The digitalization through technology with contemporary indicators of sales performance has become crucial in B2B sales and there is an interesting research opening in the need to specifically include this issue when studying sales performancés indicators. The purpose of this study is therefore to frame B2B sales digitalization through technology by means of contemporary indicators of sales performance in services firms.
Based on a questionnaire survey and deductive approach, a total of 389 questionnaires out of 732 were returned targeting Norwegian service companies, generating a response rate of 53.1%. Multivariate analysis based on an exploratory factor analysis has been done. The factor analysis consists of 39 items with three items per dimension. The principal component method is applied to reveal the pattern in the factor solution. An orthogonal approach (Varimax rotation) is applied to rotate the factor solution.
Reports an extended framework of salesforce performance indicators based on contemporary indicators, such as skill, motivation, role perception, aptitude, organizational and environmental issues and adding digitalization through technology, which has acquired a high relevance recently.
Reveals the importance of the digitalization era and technology as a key indicator and broadens the validity and reliability of findings reported in previous studies and demonstrates their relevance and applicability to services firms that have rarely been assessed in terms of sales force performance indicators. Provides opportunities for future studies.
The research offers firms guidance on nontechnological and digitalization factors to consider for improving sales performance. This study verifies the relevance of salesforce performance indicators across six dimensions, namely skills, role perception, motivation, aptitude, organizational/environmental and digitalization through technology. The authors verify the validity and reliability of conceptual findings in previous meta-analyses. The findings confirm the six-dimensional framework.
Makes a twofold contribution to existing theory and previous studies of salesforce performance indicators, by confirming main areas of nontechnological and digitalization salesforce performance indicators, based on 13 dimensions.
