The Role of Consensus in Sales Team Performance

Abstract

While team-based selling is highly prominent in practice, research on the drivers of its effectiveness is sparse. Drawing from the literature on climate consensus, we propose that in addition to leadership and team factors, team consensus plays a critical role in boosting sales team effectiveness. Using survey and archival data from a sample of 185 pharmaceutical sales teams, we found that high team consensus of team-level leader empowerment behaviors (LEBs) and team interpersonal climate quality enhances team potency given high LEBs, but weakens team potency given low LEBs. Team potency in turn translates into sales team performance through both team extra-role (helping behavior) and in-role behavior (team effort). Implications of these findings are discussed.

Keywords: team selling, team consensus, empowerment, pharmaceutical selling

JEL Classification: M30