Building Initial Relationships: The Emerging Tasks of Sales in New Business Development

Contemporary textbooks on sales management acknowledge that the content and task of the sales function varies according to the circumstances, from a simple order taker to the creative selling of intangibles. However, the role of sales in the literature tends to be about the content of the formal sales function in established businesses where the product or service is given and ready to be sold. The role of sales is described as a function that contributes to conceiving, producing, and delivering customer value by understanding customers’ and/or sellers’ needs and fulfilling them with the bundle of goods and services fitting those needs (Weitz & Bradford, 1999). When new products/services are developed, the role of sales is said to be to identify customers’ needs and wants, often in collaboration with the marketing function (Ernst, Hoyer, & Rubsaamen, 2010). At its broadest the scope of the sales function is defined as developing and managing customer relationships (Anderson, 1996; Jackson et al., 1994; Wotruba, 1996).