Group members

Sadam Hussain (Group leader) 029

Mubashir Hassan jaura (Analyst) 058

Waseem Akram Awan (Observer) 013

Waseem Taj (Helper) 045

CRITICAL REVIEW ONCustomer Relationship Management(CRM)'s Impact on B to B SalesProfessionals' Collaboration and SalesPerformance

Topic:

Author name: MICHAEL RODRIGUEZ and EARL D. HONEYCUTT, JR.

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THIS ARTICLE EXAMINES THE IMPACT OF CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIP MANAGEMENT (CRM) TECHNOLOGY ON BUSINESS-TO-BUSINESS (B2B) SALES PROFESSIONALS’ ABILITY TO COLLABORATE WITH INTERNAL STAKEHOLDERS AND ALSO ASSESSES THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN CRM UTILIZATION AND SALES PERFORMANCE. THE STUDY MOVES FROM ASSUMING THAT CRM UTILIZATION POSITIVELY IMPACTS SALESPERSON EFFECTIVENESS AND PERFORMANCE TO ASSESSING THIS OUTCOME FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE SALESPERSON.

INTRODUCTION

OBJECTIVEThe objective of this study to analyse CRM utilization and

collaboration across multiple industries.

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METHODOLOGYA survey that was comprised of four scales was sent to 115 B2B sales professionals and usable surveys were received from 70 respondents. The data were analysed using partial least squares regression to test the hypothesized paths. Partial least squares regression has been shown to work for small sample sizes.

There is empirical evidence that CRM adoption and utilization positively impacts sales performance, sales effectiveness, and collaboration. As a partial mediator, collaboration positively influenced CRM utilization’s effect on sales performance. However, collaboration did not positively influence sales process effectiveness.

FINDINGS

To test five hypotheses, a survey was distributed to a judgment sample of 115 B2B sales professionals selected from organizations in the U.S.-based pharmaceutical, technology, services, and financial industries.

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CRM utilization

Collaboration

Performance with customers

Sales process effectiveness

H1

H2H3

H4

H5

Sales performance

Research model

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LIMITATIONSThis research is not environed all aspects of business and focuses only some less important variables. Variables include CRM utilization and collaboration impact on sales performance. This research could be good by including important variables such as training, education, abilities, experience, satisfied employees, good leader, innovative culture, decentralized structure and etc.This research also used a new measure—collaboration—that was not an empirically tested measure. Even so, the reliability and validity results of the research model proved to be strong. Lastly, quantitative performance measures (i.e., number of new clients, percentage of quota achieved, increased sales revenue) may provide a more precise indication of CRM’s impact on firm performance.

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RECOMMENDATIONS Future research should consider the impact CRM has on

disparate industries. Do quantitative measures Longitudinal study tracks sales performance pre- and

post-CRM implementation Other stakeholders can be examined such as vendors,

network partners, strategic alliances, and constituencies in CRM value chain.

Other factors should be examined such as marketing and finance.

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CONCLUSIONCRM utilization plays an important role in salesperson collaboration with their colleagues. Successful CRM collaboration allows salespersons to gather buyer information through interactions across functional areas of the firm and to disseminate this customer knowledge throughout the organization. Collaboration, as shown in the model, has a significant relationship with how sales professionals understand their clients’ needs and can provide unique client solutions. That said, the mediated relationship between collaboration and sales process effectiveness was not supported. Perhaps sales professionals do not believe that internal collaboration helps them improve closing rates or increases client retention because sales professionals are CRM’s Impact on Collaboration and Sales Performance responsible for closing deals and retaining buyers. A high level of internal collaboration may increase the time needed to close a sale.

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