Digital transformation of business-to-business sales: what needs to be unlearned?

Figures & data

Table 1. Illustrative examples of technologies driving the digital transformation of B2B sales.

Type of technology	Definition(s)	Potential effects on B2B sales
Automation of sales and marketing	Use of software “robots” to replace human workers in business processes by having the software watch how the user performs tasks (Lacity, Willcocks, and Craig 2015; Lhuer 2016)	Automatic gathering and evaluation of sales lead information from external databases (Moncrief 2017) Automatic sending of initial emails to potential sales leads (Hallikainen, Bekkhus, and Pan 2018) AI-based chatbots responding to customer questions (Singh et al. 2019) Customers using sales configurators to complete the purchase process (Mahlamäki et al. 2020) Tracking all communications with customers and scheduling follow-ups (Hunter and Perreault 2007; Rangarajan et al. 2020) Freeing time from administrative/non-sales tasks (Hunter and Perreault 2007) Sales training through AI/chatbot simulations, monitoring, and feedback (Singh et al. 2019) AI assisting sales reps in enhancing service and selling by sorting historical patterns and social media profiles and evaluating performance (Moncrief 2017; Rangarajan et al. 2020)
Digital platforms	Digital interfaces that mediate transactions among firms that might not be able to transact otherwise. Digital platforms usually involve two or more distinct “sides” and can act as a basis upon which other firms (complementors) can build related products or services (McIntyre and Srinivasan 2017; Gawer 2014)	More opportunities for influencing and interacting with customers (Sheth and Sharma 2008; Thaichon et al. 2018) Customer self-service (Hartmann, Wieland, and Vargo 2018) Together with marketing, the role of sales is to grow the number of (high-quality) platform users (Gawer and Cusumano 2014; Haucap and Heimeshoff 2014) The role of sales can be to attract complementors to platforms (McIntyre and Srinivasan 2017) Coordinate and improve interactions among users (Rangaswamy et al. 2020)
Social media	Software that supports group interaction toward establishing communities as well as the creation and exchange of content (Von Krogh 2012)	Lead generation, evaluation, and customer acquisition, using data from social media (Agnihotri 2020; Järvinen and Taiminen 2016; Meire, Ballings, and Van den Poel 2017; Rodriguez, Peterson, and Krishnan 2012) Allow customers to involve social media in their buying processes (Chuang 2020) and social media content influences Improve understanding of customers (Rodriguez, Peterson, and Krishnan 2012) and of competition (Marshall et al. 2012) Engage customers in new ways and develop customer relationships (Rodriguez, Peterson, and Krishnan 2012) Customers decide which kinds of relationships they want with salespeople (Marshall et al. 2012) Blurring the lines between marketing and sales tasks (Marshall et al. 2012)

Table 2. Summary of the generated interview data.

Interviewee (position in the enterprise)	Industry of the enterprise	Date (length of interview)	Pages (approx.)
Dataset A: Interviews with large company representatives
A1 (Chief information officer)	Manufacturing	February 27, 2020 (00:33:39)	8
A2 (Sales Director)	Manufacturing	May 6, 2020 (00:47:12)	13
A3 (CEO)	ICT	April 29, 2020 (00:37:34)	9
A4A (Communications Manager) and A4B (Marketing Manager)	Manufacturing	March 4, 2020 (00:39:59)	10
A5 (CEO)	ICT	March 5, 2020 (01:02:06)	13
A6 (CEO)	ICT	February 28, 2020 (00:33:21)	12
A7 (CEO)	Manufacturing	February 21, 2020 (00:29:59)	7
A8 (CEO)	Manufacturing	March 6, 2020 (00:47:34)	12
A9 (CEO)	ICT	March 6, 2020 (00:34:16)	7
A10 (CEO)	ICT	March 5, 2020 (00:27:29)	6
A11 (CEO)	Manufacturing	April 4, 2020 (00:48:16)	11
A12 (Sales Director)	ICT	February 25, 2020 (00:45:13)	11
A13 (CEO)	ICT	February 27, 2020 (00:29:56)	7
A14 (CEO)	ICT	February 7, 2020	4
A15 (CEO)	ICT	May 6, 2020 (00:29:47)	13
Dataset B: Interviews with small- and medium-sized company representatives
B1 (CEO)	Cleantech	April 9, 2020 (01:11:42)	23
B2 (CEO)	Software	May 19, 2020 (01:13:43)	24
B3 (Head of Business Development and Operative Director)	Security	May 20, 2020 (01:08:41)	21
B4 (Head of Business Development)	Software, AI	May 25, 2020 (01:07:31)	22
B5 (CEO)	Software	May 25, 2020 (01:09:29)	25
B6 (CEO)	Software, Industrial IoT	May 26, 2020 (01:00:59)	17
B7 (CEO)	Industrial IoT	May 27, 2020 (01:02:43)	19
B8 (Co-founder, Head of AI)	Software, Data Science	May 27, 2020 (00:56:53)	16
B9 (CEO)	Software, AI consultancy	June 3, 2020 (00:53:28)	17
B10 (CEO)	Temporary agency	June 4, 2020 (01:04:12)	22
B11 (CEO)	Software	June 4, 2020 (01:09:23)	21
B12 (CEO & Partner)	Consultancy, marketing	June 5, 2020 (01:00:10)	21

Figure 1. The identified process of unlearning in the digital transformation of B2B sales.

Table 3. Enabling cognitive unlearning in B2B sales: phases, critical factors, and empirical illustrations.

Critical factors	Illustrative data quotes
Unlearning phase I: Identify a need for unlearning
Questioning one’s own mindset The critical role of managers in understanding sales work in the digital era The critical role of managers in creating initial conditions for unlearning Being receptive to triggers for unlearning Being motivated and having a vision for the digital change Prior digitalization projects Organizational identity and company brand discussions Customer-related triggers New technologies and industry benchmark-related triggers Major trends within the digital transformation	When you sit in front of your papers and you think “Well, should I [outsource] this task, even though I can do this myself in a few hours?” There are workers with lower wages, and it would be more cost-efficient, but I just can’t make the effort to give the job to somebody else. And although you are overburdened with work and you know you need to do that task in the evening, still you start reorganizing tasks in your own head and you block out the part that you could give to somebody else. […] Our brains tend to work in the ways that we have always done things. (B10) They are typically white men in their fifties who have done only one thing for the past 20 years. They need to learn that tools can change at once; those tools that they have used in their work for the past 20 years should no longer be used. And then the process changes completely […] It involves a pretty big part of unlearning, which slows this change. I mean, you need to unlearn those old models, processes, and old tools. And you need to understand, well, your understanding needs to grow so that you realize that you can reach the same end result by using a totally different equation […] and then you need to perhaps unlearn the thought that this will remove my work. (B7) Well, we don’t exactly understand how to trade using electronic channels […] How should we trade and transact in these B2B channels in a digitalized world when we talk about these mass-customized components that traditionally require meetings between designers and various other engineers? How do we transfer this process to the internet? (A7)
Unlearning phase II: Identify what needs to be unlearned
Analyzing one’s current sales process (phases and contents) Changing customer expectations and buying behaviors The investment and use of sales technologies and tools in prospecting Sellers’ mindset regarding the digital transformation in sales Analyzing one’s ways of thinking and current knowledge sources in sales Being aware of alternative technological options and data sources Increasing awareness of one’s services with the help of digital selling technologies and tools Facilitating the closing of deals and engaging in business development with the help of digital selling technologies and tools (Dis)integration of different IT systems	That [digitalization project in sales] was initiated by a kind of strategic decision in the background that we need to handle our big customer base in a more efficient manner […] Customer transactions come in numbers and incoming euros are not much; it doesn’t bear the costs of personal selling that we had previously allocated to it. That was basically the reason why we started scouting how we could increase the performance of sales by digitalizing processes. (A3) For example, if we could present the offer through a webinar so that the sales manager’s talking head can be seen on the screen and the offer document on the other edge and you have that chat and so on. Or the customer could take part in the finalizing of the offer document, these kinds of things. I think that we are very good at thinking of what could be potential ways, but to jump onto the bikes’ saddle so that we would really change our activities, that is harder. (A8) We collect data from our customers’ machines. We start understanding how the customers are actually using the machines. […] Previously, the only thing you could do was to call or visit there. Now, we can see how they are using the machine, and we are receiving valuable information about the actual needs of that customer. And we combine this information with Salesforce, I mean data on what kinds of new projects are ongoing and all that kind of stuff. (A1)
Unlearning phase III: Discard old sales managerial processes
Experimenting for and with customers Rehearsing and testing different ideas Co-experimenting with sales-related issues Experimenting with customers Experimental mindset enables rapid piloting and testing Embracing the idea of collaboration Circulating, shifting, and/or replacing roles Making internal shifts in work positions Dividing the core task areas of sellers Recruiting new people to boost digital transformation Caring for individuals and encouraging their commitment Inviting people to take part in the digital transformation Acknowledging the human aspect of digital transformation Low hierarchical culture	A culture of experimentation in which you boldly experiment with something, you can test with a little [sum of money] and try. I like that the digital world enables you to test something with only a small fraction of money and see if the idea pays off. […] In the digital world, you don’t need to have all the information available beforehand, but you can just jump and see and trust that you will learn during the journey. (A6) We had two business units, and then the business started plummeting for one of them […] The biggest challenge was that we had really no sales director in the company. We had two business unit leaders but no sales director, leading to a situation in which we had a wide variety of different practices […] Now, we’re fixing the sales processes and capabilities of putting the sales function in order. This was very challenging for the sales, I mean, they had lots of selling work but also a kind of business development, so the salespeople were very confused about their roles. […] We started clarifying roles and responsibilities and, in a way, increasing the performance of sales. (A9) The reason my role has now changed from CEO to a kind of a “free pitcher of ideas” is just that we have identified […] We have two, three of these players, whose job is to just sniff and snoop around these [new] issues. This is in our enterprises’ management culture to look for [new avenues]. I don’t believe that these could be bought from consultants or experts directly because it requires such a deep understanding of one’s business environment. (B2)
Unlearning phase IV: Instill change throughout the sales organization
Ensuring a safe atmosphere Diminishing negative emotions related to digital transformation Steering the digital transformation at one’s own pace and in one’s own terms Executives as active change agents Showing commitment to the envisioned digital transformation Acting as an example through one’s own actions Making the digital transformation visible Assertive and persistent communication Demonstrating the benefits of digital transformation	If we think, for example, about content marketing or marketing automation and then if we accidentally mention artificial intelligence, someone might get scared and think, “but I can’t do that, I’m just a seller. Does this mean that I don’t have a job anymore, or what does this mean and what is my role?” Well, to recognize the different parties and look for benefits for everyone […] Let’s say, from the salesperson’s viewpoint, even if you would not be a good content creator or visionary or whatever, well, this kind of change can still improve your situation. Instead of calling through one hundred firms […] you can call five companies that have already shown their interest in your company and, in a way, you can do the same job that you have previously done. I mean, you can only focus on those more value-creating activities in your job. (A12) It is so easy to get excited about these [digital tools] and yes, now we change and put new software and systems into use. Everyone is so ablaze after that first training and after a week, but then the next week, people go back to the old ways; this always happens. In my view, it should start from the top management and insist ad nauseam on the same issue. Then, when you feel that you can no longer harp on about the issue, well, there is always somebody in the organization who says that she has never heard about this before. I mean, you need to very determinedly choose that this is an important issue, we will do this, and we will invest in it. And harp on ad nauseam, then it goes through. It requires determined action right from the top management. (A6) [T]he leaders must commit to [leading the digital transformation] because it is largely a matter of transforming operations. In my view, we have tried to approach the issue so that we bring forward the benefits of behavior change to a single seller. What does it offer her? Does it give free time? Does it make her work more effective? And does it enable more sales? I would, thus, say that the most important is that the management is committed, and the direction is clear and communicated to our sales personnel. (A3)

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