Networking profiles of salespeople across the servitization stages: A configurational analysis

Servitization requires business-to-business (B2B) companies to overhaul their operations, with the sales team becoming a critical focus. Despite the acknowledged importance of salespeople in this product-to-service transition, a gap remains in understanding the specific skills and behaviors needed for successful sales at different servitization stages. This study investigates how successful salespeople configure their networking skills and behaviors across different servitization stages. Using a neoconfigurational approach and fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis to analyze data from 307 B2B salespeople, our findings reveal that sales performance hinges on a salesperson's networking profile aligning with the company's servitization stage. Specifically, professional and digital networking behaviors are paramount in stages emphasizing the product or services supporting the product (SSP), while internal networking skill becomes necessary for success in stages focusing on services supporting the client (SSC). Our study advances sales research by demonstrating the causally complex, configurational nature of sales performance and contributes to the theoretical consolidation of the servitization field by highlighting different sales requirements across distinct servitization stages. For managers, we develop a framework to guide the precise hiring, training, and management of sales teams, offering a clear roadmap for enhancing performance at different servitization stages. • Conceptualizes sales performance as causally complex, applying a neoconfigurational approach. • First study to examine successful networking configurations across four servitization stages. • Successful salespeople match their networking profile to the type of service offering. • In product- and SSP-focused servitization, professional and digital networking behaviors are key. • In SSC-focused servitization, internal networking skill is necessary for high sales performance.