The Technology-to-Performance Chain: How Lead Management Systems Drive Inside Sales Performance

Abstract

Understanding how technology usage influences performance in the inside sales industry has become an important issue for practitioners. Yet, there is a dearth of literature in this area. Inside sales are sales that are performed remotely using the phone or Internet technologies. Leads (i.e., potential customers) are the life-blood of any inside sales setting, and their effective management is crucial for business success. Lead management systems are information technology (IT) tools designed to automate and support effective lead management. This study developed a conceptual model based on the Technology-Task-Fit (TTF) theory, capturing the impact of lead management systems on inside sales performance through the following mediating mechanisms: task characteristics (call productivity and effort on lead follow-up), selling behaviour (adaptive selling) and salesperson characteristics (salesperson’s competency). To validate this model, we conducted an empirical study with 108 responses collected from sales managers and decision makers. Using PLS-SEM for the analysis, our findings show that the use of lead management systems affects inside sales performance via improving salespeople’s adaptive selling, effort on lead follow-up and competency. The findings of this study contributes to the inside sales literature, and also educate practitioners of the key enablers of inside sales performance and technology usage approaches to the inside sales process.