How does conflict impact sales team performance

TLDR: A recent study by Seigyoung Auh et al. as mentioned in this paper found that conflict among the members of a sales force affects their willingness to share information and learn collaboratively, and ultimately, the performance of the sales function as a whole.

Abstract: Too often we focus on the interaction between buyers and sellers as the ultimate business game of “one-on-one.” Companies tend to have structured sales training, sales processes, and especially sales compensation around the proposition that selling is a “zero-sum” game—where it is the individual salesperson who succeeds or fails in landing the sale and earning the commission. Today, however, sales has evolved from what Moon and Armstrong (1994) described as being a “lone wolf” activity to being more and more of a team-based approach. Many products and services marketed these days, especially in the B2B (businessto-business) and B2G (business-to-government) arenas, are increasingly complex and fast-changing. Often it takesmultiple partners working through long and intensive sales cycles to bring about a sale. As such, sales often now involve not just a few individuals, but entire teams of corporate sales representatives. Information sharing is therefore crucial in this increasingly interactive and complex sales process, and yet, a continued focus on individual sales performance and rewards can be detrimental not just to the company, but to those trying to represent it and best sell what it offers to potential customers. The reality today is that, just as in team sports, communication and information sharing among members of a sales team—and with their management—are key. As organizations increasingly turn to a more teamoriented approach to selling, how does conflict— and its management or mismanagement—impact the overall performance of the sales team? Should sales managers be more focused on the disagreements and disputes that members have regarding the tasks and roles, or is it more important to concentrate on differences of opinion and squabbles that inevitably take place in groups? These questions were the focus of a recent study by Seigyoung Auh (Thunderbird School of Global Management), Stavroula Spyropoulou (Leeds University Business School), Bulent Menguc (King’s College London), and Aypar Uslu (Marmara University). Auh and his colleagues note that we know relatively little about how conflict among the members of a sales force affects their willingness to share information and learn collaboratively, and ultimately, the performance of the sales function as a whole. Previously, it has been suggested that conflict inhibits information sharing and negatively affects the overall effectiveness of groups. In their study, Auh and his colleagues sought to investigate this in the sales context. Moreover, more guidance is needed about how sales executives should best manage conflicts in group-oriented selling environments. With executives reporting that they spend considerable time handling conflict (Thomas, 1992), guidance on how to best manage conflict has become all the more important in today’s more group-focused sales contexts.