Sales in the innovation process

Katariina Ylönen and Saara Julkunen

Chapter 15 in Elgar Encyclopedia of Innovation Management, 2025, pp 51-53 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In the B2B market, the sales function can aid the innovation process by integrating customer perspectives into the ideation and development phases of the innovation process and facilitating the commercialisation phase. Sales teams maintain interactive relationships with customers, partners and competitors, which uniquely positions them to observe customer needs and market opportunities. By acting as boundary spanners and knowledge brokers between customers and the organisation, sales teams can provide important market intelligence to the organisation, thereby enhancing the innovation process. Previous research has traced the evolution of the role of the sales function from a purely commercial focus to a more integral part of the early phases of innovation and has highlighted the shift towards recognising the vital role of salespeople in gathering and disseminating market intelligence. Thus, the sales function contributes to the innovation process by generating ideas, providing market intelligence, facilitating customer involvement and promoting customer acceptance of innovations.

Keywords: B2B sales; Innovation process; Sales integration; Sales–innovation interface; Sales-driven innovation; Customer perspective (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781035306442
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