The transformation of professional selling

17th May 2018 |   Dr Javier Marcos

The Professional Selling Transformation

The nature of professional selling has transformed profoundly over the past few decades, resulting in a fundamental redefinition of the role of the sales force. Drawing on a study comprising interview data from 37 senior sales leaders, sales consultants and prominent sales academics from the US, UK and other European countries, I synthesise three key drivers for change and identify a set of core transformations sales forces are undergoing.

1. Key drivers of change in selling and sales management

The factors underpinning sales force transformation can be synthesised into a set of three key trends (see figure 1):

  • the nature of customer behaviour and evolving expectations of professional buyers,
  • the opportunities (and disruption) offered by new and digital technologies, and
  • the enhanced levels of globalisation and competition.

Dr Javier Marcos

Director of Learning for Performance Ltd | + posts

Dr Javier Marcos is a Professor of Strategic Sales Management and Negotiation at Cranfield School of Management. Javier combines in unique ways corporate, consulting, and academic expertise to address transformational challenges in professional selling, key account management and strategic commercial negotiation. Javier has co-authored four books: The High Performing Key Account Manager (2025), Implementing Key Account Management (2018), Sales Management – Strategy, Processes and Practice (2016), and From Selling to Co-Creating (2014). His research has been published in academic journals such as the Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Journal of Business Research, Industrial Marketing Management, Management Learning, and Journal of Marketing Education. He has written numerous professional reports and articles in the professional media and is a regular speaker at conferences and industry events.