The role of a solutions salesperson: Reducing uncertainty and fostering adaptiveness

Suppliers in business-to-business markets increasingly are seeking growth by providing end-to-end solutions to customers. Customers, on their part, see solutions and accompanying performance-based vendor contracts as ways to assure themselves of performance outcomes they need. This article draws on extant literature in organizational buying behavior, industrial marketing and project marketing, as well as the distinctive nature of customer solutions, to delineate three overarching types of uncertainties among customers and suppliers: (1) need uncertainty, (2) process uncertainty and (3) outcome uncertainty. Each of these types of uncertainties is present across the four stages of a solution process (requirements definition, customization and integration, deployment, and post-deployment support). However, the nature of these uncertainties changes as a solution evolves from one stage to the next. Based on this, we delineate a solution salesperson's role as one of reducing specific uncertainties across the solution process by providing pertinent information to key stakeholders within the customer- and supplier organizations, and encouraging adaptive behavior of the parties involved. We discuss implications for practice, and suggest directions for further research.