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Sales enablement: conceptualizing and developing a dynamic capability

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Abstract

Practitioners have touted sales enablement as a prominent solution to the challenges of the evolving buying and selling environments; however, empirical research on this concept is nonexistent in extant literature. Furthermore, while the pervasiveness of sales domain scholarship suggests that salespeople will continue to influence sales practice through expanded opportunities, firms must also blend the art and science of engaging customers in a profitable and sustainable manner. To address these scholarly demands, the authors designed an empirical study that conceptualizes sales enablement and offers an in-depth perspective on how organizations enable their sales force. The authors employ an ethnographic inquiry comprising various data sources, including 41 depth interviews with professionals responsible for sales enablement architecture and/or execution. Findings offer a multi-dimensional conceptualization of sales enablement and introduce a process model which explicates how firms develop sales enablement as a dynamic capability. This study expands current knowledge by offering foundational insights and advanced theories of sales enablement, while also providing strategic implications for sales organizations responding to evolving customer demands and selling environments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Business, Northern Illinois University, 740 Garden Road, DeKalb, IL, 60115, USA

    Robert M. Peterson

  2. Opus College of Business, University of St. Thomas, 1000 LaSalle Avenue, Minneapolis, MN, 55403, USA

    Avinash Malshe

  3. Farmer School of Business, Miami University, 800 E. High Street, Oxford, OH, 45056, USA

    Scott B. Friend

  4. Naveen Jindal School of Management, The University of Texas at Dallas, 800 W. Campbell Road, Richardson, TX, 75080, USA

    Howard Dover

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  1. Robert M. Peterson
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  2. Avinash Malshe
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Peterson, R.M., Malshe, A., Friend, S.B. et al. Sales enablement: conceptualizing and developing a dynamic capability. J. of the Acad. Mark. Sci. 49, 542–565 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11747-020-00754-y

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