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This chapter offers insights into one of the most influential aspects of external branding, namely, branding within business-to-business (B2B) sales. In particular, the authors of this chapter claim that B2B sales are indispensable for the growth and existence of a brand. The special attention of this chapter is focused on sales personnel, as representatives of firms and carriers of branding. In other words, the impact of sales personnel on branding in a B2B context is presented theoretically and examined empirically. The chapter thereafter offers an interesting case study of Logomo, a cultural venue in Finland, specializing in selling customized space to companies, as well as organizing different kinds of public events. Through a combination of theory and practice, the authors demonstrate the importance of branding within B2B sales and conclude by providing specific implications for practitioners.

This chapter starts with the phenomenon of CRM systems being sometimes more considered as a burden than a support by salespeople. The main argument is that CRM tools do barely fit the needs of salespeople as their functions, most of all, are administrative, which leads to a resistance for using them.

The author shows how this kind of shortcomings are manifested in “real-life” operations and finds out that much of the problems seem to be due to the very architecture of extant CRM systems. Indeed, creative offerings and business development imply advanced cognitive processes for which there are no functions in traditional CRM tools.

Therefore, the core part of the chapter leads to a discussion on how genuine supportive CRM systems architecture should be designed. The sales process is made of three phases beyond the administration one, namely, a sense-making, a sense-giving, and a sense-acting phase. An adequate architectural design would take into consideration functions that support the whole process, which also includes informative links and a much more visual design to process information instantly.

Integrating relationship marketing and management research, the author explores internal selling (i.e., a salesperson’s internally focused efforts intended to identify, solicit, and use internal sales resources to support external selling activities) as a unique source of salespeople role stress and examine its contingent outcomes. The conceptual model suggests that internal selling as a job demand and stressor leads to increased salespeople role stress. However, a number of situational (i.e., selling organization market orientation, service climate, and seller–buyer relationship) and individual factors (i.e., networking ability and psychological capital of the salespeople) serve as job and personal resources to moderate the internal selling–outcome relationships, such that when such resources are adequate, internal selling will reduce role stress and increase sales performance. The author also examines situational (i.e., customer solutions offering and formalization of the selling organization) and individual (i.e., salespeople power and social status) antecedents of internal selling. The model provides useful insights and practical guidance for selling organizations to recognize mechanisms associated with internal selling in their organizations, and to intentionally design within organization support systems to enhance salespeople well being and enable them to participate effectively in the relational process of selling. The chapter stresses the need to develop context-specific stress models for different occupations and job roles.

The aim of this chapter is to investigate the transformations undergone by dual marketers in their marketing strategies, with the advent of new digital tools. In particular, the chapter wants to emphasise the shift from a dual marketing perspective to the omnichannel approach, based on the integration of communication strategies between business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-consumer (B2C). To this end, the chapter first analyses the theoretical contribution of the integrated marketing communication paradigm in omnichannel marketing. Then, identifying the characteristics common to the B2B and B2C markets, it maps the use of touchpoints and digital content in the dual marketers' omnichannel strategies. Moreover, the role of online personalised marketing and big data analytics tools is illustrated in order to investigate the relationship between dual marketing and big data analytics towards Industry 4.0. Lastly, the dynamics and the perspectives emerged from the literature are traced within the case study of Unicredit Italia to try to bring out the best practices for an omnichannel strategy of dual marketers.

This article reviews the quantitative marketing literature on artificial intelligence (AI) through an economics lens. We apply the framework in Prediction Machines: The Simple Economics of Artificial Intelligence to systematically categorize 96 research papers on AI in marketing academia into five levels of impact, which are prediction, decision, tool, strategy, and society. For each paper, we further identify each individual component of a task, the research question, the AI model used, and the broad decision type. Overall, we find there are fewer marketing papers focusing on strategy and society, and accordingly, we discuss future research opportunities in those areas.

As businesses become more sophisticated and welcome new technologies, artificial intelligence (AI)-based methods are increasingly being used for firms' pricing decisions. In this review article, we provide a survey of research in the area of AI and pricing. On the upside, research has shown that algorithms allow companies to achieve unprecedented advantages, including real-time response to demand and supply shocks, personalized pricing, and demand learning. However, recent research has uncovered unforeseen downsides to algorithmic pricing that are important for managers and policy-makers to consider.

The chapter presents how business-to-business (B2B) actors may use branding as a tool for maintaining strong, long-term business relationships with their customers. Current knowledge on how to maintain business relationships is presented, related to branding as a tool contributing to long-term and strong business relationships. The phenomenon is studied in detail through a case company, Verso Globe, which operates in the consultancy area and is specialized in sustainability issues. The authors conclude that shared values and norms lead to beneficial business relationships and help maintain them. Also, the case company is closely collaborating and co-creating with its customers, which leads to technological adaptation and increases mutual commitment. A reputation of sharing values, having interest to develop, and co-creating with customers benefits the company and builds the corporate brand. The company culture must, however, support the efforts that make the brand. It is therefore important for B2B actors to understand the customer’s values and use it as a basis for customer relationship management activities. Concurrently, the company’s own values and how it directs employees are elements of its culture, which is the basis for the corporate brand. The perfect match of business relationships is therefore lies in aligning values and norms between the partners.

In markets that are increasingly competitive, building strong business-to-business (B2B) brands is a key success factor. With this in mind, the first chapter of the book presents the current research on B2B branding and discusses the main topics of the book by presenting internal branding, external branding, and the contemporary perspectives on B2B branding. After a review of these topics, the chapter analyses each of the following chapters by presenting their short introductions.

This chapter focuses on the importance of emotions, as a notable part of corporate branding in a business-to-business (B2B) context. Since the issue of emotions has often been neglected in B2B branding research, the chapter focuses on ascertaining what kind of emotional differences exist in B2B, compared to B2C context. It also explores how rational versus emotional impressions affect decision-making processes in business environment, and whether the B2B sector can turn emotions into an advantage in corporate branding. The qualitative case study is conducted, focusing on the Suomen Henkilöstötalo Company. The case offers interesting findings and managerial contributions by highlighting both emotional decision making and the importance of business relationships for strengthening the position of the company in its business market.

This chapter covers a diverse range of alternative methods for capturing deep major account insights online. Increasingly in the twenty first century, B2B decision-makers remain abreast of industry innovations and product information through participation in online communities. Through using social mobile technologies businesses exchange product and service experiences online amongst peers not just vendor organisations. A key aspect of this chapter shares rationale for selection of a marketing versus research community, community objectives, online techniques to gain major account insights using big data, resourcing, integration with existing marketing systems and budgeting for ongoing maintenance of marketing communities supporting B2B sales and marketing initiatives. This chapter focuses on the emerging area of B2B sales activities for creation and management of online communities for Major Account management of energy supply customers. A case-based research strategy specifically honed towards sensemaking of major account activities through using B2B online communities in conjunction with emerging research methods is outlined and critiqued.