups Through a Task-Contingent Selection of Intervention Strategies , 1978 .

[129]  Jay R. Galbraith,et al.  Strategy implementation : the role of structure and process , 1978 .

[130]  R Leifer,et al.  Organizational/environmental interchange: a model of boundary spanning activity. , 1978, Academy of management review. Academy of Management.

[131]  Gilbert A. Churchill,et al.  Motivation and performance in industrial selling: Present knowledge and needed research. , 1977 .

[132]  Brian Sternthal,et al.  Managing Conflict in Distribution Channels: A Laboratory Study , 1973 .

[133]  Rolf P. Lynton,et al.  Linking an Innovative Subsystem into the System. , 1969 .

[134]  W. McWhinney,et al.  Organizational Form, Decision Modalities And The Environment , 1968 .

[135]  A. Strauss,et al.  The Discovery of Grounded Theory , 1967 .

[136]  James D. Thompson.  Organizations in Action , 1967 .

[137]  Warren B. Brown,et al.  Systems, Boundaries, and Information Flow , 1966 .

[138]  Sol Levine,et al.  Exchange as a Conceptual Framework for the Study of Interorganizational Relationships , 1961 .

[139]  F. W. Irwin,et al.  Motivation and performance. , 1961, Annual review of psychology.