Selling to enabled purchasers: the effect of perceived supply risk and profit impact on the buyer–seller interaction

Based on insights from the buying process, the purpose of this study is to align selling firms to the buyer’s efficiency needs that are grounded on the different types of purchases. Using thematic analysis, this study conducted 35 in-depth interviews with business-to-business (B2B) buyers and salespeople on the changing buyers’ sourcing needs. In line with buyer enablement, buyers prefer personal selling when they perceive the sales offer as highly risky for the buying organization, whereas they have a strong preference for a direct marketing approach by the selling firm when they are purchasing low-risk purchases. This paper is a qualitative study. Future research should collect secondary company data to validate the results. This paper addresses the buyer’s sourcing needs and presents how direct marketing channels and personal selling should be balanced to increase the return on sales force resources. This is one of the first studies to examine how sales organizations can create value by facilitating the buying process. Depending on the buyer’s categorization of the sales offer, we highlight how a choice between direct marketing or personal selling improves the buyer’s perception of the sales organization