Evolved sales process

also aims in helping the customer to achieve its strategic goals (Töytäri et al. 2011).

Hence, the approach of consultative selling goes beyond pure problem solving (Inks et al. 2019). Consultative sales is a proven approach; according to the research of Newell et al. (2011), the consultative tasks of a salesperson positively correlates with the per- ception of the salesperson’s expertise and relationship loyalty.

Third, inbound sales stems from inbound marketing. According to Tyre and Hocken- berry (2018, p. 136), modern marketers realized the change in buyer behavior as the majority of buyers used the internet as the main source for information in planning fu- ture procurements. In inbound sales the whole setup is turned upside down as it is not anymore the salespeople who reach the customer but the other way around. Tyre and Hockenberry (2018, p. 152) recognize two distinctions in inbound selling: focus on co- ordinating the buyer journey and personalizing the sales process for each customer.

The authors also claim that in inbound sales the focus is on the ideal customers and in leads further in the sales process, which is a clear similarity to relationship selling and to KAM theory in general. The consultative approach in inbound sales is also high- lighted by the authors as the buyer is constantly advised and informed after the selling organization gets involved in the process.

process marketing the product and problem-solving activities have been thought to cor- respond with the present and demonstrate activity in the traditional sales process. The activities will be presented in the same order as the corresponding steps of the tradi- tional sales process even though the activities are not sequential and multiple activities can be on simultaneously.

Figure 20: Evolved sales process by Marshall and Mocrief (2005) and corre- sponding activities of the traditional sales process

First, customer retention and deletion -activity focuses on current customers and dele- tion of unprofitable customers, instead of identifying new prospects as in the traditional sales process (Moncrief & Marshall 2005). The idea is similar to KAM as the resources are allocated to retain current key accounts instead of acquiring new ones. Other smaller and less profitable customer accounts can be deleted or outsourced (Moncrief

& Marshall 2005). The lifetime value assessment is important in deciding the customers to focus on and new customers should only be acquired when the benefits outweigh the costs of doing business (Reichheld 2001).

Second, in database and knowledge management –activity, the customer data is uti- lized. As the focus is on dealing with familiar key accounts the company has likely gath- ered customer-specific data in its database. The database can include data of past pur- chases and future purchases as well (Moncrief & Marshall 2005). CRM technology has facilitated the change towards data and knowledge-based decision-making in sales (Moncrief & Marshall 2005; Lyly-Yrjänäinen et al. 2018, pp. 90-91).

Third, nurturing the relationship -activity corresponds to the approach -activity in the traditional sales process. Nurturing the customer relationship relates to the sales ap- proach of relationship selling in which the focus is on long-term customer relationships with multiple customer interactions and value-producing transactions over time (Inks et al. 2019). As approach activity in the traditional sales process was all about opening a dialogue with the customer, in the evolved sales process the customer relationship al- ready be in development which makes the approach inconsequential (Moncrief & Mar- shall 2005).

Fourth, marketing the product -activity is equivalent to the present part of present and demonstrate -activity. In the traditional sales process, the salesperson or salespeople would give a presentation to the customer (Lyly-Yrjänäinen et al. 2018, p. 61), in the evolved sales process the salespeople have become more engaged in marketing activ- ities (Leigh & Marshall 2001). Moncrief and Marshall (2005) claim that the gap between sales and marketing has reduced and nowadays salespeople participate in such mar- keting activities as market segmentation and product development. The authors also add that salespeople still do customer presentations but in teams very often and the sources of presenting have become much more versatile as those can be delivered via web pages and advertisements, for example.

Fifth, problem-solving –activity corresponds to the demonstrate part of present and demonstrate -activity in the traditional sales process. While in the traditional sales pro- cess the demonstrating is about uncovering the reasons why the customer wouldn’t like to close the sale and then satisfying their objections, the problem-solving stage in evolved sales process requires the salesperson to solve problems with the customer (Moncrief & Mashall 2005). The problem solving-stage requires the salespeople to practice a consultative selling approach.

Sixth, adding value and satisfying needs -activity corresponds to the close -activity of the traditional sales process. Although the evolved sales process also aims to close the sale the orientation is very different. According to Moncrief & Marshall (2005), in the evolved sales process the closing happens when a win-win situation is created and no closing techniques are needed. The authors emphasize that the creation of a win-win situation requires a value-adding solution to the customer’s problem. The great im- portance of value-adding selling of Moncrief and Marshall (2005) complements the the- ory of customer value contributing to purchase intentions.

Seventh, customer relationship maintenance -activity has the most common with the corresponding activity of the traditional sales process, follow-up. The means of con- ducting the after-close period have changed primarily due to the increased effective- ness of technology and that some companies nowadays have designated individuals who take care of the customer relationship maintenance (Moncrief & Marshall 2005).

The customer relation maintenance can be assigned to key account managers, for ex- ample.