Talk About Value, Not Product… the Solution to Widen the B2B Sales Pipeline?

Talk about value, not product… The solution to widen the B2B sales pipeline?

Malin Väringstam & Annina Wede

Department of Business Administration Master's Program in Management Master's Program in Business Development and Internationalisation Master's Thesis in Business Administration II, 15 Credits, Spring 2021 Supervisor: Christopher Nicol

Acknowledgements

We want to give our warmest appreciations to our respondents from Tele2, who gave us the opportunity to explore sales development within their organization. Your inputs, competences, and inspiring experiences have provided great insights for this thesis.

We also want to thank our supervisor, Christopher, for motivational meetings and wise insights, but also for teaching us a thing or two about proper English.

Finally, we would like to say thank you to Umeå University for these five years and for preparing us for our future careers.

Umeå School of Business, Economics and Statistics, 26th of May 2021

______Malin Väringstam Annina Wede

Abstract Business-to-business (B2B) organizations are facing challenges related to complex sales cycles and increasing competition, resulting in more value-driven sales processes and a holistic ecosystem for the B2B marketplace. Recent studies have acknowledged the lack of research on inside sales and sales development in B2B organizations. Scholars point at the increasing importance of inside sales due to changes in the environment and increasing customer demands, which has resulted in the development of digital sales processes within companies. In this study, we have examined the early phase of the sales process referred to as customer acquisition, which is an important part for companies to do business and be profitable over time. In customer acquisition, lead generation and lead management are two central phenomena including generating potential customers and managing them in an adequate way. In this study, where we are writing on commission for Tele2 IoT, our aim was to develop recommendations for how they can improve their conversion rate and sales performance by asking; “How can B2B companies work with sales development processes and lead generation to improve their sales performance?”

Based on a literature review of previous studies on sales processes, Internet of Things, and content marketing, we developed an exploratory and qualitative research design, where data was collected through twelve semi-structured interviews with respondents from the case company. Our empirical findings present how the development of a separate unit for Sales Development in Tele2 IoT can be a solution for handling the current challenges for lead generation and lead management. A dedicated Sales Development Representative (SDR) can be responsible for the early phase of the sales process before a Sales Manager takes over. This would include responsibility for lead generation, qualification, and follow-up to ensure that the qualified leads are timely managed.

We demonstrate a model that conceptualizes how companies in a highly competitive business environment can initiate a dedicated function working with customer acquisition practices, which we refer to as Sales Development. In our model, we emphasize how three different channels for attracting and managing leads must be considered: 1) outbound lead generation, 2) inbound lead generation and 3) marketing automated lead generation, to improve sales performance. Based on these findings, we propose iterative customer acquisition processes where communication, documentation and cooperation are at its core. Finally, we propose a framework with reflective questions for managers and organizations to take into consideration when implementing Sales Development into their business.

The study primarily contributes to the scarce research field of inside sales, where we encourage practitioners and academia to apply our model and utilize quantitative data measures to understand how a Sales Development configuration can improve lead generation within different industries.

Keywords: Customer Acquisition, Lead Generation, Lead Management, Sales Development & Inside Sales

Table of Contents

1. Introduction ...... 1 1.1 An evolving sales process ...... 1 1.2 Case Company ...... 4 1.3 Introducing the Telecom industry and the Internet of Things ...... 5 1.4 Research gap ...... 6 1.5 Research purpose ...... 7 1.6 Research question ...... 7 2. Theoretical framework ...... 8 2.1 The evolution of sales ...... 8 2.1.1 Relationship selling ...... 9 2.1.2 Digital tools and technology in the sales process ...... 10 2.1.3 A Holistic and Value-oriented View of Sales ...... 11 2.1.4 Inside sales and sales development ...... 12 2.1.5 Internet of Things ...... 13 2.2 Customer acquisition practices ...... 14 2.2.1 The Sales Funnel/Pipeline ...... 15 2.2.2 Lead generation ...... 16 2.2.3 Lead management ...... 17 2.2.4 The sales lead black hole ...... 18 2.2.5 Sales-marketing integration ...... 20 2.3 Approaches for reaching the customers...... 21 2.3.1 Digital content marketing ...... 22 2.3.2 A joint funnel for sales and marketing ...... 22 2.4 Synthesis ...... 23 3. Methodology ...... 25 3.1 Scientific methodology ...... 25 3.1.1 Choice of topic and pre-understanding ...... 25 3.1.2 Research paradigm ...... 26 3.1.3 Research approach ...... 27 3.1.4 Research design and strategy ...... 28 3.1.5 Literature search and source criticism ...... 29 3.1.6 Quality criteria ...... 30 3.2 Practical methodology ...... 33 3.2.1 Qualitative data collection method ...... 33 3.2.2 Sampling method ...... 34

3.2.3 Sample overview ...... 35 3.2.4 Interview technique and interview guide...... 36 3.2.5 Interview procedure ...... 38 3.2.6 Qualitative data analysis ...... 39 3.2.7 Ethical considerations ...... 40 4. Empirical findings ...... 43 4.1 Experiences on the IoT sales process ...... 43 4.1.1 A changing landscape for sales ...... 43 4.1.2 Challenges of selling IoT ...... 44 4.1.3 The Ideal Customer for IoT ...... 46 4.2 Continuous developments for customer acquisition processes ...... 48 4.2.1 Three categories of leads ...... 48 4.2.2 Creating a pipeline - Lead Generation for IoT ...... 49 4.2.3 Tools for Lead Generation ...... 51 4.2.4 Insights from the B2B Sales Development Function ...... 52 4.3 Improvement areas for increasing the conversion rate ...... 54 4.3.1 Marketing Automation ...... 54 4.3.2 Creating content for IoT solutions ...... 55 4.3.3 Antecedents for deficient lead follow-up ...... 56 4.3.4 Integration within the case company ...... 57 4.4 Establishing Sales Development ...... 59 4.4.1 Considerations when initiating Sales Development for IoT ...... 59 4.4.2 Characteristics of a SDR ...... 63 5. Analysis: Initiating Sales Development ...... 65 5.1 Improving customer acquisition activities ...... 65 5.2 Implementing Sales Development at Tele2 IoT ...... 69 5.2.1 Structuring the sales organization ...... 69 5.2.2 Developing the Lead Generation Processes ...... 70 5.2.3 Hiring the right person ...... 72 5.3 Conceptual Model ...... 74 6. Conclusions & Discussion ...... 77 6.1 Conclusions ...... 77 6.2 Study Contributions ...... 79 6.2.1 Contributions for Tele2 IoT ...... 79 6.2.2 Theoretical Contributions ...... 82 6.2.3 Societal Contributions ...... 83 6.3 Limitations & Future Research...... 83

References ...... 85 Appendices ...... 91 Appendix 1 - Interview guide ...... 91 Appendix 2 - Information email to participants ...... 93 Appendix 3 - The three lead generation processes ...... 94

List of figures Figure 1. A simplified prospecting process for Tele2 IoT ...... 5 Figure 2. The seven-steps selling process ...... 8 Figure 3. The sales funnel ...... 15 Figure 4. Lead qualification stages ...... 48 Figure 5. The Integrated Sales Development Pipeline ...... 76

List of tables Table 1. Research paradigms and approaches ...... 29 Table 2. Overview for how we are achieving the Eight Big Tent Criteria for Excellent ………..Qualitative research ...... 31 Table 3. Sample overview ...... 36 Table 4. Themes and objectives of the interview guide ...... 37 Table 5. Exemplification of our data analysis ...... 40 Table 6. Ethical considerations ...... 41 Table 7. Digital tools for different lead generation processes ...... 51 Table 8. Reflective questions for practitioners for initiating Sales Development ...... 80

1. Introduction This chapter starts with a descriptive background of the business-to-business market from a sales perspective. We further attend to the empirical case background for the study, which is written on commission for one of the biggest telecommunications providers in Sweden. The relevance of the case will be motivated by focusing on its implications from both a societal and business perspective, where we emphasize the digitalization trend and the concept of Internet of Things. Derived from the theoretical and empirical background, we will thereafter present the purpose for the study and state our main research question.

1.1 An evolving sales process The business-to-business (B2B) marketplace is being reshaped by digital and mobile technologies which affect how B2B-customers interact with salespeople (Ancillai et al., 2019; Wengler et al., 2021), consume information, and make buying decisions (Rapp et al., 2014, p. 246). B2B organizations are further facing challenges related to complex sales cycles, increasing competition, and qualified lead generation (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 181), where companies must reshape their sales processes and implement sales technology for higher effectiveness and quality (Hunter & Perreault, 2007, p. 31). Altogether, these influences put higher pressure on companies to fulfil and exceed customer expectations (Ancillai et al., 2019, p. 293), in order to stay competitive in an evolving and technology-driven sales climate (Syan & Sharma, 2018, p. 135).

The view of the sales process started to change in the beginning of the 21st century (Dixon & Tanner, 2012, p. 12; Moncrief et al., 2006, p. 55). The traditional perspective of sales visualizes the sales process as a seller to buyer process, where the salesperson persuades and influences the buyer to buy a product or a service with interpersonal and direct communication (Dixon & Tanner, 2012, p. 10; Hartmann et al., 2018, p. 12). However, selling is a multifaceted process from pre-approach planning to post sale follow-up, where the process differs in length, width, and complexity (Dixon & Tanner, 2012, p. 10). Therefore, researchers argue for a more holistic and systematic approach of the sales process meaning that sales need to be integrated in more business units in the organizations, and salespeople need to have an understanding for customer value (Hartmann et al., 2018, p. 13). To develop effective sales processes, scholars have further suggested that the process should be viewed as iterative and non-linear (D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013, p. 545; Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 21), instead of the more traditional linear process perspective. However, Hartmann et al. (2020, p. 221) argue that a more holistic and systematic view of sales is still in its early phase, which implies that it is an emerging field of studies.

Another shift identified in the market is the transition from a goods dominant logic (GDL) to a service dominant logic (SDL) (Vargo & Lusch, 2004, p. 15). In GDL, the focus is on transactions, embedded value, and resources. The shift towards SDL includes more attention towards relationships, cocreation of value, and intangible resources. This shift has affected sales in a way where the customers expect the selling companies to address what value they can bring to the customers organization in the early phases of the sales process (Rapp et al., 2014, p. 247), which requires salespeople to adopt their selling approach to match the customers’ anticipations and needs (Inks et al., 2019, p. 89. The first step of the sales process is commonly referred to as prospecting or lead generation (Paschen et al., 2020, p. 407), which represents the most important activities for expanding the customer base (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 181). Salespeople need to

screen the market and find new and potential customers, to ensure the growth of their company (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 131). Thus, prospecting includes identifying potential customers through lead generation, and qualifying these by assessing their propensity to buy (Paschen et al., 2020, p. 406). A prospect can for example provide contact information on a company’s website, over the phone, or while accessing digital content provided by the selling company (Paschen et al., 2020, p. 406). The objective with lead generation is to establish a sales funnel, also referred to as sales pipeline, where potential customers convert through different steps of the sales process until they become a customer (Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 142). Usually, the qualification process for leads is a challenge, where Ohiomah et al. (2019, p. 164) describe the challenge of knowing which leads to contact, how to contact them, and when. If leads are not effectively managed, companies can lose potentially valuable customers, and the value from marketing efforts will not be seized (Ohiomah et al., 2019, p. 163). Despite the importance of lead management, there is however still no common knowledge on how to successfully convert a lead into a customer (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 2).

To successfully reach and interact with prospective customers, scholars are increasingly favoring more relational selling approaches (Sheth & Sharma, 2008; Inks et al., 2019), in support of a more customer-and service-oriented sales process (Moncrief, 2017, p. 273). To successfully convert a potential prospect into a customer, salespeople need to gather information about them to understand what value they can offer (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 13), which has proven to be a vital process to minimize time on prospects that do not match with the selling company’s business offers (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 182). In the navigation between various popular selling approaches, it becomes clear that scholars are opting for a relational-driven focus with the customer as the center of attention. The importance of adjusting communication and behavior to different types of customers in the form of adaptive selling has transformed the B2B-sales, which is often characterized by long cycles (Inks et al., 2019, p. 91). To build relationships and focus on value, Sheth & Sharma (2008, p. 266) argue for a more consultative selling process where problem identification, presenting a solution, and continuous support brings value to the customer. Selling can also focus on problem-solving instead of promoting a solution, where the SPIN-selling model presented by Rackham (1988) provides a roadmap for asking questions that will uncover the customer’s needs (Inks et al., 2019, p. 90).

Recently, scholars have recognized a need for modified sales approaches driven by the increasing use of technology, where B2B customers are becoming more digital in their interactions with salespeople (Ancillai et al., 2019, p. 293). The concept of social selling is gaining attention, where utilizing social media in the salesperson’s toolbox provides a direct communication channel, aiding in the understanding of customers and their needs (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 183). However, the impact of social selling in today’s businesses have not been widely researched, and scholars are prompting for insights into its role for B2B selling (Ancillai et al., 2019, p. 294). The increasing use of digital tools in B2B sales organizations further reflects how companies need to rely more on their inside salesforce, where the sales organizations can benefit from different configurations (Sleep et al., 2020). Traditionally, the outside sales force has interacted face-to-face with customers, whereas the inside sales force performs remotely conducted sales activities through IT tools such as telephone, e-mails, and the web (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1026). However, the existing academic sales research has mainly studied outside sales, which has resulted in a low understanding for inside sales operations (Arnett, 2021; Ohiomah et al., 2019; Sleep et al., 2020). Since B2B customers are changing their behavior and

becoming more active online (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 164), the strategic importance of the inside sales personnel is rapidly increasing (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1030).

Amongst the few studies on inside sales, Sleep et al. (2020) have studied the characteristics and responsibilities of inside salespeople with interesting insights. The role is said to require certain skills for team building since inside salespeople work with cross- functional teams and need to understand both verbal and digital cues (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1041). One configuration for sales organizations is to adopt a Sales Development structure, where the inside sales force is primarily responsible for the lead generation processes (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). This includes identifying prospects through different channels, qualifying them, and handing them over to the outside sales force. This configuration is said to be inexpensive and effective, whilst it creates more time for the outside sales force to focus on closing deals (Sleep et al., 2020, 1044). Despite the potential for inside sales, scholars are implying that there is a lack of studies exploring how companies can improve their inside sales performance through effective prospecting and lead management practices (Ohiomah et al., 2019, p. 163). For example, future studies could focus on how the industry or product type influences the sales structure, and why some salespeople prefer remote over face-to-face interactions, or vice versa (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1049).

The integration of sales and marketing has further been acknowledged as an important organizational change with potential to improve sales performance (Guenzi & Troilo, 2006, p. 975). Marketing and sales are both responsible for generating revenue and are described as two sides of the same coin (Pattersson, 2007, p. 185), but scholars have acknowledged that the sales-marketing integration, hereafter SMI, has not been without its challenges. In the beginning of the 21st century, many businesses were adapting to the increased competition and changes in customer demands by flattening their organizations to stimulate teamwork between functions as a means to creating competitive advantage (Rouziès et al., 2005, p. 113). From a marketing perspective, this led to increased attention on integrated marketing communications, which is about integrating activities such as advertising and sales promotion (Rouziès et al., 2005, p. 113). The existing marketing research was mainly focusing on the relationship between marketing and for example R&D, engineering, and manufacturing to develop and deliver products to customers in a successful way. Consequently, scholars had devoted little attention to the interfaces between sales and marketing (Homburg & Jensen, 2007, p. 124), whose interactions has been identified as one of the most important ones since both functional areas have a prominent role in creating successful interactions and relations with customers (Malshe, 2011, p. 45; Rouziès et al., 2005, p. 113).

Since sales and marketing have an important role in customer acquisition, scholars have explored why lead management practices are not always satisfactory. One reason for this is that sales representatives complain over the quality in marketing-generated leads (D’Haen et al., 2016, p. 69; Oliva, 2006, p. 397). This is referred to as the ‘sales lead black hole’, which occurs when salespeople do not follow-up on leads generated by marketing activities (Malshe et al., 2017; Sabnis et al., 2013; Van der Borg et al., 2020). Scholars have identified several reasons behind this phenomenon relating to different motivations and abilities (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 54), and communication paucity (Malshe, 2011, p. 49). Another view is that leads are not converted into deals because the targeting efforts do not deliver enough value in relation to what the customers want (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 136). Another prominent factor is the lack of time for sales, where they

need to prioritize which activities, and what leads they focus on (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 53). Hence, the lead target set by management must be aligned with available resources within the organization (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 136).

Overall, the importance of adding value to the customer’s business cannot be understated, where the alignment of sales and marketing can improve the organization's value creation towards customers (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 20), and increase the conversion rate for leads into customers (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 173; Ohiomah et al., 2019, p. 164). To deliver value to customers, Arnett et al. (2021, p. 259) emphasize the importance of sharing tacit knowledge about the customers with others in the organization, for example between sales and marketing. Tacit knowledge transfer reflects personal, context-specific and experience-related knowledge that is difficult to formalize and document (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 259; Tanner et al., 2005, p. 173). Following the increased use of digital tools, working with data management is important to search, document and process data about customers in an accurate way (Wengler et al., 2020, p. 606), which requires high collaboration within the sales force and with other departments as well (Storbacka et al., 2009, p. 895). To develop effective processes for the beginning of the sales process, more process-perspectives should be explored (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 139). We will now introduce the case company for the current study, which operates within the telecommunications sector and aspires to improve their lead generation and lead management practices through focusing on inside sales, digital customer journeys, and process development.

1.2 Case Company Tele2 AB is a Swedish telecommunications company providing fast network services which enables streaming possibilities, TV, telephony, mobile and fixed connectivity, data network services and IoT solutions, for both private customers and businesses (Tele2, 2021a). Tele2 AB is the second largest telecommunication provider in Sweden and has been active since the 1970’s. Tele2 is a diversified company with the ultimate goal to “lead in sustainability” and was allegedly the first telecommunication company to be climate neutral within their own operations in the Nordics and Baltics (Tele2, 2021b). The company was also the first telecommunication provider to launch 5G in Sweden. This thesis is written on commission for Tele2 IoT, which is a department within Tele2 AB that provides businesses areas such as monitoring & tracking, predictive maintenance, and remote steering with connectivity solutions (Tele2 IoT, 2021). Tele2 IoT connects the world and provides their customers with the connectivity they need for a successful IoT solution.

Tele2 IoT is operating in a highly competitive industry with a narrow segment of customers who either want to change their IoT supplier or are about to start their IoT journey. The company also has requirements on what customers they should attract, including order size and growth potential. Thus, they experience the challenge of creating a constant inflow of customers. After an introductory interview with the Head of Sales at Tele2 IoT, we were informed that the department wants to establish a Sales Development function who works primarily with creating a constant inflow of customers to widen their pipeline. This process is referred to as prospecting, where four main activities are included (see figure 1): 1) identifying leads, 2) finding contact information to the identified leads, 3) qualifying leads and 4) handing them over to a Sales Manager. Today, the Sales Managers are working with customer acquisition processes in parallel to their other responsibilities and activities that directly bring revenue to the company.

The Head of Sales would want to decrease the Sales Managers time spent on prospecting, and increase their time negotiating and closing deals. Consequently, the ambition is to initiate a new function called Sales Development with a dedicated employee who will work primarily with activities related to prospecting. The IoT department has a project group that works with designing the function, the processes, and possible responsibilities for the Sales Developers. However, these processes are not fully established, and they are asking for creative inputs to ensure that the implementation of the function is effective, technology-driven, productive, and cost-efficient. According to the Head of Sales there are currently just 5 % of leads that convert from the first steps to later steps in the sales process, where the closing rate does not exceed 3 %. Therefore, the Head of Sales wants to improve their lead generation processes and increase the conversion rate to 13 %, which in turn will affect the closing deal percentage as well. Hence, our mission is to examine how this Sales Development Function can be organized to widen their sales pipeline with more qualified leads and explore which important factors must be considered to increase the conversion rate and improve sales performance.

Figure 1. A simplified prospecting process for Tele2 IoT

1.3 Introducing the Telecom industry and the Internet of Things To put the case company into a sales context, we deem it important to explore its relevance and implications on society, businesses, and academia. Studying the telecommunications sector, Espadinha-Cruz et al. (2021, p. 6) acknowledges the increasingly fierce competition, where the importance of customer acquisition strategies is evolving. Whilst leads are at the front of company’s customer acquisition practices, the process for managing them has proven to be a challenge, where ineffective lead management can result in the loss of valuable customers (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 1; Ohiomal et al., 2019, p. 164). Further, telecommunication operators have been acknowledged as having high power and influence over businesses in the industry for information and communication technology (Cero et al., 2017, p. 2). During the last decades, the traditional value chain for telecom operators have changed following the digital development in society, which has led to new services that are delivered to customers via connected devices (Cero et al., 2017, p. 38). These connected devices represent the Internet of Things, hereafter referred to as IoT, which is regarded as a top strategic technology trend in society (Nedić, 2019, p. 434).

Practitioners imagine a future with connected things for more sustainable, secure, and smarter societies, where IoT brings beneficiary changes to businesses in the form of smart and efficient solutions for connecting things/objects (Cong et al., 2021, p. 22). IoT also aims to increase quality of life for people through more secure, smarter, and simpler solutions (Wortmann & Flüchter, 2015, p. 221), and improves customers experiences by providing a digital, meaningful, and personal experience (Cong et al., 2021, p. 22). The term IoT is becoming more broadly used, but there is no general definition of what it

actually entails (Čolaković & Hadžialić, 2018, p. 18; Lee et al., 2017, p. 1057). For the purpose of this study, we will use the definition provided by Lee et al. (2017, p. 1057- 1058) who conclude that: “IoT can be described as a dynamic global network environment that combines the physical and virtual worlds, established by the connection of smart objects that detect, identify, and execute without human intervention to other objects or people on the Web in order to exchange information.”.

Despite its potential, there are challenges accompanying the increased use of IoT, where Lee et al. (2017, p. 1056) raises the need for more non-technical perspectives on research within IoT, to increase the critical reflections on its emergence. One prominent concern relates to data security, where IT leaders must ensure that intrusive threats are prevented (Nedić, 2019, p. 439). This also raises concerns for digital ethics, where personal information about customers must be protected, and laws set by governments must be followed (Čolaković & Hadžialić, 2018, p. 20; Nedić, 2019, p. 440). From a business perspective, executives must consider how their business is affected by the emergence of IoT, where re-positioning might be necessary (Wortmann & Flüchter, 2015, p. 224). Today, scholars describe how there are more IoT devices than people in the world (Cong et al., 2021, p. 17), reflecting its increasing significance and potential, but also resulting in higher traffic requirements which calls for extensive network capabilities and security mechanisms (Čolaković & Hadžialić, 2018, p. 18). This also creates both positive and negative impacts on the environment, where energy demands and electronic waste from IoT will have an impact on the environmental sustainability (Čolaković & Hadžialić, 2018, p. 34). On the other hand, IoT provides new and innovative ways to approach environmental problems (Čolaković & Hadžialić, 2018, p. 34), reflecting how future applications of IoT in businesses will be of importance.

1.4 Research gap As customer acquisition efforts provide the foundation for revenue (Patterson, 2007, p. 185), prospecting and lead generation have been described as key activities for ensuring companies’ growth and success (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 131; Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 181). Consequently, this research field can be considered as significant for all types of businesses. However, Ang & Buttle (2006, p. 297) declared that research on how to be successful and excel at customer acquisition was scarce, and more recent studies argue that there is still no common knowledge on how to use the information obtained during lead acquisition to effectively convert leads into customers (Espadinha- Cruz et al., 2021, p. 2). Recently, the digital transformation and focus on inside sales has gained attention (Ancillai et al., 2019; Sleep et al., 2020), where sales organizations are increasingly relying on their inside sales force.

Despite the historically broad interest in sales and marketing, the research and academic attention on inside sales for customer acquisition practices is unexpectedly low (Ohiomah et al., 2019; Sleep et al., 2020). Scholars have confirmed that existing academic research has primarily focused on outside salesforces, resulting in deficient insights and knowledge for inside sales operations (Arnett, 2021; Ohiomah et al., 2019; Sleep et al., 2020). Within a sales context, the inside sales force is described as an enabler to work with lead generation and effectively manage different customer segments, where one configuration for inside-outside sales organizations is described as sales development (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1029). In this configuration, the inside salespeople are responsible for identifying and initiating contact with prospective customers, qualifying them, and handing them over to the outside sales force. Consequently, scholars are asking for more

studies on how companies can improve their inside sales performance through focusing on prospecting and lead management (Ohiomah et al., 2019, p. 163).

Even though the digital transformation for sales has been recognized as important, there is still limited research on how digital tools should be designed and used to fully capture its potential (Wengler et al., 2021), and what impact it has on the sales force (Moncrief, 2017). Another digital trend that is relevant for this study is the IoT market which the case company operates within. Despite the progress in different research fields such as security, opportunities, and emerging technologies, Čolaković & Hadžialić (2018, p. 17) argues for how the research on IoT is still under development. Lee et al. (2017, p. 1058) asks for a broader scope of research to reflect the significance of IoT, since academia has focused on limited subjects and used few methodologies. Hence, more qualitative research methods are called for (Lee et al., 2017, p. 1065), where we aim to contribute with an exploratory and qualitative approach by focusing on our case company.

Derived from previous research and driven by the empirical context for the case company, our exploratory study will focus on sales development as a potential sales configuration for improving lead generation and increasing cross-functional collaboration within businesses. We want to explore how sales development and inside salespeople, can be successfully implemented to support sales and marketing personnel, create greater value, and increase sales performance. With access to a case company, we can assemble insights from different individuals, a contribution that has been requested by Malshe et al. (2017), to compare different perspectives on this topic. Driven by the need for further studies on effective lead generation processes (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 2), specifically the lack of studies on inside sales, we argue that our exploratory research design can address this research gap and provide useful managerial and theoretical implications.

1.5 Research purpose The main purpose of this study is to examine how the Sales Development Function at Tele2 IoT can be implemented to widen their sales pipeline with more qualified leads, and further explore which important factors must be considered to increase the conversion rate and improve the overall performance of sales. We further aim to provide guidelines for how businesses operating in similar B2B environments can improve their sales performance through sales development.

We will address this through emphasizing the internal perspective on process development, and use knowledge generated by studies on marketing, sales, and sales- marketing integration to provide insights and recommendations for how Tele2 IoT can work to improve their customer acquisition activities.

1.6 Research question Having argued for the importance of effective lead generation practices, the increasing reliance on inside sales forces, and the empirical context of this study, our research question is:

How can B2B companies work with sales development processes and lead generation to improve their sales performance?

2. Theoretical framework In this chapter, we develop a theoretical foundation by presenting relevant theories, concepts, and models related to our research topic. We start with an introduction to the evolution of the sales process by emphasizing different selling approaches, digital tools, sales configurations, and the sales context for IoT solutions. Thereafter, we focus on lead generation and lead management practices and its implications on the sales process. Subsequently, we will define the concept of sales lead black hole and how it is related to insufficient sales-marketing integration, where different impediments and solutions are examined. Lastly, the reviewed research areas and its implications will be discussed in relation to our study.

2.1 The evolution of sales The evolution of sales goes back many years, where the first actions included simple trading (Inks et al., 2019, p. 89). Today, sales are an ordinary process occurring all the time all over the world. Consequently, sales have continuously evolved due to developments in the macro environment concerning technology, economics, culture, and demographics (Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 135). This also has an impact on customers, who today have more transactional power since they can easily access information, whilst the transparency of the marketplace is increasing (Rapp et al., 2014, p. 247). This has resulted in a need for deeper understanding of the potential customers’ need before a sales call or contact is made (Rapp et al., 2014, p. 247), where salespeople are adopting different selling approaches with the goal of improving their effectiveness (Inks et al., 2019, p. 89).

One of the most accepted paradigms in selling research is the seven steps selling process (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 13) and researchers argue for the seven-step selling process to be applicable in most B2B selling situations (Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 140; Paschen et al; 2020, p. 406). Different companies in different industries distinguish their sales processes depending on the complexity of the solution, sales cycles and customers preferences (Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 140). However, the process and its foundations are to be considered standardized (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 14; Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 135; Paschen et al., 2020, p. 404). The process was first proposed by Dubinsky (1981, referred in Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 13) and include the seven steps: (1) prospecting, (2) preapproach, (3) approach, (4) presentation, (5) overcoming objections, (6) close and (7) follow-up (see figure 2). In our thesis, we will focus on the beginning of the process including step one to three, since these steps emphasize our mission from the case company (prospecting). The process for each of these steps will be described in depth below.

Figure 2. The seven-steps selling process (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 13)

Step one, prospecting, refers to the method for how salespeople search for new and potential customers, an important part for the company to continue growing (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 13). This first step of the sales process is described as the most important to expand the customer base (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 181), and has

also been referred to as lead generation (Paschen et al., 2020, p. 407). Once a lead has been identified, the next step is to gather information about the lead to be able to qualify them further in the sales process. The second step, preapproach, includes tasks to gather information about the potential customer and find out what value the organization can offer (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 13). The third step, approach, concerns initiating the first contact with the potential customer, with the ultimate goal of making an overall good first impression. Conclusively, the first three steps of the sales process include gathering information about leads with the objective of evaluating and scoring the lead’s propensity to buy, which describes the lead qualification process (Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 140). Leads that fulfil certain criteria are qualified and moved further in the process depicted in figure 2. When the qualification process is well-executed, B2B organizations can focus on their ideal clients and minimize time wasted on prospects that do not match with their business, resulting in decreased sales cycle time (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 182). This outlines the importance of employees’ skills in the qualification process, where different sales approaches and behaviors can be adopted.

2.1.1 Relationship selling The seven steps selling process has been criticized for focusing on transactional selling, and researchers have argued for its falling (Moncrief, 2017, p. 273; Sheth & Sharma, 2008, p. 266). Moncrief & Marshall (2005) proposed a more customer-oriented process with focus on relationship building activities. The relationship selling orientation mainly includes consultative, problem solving, and adaptive approaches. Sheth & Sharma (2008, p. 266) argued for a consultative selling process where the selling steps are focused around problem identification, presentation of solution, and continued customer support. In this approach, relationship building among salespeople and customers are at its core, and significant contributions are made by both parties (Moncrief, 2017, p. 273). To be successful in consultative selling, Inks et al. (2019, p. 91) suggest that salespeople should possess high intellectual capital since they need to be capable of identifying the right solution and advocate for how it can improve the business of the customer. Another branch of sales models focuses on problem-solving, as opposed to promoting a solution. One established model focusing on problem-solving is the SPIN-selling model, which was first introduced by Rackham (1988). The SPIN-model focuses on strategic selling for larger accounts, where situation, problem, implication, and need payoff provides a roadmap for salespeople in the interactions with accounts (Inks et al., 2019, p. 90). Thus, it is mainly a strategy and a tool for questioning to uncover the customers’ actual needs. Further, the adaptive selling approach focuses on adjusting communication and behaviors to different types of prospects and customers. Adaptive selling has transformed B2B sales since it is applicable in situations where sales cycles are long (Inks et al., 2019, p. 91), which relates to the situation for our case company.

An additional approach is called the challenger sales, where the salespeople need to identify the buyer’s needs, where their business can be improved, and act as disruptors as well as teachers towards their prospective buyers (Inks et al., 2019, p. 92). In a challenger role, salespeople should strive to challenge, almost provoke, their prospects and push them outside their comfort zone, and then adopt a teaching mode to explain to the customer why their business needs a change (Inks et al., 2019, p. 94). When the potential customers understand their need for this change, the salespeople will consequently be the first people they turn to, and possibly buy from. Critiques against this model concern the creation of tension between seller and buyer, which requires that the targeted customers must be open to engage in a discussion (Rapp et al., 2014, p. 254). This might not always

be the case. The approach also requires an organizational-level capability, certain skills, and a broad knowledge repository (Rapp et al., 2014, p. 254), where more inexperienced salespeople might not have the characteristics needed to be a credible challenges salesperson (Inks et al., 2019, p. 95). It is suggested that this shift towards viewing salespeople as a teacher should be considered, but not to the exclusion of other more traditional approaches focusing on questioning, problem-solving and relationship- building (Inks et al., 2019, p. 96), which are paramount approaches to facilitate interactions and trust between buyer and seller.

Social selling Derived from the different views on relational selling approaches, a need for modified sales approaches for B2B salespeople has been acknowledged since customers are becoming more digital in their buying process (Ancillai et al., 2019), where social selling is of certain interest for the present study. This strategy can be defined as “a selling approach, which leverages social and digital channels for understanding, connecting with, and engaging influencers, prospects and existing customers at relevant customer purchasing journey touchpoints for building valuable business relationships.” (Ancillai et al., 2019, p. 303). Social media tools such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter have been effective to directly communicate with and engage customers and learn more about their needs (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 183). The use of social media has thus had implications on the views on customer relationships management (CRM), which traditionally has been important to manage customer information and relationships but has not assisted with the first important step of the sales process, prospecting (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 184). One supportive technology for social selling is social CRM that integrates social tools in the communication with customers, which according to Rodriguez & Peterson (2012, p. 185) supports organizations in creating deeper insights about the customers, facilitates more interactive conversations, and supports the step of prospecting. However, the role of social selling has not been widely studied, and scholars call for more insights into the approach (Ancillai et al., 2019, p. 294), since digital tools and technology have affected the traditional sales process.

2.1.2 Digital tools and technology in the sales process The view of the sales process has also changed due to better informed customers, increased customer demands, digitalization, and globalization (Moncrief, 2017, p. 273; Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 14; Sheth & Sharma, 2008, p. 266). Specifically, in our research, the technological development is of interest to understand the process for B2B selling in our case company. This focus is supported by Järvinen & Taiminen (2016, p. 164) who conclude that B2B customers are becoming more active online, and by Wengler et al. (2021, p. 599) who describe that a majority of B2B companies are working on their digital transformation journey in sales.

Researchers have proposed implementing advanced technology such as artificial intelligence and machine learning in the sales process to increase the effectiveness and closed deals (Paschen et al., 2020; Syam & Sharma, 2018). However, Syam & Sharma (2018, p. 140) argue that the implementation for complex solutions, such as IoT, where the salespeople need to be “knowledge brokers”' will take longer time. Even if the digital transformation for sales is recognized as important, there is limited research on how digital tools and technologies should be designed, and when they should be used (Wengler et al., 2021, 605). To explore this field, Wengler et al. (2021) presents a market-oriented transformation model for businesses working on their digital transformation in sales

where the main success factors are people, processes, and data, which can be directly influenced by the management team. The meaning with people is that employees need to have faith in the process, engage in a supportive culture, and possess digital competencies at all levels. Data management is of high importance, where employees need to have knowledge within searching, documenting, and processing data about customers. This requires high collaboration within the sales team, but also with other departments in the company (Wengler et al., 2021, p. 606), for example marketing, operations, and finance (Storbacka et al., 2009, p. 895). Processes also need to be developed and defined before digital transformation should even be implemented, where a more customer-centric approach and cross-functional ecosystem perspective should be employed (Wengler et al., 2021, 602). The final success factor, data, relates to how digital tools give companies the opportunity to analyze their markets and customers (Tanner et al., 2005, p. 174). To benefit from these opportunities, companies must have inhouse knowledge about data integration, data preparation, and data analysis (Wengler et al., 2021, p. 607). In the proposed model by Wengler et al. (2021, p. 607), technology is in itself not a key to success, but should be viewed as a facilitator with potential to increase productivity. Overall, digital transformation needs to be understood as a continuous process driven by employees from various departments, not only sales.

2.1.3 A Holistic and Value-oriented View of Sales Apart from these technological developments, we also want to consider more general changes that have affected the sales process. Scholars have acknowledged that sales are changing in three different interrelated main aspects (Hartmann et al., 2018, p. 13; Storbacka et al., 2009, p. 890), which also affects the sales process. First, researchers propose that sales should be seen as a nonlinear process instead of a seller to buyer interaction because more actors are involved and the learning outcomes from qualification should be considered (D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013, p. 545; Dixon & Tanner, 2012, p. 10; Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 21). Secondly, the sales process should be integrated in the overall business, instead of an isolated and distinct activity (Stenbacka et al., 2009, p. 890). The third important change in sales concerns the different responsibilities and activities that are required from a salesperson (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1050: Hughes et al., 2013, p. 92). Today, salespeople need an understanding of the whole internal business, the service and the market to be able to offer a competitive proposal (Rapp et al., 2017, p. 60).

The changing views on the sales process has resulted in Hartmann et al (2018, p. 1) proposing a service ecosystem perspective of sales. To overcome these changes and navigate in the sales landscape where value creation is increasing, the service ecosystem reflects how the sales process benefits from being iterative, nonlinear, and more holistic. From a service perspective, value is created in an interactive process between customers, sellers, and other participants in B2B systems (Marcos Cuevas et al., 2016, p. 97). This implies that businesses must enable processes that realizes, develops, and captures value in various contexts. Marcos Cuevas et al. (2016, p. 100) describes one dimension of co- creation, linking, which is about understanding and coordinating actors in the network to share ideas, engage and organize information, which provides interesting insights from a sales perspective on our study. Their study further highlights the importance of interactions across levels in a customer-supplier relation to co-create value, which reflects the increasingly servitizated marketplace and engagement with customers for sales forces (Marcos Cuevas et al., 2016, p. 106).

With the modernized view of sales focusing more on co-creation, Hartmann et al. (2018, p. 12) propose a framework that emphasizes how more actors are involved in the sales process including other departments, firms, families, influencers, experts, and government agencies. Thus, crossing points of information both within and outside the organization occurs. These crossing points can include information regarding complex descriptions, the customer, contact information but also the customer’s problems and needs. Such information is often stored in a CRM tool. Having both humans and digital systems involved in the sales process complexifies the crossing points (Hartmann et al., 2018, p. 12), and it is important to not get lost of important information. The involvement of different actors in the sales process will contribute to different types of communication, meaning that communication can be both personal and impersonal depending on the actor in the process. This comprehensive view of the sales process contributes to a wider view of sales where Hartmann et al. (2018, p. 13-14) recommend companies to educate more people in the firm in sales practices, to ensure that their employees understand the value of the service and why customers buy it. Companies should also provide good tools and processes for both communication and processing of customers.

2.1.4 Inside sales and sales development Relating to the perspective of an ecosystem for sales, sales operations can be divided into outside sales and inside sales, where outside sales include more face-to face interactions in the sales process. Inside sales refers to remotely conducted sales using IT tools (e.g., telephone contact, e-mail communication, and the Web) without meeting face-to-face with customers (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1026). Since the current study focuses on the sales operations of a case company during a pandemic, with sales development of certain interest, the inside sales force is expected to be of certain interest in the empirical research.

The extant literature has acknowledged that inside sales personnel must be very adaptive in their contact with both customers and prospects. They are often responsible for customer relationship management (CRM) and developing the initial relation with customers (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1026), reflecting an increased dependency on inside sales in B2B selling (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 266; Ohiomah et al., 2020, p. 440). Within this context, Sleep et al. (2020) has examined differences between roles and capabilities for inside versus outside sales people, the impact of technology, and different configurations for inside-outside sales forces. Their findings reveal that the inside sales role requires a broader set of skills than outside sales, where inside sales must understand both verbal and digital cues, deal with many rejections, and improve communications with customers. The role also requires skills for team building, because inside salespeople work with boundary-spanning activities (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1041). Their study also identified four different configurations for inside-outside sales organizations: 1. Inbound sales/sales support, 2. Sales development, 3. Team/hybrid, and 4. Discrete (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1042), where the configuration with sales development is of uppermost interest for our study.

In the sales development configuration, the inside sales force is responsible for the lead generation (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). Thus, their main task is to identify qualified prospects and hand them over to the outside sales force to enhance their productivity and efficiency. To accomplish this, they take care of online customer inquiries, use outbound techniques such as telephone and emails, and other tools such as LinkedIn and the Web page to connect with prospective customers (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). The main benefit

with this configuration is that it is inexpensive and effective for generating new customers, and it also leads to more selling time for the outside salespeople. When the roles for inside and outside sales are clearly defined, the research by Sleep et al. (2020, p. 1044) also describes how the transition of customers can become smoother, which reduces conflicts and eases the process for the customer journey. Overall, the sales process becomes much leaner.

The limitation for this configuration relates to the relations and communication between inside and outside salespeople. If this is inefficient and not continuous, there is a risk for low information sharing which can lead to high rejection rates by prospects (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). Further, if not enough investments are put into training the inside sales personnel, the overall lead qualification can become inconsistent. The study also indicated that more younger and inexperienced people were hired for this role, which had a connection to turnover problems (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). They also pointed out that the performance of inside salespeople in sales development should not focus on behavioral outcomes such as calls made, since it can reduce task autonomy (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1051). Instead, companies should encourage more creative selling and customer- centric approaches for the inside salesforce and define possible career opportunities to reduce eventual turnover problems. One other approach is to pair new inside salespeople with experienced outside salespeople to give them a solid understanding for the products and customers (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1052). With this in mind, the sales development configuration can according to Sleep et al. (2020, p. 1051) be beneficial in a certain context:

“For example, firms that rely heavily on online leads or cold-calling should consider a sales development configuration that uses the inside sales force to qualify prospects before handing them off to the outside sales force, thus reducing wasted time on bad leads for outside salespeople.“

2.1.5 Internet of Things Since we are focusing on the solutions for Internet of Things (IoT), within our case company, we want to dive into the research field of IoT, its usage, and how it could be approached from a sales perspective. The emerging field of IoT creates new business opportunities for companies who have the resources to seize and develop these kinds of services and products (Cong et al., 2021). Typically, IoT solutions will combine physical things with IT that is either hardware or software (Wortmann & Flüchter, 2015, p. 222). To handle the connected “things”, an IoT platform is also needed to be able to manage the physical things remotely, where the choice of IoT platform is a challenge for companies who are offering connected products (Wortmann & Flüchter, 2015, p. 223). As described in chapter 1.1.2, the case company primarily offers connectivity through SIM-cards, and has a partner providing the IoT platform. The IoT technologies can further be grouped into numerous domains, for example smart transport, health, logistics, security systems, and energy (Čolaković & Hadžialić, 2018; Wortmann & Flüchter, 2015), reflecting how it can be applied in a variety of industries.

Lee et al. (2017, p. 1058) points out that the academic studies on IoT are few, and that there are many aspects that need to be covered in future research. We have found that the existing research on IoT has centered around its meaning and technology (Cero et al., 2017), applications and possibilities (Cong et al., 2021), and risks, but there is to our knowledge no sales literature focusing on the specifics of IoT in a seller or buyer situation

or process. Since we are focusing on that perspective, we will explore the general B2B sales research field to increase our understanding of IoT from a sales process perspective. Within the sales ecosystem, selling IoT creates a new context that requires an extensive understanding of the buyer behavior. Robinson et al. (1967) introduced the “Buygrid Framework” as a generic conceptual model for procurement processes in organizations and categorized the buying situation as three situations: new task, modified rebuy, and straight rebuy.

We argue that the novelty, complexity, and durability of IoT means that it can be classified as a new task situation for buyers. This situation means that buying organizations will have a high need for information whilst they will actively consider alternative suppliers (Robinson et al., 1967, p. 25). The fact that the sales cycles in B2B and IoT tend to be long can therefore be understood from the novelty and complexity of the products and services, resulting in a high need for information which requires intensive communication between the seller and buyer before a deal is closed. In a new buying situation, the selling organization must develop an understanding for the buying organization's structure, needs and problems through continuous interactions which can facilitate a relationship selling approach (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005, p. 17). In the context of B2B selling, companies often deal with fewer potential customers because of larger purchases (Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 142), which is also the case for our case company when selling IoT. In line with increasing customer demands and competition, the selling organization must consequently be flexible and adaptable to the individual customer to be successful. In the B2B market, Marcos Cuevas (2018, p. 106) further argues for the importance of alignment of the sales force and other functions to enable a proactive and collaborative approach towards customers to fully understand their needs, reflecting the previously mentioned shift from “selling” to “co-creating value”. To further explore how companies can identify and interact with potential and existing customers, our next chapter will focus on customer acquisition practices and explore whether there are any specific challenges that could occur in these processes.

2.2 Customer acquisition practices In a B2B context, the development of leads and customer acquisition practices are central to increase the performance of the company (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 182). In a growing market like IoT, Ang & Buttle (2006, p. 297) also points out the strategic importance of aggregating the market size by prioritizing customer acquisition, which is a key area for both sales and marketing departments. Since the telecommunications sector is characterized by high and increasing competition, Espadinha-Cruz et al. (2021, p. 1) acknowledge that increased market share or service and product innovation are common ways to achieve competitive advantage and attract customers. Within the research field of customer acquisition, lead generation and lead management are two other important and interrelated areas to work with (see e.g., Ang & Buttle, 2006, D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013; Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021). A lead is a potential customer who has formally expressed an interest in the company’s offerings (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 2). Two challenges with B2B customer engagement are to find the right decision maker in the company, but also finding the right type of customer through prospecting, also called lead generation (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 181). Thus, the first step of the sales process includes identifying and attracting leads through lead generation to create a sales pipeline.

2.2.1 The Sales Funnel/Pipeline As previously mentioned, for the purpose of this study we are focusing on the first three steps of the sales process: prospecting/lead generation, pre-approach and approach. The overall objective of these steps is to find and attract new qualified leads that can be converted to customers. The sales process has also been illustrated as a funnel (or pipeline), but also as a customer acquisition funnel, where each step in the process is narrowed among the funnel (Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 142; Paschen et al., 2020, p. 404). Based on the case company and how they are trying to widen their pipeline we will discuss this view further on. To better understand why the sales funnel or pipeline are of interest, there are some things to highlight. Sales are together with marketing responsible for bringing revenue into the company (Patterson, 2007, p. 185), where revenue is the result of:

[Rev=Pipeline Opportunities × Average Deal × Win Rate) / Cycle Time) × Sellers]

This equation outlines the number of opportunities in the pipeline, multiplied by the average deal size, multiplied by the win rate, this product is divided by the sales cycle time and thereafter multiplied by the number of sellers within the firm (Patterson, 2007, p. 185). A small increase in one of these variables can have a huge impact on the revenue stream for a company. Thus, increasing the number of opportunities in the pipeline and the average deal size will contribute to increased revenue. Therefore, the focus of the thesis will pay attention to these two parameters: increasing the number of opportunities with higher average deal size.

Sleep et al. (2020, p. 1044) recommends that companies with large deals have people dedicated to lead generation, lead qualification and information search in order for the salespeople to focus on activities that directly will bring revenues to the company. Furthermore, the sales funnel has been illustrated differently among scholars where the positioning of prospect and lead in the funnel is something that differs (D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013, p. 545; Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 166). However, these different models of the sales funnel all illustrate the different steps in the seven steps selling process. We will use the illustration by D’Haen & Van den Poel (2013, p. 545) in our research, because it most accurately reflects the process described by our case company (see figure 3).

Figure 3. The sales funnel (D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013, p. 545)

The darker parts of the model illustrate the current sales funnel at Tele2 IoT, where the beginning of the funnel is a list of suspects. Suspects are potential customers who may be interested in the products and services that the company offers, but do not consist of existing customers (D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013, p. 545). Once the suspect is identified, processing is required to see which ones might be interesting for the company to proceed with. A new list is created with prospects. Prospects refers to potential customers that meet certain criteria that the company searches for. The next step is to qualify these prospects to leads, by assessing their propensity to buy through scoring them based on certain criteria and characteristics (Paschen et al., 2020, p. 406). They will be contacted by the company and those who are interested will be moved forward in the sales process and hopefully become customers. D’Haen & Van den Poel (2013, p. 545) are pointing at the process as iterative, meaning that companies need to go back and forth between the steps of the sales funnel. This helps to improve the whole sales process, for instance potential customers that are not ready to move forward in the process today can be ready later, but also learning from each step in the process will help improve the quality of the process. According to Cue (2004, p. 67) the conversion rate from prospects to leads is on average 10 % and decreases to 1-5 % when it comes to converting a lead to a customer. The lighter parts in the pipeline illustrate the purpose of our thesis, to provide insights regarding how to widen the pipeline while selling a complex product or service in a highly competitive industry.

2.2.2 Lead generation It is important to distinguish between lead generation and lead management to understand the different processes and responsibilities that exist within companies. Lead generation is one of the first stage in the process of customer acquisition, and can be described as the following:

“Lead generation describes the marketing process of engaging and capturing interest in a product or service for the purpose of developing a sales pipeline and ultimately gaining new customers.” (Rothman, 2014, p. 10)

Different departments are involved in the lead generation process, but it is mainly the focus for marketing and sales personnel (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 183). Consequently, the literature usually divides leads in two categories: marketing-generated leads or self-generated leads. Marketing-generated leads are a result of activities conducted by the marketing department, such as advertisement, events, webinars, blogs and articles. Self-generated leads refer to leads that have been generated by salespeople themselves through for example sibling search or cold calls (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 53). Leads can also be described as hot or cold, reflecting where they are in the sales funnel. When a lead is qualified through the funnel, they become warmer and more ready to buy. For lead generation purposes, the distinction between inbound and outbound leads is also important to understand. An outbound lead has been approached by for example a salesperson through outbound activities such as cold calls and emails (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). Inbound leads can be generated through marketing activities such as campaigns, events, social media, and web activities. The main difference between inbound and outbound leads is that inbound leads are warmer and have an interest in the company offerings, whilst an outbound lead has often not interacted with the company before.

The ideal customer profile and Social CRM One suggested way to improve conversion of leads into customers is to focus on managing the lead qualification process (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 3), where one main issue is to identify when and which lead should be contacted. This requires a great understanding for the buyers, their purchasing process, and their specific needs. For example, Inyang & Jaramillo (2020, p. 616) describes how a shared view on the “ideal customer profile” can improve the sales performance by targeting the right leads. This profile should be developed by the sales managers and communicated within the whole sales team to facilitate both lead generation, but also managing the leads.

Another way to improve the lead generation practices is to adopt a social CRM strategy, which relates to the approach for social selling described in 3.1.x. By utilizing social media tools such as LinkedIn and Twitter to find information and communicate with prospective customers, it becomes easier for salespeople to qualify and find the ideal customer (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 187). The adoption of social CRM can improve the first step of the mentioned sales process relating to prospecting, since it can provide companies with exhaustive information about potential customers, identify the right decision maker, and let salespeople share information about their solutions. B2B organizations that want to implement a social CRM strategy should focus on four primary aspects. First, they need to identify where their interactions with clients can be improved (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 188). As an example, the creation of white papers on important topics that are published on the company website is one way to create interest and get prospects interested in the company's solutions. Secondly, organizations need to focus on how they communicate, which can include both push and pull strategies. For this purpose, webinars are presented as a way to share ideas and create interactive conversation with prospects (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 188). Third, prospects can be engaged in conversations via blogs, which requires regular postings. Finally, the organizations need to use various social media tools and grow their community online. This can be accomplished through looking at what existing customers are doing in social media - where are they active?

Conclusively, the focus of social CRM is to utilize tools such as webinars, blogs, LinkedIn and Twitter to engage customers, but it is equally important to integrate the social CRM practices into the existing CRM workflow (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 190). Further, Moore et al. (2015, p. 17) declare that when adopting tools for social CRM, sales managers should assess which tools are most appropriate for the sales process and other tasks related to the job. For example, the potential return on investment (ROI) from different tools should be estimated. Here, the conversations on social media need to be interesting for buyers to generate higher ROI. It is also suggested that the use of social media should be incorporated in salespeople's education (Moore et al., 2015, p. 17), to ensure that they can effectively apply it in their workflow.

2.2.3 Lead management To efficiently process the generated leads, companies also need an adequate strategy for managing them, where lead management has been approached as an innovative strategy in recent years (D’Haen et al., 2016; Sabnis et al., 2013). The overall aim with lead management is to systematically register and process information about leads and estimate their probability to convert into customers (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 3). Despite the obvious importance of lead management, the challenge of knowing how to contact which lead in the right way at a proper time remains (Ohiomah et al., 2019, p.

164), reflecting ineffectiveness in the lead management process which can result in the loss of potentially valuable customers (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 1). Since the purpose of the current study is to deliver insights to the case-company on how their lead process can be improved, this research area is important to consider.

When a lead has been generated, they are supposed to be managed and converted to customers through the sales funnel. In the process of lead management, information about leads is processed in different systems, for example in Customer Relationship Management (CRM) systems. Organizations can utilize CRM to for example track campaigns, manage leads and opportunities, and handle customers’ issues (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 184). Documenting information about the leads is vital for the sales process, where both the quantity and quality of information in a lead can be used to estimate the probability for conversion into a customer (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 3; Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 184). Interestingly, research within the field of customer acquisition acknowledges that a dedicated budget for the task is a key to success, whilst CRM technologies for the purpose of lead management is not associated with excellence (Ang & Buttle, 2006, p. 310). Furthermore, traditional CRM systems do not assist either sales or marketing with the most important step - lead generation (Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 184).

Scholars have further identified various reasons for the problems with lead management, such as slow identification of which leads to contact, not knowing how to meet their demands (Espadinha-Cruz et al., 2021, p. 2), and complaints over the quality of marketing-generated leads from sales representatives (D’Haen et al., 2016, p. 69; Oliva, 2006, p. 397; Patterson, 2007, p. 186). This reflects how both marketing and sales can blame each other for either low quality of leads, or insufficient follow-up and contact with the generated leads, which has consequences for both their separated and joined performance and metrics. Hence, when leads are not carefully and timely managed, the efforts made by marketing for lead generation becomes worthless (Ohiomah et al., 2019, p. 163). When leads are managed properly, they can become qualified leads, be pursued by sales representatives, and ultimately converted into customers.

2.2.4 The sales lead black hole Ineffective practices for lead management can lead to different problems in the sales process, such as low quality and/or hit rate for generated leads. Past studies have for example revealed that B2B firms spend a lot of money on marketing activities to gain information about prospective customers, but these are not followed up by sales representatives in a satisfying way (Malshe et al., 2017; Sabnis et al., 2013, Van der Borgh et al., 2020). This phenomenon is referred to as the “sales lead black hole” (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 52) which reflects a lacking follow-up on leads that have been generated by marketing. This black hole has several implications on the sales process and lead management in businesses, which often results in lost opportunities and inefficient marketing and sales efforts.

Previous studies have identified various drivers for this phenomenon such as different goals, motivations, and abilities (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 54), inadequate leadership (Malshe et al., 2017, p. 155) and lack of communication (Malshe, 2011, p. 49). Sabnis et al. (2013, p. 54) further describes how different time horizons and goals for marketing vs sales results in different views on the attractiveness of leads. For example, a sales rep often has more short-term focus and a quota of customers to fill, whilst marketing has a

more long-term perspective and tools to generate a large number of leads (Rouziès et al., 2005, p. 115; Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 54). Another view is that deals are not closed because of misalignment between the targeting efforts in relation to what the customers need (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 136). To synthesize why the sales lead black hole can emerge, Sabnis et al. (2013) conclude that the time put into following up marketing-generated leads is a function of the sales representatives’ motivation to pursue goals, opportunity, and ability. Sales representatives are often responsible for lead follow-up for both self- generated and marketing generated leads, whilst they have other responsibilities, resulting in a lack of time (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 53), where they must prioritize what activities, and which leads they spend their time on.

In their conceptual model, motivation can be either internal or external, where Sabnis et al. (2013, p. 55) believe that the external motivation factors are of higher interest since they can be influenced by the company through rewards, feedback etc. Lead prequalification is an important process where marketing leads are screened and discarded if they do not fulfill certain criteria. The responsibility for the prequalification is usually in the marketing department (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 141). If the quality of leads is low, sales representatives are more likely to focus on their self-generated leads (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 55). The managerial tracking concerns how managers monitor the follow-up on marketing leads and is seen as an extrinsic motivator. Opportunity related to how many marketing-leads are handed over to sales, and ability relates to skills for selling, experience, and market knowledge (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 56). Their study used this model as a conceptual framework and provides interesting insights for the focus of our thesis. Firstly, the sales rep’s perceptions on the quality of leads are individual, not objective. According to Sabnis et al. (2013, p. 62), this is something future research in sales could explore further. The higher the perceived quality is, the better is the follow- up on marketing leads. Further, managerial tracking has a negative interaction effect with experience. If sales representatives are experienced and monitored, they will focus less on lead management and more on customer retention. Focusing on opportunity and ability, the results show that a sales rep with more experience that gets a large volume of marketing leads will spend less time on these leads, and more time on the self-generated leads (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 63). To reduce the sales lead black hole, they conclude by suggesting that companies could focus on more cooperation that considers the individual abilities for sales representatives and develop both the marketing and sales processes.

In contrast to Sabnis et al.’s (2013) view on B2B selling, Van der Borgh et al. (2020, p. 137) conclude that existing research of the sales lead black hole has neither validated its existence, nor examined lead management process by accounting for more process related outcomes such as speed (time for processing), or quality for marketing-generated leads. Maybe sales representatives spend less time on marketing-leads than self-generated leads because they take less time to process? This would mean that there is a balance in the processed leads, making the perspective of time allocation misleading. The existence of this problem might even be a perception problem, such as managers having unrealistic targets for the follow-up. The targets need to be aligned with available resources (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 136).

For companies operating in a newer arena, such as IoT, we have found that studies on the sales lead black hole is limited. Even if previous research has identified the reasons for this black hole, the cooperation between sales and marketing is still a recurring phenomenon that can be identified in a variety of industries (Malshe et al., 2017; Ohiomah

et al., 2019). Previous research on the sales lead black hole (e.g., Sabnis et al., 2013), lead generation and lead management (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016; Ohiomah et al., 2019) describes the importance of cooperation between marketing and sales departments to increase the conversion rate of leads into customers. To explore how a sales development function can support cooperation and integration between these functions, we will forwardly focus on studies related to this important relationship.

2.2.5 Sales-marketing integration During the last decade, the alignment of sales and marketing has been a popular topic in research, and various impediments, approaches and solutions to a successful integration have been identified and suggested. Recent studies have also pointed out how sales and marketing are integrated especially at the early stage of the sales funnel in a B2B context (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 167; Paschen et al., 2020, p. 406). However, the integration continues to be a challenge for companies in various business settings (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 265; Malshe et al., 2017, p. 154), which reflects the importance of continuous research with new perspectives.

One of the first studies within the field of sales-marketing integration (SMI) was published by Rouziès et al. (2005), who presented a conceptual framework for effectively integrating the sales and marketing function through mechanisms related to structure, systems/processes, culture, and people. Because of the novelty of the concept, Rouziès et al. (2005, p. 115) also suggested a definition for Marketing–Sales integration: “the extent to which the activities carried out by the two functions are supportive of each other”. This definition has been mentioned by scholars such as Guenzi & Troilo (2006) who suggest that the definition should also emphasize sharing of goals, resources, strategies, and plans to cover different organizational levels in the integration. After these initial studies, the focus on integration between sales and marketing activities has been widely researched in various industries. Several impediments to a successful integration have been identified, such as different mind-sets between the functional areas (Rouziès et al. (2005, p. 114), internal communication (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 265; Le Meunier-FitzHugh et al., 2011, p. 1168; Malshe et al., 2017, p. 147), subcultures (Beverland et al., 2006, p. 392), and unaligned objectives. These factors can lead to three commonly experienced dysfunctions between sales and marketing relating to: communication paucity, lack of collaboration and interface conflict (Malshe et al., 2017, p. 147), which has a negative impact on the sales process.

Different enablers for effective integration There is no doubt that the interface between sales and marketing is crucial for businesses, and many scholars have studied how it can be facilitated and coordinated in an efficacious way. Rouziès et al. (2005, p. 115) argued that SMI needs to be viewed as a dynamic process where marketing and sales can create more value by working together. In this process, the functions need to support each other’s activities, be consistent, timely coordinated, and congruent. To facilitate the integration, Guenzi & Troilo (2006, p. 983) point out effective communication as a central node that stimulates other positive outcomes (e.g., collaboration, sharing, effectiveness, and efficiency), whilst other suggests customized approaches to address dysfunction experiences (Malshe et al., 2017, p. 155). The support for coordination from managers from both marketing and sales is also important to facilitate collaboration between the functions (Le Meunier-FitzHugh et al., 2011, p. 1168), where Malshe (2011, p. 53) conclude that managers need to ensure that both formal and informal communication channels are available, and that joint

activities and achievements are visible in the organization. Other frequently mentioned enablers are the creation of shared vision and goals for marketing and sales, as well as focusing on building a team spirit between the functions.

Despite the scholarly insights on how to harmonize SMI and the potential positive outcomes, the integration is still problematic in real business-settings (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 265; Malshe et al., 2017, p. 154). One explanation for this can be that previous studies have failed to include the perspective of the employees when it comes to their experience of the collaboration. It is suggested that organizational leaders must consider the holistic dysfunction experience of marketers’ and salespeople to deal with SMI dysfunction and develop customized approaches to handle these at an early stage (Malshe et al., 2017, p. 155). The study also raises how sales and marketing personnel respond differently to the same dysfunction, which can lead to increased problems. Interestingly, this reflects how potential dysfunctions do not always appear in a linear fashion which is similar to the perspective on the development of sales processes discussed in the previous section. Instead, Malshe et al. (2017, p. 156) argues for a more circular relationship that can be addressed and managed at early stages, where managers can play a proactive role to identify and reduce SMI dysfunctions.

Knowledge transfer Recently, Arnett et al. (2021) have also argued for the managerial importance of facilitating integration between different departments. To improve this integration, scholars have studied tacit knowledge transfer - knowledge that is personal, context- specific, and stored in the minds of individuals (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 259; Tanner et al., 2005, p. 173). Knowledge can also be explicit, meaning that it can be more easily shared, codified and stored in for example a CRM system.

In relation to the sales process and the integration of sales and marketing, much information that is collected in the interactions with customers can be both tacit and explicit. Both types of knowledge are important to create a holistic view on the customer (Tanner et al., 2005, p. 173). However, Arnett et al. (2021) discusses how tacit knowledge is rarely shared between individuals in organization. Tacit knowledge can be in the form of a customer story, which is difficult to formalize and share. Salespeople need to interpret and formalize this knowledge to document it in a CRM system, which has proven to be challenging due to the context-specific nature of tacit knowledge, (Tanner et al., 2005, p. 173). Any technology is just as good as the knowledge that has been stored within it, and sharing tacit knowledge will often rely on social interactions (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 259). Here, the inside sales force can be used to capture more tacit knowledge by leveraging their close work with outside sales and the marketing department (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 266). Managers could also consider promoting more cross-functional teams to stimulate knowledge transfer and focus on delivering higher value to the customers. For example, if a team would consist of both inside and outside salespeople, marketers, and other relevant individuals with a common and specific goal, a higher level of communication could be expected (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 266).

2.3 Approaches for reaching the customers The previous research on sales, lead generation, lead management and SMI reflects the prominent role of sales in generating and widening a pipeline of potential customers to improve the performance of the company. Throughout this process, the marketing department is for example responsible for creating and delivering relevant and timely

content to both prospective and existing customers. Relating to increasing digitalization, Golec et al. (2019, p. 2) recognizes the potential benefit in a B2B setting, where organizations who embrace mature technology and integrate it with their B2B marketing can position themselves as leaders in their industries. The creation of content requires a deep understanding of the customer and its needs, and the utilization of available technology, which will be the focus of this chapter.

2.3.1 Digital content marketing To effectively manage the lead generation process, it is crucial to understand how the targeted customers will behave. There is to our knowledge no available information on the characteristics of IoT buyers and their behavior within existing literature, so we will focus on increasing our understanding for the general B2B customer instead. Järvinen & Taiminen (2016, p. 164) describes how the internet is becoming more important for B2B customers in their purchasing decision, which has led to a marketing paradigm called “digital content marketing” (Holliman & Rowley, 2014, p. 275). In our study, we will use the definition of content marketing described by Holliman & Rowley (2014, p. 285): “B2B digital content marketing involves creating, distributing and sharing relevant, compelling and timely content to engage customers at the appropriate point in their buying consideration processes, such that it encourages them to convert to a business building outcome”, which describes an inbound marketing tactic, also called pull marketing. In the creation of content marketing, Järvinen & Taiminen (2016, p. 173) provide evidence for how the content should target the customer’s specific needs and focus on solving their problems. The focus should thus not be on promoting a specific product or solution. Instead, companies should actively listen to their customers to understand their needs and use the expertise from both marketers and subject specialists to create high-quality content.

Marketing automation Since B2B-customers are becoming more active online, it is further suggested that selling companies should utilize marketing automation to work with behavioral targeting and deliver personalized content to generate leads with higher quality (Järvinen & Taiminen, p. 165). The primary goal of marketing automation is to gather behavioral, transactional, and geographical data of clients, which is processed and analyzed (Pol, 2019, p. 77). Marketing automation is further described as a process for segmenting potential customers (Pol, 2019, p. 77), where personalized offers and messages that have been prepared by marketing for each segment are automatically sent (Heimbach et al., 2015, p. 130). In section 3.2.2, we exemplified how current academia within lead generation has identified how timing and identifying where customers are in their buying cycle is a challenge in the lead generation process. Järvinen & Taiminen (2016, p. 173) addresses this challenge by pointing out the possibilities with using IT tools to understand where customers are in their buying process and target them with content based on their recent activities online to move them further in the sales process. For example, social media can be used to share and deliver content, and marketing automation, which involves a software platform where users can set specific rules, can be used to deliver content to customers (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 165).

2.3.2 A joint funnel for sales and marketing According to Järvinen & Taiminen (2016, p. 164) it is also crucial to understand the role of content marketing in B2B sales due to the conflicts between sales and marketing when

it comes to management and generating leads. Marketing automation is an IT tool, where the vendors of software systems like e.g., Pardot, Silverpop and Marketo claim that their program will assist companies in integrating their marketing and sales system interfaces and ultimately improve their lead qualification. Scholarly findings also feature how managers must understand that the tactics for content marketing and marketing automation is a learning process that takes time, and possibly requires a cultural change within the company (Holliman & Rowley, 2014, p. 286; Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 173). This learning process can be improved if marketers are encouraged to learn through trial and error, which can be facilitated by education and a suitable leadership (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 173). It is thus important to understand that the adoption of these tactics will require time and investments. Other insights are that automation requires expertise in IT and data analytics, and that marketing employees should understand the digital age and understand how it is incorporated in the B2B sales process.

Earlier, we described the sales funnel which depicts how a potential customer is converted and qualified through the funnel into a deal. This concept has been developed with the purpose of aligning marketing and sales systems through a joint funnel, which is seen as a way to increase transparency and cooperation (Järvinen & Talminen, 2016, p. 173). This funnel should not be a way to separately track either sales or marketing's performance. Instead, managers should measure their joint performance to foster, not hinder cooperation. The study by Järvinen & Taiminen (2016, p. 172) shows how seamless cooperation between sales and marketing is important to successfully integrate content marketing with the B2B sales process. This integration can be critical to the lead qualification process and should include both IT integration between the sales and marketing departments systems, collaborative planning, and functional alignment (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 172). This relates back to the sales lead black hole and SMI; if marketing leads are not followed-up, the efforts put into content marketing to produce leads would be in vain. The scholars acknowledge that this funnel is most suitable in B2B with long sales cycles (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 173), which corresponds to the characteristics of the case company in the current study. We will therefore use this funnel as a guiding framework to understand how our case company is working with different streams and processes for lead generation, including marketing automation, inbound, and outbound tactics.

2.4 Synthesis The objective of this chapter has been to examine relevant academic research for our field of study. We have presented different theories, models, and concepts, which will guide us in the empirical data collection, but also be utilized in the upcoming analysis of our findings (chapter 6). The development of sales is changing in different interrelated directions of the business. Some of the drivers for this change are technology development, globalization, and increased customer demands (Moncrief, 2017, p. 273) for information and value-oriented solutions (Marcos Cuevas et al., 2016, p. 97). These changes in turn affect the sales process, cooperation and communication among different departments in the companies, but also the need for an educated and experienced sales force as a competitive advantage for businesses.

We have examined the early phase of the sales process referred to as customer acquisition, which is a prerequisite for businesses to generate revenues and be profitable over time (Patterson, 2007, p. 185). Within the sales process we have focused on studies on lead generation, lead management and inside sales, which are three central phenomena

focusing on generating potential customers and managing them in an adequate way. Previous studies have provided insights on challenges in the qualification process of leads (Ohiomah et al., 2019; Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012), which is of high relevance for our study. We want to explore if our case company is experiencing these challenges and focus on how they can be handled. For example, scholars describe that sales-marketing integration and the collaboration between these departments is a necessity for effective lead generation (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016). One key priority for both sales and marketing is to identify relevant and interesting leads, where one crucial aspect is the capability of targeting and connecting with these customers in an effective and adequate way (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 136). Furthermore, the increasing use of digital tools (Wengler et al., 2021), and value-driven view on the ecosystem of sales (Hartmann, 2018), has led to salient changes in the B2B market, with implications on buyer-supplier interactions. For example, understanding the customer’s need before contact is initiated (Rapp et al., 2014, p. 24), and utilizing social media (Ancillai et al., 2019), are elements that will be important to explore in the future course of our study. Aligning with the purpose of our study, insights from these previous studies can guide us in providing recommendations on how companies can improve their sales performance through lead generation and specifically, a sales development configuration for Tele2 IoT.

3. Methodology This chapter begins with an introduction of the author's choice of topic and pre- understanding of the research area, followed by our guiding philosophical assumptions for the study, and justifications for our methodological choices. A description over the literature search and review process is provided, including a critical reflection for the processed sources, and an overview for the study’s achievement of eight quality criteria. Thereafter, we focus on our choices for the data collection, sampling method, selection of respondents, preparation, and execution of interviews. We present how the collected data was handled and which method for data analysis was applied. The methodology chapter is rounded off with a reflection over important ethical considerations.

3.1 Scientific methodology In the following sections, we will describe which role we, as researchers, will have on the current study by reflecting on different alternatives for our methodological choices. We want to once again acknowledge that this thesis is focusing on a specific case company, which will be considered throughout this chapter.

3.1.1 Choice of topic and pre-understanding The choice of sales development processes within the telecom industry, focusing on IoT as our topic had different drivers. With our shared academic background from studying M.Sc. in Business and Economics we have acquired comprehensive knowledge in the field of business administration with a focus on service management, strategic development, and behavioral science. Beyond this, we have professional experience from working with customer value, business development and market analysis where one of the authors has years of experience from the telecom industry. Our choice of topic has its root in our curiosity and interest in the fast-moving environment of the telecom industry, where flexibility and adaptability are important factors to deliver high value to customers. At the same time, the digitalization in society is increasing at a tremendous speed, where IoT will play an important role in the years to come. Saunders et al. (2016, p. 32) describes the importance of choosing a topic that the authors have previous academic knowledge from, whilst they should have a personal interest in the subject. We believe that our interest for the industry, and our previous academic knowledge within business administration will be useful to collect and interpret data related to processes and value- creation, which are two important aspects that can contribute to the purpose of the study.

In the interface between respondents and the collected material, the researchers will always contribute with a pre-understanding that includes opinions and perceptions about what is being studied (Dalen, 2015, p. 179). It is therefore important to understand the researchers’ potential impact before the empirical collection, to be able to identify and reflect on what might have affected the study (Stenbacka, 2001, p. 553). In relation to this, we want to acknowledge that one of the authors has been doing an internship at Tele2 within the business unit IoT and has acquired knowledge from their business operations which can facilitate the understanding of the study. This can at the same time lead to consequences, where it will be important to consider potential biases. We want to acknowledge that both researchers are motivated by the topic itself and are not getting any compensation for this study. The joint understanding and interest for the sales process, IoT and the telecom industry has evolved during the development of this study,

where we have acquired knowledge from previous research and related trends to increase our pre-understanding.

Furthermore, we need to consider our attitude and objectivity to the studied subject. Digitalization, IoT and 5G are topics that are frequently mentioned in all industries as possibilities for the future, whilst there are also discussions about concerns relating to for example health and integrity. We are therefore motivated to shed light on existing challenges and opportunities with selling IoT by utilizing the personal connection to a prominent company within this sector, our case company. It is a prerequisite that we aim for objectivity in the development of the study to ensure that it is based on a solid theoretical background that will lead to an open-minded data collection and analysis. Our goal is to provide Tele2 with fruitful insights to their internal process development and generate new insights and recommendations for researchers and practitioners within the industry.

3.1.2 Research paradigm Paradigm is a well-used term in social science, which describes a set of the researcher’s beliefs to create knowledge (Morgan, 2007, p. 50). The term paradigm has been used in different settings and is an umbrella concept among researchers and can be explained as shared belief systems among a community of researchers pointing at what knowledge they search for and how they will interpret the results (Morgan, 2007, p. 50). The two main branches of paradigms within research are called ontology and epistemology, which guides methodological choices, research strategy, data collection and analysis methods (Saunders et al., 2016, p. 125). The ontological and epistemological assumptions will thus have an impact on the studied subject, the view of theories, and the methods used (Marsh & Furlong, 2002, p. 17). In the context of our study, we are examining a case company that will include comprehensive empirical material, which is important to consider when adopting one of these paradigms.

Ontological standing Saunders et al. (2016, p. 125) describes ontology as a researcher's view on the nature of being and existence, which relates to social phenomena. Within ontology there are two different perspectives called objectivism and constructionism (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 52-53). These perspectives can be seen as two extremes on a continuum between each other (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 96), where Marsh and Furlong (2002, p. 18) explain the objective side of ontology as the social reality that exists independently of people’s knowledge about it. Saunders et al. (2016, p. 128) point out how the reality from an objectivist worldview is not affected by social constructions or the environment, and therefore the perception of reality will not differ between individuals. Constructionism on the other hand, refers to a reality that exists in each actor’s mind and actions, resulting in different and individual perceptions of the reality (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 53). In our study, we argue that constructivism is an adequate ontological viewpoint that allows us to focus on different individual perspectives to answer our research question. Scholars have acknowledged that quality perceptions about leads in the sales processes are often individual rather than objective (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 62), which reflects the importance of subjective and individual experiences. The reality for the studied case company will undoubtedly reflect a socially constructed reality, where we expect the respondents to share their own voice. Therefore, we believe that the respondents will provide us with subjective answers that we must interpret, which can be supported by adopting a constructivist perspective.

Epistemological standing Epistemology is the branch of philosophy that concerns knowledge, including what is to be regarded as knowledge, and what characterizes acceptable knowledge (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 47). Within epistemology, one can have two different views: positivism or interpretivism (Bryman & Bell, 2017, pp. 47–49). Positivism is more of a scientific method for examining social reality, where science must be regarded as objective, and only phenomena that can be confirmed with the senses should be seen as real knowledge. In positivism, the purpose with theory is to develop hypotheses that can be tested and provide explanations (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 47). In contrast to this view, interpretivism is about interpretations to capture the subjective meaning provided by social actions, where one wants to take into account the study objects and understanding of the social sciences for human behavior, instead of trying to explain how science affects humans’ actions (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 49). Consequently, findings in an interpretivist study is usually based on qualitative research data, whilst positivism tends to produce more objective and quantitative data (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 50). In this study, we will adopt an interpretivist view on knowledge where we will interpret the collected data to gain insights from the study objects. Further, the interpretivist perspective fits the study well because our interpretations of the empirical data will be subjective and aim to understand how different perspectives and experiences can influence the process development for lead generation.

3.1.3 Research approach Another important consideration is the relation between theory and practice, which can be described from two main approaches: deduction and induction. In deductive research, a study is developed based on conceptual and theoretical structure, and then tested by using empirical observations (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 7). The deductive approach is the most common view on the relation between theory and practice (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 42). In an inductive approach, theory is formulated on the basis of empirical results where a set of observations of the reality is used to develop general inferences (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 7). In contrast to deductive research where theory is tested, inductive research creates theory based on the result of collected data (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 45). According to Kvale & Brinkmann (2014, p. 238), qualitative research is often inductive because researchers approach their subject without pre-existing ideas to test. The two approaches can also be combined, creating an abductive approach where the researcher moves back and forth between an inductive and deductive approach (Saunders et al., 2016, p. 148). This means that information is used to explore a phenomenon, identify themes and explain patterns, which can result in the creation of new theories or change existing theories (Saunders et al., 2016, p. 152).

The purpose of this study is to develop recommendations for how the case company can work with sales development to widen their pipeline and improve the sales performance. There is no previous research on this within the context of sales development and IoT solutions, which means that we will produce new knowledge in line with a mainly inductive research approach. Since the nature of the study is exploratory, meaning that we are not testing existing theories or working with hypotheses, a pure deductive approach can be excluded. However, the study uses a theoretical framework as a foundation for the data collection and analysis, so our approach will contain components of deductive logic as well.

3.1.4 Research design and strategy Following our chosen research paradigm with a constructivist view on the world, and an interpretivist perspective on knowledge, we will now focus on the design of our study which is closely linked to these assumptions (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 59). The research design requires alignment with the purpose and research question, as it will ultimately guide the methods for planning, conducting, and analyzing the empirical data. In line with an interpretivist perspective, case studies are a commonly used method. One type of case study is the exploratory case studies, which can for example be conducted if there is deficient knowledge within the studied research field (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 68). Relating to our study, we argue for how an exploratory case study is a suitable research design. Firstly, we are focusing on a specific department within a company, where the case setting was described in chapter 2. To properly answer the research question and fulfil the purpose of the study, we need to understand every aspect of their operations in- depth, which will require a more exploratory approach. Secondly, as described in the theoretical framework, scholars have argued for the need for more research within the sales process, with specific focus on lead management processes (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 137), and inside sales (Arnett, 2021; Ohiomah et al., 2019; Sleep et al., 2020), reflecting the need for more exploratory studies. As an example was the existence of the sales lead black hole explicitly confirmed for the first time as recently as 2020 by Van der Borgh et al.

The research strategy is a plan for how the researchers will work to answer the stated research questions (Saunders et al., 2016, p. 177). This means that the research strategy defines how data will be collected where Collis & Hussey (2014, p. 52) present the quantitative and qualitative method. Edling & Hedström (2003, p. 11) differentiate between the methods by pointing out how the qualitative method provides more in-depth information but with fewer observations, while the quantitative method is based on more research objects but not as nuanced information. Collis & Hussey (2014, p. 52) further describes the quantitative method as numerical, which is mainly used in positivist studies. Edling & Hedström (2003, p. 11) mention the advantages of the quantitative method, where one is its generalizability which contributes to results that are easier to communicate to a wider audience. Ahrne & Svensson (2015, pp. 11–12) criticize the quantitative approach by pointing at the difficulties of describing interactions, feelings, and experiences in quantities, which indicates that it might not be an applicable strategy for us given our inductive and exploratory study.

The qualitative method on the other hand uses words and images to describe phenomena (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 52), where Merriam (2015, p. 128) explains that the intention of qualitative research is to understand how people interpret their lives and experiences. The researcher mentions that qualitative studies explain how people construct meaning, to uncover and identify a phenomenon of interest. Previous scholars studying IoT have for example suggested that qualitative methodologies are necessary to expand the understanding of the topic from a social science and business perspective (Lee et al., 2017, p. 1065). Ahrne & Svensson (2015, p. 9) further describe qualitative methods as the overall concept for observations, interviews and analysis of such material that is not intended to be analyzed through quantifications and numerical data. Qualitative data analysis based on qualitative data is a commonly used method within the interpretivist perspective (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 47), where the main criticism is that these results are usually not generalizable because they are rarely derived from probability selection (Fejes & Thornberg, 2019, p. 287). Cronbach (1975, p. 124), on the other hand, has

responded to this critique by describing how social phenomena are too complex to be generalized due to their constant change. Ahrne & Svensson (2015, p. 12) also support the qualitative method by describing how it has contributed to the development of social science research by becoming more nuanced as a result of setting different norms and values in a context. To assess qualitative research, Tracy (2010) has developed a conceptual model for connecting qualitative research’s means (methods and activities) with its end goals, to increase the understanding for qualitative research and, in our view, address the critique of its low generalizability by focusing on other more flexible evaluation criteria.

For this study, we have decided on a qualitative approach both based on the interpretivist research paradigm, but also because an exploratory study within a case company can be considered difficult to quantify. The possible unfavorable effect of the qualitative approach is thus that the result can be considered context dependent, making the results difficult to apply to a wider mass, which needs to be considered. Conclusively, since our study focuses on how Tele2 IoT can improve their lead generation process to widen their sales pipeline, we will conduct an exploratory study with a qualitative approach.

Table 1. Research paradigms and approaches

Methodological choices Our perspective

Epistemological standing Interpretivism

Ontological standing Constructivism

Research approach Inductive

Research strategy Qualitative

Research design Exploratory

3.1.5 Literature search and source criticism To understand what previous research has examined within the focus of this thesis, a literature search has been conducted. According to Saunders et al. (2016, p. 104), research questions within a more unexplored research area will often require a wider search than more examined and documented areas. Since our topic is not extensively explored, we have therefore studied several different areas that relate to our research purpose and question. We have searched for literature within the field of sales processes, customer acquisition, sales-marketing integration, digital transformation, IoT, and content marketing. We have mainly used databases provided by Umea's university library's search service, EBSCO host and via Google Scholar. The search has been systematically executed based on guidelines from Collis & Hussey (2014, p. 77) where we identified our topic, created relevant keywords, localized useful articles, and scanned the reference list to find original sources for important concepts and definitions. The literature search has been ongoing during the creation of this thesis, where we started searching for keywords of lead generation, sales development, sales lead black hole, and process development. However, these keywords did not provide us with the necessary information required to support the focus of the study, so we had to expand our search. We explored the reference

lists from the most relevant articles to find additional material and previous studies in relevant areas. We then chose to do an extended search by using the keywords: sales process, sales-marketing integration, inside sales, sales ecosystem, lead management, and marketing automation resulting in a more comprehensive theoretical framework to support our purpose.

Throughout this process, we have critically examined each source to review whether they fulfil the four important criteria for source criticism described by Thurén & Werner (2019, p. 12): authenticity, independence, time, and tendency. To be selective in our literature research and find adequate and relevant literature, we have almost exclusively used peer- reviewed articles and primary sources to ensure that our contributions will be of high academic standard. This relates to the criteria for authenticity and independence, where the sources we have chosen to use have been publicly recognized and published. Due to restricted access to older primary sources, we have done a few exceptions and used secondary sources to describe certain phenomena. We have also examined the timing of the research versus publication and strived to use recently published sources to ensure that their contributions are still valid for the context of our study, relating to the criteria of time. In the methodology chapter we have further used the latest editions of relevant literature and course literature that has been available at the library for Umeå University, to support our research perspective and methodological choices. To our knowledge, the scholarly produced articles and literature used in this study do not include any biases and should therefore fulfil the criteria for tendency.

3.1.6 Quality criteria A qualitative and inductive research approach in line with an interpretivist view on knowledge will result in context-specific and subjective knowledge. It is thus important to consider the quality of the research to understand and assess its validity. To ensure that the research covers relevant truth criteria for qualitative research, trustworthiness and authenticity are mentioned as two fundamental criteria (Lincoln and Guba, 1985 & 1994; cited in Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 380). To consider the quality of our study, we will use the “Eight Big-tent” criteria for Excellent Qualitative Research as presented by Tracy (2010). The framework is a conceptualization of common markers that can be used to assess qualitative research independent of which paradigm or methods are used (Tracy, 2010, p. 839).

The criteria within this model are worthy topic, rich rigor, sincerity, credibility, resonance, significant contribution, ethical, and meaningful coherence. In table 2, we conclude how each of these criteria have been fulfilled in this study. Following on from this table, we will explain the data collection method in chapter 4.2 to be transparent about our procedures and fulfil the quality criteria for sincerity.

Table 2. Overview for how we are achieving the Eight Big Tent Criteria for Excellent Qualitative research as presented by Tracy (2010, p. 840). Criteria for Various means, practices, How it was achieved in this quality (end and methods through study goal) which to achieve

Worthy topic The topic of the research is The topic of this study is relevant • Relevant from a societal and organizational • Timely perspective. The empirical case company provides services in support • Significant of an increasing digitization in • Interesting society, where IoT is a popular, but also questioned and debated topic. Further, the case reflects how an increasingly complex context for interactions between company and customer has been affected by the ongoing pandemic, reflecting the timeliness of this study. Rich rigor The study uses sufficient, This thesis encompasses sales and abundant, appropriate, and marketing research, more specifically complex customer acquisition, the sales funnel, and content marketing, to examine • Theoretical constructs improvements for lead generation • Data and time in the field practices. • Sample(s) By using an exploratory research • Context(s) design focusing on a specific case • Data collection and company, we will gather empirical analysis processes data through semi-structured interviews. In the following chapter, we will provide a comprehensive understanding of our data collection method and analysis process for the data. Sincerity The study is characterized by We have provided an outline of the • Self-reflexivity about researcher’s pre-understanding, subjective values, biases, perspectives and potential biases. An explanation of the data and inclinations of the collection method will be provided. researcher(s) The limitations and challenges in the • Transparency about the research will be accounted for. methods and challenges Credibility The research is marked by Primary data will be used for the • Thick description, concrete purpose of this study. detail, explication of tacit The empirical chapter will include direct quotes from numerous (nontextual) knowledge, respondents and be presented in a and showing rather than story telling way to let the reader get telling a deep understanding of the study context and the respondents.

• Triangulation or During the analysis, we will make crystallization clarifications about the empirical data • Multivocality with interviewed contacts from the case company if needed. • Member reflections Resonance The research influences, We will strive to present the affects, or moves particular empirical data in a detailed, engaging, readers or a variety of and evocative manner. This will include considerations audiences through about structure, layout, and use of • Aesthetic, evocative illustrative tables and figures. representation We will provide useful managerial • Naturalistic and empirical implications generalizations • Transferable findings Significant The research provides a This study will make theoretical contribution significant contribution contributions. • Conceptually/theoretically This study will make managerial and empirical contributions. • Practically Our findings will provide direction • Morally for future research. • Methodologically • Heuristically Ethical The research considers Permission to record the interviews • Procedural ethics (such as will be asked to all respondents. human subjects) Informed consent and confidentiality will be communicated • Situational and culturally to all respondents. specific ethics Possibly confidential and classified • Relational ethics information about the case company • Exiting ethics (leaving the has been carefully handled and not scene and sharing the disclosed. research) The empirical data will be handled and communicated with care and respect. The results will be shared openly with the respondents and case company. Meaningful The study The study will provide an answer to coherence • Achieves what it purports the stated research question, and to be about strive to fulfill the stated purpose. Through careful considerations and • Uses methods and prioritizations, we will make every procedures that fit its effort to ensure that the purpose and stated goals research question of this study are • Meaningfully linked to the theoretical framework, interconnects literature, the methodology, empirical findings, research questions/foci, analysis and conclusions. findings, and interpretations with each other

3.2 Practical methodology In the following sections, we will present and argue for our chosen data collection method. We will further discuss other methods that can be suitable for qualitative research and compare our choice to methods applied by previous research. We will further describe our interview structure and account for our sampling strategy. In addition, we will present and reflect on the chosen analytical procedure for our collected data and present our ethical considerations within our study context.

3.2.1 Qualitative data collection method To fulfil the study’s purpose, it is important that the chosen data collection method is in congruence with the overall research strategy and provides relevant data to answer the research question. In line with an interpretative view to develop in-depth knowledge (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 133) and our earlier methodological standpoints, we have chosen interviews as the method for our data collection. Interviews is a popular method within qualitative research (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 451), and is commonly seen as an effective method for exploring how respondents think, act, or feel (Alvehus, 2019, p. 85). The primary critique against qualitative methods relates to the limitations for generalizing the findings (Fejes & Thornberg, 2019, p. 287). However, qualitative research should not be assessed in the same way as quantitative research (Tracy, 2010), where we have decided to apply specific quality criteria for qualitative research, as was demonstrated in section 3.1.6.

Besides interviews, methods like observations, participating observations, and surveys are commonly used to collect data in qualitative research. Observations mean that the researcher systematically observes, interprets, and analyzes human behavior (Saunders et al., 2016, 354). Since we are focusing on experiences and perspectives within the case company on for example collaboration, observations could be a possible alternative. However, we have neither the time or skills required to prepare and realize such a method for data collection. Further, solely conducting observations would not aid us in creating an in-depth understanding for the study object and would therefore need to be combined with other methods. Surveys are an appropriate method when you have standardized questions that the respondents will probably interpret in a similar way (Saunders et al., 2016, p. 439). Surveys are often used to describe or explore a phenomenon. For example, a survey can be suitable if you want to collect data on consumers' attitudes to IoT, but to fully understand their attitude, the survey will probably need to be supplemented with interviews. Hence, surveys could be an alternative in our study, but since our focus is on exploring and understanding internal process development for lead generation, we believe that we will need more in-depth information from our respondents, which is also in line with our interpretivist view and in support of interviews as our method.

Interview structure There are several structures for conducting an interview, which guides what types of questions are used, and thus how the respondents might formulate their answer. In a qualitative study, unstructured or semi-structured interviews are preferred, since it is desirable to focus on different directions and adapt the conversation to the respondent (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 452). In an unstructured interview, the interviewer may for example use one major question, or several questions related to themes (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 453), or the interviewer have not prepared questions before-and, they rather emerge during the interview to resemble an ordinary conversation (Collis & Hussey,

2014, p. 133). In a semi-structured interview, the interviewer can use an open form, based on themes with broader questions and ask follow-up questions (Alvehus, 2019, p. 87). Based on information about the case company, and insights from our theoretical framework, we have developed a presentiment for what we need to investigate to answer the study’s research question. To interpret our respondents accurately, we must be able to ask follow-up questions to elaborate on the respondents' answers. In addition, we have some main themes that need to be processed during the interviews, which makes unstructured interviews an inappropriate research method. Interviews can also be structured, which means that the questions are standardized (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 213). This type of interviews is mostly used in quantitative studies, where deviations are not allowed because it threatens the reliability and credibility of quantitative studies (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 452).

Given our exploratory and qualitative research design, we are striving to collect qualitative and rich data that reflects the respondents' different perspectives on the topic of lead generation, where we consider interviews to be an adequate method. For the structure of the interviews, we argue for the adoption of a semi-structure. This format will allow us to create an interview guide that is based on the theoretical framework, but also allows us to elaborate on our respondents' answers through follow-up questions to create full and comprehensive data. This data collection method will allow us to create a deep understanding for the actions and behaviors within the case company, by focusing on different individual perspectives and discovering new knowledge, in line with our interpretivist view.

In further support of our choice of data collection method, previous scholars within our field of study have developed different research designs, but more qualitative methods have dominated the studies presented in our theoretical framework. For example, Guenzi & Troilo (2006, p. 976) who studied sales-marketing integration conducted an exploratory study with a qualitative research design, where interviews were the primary data collection method. Other recent studies within sales research have used semi- structured interviews (Malshe et al., 2017) and in-depth interviews (Sleep et al., 2020) to produce qualitative data. A quantitative approach was used by D’Haen & Van den Poel (2013) who applied a model including algorithms on sets of data to test their hypothesis, with the ambition to present how customer acquisition practices can be improved with the use of a quantitative model for a sales force automation tool. Some of the goals of that study resemble ours, but the quantitative model failed to account for other variables such as people and processes, which is something we strive to incorporate in this study.

3.2.2 Sampling method Another important choice of method relates to the population and sample of respondents for the preparation of our interviews. As described by Collis & Hussey (2014, p. 51), a population presents the whole body of people that can be considered in the study, whilst the sample should present a subset of that population. According to Saunders et al. (2016) there are further two main sample methods: probability or non-probability sampling. From an interpretivist point of view, a non-probability sampling is common since the goal for the research is not to generalize the results to a population (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 131), which would require a probability sample. Hence, in a qualitative study with semi- structured interviews, non-probability sampling is usually preferred (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 188). With this method, the selection of respondents is not random, but specific respondents are approached and selected (Saunders et al., 2016, p. 295), which is an

important prerequisite in our study. This can be done through different techniques such as snowball sampling, purposive sampling, and convenience sampling (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 132). The sampling method in qualitative research tends to focus on purposive selection, where the researchers design selection criteria that make it possible to identify respondents who contribute to answering the research question (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 405). The snowball sampling is suitable when it is essential to include people with specific experience or expertise, and once you find one, they can refer you to other suitable respondents to extend your sample (Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 132), which can also be considered as one type of convenience sample (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 411).

For the purpose of our qualitative study, the population consists of the Sales Development function at B2B, and the organization for IoT, as presented in chapter 1.2. For our sample, we argue a non-probability sampling method through a purposive sampling. This method allows us to both utilize the insights into the case company generated during one of the researchers' internships, but also to create different criteria that provides guidance in the sampling process. We also considered a snowball sampling method, to ensure that we included all important perspectives in the study. However, the probability sampling method resulted in a relevant list of respondents, and the snowball method was therefore not applied.

To identify suitable respondents, a list of criteria was created, including: 1. Involved in customer acquisition activities such as lead generation, lead management and/or sales development 2. Working within IoT or B2B sales development 3. Experience from working in sales, marketing and/or sales development The first criterion is the most important one for our selection since our research question focuses on customer acquisition processes and practices. It was therefore of high importance to identify relevant people within the case company that has been involved in this process. Secondly, we are not interested in the whole company, but focusing on IoT and B2B sales development. Employees outside these departments were therefore not of interest in our purposive sampling criteria. Finally, we wanted the respondents to have experience from working in sales, marketing and/or sales development. This experience could be within the case company, and we have also been interested in their general career experiences to elaborate on their experiences from their current role in contrast to other contexts. This criterion was further used to ensure that we included individual perspectives from different roles to generate rich empirical data that can be compared and contrasted in the upcoming analysis.

3.2.3 Sample overview The criteria mentioned above was used to identify people with the right experiences and skills within the studied case company. In total, 12 employees were invited to participate, and all accepted. The respondents have different backgrounds and years of experience from various industries, but primarily within the telecom-industry. Some have an international background and have worked for years for different companies within sales, marketing and as managers. Hence, about half of the interviews were held in English, and half were held in Swedish. A few of the respondents had recently graduated, so their main experience from working with customer acquisition comes from their current roles. Since the company operates worldwide, one respondent was also situated outside Sweden.

However, most of the respondents are working from the headquarters in Stockholm. An overview of our sample is provided below in table 3. As can be seen, two respondents have senior roles within the company where each represents either an IoT or B2B department. The sample includes four sales managers where the experience ranges from a few years up to decades of experience from sales. Four of the respondents work with different aspects of the customer acquisition process, for example creating content for IoT, developing processes, and implementing marketing automation within the organization. Finally, we have two people in the role of Sales Developers working specifically with lead generation since 2020. In the empirical findings, each of the respondents will have an alias based on their job title, which is presented in table 3.

Table 3. Sample overview Alias Job title Department Interview duration H1 Head of Sales IoT 41 min

H2 Head of Digital Sales B2B 35 min

SM1 Sales Manager IoT 60 min

SM2 Sales Manager IoT 55 min

SM3 Sales Manager IoT 42 min

SM4 Sales Manager/Business Developer IoT 53 min

PM1 Product Marketing Manager IoT 40 min

PM2 Process Manager – 50 min

MA Marketing Automation Manager B2B/IoT 50 min

CM Content Manager & Editorial Strategist B2B/IoT 48 min

SDR1 Sales Developer B2B 46 min

SDR2 Sales Developer B2B 46 min

3.2.4 Interview technique and interview guide As semi-structured interviews strive to capture the subjective beliefs of the respondents, it is important that the conversation enables the respondent to freely express itself (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 459). Within our research paradigm and methodological choices, the role of the interviewers will hence affect the implementation of the interviews. Kvale & Brinkmann (2014, p. 32) describe how qualitative interviews require a high level of proficiency for the interviewer. The interviewer must have knowledge about the study field, have an understanding for different methodological alternatives, and have insight into what types of theoretical problems can arise when one intends to create knowledge through conversational methods. Furthermore, the created knowledge is dependent on the social interactions between the interviewer and the respondent, where it is important to create a comfortable and safe environment. To accomplish this, the interviewer must have balance between their interest of accessing valuable knowledge and show ethical considerations and respect for the respondent and its integrity (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014, p. 33).

Because our experience of conducting qualitative interviews was relatively limited before this study, we have prepared by following recommendations and techniques from scholars within the field of qualitative studies. According to Kvale & Brinkmann (2014, p. 34) interview skills are developed by interviewing, but at the same time you can prepare yourself by following some rules and techniques. A central aspect is based on the interviewer's skills and personal judgment when asking questions. The quality of the data produced at the interview will thus depend on the interviewer's social skills and knowledge, where knowledge about the studied topic is specifically required to develop follow-up questions (Kvale & Brinkmann, 2014, p. 85). In preparation for the interviews, we have developed our understanding of the topic through literature search and reviews, and by writing this thesis. We have also strived to increase our understanding for the case company’s business and understand what challenges they might face due to relevant macro influences. Since one of the researchers has some established relations within the company from her internship, the understanding for the respondents work and roles have also been increased prior to the interviews. Through establishing this pre-understanding, we should be prepared to develop the conversations by asking follow-up questions and interpreting the empirical data in an accurate way.

In further preparation for our semi-structured interviews where we aspire to answer our stated research question, we have developed an interview guide (to be found in appendix 1) using concepts, models, and theories from the theoretical framework as a foundation. The interview guide has been structured in five main themes concerning the interviewee profile, the sales process, customer acquisition practices, collaboration, and sales development with different objectives in relation to our research purpose (see table 4). Under each theme, we have developed questions that focus on the respondents' view on different phenomenon and topics. Since our respondents have different areas of expertise, we have further constructed broad and flexible questions to attend to their different understandings and experiences. The themes and questions in the guide have been set, but also designed to ensure flexibility and order rearrangement, as the conversation could move in different directions. We have further reduced the use of scientific language when constructing our questions, in alignment with our inductive research approach.

Table 4. Themes and objectives of the interview guide Theme Objective

Interviewee profile To cover data about the interviewee’s current role, responsibilities, and previous experiences.

The sales process To investigate how the current processes for sales and customer acquisition is conducted and uncover challenges and improvement areas related to these processes. Customer acquisition To explore characteristics for the ideal customer, understand in practice different lead generation activities, and uncover important tools Collaboration and To explore how the collaboration between departments is integration experienced by the interviewee and understand what underlying drivers might have an impact on a successful integration.

Establishing sales To discuss expectations and experiences on initiating a specific development Sales Development function, and capture ideas for improvements.

Following the structure of our main themes, our interview guide begins with an open question where the respondent is asked to describe their role within the company. This is followed by potential sub-questions of what they do in that role, and how long they have worked at the company, with the purpose of fully understanding what the respondents do in their daily work, and what responsibilities they have. Thereafter, the interview guide focuses on sales and lead generation processes, different methods, and its challenges. This is followed by asking the respondents to describe the ideal customer, its characteristics, opportunities, and difficulties. Then, we shift focus to experiences from communication and collaboration within the company, specifically between sales and marketing departments. The interview is summed up by asking what expectations the respondent have for a sales development function in IoT, and how this could facilitate their daily work. Finally, we have included a question asking whether there is something the respondent wants to mention, that has not been framed by our previous questions, which can be an effective way to capture another point of view that is of great importance for the respondent (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 462), and can contribute to our increased understanding and interpretation of the collected data.

3.2.5 Interview procedure Prior to the interviews, we forwarded a participant information e-mail to the selected respondents (to be found in appendix 2), where we included the purpose of the study, and information on ethical dilemmas such as anonymity, confidentiality, integrity, as a way to establish a confirmed consent (Saunders et al., 2016, p. 252). Usually, the study’s strategy and purpose will guide what information needs to be conveyed before the empirical data collection begins. We chose to inform the participants about their right to cancel the interview, and that they can choose to not answer one or several questions. We further described the indented use for the results and clarified that their participation is anonymous and will be handled confidentially.

Focusing on the interview setting, Bryman & Bell (2017, p. 459) describes how using multiple interviewers could ease the interview situation and make it resemble a discussion, but the authors also emphasize how some respondents can experience the dynamic as being questioned if two interviewers are present. We chose to conduct the interviews together, since one of the researchers already had an established relation with some of the respondents, which made the conversations more friendly than formal, which was also the goal with the semi-structured interview approach. Due to an ongoing pandemic during the creation of this study, physical interviews were not possible. Hence, all interviews were conducted remotely through video-meetings using Microsoft teams, and took between 40-60 minutes. We believe that one benefit with this setting was that all respondents could position themselves where they were comfortable, either at home or in their office. To develop a natural conversation, both interviewers participated in the conversation by taking either a more active or passive role. For example, we took turns being primarily responsible for asking our main questions and guiding the conversation. The other more passive interviewer ensured that all themes were covered in a satisfying way. This person was also paying more attention to body language, which is important to notice potentially emotional responses to the questions (Bryman & Bell, 2017, p. 462), and took reflective notes during the conversation.

In general, we began all interviews with a short introduction to ourselves, and a recap of the study’s purpose. Information regarding anonymity, confidentiality, and the right to not answer certain questions or cancel the interview was repeated. We further asked our

respondents to request clarifications if they any question was unclear. Before the interviews began, we asked for permission to record the conversations, and if they would be comfortable with us stating their role in our study. All respondents granted their permission to these questions. During the interviews, variation in the formulations of the questions was done so that the respondent could respond to them in relation to their department and personal experience. Hence, we might not have asked all questions to all respondents, since some questions were intended for the sales managers, whilst others focus on marketing practices. Since all interviews took place online, simulating a face- to-face conversation, we could record both voice and video which made it possible to both transcribe words, but also reflect on the non-verbal communication within the conversations. During interview 11-12, we noticed that no new insights or categories emerged in the data, which reflected that we had reached saturation (Saunders, 2016, p. 297). Consequently, we decided that we had enough empirical data which provides the base for the upcoming analysis.

3.2.6 Qualitative data analysis Analyzing qualitative research has been described as one of the most time-consuming and complex steps in qualitative research (Attride-Stirling, 2001, p. 386) and there is no established method to ensure success (Rowley, 2012, p. 267). The choice of method to analyze qualitative data will depend on the researchers (Rowley, 2012, p. 267), and the chosen method needs to be suitable for the research depending on the research question, purpose, and other methodological approaches (Braun & Clark, 2006, p. 97). Thematic analysis is described as a method that aims to identify, analyze, and distinguish patterns in collected data (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 6), and provides a useful method for processing comprehensive data generated in semi-structured interviews (Saunders et al., 2016, p. 579). Our research aims to explore how the case company can work to improve their lead generation processes, where we are striving to emphasize contrasting views. Therefore, we argue that a thematic analysis process is suitable and will help us identify important insights derived from our empirical findings. One identified weakness with thematic analysis is that researchers tend to present the same ‘themes’ from the data, as the ones used in the interview guide (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 95), which does not reflect a well-executed thematic analysis. Further, a potential pitfall to be aware of is the mistake to develop themes that overlap too much or are not coherent and fail to provide rich descriptions of the data (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 95). Since we have an inductive research approach, we deem it suitable to focus on developing data-driven themes, which is also suggested by Braun & Clarke (2006, p. 84).

The thematic analysis is usually described in several phases (Braun & Clarke, 2006, p. 16; Saunders et al., 2016, p. 580), where the first concerns familiarize yourself with the collected data (Nowell et al., 2017, p. 4-5). Our transcription process started directly after the first interview and was executed simultaneously as we proceeded with the remaining. We listened through the recordings, transcribed the data, and strived to reflect over non- verbal communication and language to fully interpret the meaning of the conversations. The next step focuses on generating initial codes, identifying them, and presenting them in a document for a good overview (Nowell et al., 2017, p. 5-6). In this step we started to identify the initial codes in our data and collect relevant data extracts to develop a fundamental understanding of our findings. Phase three concerns searching for themes, where all relevant codes are extracted into themes (Nowell et al., 2017, p. 8). In this step we clustered the codes into potential themes and gathered relevant data to each theme to ensure that related data from all interviews was covered. Even if we approached the data

from an inductive and interpretivist view, we had in mind that our findings needed to relate to the purpose of our thesis, and thus we strived to capture insights relating to the areas described in the theoretical framework.

In phase four we reviewed the themes through analyzing all subthemes to see if a coherent pattern existed (Nowell et al., 2017, p. 10). Phase five concerns defining and naming the themes, where we discussed and analyzed how all sub themes were connected to each main theme, and how the themes should be named and defined (Nowell et al., 2017, p. 10). During this process, we also compared how each theme was connected to the overall insights from the empirical findings, to ensure that the overall story of the analysis was rich and coherent. Finally, it was time to produce the report meaning that when all themes were identified and we could see how they were connected, we started to summarize our empirical findings (Nowell et al., 2017, p. 11). Even though the process is described as linear with six phases, the importance of being iterative and moving back and forth throughout the process of coding and analyzing themes is highlighted (Nowell et al., 2017, p. 4). This is something we have been aware of throughout the analysis process by for instance looking into the transcriptions again when the themes were identified and by removing and adding themes, an example of our thematic analysis is provided in table 5.

Table 5. Exemplification of our data analysis Data extract Coded for Theme Subtheme … for us it's definitely the 1. Prefer customers who Experiences on The ideal educated customer who either has understands IoT the IoT sales customer for that experience with somebody process IoT else or is ready to start and just 2. Important to be a needs a good prize and feel trustworthy provider supported and secure about who they buy from.

3.2.7 Ethical considerations Ethical principles are necessary to take into consideration throughout a research study to ensure that the study has been compiled and addressed in an adequate way for both respondents, researchers, and other stakeholders (Bell & Bryman, 2007, p. 63; Collis & Hussey, 2014, p. 30).

Bell & Bryman (2007, p. 71) presents eleven ethical principles to ensure that harm and inaccuracies of respondents and researchers are mitigated (see table 6). We argue that these eleven principles are useful both because they are formed for social research (Bell & Bryman, 2007, p. 64) and because they are pointing at the importance of taking ethical principles into account throughout the research process. In the table below (see table 6), we explain the eleven considerations and how we have addressed each principle throughout our research.

Table 6. Ethical considerations, based on Bell & Bryman (2007, p. 71-72).

Ethical Principle Signification Execution

Harm to Ensure well-being from We have ensured and informed participants both a psychological and respondents that they can cancel the physical perspective of interview, pass questions, and review respondents, researchers, their interview afterwards. and others throughout the research process.

Informed consent Ensure full informed We have emailed information to the consent from respondents participants about the study’s and research participants. purpose, anonymity, integrity, and confidentiality aspects prior to the interviews.

Anonymity Ensure anonymity of both The case company has agreed to have participating respondents their company name published. The and organizations if respondents have consented to having desired. their job titles published. We have created aliases for each respondent, to ensure they feel comfortable with their participation in the study.

Dignity Ensure dignity among Throughout the interview, the respondents and researchers researcher that was not responsible and make sure no one feels for the interview questions was anxious or discomfort. focusing on body language to ensure that the respondents were comfortable. No sensitive questions were asked during the interviews.

Privacy Ensure privacy for the The interviews were held separately respondents and protect online meaning that privacy could be from intrusive privacy. ensured from an individual perspective. However, no interviews were disrupted, and privacy can be seen as fulfilled.

Confidentiality Ensure that data is handled All information has been handled confidentially regardless if confidentially through files which it is about respondents, only the researchers for the study organizations or have had access to. groups/teams.

Affiliation Ensure that none kind of The study is written on commission affiliation, such as but there is no compensation sponsorships, funding for involved. The researcher's process research or other interests has been conducted independently of affect the research outcome the case company. The researchers and need to be declared. have ensured that their role is professional and do not have any impact on the findings in the study, resulting in a truthful and representative research outcome.

Honesty and Ensure honest and open We have briefed all respondents transparency information while about the purpose of the study and communicating the research clarified our interest for the to interested parties. organization. Deception Ensure no deception occurs The intentions for this study are throughout the research sincere, and every effort has been process. made to ensure transparency and honesty in the data collection method and presented results.

Misrepresentation Ensure that the findings of All information in the thesis has been the research do not consist discussed between the researchers to of misrepresenting, avoid misrepresentations. We have misleading or false given the respondents the opportunity information. to review our findings from their interviews. Reciprocity Ensure that the research is This research is written on of mutual benefit for both commission where the case company researchers and wants insights for the SDR function. participants. We as researchers can also use the learning outcomes in our future workplace due to learnings in customer acquisition practices. Further, the findings will contribute to the existing business research and provide new insights on under- researched areas.

4. Empirical findings In this chapter, the primary findings derived from our twelve semi-structured interviews will be presented. The findings have been structured by applying a thematic analysis method, where the empirical data have been clustered into themes and headings resulting in the following structure: experiences on the IoT sales process, continuous developments for customer acquisition processes, improvement areas for increasing the conversion rate, and establishing sales development. The themes and subthemes presented below cover answers to the questions that guided this exploratory study, including interesting findings from the data collection in general.

4.1 Experiences on the IoT sales process Tele2 IoT is working with finding new customers in order for the business to grow and stay profitable. The company sells SIM cards and connectivity to their customers, but each customer needs to solve the hardware and software for their solutions through other distributors. The sales managers’ work includes identifying the customers that need the connectivity that Tele2 IoT can provide. One of the sales managers described their work in the early phases of the sales process as:

“It is part of the work as a sales manager to identify new customers to build a good pipe, so that you constantly have new opportunities and prospects that come in who you can process and warm up. And then maybe qualify in different steps. So, it must always be an inflow, it is a natural part of the sale that you work with prospecting. So as a sales manager, I prospect regularly.” (SM1)

With this statement the sales manager clearly described the importance of creating a good pipeline in order to have new opportunities to work with and have a healthy customer inflow to close more deals. The respondents from the IoT sales team also meant that the lead generation process, the early phase of the sales process, does not work optimally today. This is something that the Head of Sales also confirms, by explaining that the sales managers today need to spend too much time on prospecting and finding leads instead of using their time to manage the leads and closing the deals. According to one of the sales managers, it is time consuming to search for leads because you do not know where they are in their needs cycle. Maybe they just want to understand what IoT is but are not ready to buy. Due to high sales targets per salesperson, there is no room to work with customers who are not ready to invest or mature enough. All the sales managers pointed out that finding customers is the biggest challenge in the sales process.

4.1.1 A changing landscape for sales In the theoretical framework, we addressed that the sales ecosystem is changing due to e.g., digitalization, globalization, and higher customer demands. Our respondents confirmed these changes where one of the sales managers pointed at the digitalization and how the pandemic of COVID-19 has accelerated this change even more. From a globalization perspective one of the respondents pointed at the pros for sales with the rapid digitalization development. The respondent explained that earlier they needed to travel in most cases for doing business in other countries and continents. Before the pandemic, outside selling was the most common way to sell and it was almost the only effective way of selling. Today, one can sit in the countryside doing business with companies all over the world. The respondent mentioned that already before the

pandemic, you started to see a change towards digital sales solutions because of environmental drivers such as the climate activist Greta Thunberg, but the pandemic has speeded up, or even forced, digital interactions and sales channels to take over. However, the respondents from the sales team agreed that the pandemic makes sales more difficult. Earlier, they could be at events and conferences and meet potential customers which was a good way of prospecting and identifying leads. It was easier to find customers they did not know about and mingle to get in contact with the right people.

The respondents from the sales team also mentioned that customers do not buy the product/connectivity per se, they buy the solution that can help their business grow. Therefore, the potential customers often have different people involved in the negotiation process, to ensure that their high expectations are met. To better navigate in these challenging environments the sales team consists of the sales managers and an expert that can help them during the sales process with technical specifications if needed. The company also holds customer surveys regularly to see how they can improve the customer journey and add more value to the service offer.

4.1.2 Challenges of selling IoT In this study, we have also focused on exploring if there are any specific challenges with selling IoT compared to other telecom solutions. Our respondents describe that IoT is a service that people are variously familiar with, and it is a fairly new concept. One of our senior respondents explained during the interview that the concept of IoT has changed and emerged over time due to digital development and faster telecommunication networks. This person mentioned that during the 1990-s, it was called telematic solutions, later on it was called machine to machine, and nowadays the internet of things. Our interviews also showed that people’s knowledge about IoT differs a lot, and there are many customers who do not know how the service works, but still want to implement it in their business. As one of the respondents stated:

“IoT is a concept that not everyone knows what it stands for, it is still a buzz word. So when talking to customers, it is important to be on a level where you do not explain it so any of them feels stupid. But at the same time, one cannot take for granted that they understand the service.” (PM1)

This raises the first challenge with selling IoT solutions. The sales process is affected because selling IoT requires educated customers. The more unmature the customers are, the harder it is to convince them to join the IoT journey and to invest their money in IoT solutions. The result of this is that Tele2 must sometimes educate the customers before they can sell their IoT solutions to them. As one respondent exemplified “you cannot just pick up your phone and call a customer and say hello, do you want to buy our product? It is supergood!” You rather need to sell a solution to the customer and explain what value the implementation of IoT will bring to their business. One of the sales managers confirmed the educating part by describing his experience:

“Selling IoT is more solution oriented, you really want to find something out... One must explain why the customer needs it and how their business can benefit. This is not really easy. You cannot just read about IoT and decide, now I will go out and sell it... It is not in the inbox of itself, it is often a bit of work behind, a bit of detective work.” (SM2)

Secondly, one of the sales managers explained that there is a huge difference between selling B2B and B2C and selling IoT is an additional layer for B2B that results in longer sales cycles. The respondent explained that this is mainly because of a need from a customer perspective to really understand the value of the service. Further, it is also because of other factors such as big investments. One of the sales managers also pointed out that the sales cycle for IoT can go through several steps, meaning that Tele2 IoT does not always sell to the end customer. This in turn makes the selling process even more challenging because the sales manager deals with one company that deals with a third party. The effect of this is consequently that the sales cycle becomes longer, and the sale becomes more challenging to close. All the respondents from the IoT department confirmed this challenge, where the average sales cycle is six months.

Some of the respondents also pointed at the challenge of selling IoT outside Sweden and the Nordics, where the company does not have the same brand recognition. Our interviews also showed that the competition in the field of IoT is growing. Today there are more and more suppliers of IoT connectivity all over the world, where start-ups with cheaper solutions enter the market. According to one of the sales managers, the focus for Tele2 IoT is therefore to deliver excellent customer service and competitive but still profit-driven prices. Lastly, the main challenge that all the sales managers pointed at is having the right timing when offering the service. The customers need to be in a condition where they understand the IoT solution, are ready to invest, and see the value of implementing this in their business. When these parameters are fulfilled one of the sales managers mentioned it is easy to sell the service.

Focus on promoting value Two of the senior sales managers gave their differing opinions on how these challenges could be approached. To deal with educated and mature customers, one suggested that Tele2 IoT could work with sharing information about IoT through a “Marketplace” and position themselves as a “center of excellence”. The suggestion entails that the marketplace would promote IoT solutions, both the ones offered by Tele2 IoT, but also by its customers. Different education and certification programs are also something that could be offered to educate potential customers about IoT, so when they are ready to buy, they will convert to inbound leads and contact Tele2 IoT who will be the obvious and most knowledgeable solution provider. The Head of Digital Sales also describes how the company needs to talk more about value instead in their service offerings. The consensus is that they need to have more to offer than pure content such as product sheets or PDFs.

The perspective from another senior sales manager was to work with selling as more problem oriented. Rather than focusing on the solution and educating customers, Tele2 IoT should focus on creating a need gap for the customers by “building up” a problem for them. Thus, one way to address the previously mentioned challenges could be to work with SPIN-selling and create this need gap where the customer realizes what they cannot live without. Then, they can focus on explaining how IoT can solve that problem.

“When working with SPIN selling, which is the best school for B2B sales, it is about building up a problem so big that they [the customers] have to do something about it… SPIN selling is about being consultative, you should ask questions, you should not come up with a solution. If you come up with a solution before the problem is big enough, the customer does not want to pay.” (SM4)

To conclude, all the respondents agreed upon how Tele2 IoT should position themselves as the center of excellence and get away from the price war of cheaper connectivity. Tele2 IoT should be recognized as the ones that are best at solving the customer's problems, the one you can trust and the one that understands the customer the best.

4.1.3 The Ideal Customer for IoT In order to understand what type of customers the sales managers and marketers want to find and attract to widen the pipeline we asked the respondents about their view of the ideal customer. The respondents gave quite similar answers, where there are a few characteristics that potential customers should fulfill. Below we will describe the different characteristics mentioned by our respondents.

Educated customers who are ready to invest To start with, the ideal customer should understand the service and the value IoT can bring to their organization, but also be ready to invest in the solutions. This was something all the respondents from the IoT department highlighted throughout the interviews.

“I'm looking for the educated ones! For us it is definitely the educated customer who either has that experience with somebody else or is ready to start and just needs a good prize, and feel supported, and secure about who they buy from.” (SM3)

The sales managers pointed at the customers who have experience of IoT or have used more expensive solutions for connectivity, like traditional mobile broadband. To those customers, Tele2 IoT can offer much better prices which pleases the customers. As one of the respondents expressed it, “when we can reduce their costs, we are portrayed as gods”. The sales manager also exemplified the horror customer as those who do not know why they should implement IoT for their business but still want to do it. Those customers take a lot of time and might not become profit generating customers, which is a waste of time.

Cluster customers The respondents also described how they are looking for customers within different clusters. According to one of the sales managers, they are looking at the customers based on their needs and what kind of connectivity their business requires, instead of visualizing the customers per industry. There can be companies in different industries in need of similar connectivity solutions and vice versa. The sales manager also mentioned that research from bigger telecommunications distributors shows that IoT should be divided in clusters where it is more frequently used and more widespread, instead of per industry.

Furthermore, Tele2 IoT is focusing on customers within three major IoT clusters of: 1) monitoring and tracking, 2) predictive maintenance and 3) remote steering. Monitoring and tracking include industries such as public transport, manufacturing and retail. Predictive maintenance refers to industries such as energy and utilities, healthcare, and manufacturing. The third cluster, remote steering, is for companies within automotive, public transport and public safety. These three clusters also require different amounts of connectivity depending on the complexity of the solution. The most profitable customers want many sim cards with a high amount of connectivity. One of the sales managers exemplified a customer within the cluster of monitoring and tracking:

“In our case, there is a cluster that we group as monitoring and tracking. They need connectivity for these purposes. It is such customers who have smart products or who need connectivity to track, to monitor and perhaps take in data to analyze their process as well as the solution they have, to optimize their business. There may be those who offer connected bikes where you know, they need to track and trace their bikes, then they need a SIM card!” (SM1)

According to the sales manager the company will enter an additional cluster in the future called real time automation. The real time automation points at energy and utilities, manufacturing, and healthcare. The expectation is that this cluster will grow more while the high-speed connectivity of 5G becomes more widespread.

Company size, Order quantity and Growth potential The ideal customer does not have any typical company size, the attractiveness is more based on their need for IoT solutions. This includes what kind of solutions they are looking for, the quantity of SIM cards, and the customers growth potential. Further, the sales manager described that depending on the customer case, small companies with just 4-5 employees may be really good customers with high potential. However, companies must fulfil some criteria to be managed by Tele2 IoT. The company has to be an established company and Tele2 IoT needs to see a potential for the customer to either grow their business with more connected SIM cards, have an IoT order exceeding 1 million SEK, or at least 500 active SIM cards. Companies that are not profitable enough are sent to resellers that handle smaller customers. This indicates that the ideal customer for IoT should fulfil some different criteria. First, an ideal customer should know what IoT is and understand how it can optimize their business. Secondly, the customers should be ready to invest in the solution. Further, the customer should have a solution within any of the mentioned clusters. And finally, the customer needs to have at least 500 active SIM cards and/or there should be growth potential. One of the respondents summarized the ideal customer very clearly:

“The ideal customer is a Nordic customer, because we have a lot to gain from Tele2 brand recognition, so it goes without saying! ... Yes, and then it is a customer that has come so far that it understands how it should make money, and that it has done that homework of why they are implementing IoT, because otherwise we will have to spend a lot of time on it to make them mature enough. To be an ideal customer, there may be grains of gold among those who have just started and even though there may be great potential there, we really have to believe in them in order for us to do business with them.” (PM1)

4.2 Continuous developments for customer acquisition processes In our case company, lead generation is described as the process of creating leads through systems like Ocean, LinkedIn, SalesQL, and the website. In this process, our respondents explained how the approached companies and potential customers transform from being a prospect, to becoming a lead, being qualified into opportunities, and finally becoming a customer when a deal is closed (see figure 4). Throughout this lead generation process, the potential customer is documented in various systems, where sales and marketing are responsible for managing the potential customer throughout their journey.

Figure 4. Lead qualification stages When it comes to lead generation within the IoT department, our respondents from sales describe different ways of working, but also different categories of leads. We will start with describing different types of leads and experiences from our respondents from approaching, attracting, and converting these into customers, and later focus on how our respondents from both IoT and B2B work with the process for lead generation.

4.2.1 Three categories of leads The respondents mentioned three main processes for identifying, contacting, and categorizing new potential customers. They have outbound lead generation, inbound lead generation, and marketing automated lead generation. These activities result in three categories of new potential customers that are divided into outbound leads, inbound leads, and marketing automated leads.

Outbound leads are self-generated cold customers that for example the sales managers have identified. These leads include “cold” companies that the employees have identified through different methods and channels and decided to contact. The Head of Sales at Tele2 IoT mentioned that there are mostly outbound leads for Tele2 IoT which also makes their sales process more complex. These customers are harder to close deals with because they need to be warmed up before they are ready to invest in IoT solutions.

Inbound leads refer to warmer leads that have interacted or initiated contact with Tele2 in different ways. Inbound leads are companies that are contacting Tele2 IoT and showing an interest in their services, these customers can be website visitors filling in a “Contact me-form”, or they can be generated through marketing activities such as blogs, campaigns or events.

Marketing automated leads are potential customers somewhere between inbound and outbound leads. These leads are generated through their activities on the Tele2 IoT website and get scores depending on, for instance, what kind of information they searched for and/or what blog posts they read.

4.2.2 Creating a pipeline - Lead Generation for IoT There is no set or common Lead Generation Process for Tele2 IoT right now, but it is under development. The respondents described different methods for finding these leads, getting the initial contact, and managing them. Below, we will elaborate on how they are currently working with outbound, inbound, and marketing automated lead generation to widen the pipeline. An outline of each of these processes can be found in Appendix 3.

Outbound lead generation To find prospects that can be converted to outbound leads, our respondents described different methods for how they are working today, but they would like to have a more systematized process. The overall outbound lead generation process today includes research of potential prospects, creating a list of these prospects, finding contact information to people in these organizations, and together with marketing constructing an outreach to see if somebody is interested. If somebody says thank you, but no, they remove them from the list. If a prospect does not leave any feedback on the outreach mail, the company continues nurturing the potential customer. The sales manager contacts the customers who show interest, and if they are fulfilling the criteria as a profitable customer then they move on in the sales process. Customers who do not fulfill all the criteria, for example if they only need a small quantity of connectivity, are moved to a reseller.

The sales managers also described that they have for example joint activities where they do research on companies. This includes competitive analysis, sibling search meaning looking at competitors for existing customers, and gathering information about other interesting companies for IoT. The result is a list of companies, where the next step is to find the right contact person, reach out to them, or place them in an automation campaign where they will receive automated emails with information about IoT.

Most of our respondents describe two main challenges with outbound leads: 1. finding correct contact information, and 2. deciding what, how and when information should be sent. One important aspect to manage these challenges is to have rules and guidelines on how often and when these leads should be contacted, but also understanding when they can be seen as “warmer” and ready to be taken to the next step in the process, being qualified into opportunities. To work with this process at a scale, our respondents from IoT believe that they need a dedicated employee that works with these activities. One respondent described the prospecting process for outbound leads as the worst, but it needs to be done, and on top of that, they need to keep every other part of their pipeline posted and for example know who is about to get closed. The sales managers agree on the fact that prospecting, the first step in the lead generation process, is important but very time consuming.

“Usually, you have stage one whenever you find the customers or the companies that you want to contact. You do a lot of the, as you know, a lot of research and that is just a part of it. And that is the worst thing about sales, prospecting. It is the worst! But it needs to be done because otherwise you'll never find them.” (SM3)

The Process Manager also described how there is a lot of interest in IoT, and in the past this interest has often come from smaller customers who unfortunately cannot invest too much in IoT solutions, but still require a high maintenance and support from the supplier. The problem with this was that Sales Managers could spend too much time on a lead that in the end does not qualify the desired customer portfolio, but still require the same level

of attention, resources, and maintenance. Today, our empirical findings indicated that this issue has been handled. The Sales Managers nowadays focus more on prospects that are mature, of greater size, and are expected to convert into a customer within at least a year.

Inbound lead generation An inbound lead is a company that contacts or interacts with Tele2 in various ways. This could be through the website, events, social media, email campaigns etcetera. Our respondents described inbound leads as the “hottest leads” that often move through the sales process much faster than outbound leads. This type of leads often have an interest and understanding for what they want to buy, and do not have to be processed as much as outbound leads. In IoT, an example for the inbound lead generation process is that a visitor enters the company website and fills in a “contact-me-form”. This information is sent to the head of sales at Tele2 IoT and the sales managers, who proceed with qualifying the leads into opportunities.

Apart from focusing on Tele2 IoT, we have also focused on how the larger B2B department works with lead generation. In B2B, they have a Sales Development Function with Sales Development Representatives (SDRs). The SDRs handle all inbound leads from “contact-me” and update the status for the lead, qualifies and converts them to opportunities, and sends them over to the correct Account Manager, who proceeds with negotiations and ultimately signing the initial visitor as a customer. Throughout this qualification process, it is important to document information about the customer so it can be shared with others within the company for the upcoming interactions.

To generate inbound leads, our respondents described that it is important to position Tele2 as a knowledgeable provider for IoT solutions. It is also important to create content that attracts and inspires potential customers to engage with Tele2 IoT. One ambition now is to do a lot more social media posting to attract leads, where LinkedIn and Twitter are two platforms that the Content Manager & Editorial Strategist for IoT wants to develop.

Marketing automated lead generation The Head of Digital Sales described how they two years ago in the B2B department decided that they had to become more digital in the way they look at sales and their sales channels. This led to the development and implementation of a Sales Development function during 2020. This team has worked with building a digitalized customer journey, supported by digital tools linked to digital touchpoints, such as the web page and social media. This digital transformation has also led to the implementation of marketing automation for B2B.

Working with marketing automation has proven to be an efficient way to handle leads, and our respondents from B2B are positive to this development. Marketing automation has not been implemented at Tele2 IoT yet, but they are developing the process for their department as well. Two of our respondents from the Sales Development team in B2B gave their perspective of how they work with marketing automation leads in their department. They described marketing automated leads as somewhere between hot and cold leads. This type of leads is generated through a system where information about who has for example downloaded a guide from the website is stored. Through marketing automation, they have different programs depending on the visitors’ activities that automatically sends out information to the visitors. This type of leads is generally not

prepared to be contacted by the company, but they have already been given information through marketing automation programs which often makes them a bit “warmer”.

4.2.3 Tools for Lead Generation In the theoretical framework we have identified that lead generation nowadays are in need of effective digital tools for efficiently finding qualified potential customers. Throughout the interviews we have identified some tools that the respondents are using for finding and attracting new potential customers for IoT. The different tools are used for different reasons and purposes depending on whether it is an outbound, inbound, or marketing automation activity. The tools will be divided under each of the three categories outbound, inbound, and marketing automation and are explained in the table below (see table 7).

Table 7. Digital tools for different lead generation processes

Lead category Tool/system Description

Outbound ocean.io Sibling search, searching for potential customers similar to the customer base.

Sales Navigator Finding potential companies and the (LinkedIn) right people within these companies and adding them to a prospect list.

Sales QL Connected to Sales Navigator, gives contact information to people on your prospect list.

Inbound Website Visitors on the website fill in the contact me form which makes it easy for Tele2 IoT to contact them.

LinkedIn Posting blogs and activities at the LinkedIn page. People who are interacting with the activities can be of interest.

Content marketing Creating interesting content to inform and attract companies through activities on YouTube, blogs, events, campaigns etc.

Marketing Albacross Helps to identify website traffic and automated what the visitors are interacting with.

More than one lead Pardot Companies can keep tabs on important activity customer data by tracking interactions through the customer lifecycle.

Salesforce CRM system with all information about existing customers but also qualified leads (opportunities).

The respondents have different opinions on the effectiveness and usefulness of the different tools for identifying and attracting new customers. Some of the respondents are happy with the tools and consider the usability to be high, while others do not see the potential of using some of the tools. For example, one of the sales managers mentioned that ocean.io and searching for siblings to an existing customer is useless, because all customers have different needs and just because you are in the same industry does not mean that you are looking for IoT solutions. Another of the sales managers think they have been installing too many tools lately and people cannot really use all of them which is cost inefficient. One sales manager explains that the tools they choose must be effective with high hit rates and cost efficient to be retained. It is also important that they have systems that aid the sales managers in finding contact information. If they only have a company and a contact person, but no contact information, it is hard to do something with the lead. In relation to this, one of the sales managers pointed out the importance of improving and optimizing the tools they use over time:

“It is something that you have to improve and optimize all the time. Trial and error. Our ambition is that we will improve it much more. And it is difficult to assess now at this stage, the efficiency and how good the leads are. We would like to have maybe more data in one or 2 years where we have done this and seen perhaps different ways to improve this.” (SM1)

Other tools Throughout the interviews we could identify the tools above as the main digital tools used in the lead generation process. However, the respondents mentioned some other effective ways for lead generation activities. First, all the sales representatives mentioned conferences as a good way to build new relationships and meet potential customers. Some of the respondents were also talking about cold calling and whether it has died or if it is still a good method to use. In this matter, the respondents had different views of the effectiveness. Some people did not believe in cold calling whereas others recommended it for more personal selling and both information gathering and information sharing. As one of the sales managers said:

“[...] regarding cold calling, it is dying, but as we've been talking about, once you get that one connection it's still the best way to get to talk to people in person or over the phone... It’s about building trust. It has always been. People buy from people. That is, without a doubt always the truth. So, the more personal you can get with somebody, the higher the hit rate you’ll have, definitely!” (SM3)

4.2.4 Insights from the B2B Sales Development Function The digital sales team at the B2B-department today consists of twenty-two employees. Within this team, there is one distinct role that is primarily relevant for the purpose of our study: the Sales Development Representatives (SDRs). The SDRs have the objective and the KPIs to drive lead generation for both inbound, marketing automated and outbound leads for the whole B2B organization. Initially, there was only one SDR, but the team has grown to three SDRs, where they are supposed to be responsible for each lead generation process. In the lead generation process, the SDRs “own” the early buyer phase until they hand a customer over to the Account Manager. The Account Manager team is primarily responsible for managing the existing customer stock and reacting to incoming leads. The SDRs are also responsible for following up on the leads they have generated and ensure they are being contacted and qualified.

“Because their role [SDRs] is really just to open up sales opportunities, either by taking care of everything that comes in to Tele2 through different channels that can be customer support, other salespeople, the web, chats, or LinkedIn. But they're also supposed to generate outbound opportunities, contacting companies and getting in touch.” (H2)

Before this function was established, there was no specific data for the conversion of leads, which makes it difficult to compare the effectiveness of this new function. However, one respondent said that if they look at absolute figures, they have definitely contributed to the success of the organization. Today, they are documenting everything and have a lot of data. When it comes to hit rate (leads turning into a sale), it is around 40 % on incoming leads, and about 20 % on marketing generated leads for B2B. To support this function further, they are currently implementing a new KPI setup for the SDRs to clarify what their focus is supposed to be. They are also recruiting a new SDR, so that they will have three SDRs who can be responsible for each category of leads; outbound, inbound and marketing automated. Until now, the SDRs have been prioritizing the “hottest leads”, which refers to incoming leads. Due to time capacity constraints, the outbound leads have not been given as much attention. The ambition is to focus more equally on each lead channel to increase the conversion rate and the number of produced leads.

Based on the experiences from lead generation and building a Sales Development Function for B2B, our respondents describe some important parts that need to be considered. One part involves building a clear workflow that should be integrated in the business reality for the SDR. This includes integrating different tools to save manual work and improve efficiency. The Head of Digital Sales highlighted that every integration needs to be evaluated from a security and data-security perspective for the internal customer data, so the legal requirements must be in place which can take some time. One other organizational aspect is the creation of clear Service Level Agreements (SLAs), which for example regulates how quickly the leads should be contacted. After the initial contact from SDR, the lead should be qualified and transferred to an account manager, who has an SLA again that could be for example three working days to actually contact the company again. The SDRs are responsible for following up on this process and ensuring that the lead is handled.

“And then we have also established a formal process so the SDR is actually sending a message to the Account Manager if they can't manage or haven't done the work yet. But yeah, that's just super important so that the hit rate is high. It has given a positive effect.” (H2)

Our two respondents in the SDR role from the B2B Sales Development Function also described how they have had to discover what process works best for them in this role, and how the process has been developed frequently since the start. Finally, the respondents from B2B describe the importance of understanding each other’s role. The sales teams should know where their leads are coming from, data and documentation about the leads needs to be available, and it is important to work with communication to ensure that the leads are managed correctly all the way.

4.3 Improvement areas for increasing the conversion rate A recurrent theme in the data collection was the importance of managing leads, where one sales manager described how lead management includes how the leads are processed after they are created; for example, how they are handled in the system Pardot, and how they are qualified into opportunities and sent to the CRM-system Salesforce. The strategy for managing leads is described as somewhat difficult, primarily due to various levels of maturity of leads. A few of our respondents described how it is important to understand what kind of activities or content the leads are looking for to optimize the marketing, campaigns and return on investment (ROI). The lead management also requires careful consideration for how many leads should be sent to sales and how qualified or “warm” they should be, where consultation and collaboration is of importance.

“Maybe you don’t forward all leads to sales immediately, you try to process them and decide how many you should send, how qualified or warm they should be before forwarding them. And this is something you need to do in consultation between the departments [sales and marketing]. And that might be the most important – that you have buy-in from both sides.“ (SM1)

4.3.1 Marketing Automation The use of marketing automation technology is something relatively new for the studied Case Company. It is used to generate leads as described in 4.2.2, but also to manage different types of leads. The conversion rate for smaller customers in B2B is already high; it is primarily the medium to large customers that requires more time and effort to convert.

To be successful with marketing automation, it is important with flawless data to accurately process the customers. The marketing automation manager described that all the functionalities must be in place, and the leads need to be placed in the right queue to be processed efficiently. It is also important to work closely with the SDRs who are the “first line” that receives, qualifies, and routes the leads further in the process to the correct account manager or partner or whoever should handle them. However, there is room for improvements. The marketing automation manager for B2B described how the work with marketing automated inbound leads could improve even more if the SDRs would spend more time in the qualification. Currently, these leads are for example getting emails with reminders and information through marketing automation techniques. Ideally, the SDRs would cultivate these leads and qualify them through more research that could include documenting what kind of company it is, what products or solutions they have, and what challenges they have or might face. This could result in more personal contact leading to better response and higher quality of the leads that are sent to the sales team.

The marketing automation manager believes that when the SDRs become more experienced, it might take about 15 minutes to qualify these leads to opportunities. Here it is important to use the available tools and system in an efficient way. One other method for interacting with leads is through phone calls, which is sometimes used by the SDRs in B2B. The marketing automation manager believes that it should be mandatory to call customers who have voluntarily shared their phone numbers with them, for example by filling it in on the “contact-me” form on the website. In that case, the SDRs should call the lead as soon as possible, as a standardized procedure to not miss out on good opportunities. Two of our respondents also had reflections about possible constraints

related to marketing automation and its implementation, where customers have different needs, and automation cannot solve everything.

“I think when everything started to become automated and digitized, I think a lot of people in marketing thought: OK, we set up these processes and then we just, you know, it'll all just work and we just kept feeding things to the beast. But I think like good old fashion, just instincts and sort of understanding the relevance of things. I don't think we will automate out completely when it comes to marketing. And I think if you do, I think you're making a mistake.” (CM)

Marketing automation for IoT When it comes to the IoT department, the integration of marketing automation is an ongoing project. Until now, the focus has been on B2B since IoT is a smaller organization than B2B. Two of the respondents think that it might be easier to implement marketing automation at the IoT department because of higher flexibility in their working processes, which enables shorter decision-making processes.

Our respondents are unified when it comes to marketing automation and the lead processes, it is a prerequisite for their work. In IoT they need to work with defining the lead process because it will guide the employees in how both new and existing customers should be processed, and how the internal communication should work. One respondent would like to have a marketing automation program for all their products, so if a company is showing interest, they have a shared view and a plan for how they should be targeted. This is not really the reality right now, but something to work with more when implementing more marketing automation for IoT. One other ambition is to use marketing automation to reach more potential customers, and process them more efficiently. Since IoT customers are individual, one sales manager described how the response can vary greatly. To increase the pipeline and conversion rate, it would for example be desirable to send a lot of mails at the same time to increase the probability of having perfect timing for some of the leads. When implementing marketing automation, it will overall be important to document important information in the systems and integrate the systems to ensure that everybody has access and a shared understanding of the work.

“If you do this in a professional way, you do not want to do this one by one, you want to send quite a few emails at the same time so that you increase the probability that you will get a customer where you have perfect timing. We have seen that you do not have to do so much sometimes when the customer is really interested, and it is the right time for them. Then it goes very quickly, from the time you make the first contact until you have an end. But then there may be such leads or prospectuses that need to be processed for like six months a year.” (SM1)

4.3.2 Creating content for IoT solutions From a marketing perspective, it is important to work closely with different departments such as sales, product, operations, and professional services to ensure that they are talking about the right things, creating relevant content, and reaching the right people. Earlier, we described the ideal customer from a sales perspective where the maturity and level of knowledge for different companies can vary greatly. This is also evident for the people working with marketing, where the marketing manager described how they use basic advertising where they must know what the customer is interested in. The content is delivered through e.g. white papers, webinars, blog posts, the website, and LinkedIn. The

difference with IoT is that people might have heard about it, but they don’t really understand it, so the content they produce must be adjusted to different levels. The marketers try to write in a conversational, friendly, and engaging way, whilst keeping things balanced so they talk to different levels at the same time. It is also important that they are not too technical in for example webinars, to make sure people understand their material.

“When I first started, I knew nothing. So, I was very much writing from ‘tell it to me like a 5-year-old kind of thing’. But on the other hand, you don't want to insult the people who really know about IoT. So, in creating our editorial calendar or whatever content we're going to do, we try to do things on different levels. For different kinds of customers depending on where they are in their IoT journey and their knowledge.” (CM)

Furthermore, you must inspire people. The marketing manager described that they aim to help their customers understand what their possibilities with IoT are. If companies do not adopt, the risk is that they will be left behind since IoT is currently being applied in a lot of industries. This is something Tele2 strives to inform the market about, which relates to educating the customers. In the creation of content for IoT, our respondents underline the importance of understanding what the customers want and need, which requires well- functioning communication and collaboration. However, our respondents' experience of this collaboration has historically not always been satisfactory.

4.3.3 Antecedents for deficient lead follow-up A majority of our respondents from both B2B and IoT acknowledged that the concept of the “sales lead black hole” either is or has been a problem in their organization, which could be ascribed to different factors. First, one explanation for why marketing-generated leads have not always been followed up by sales relates to capacity, mainly a lack of time for sales representatives. For example, if a major marketing activity has been carried out and 500 leads have been generated, a few sales managers can not follow up on all those leads because it takes too much time if they are to manage their other job responsibilities simultaneously. Secondly, the hit rate for many marketing-generated leads tends to be low when the quantity is high and the documentation and information about the leads is scarce.

“So, I think that's a super basic explanation. It is that you simply do not have time. And then when you've got them, these leads, you have no relationship with them.” (SM2)

Another sales manager thinks that the low expectations have nothing to do with the marketing department per se, but it depends on the process for transferring them. A suggested solution is to establish processes and a specific role that focus on filtering and qualifying these marketing-generated leads before they are sent to sales. Relating to the sales lead black hole, one respondent further believes that a reason for this could be connected to motivation and incentives. To assure that sales or the responsible SDR actually qualifies the generated leads, the respondent argues for establishing the right incentives. This could be targets for signing new customers or moving a qualified lead further in the process to for example negotiate or agreement. If they do not create the right incentives, the risk is that they will miss out on good leads.

Interestingly, many of our respondents mentioned a specific example of how the “sales lead black hole” has manifested in the IoT organization. Recently, they found many old leads that had been generated a few years back but were never followed up on. They recently started contacting these, which resulted in some booked meetings. Apart from a lack of time, one reason for this incident relates to processes and human factors, where nobody paid attention to these or ensured that they were taken care of. One respondent from the marketing team also described how this incident has led to positive outcomes for the organization.

“It was actually detrimental to us how that happened, you know. Because we possibly lost customers who would have been interested in talking to us if we had actually paid attention. So now we've cleaned that up and now we have sort of processes in place where that doesn't happen. We don't get this. We're clearing out the backlog. And now we're on top of that.“ (CM)

To avoid this kind of “black hole”, several of our respondents described that it is important that somebody is formally responsible for following up different projects and activities. Today, our respondents from IoT recognize that the Head of Sales at Tele2 IoT is focusing more on the collaboration between sales and marketing, so they do not see the problem of sales lead black hole anymore. However, they believe that somebody else should take responsibility over this process, for example a SDR that focuses on getting to know the customer and delivering a pleasant first experience to the customer. A few of the respondents also raised the question about who gets credit for creating the lead or sale. Is it marketing who generated the lead, or sales who closed the deal? The marketing automation manager described that they have a system that keeps track on how a lead was generated initially, what the source is, so it is easy to track and view statistically. An example for this is that the marketing campaign that “created” the lead gets 20 %, whilst the department who managed the customer journey and closed the deal gets 80 %. This portioning is important to recognize the value of marketing efforts. If the value is zero, it would obviously not be justified to continue investing in the campaign.

4.3.4 Integration within the case company When it comes to sales-marketing integration and how these departments collaborate and communicate with each other, most of our respondents believe that they are well integrated and work collaboratively.

“I think it is a very open climate in Tele2 and everyone shares a lot between each other, and it is super unpretentious. It is very much above average. I do not know why it is so, if it is that the people are that way, but I think it [the collaboration] works really well.” (SM2)

Perspective from the B2B respondents To collaborate efficiently, our empirical findings clearly describe the importance of having a continuous dialogue. Our respondents from B2B describe both formal and informal communication channels. In the B2B organization, they have a monthly lead forum, where various people from the organization are invited, for example from marketing and sales. In this forum they discuss the past month, what has been going on etcetera. More informal communication takes place through e-mail or meeting spontaneously at the office. In B2B, one challenge is that the people from marketing that produces the content for the marketing automation journey do not always have enough

understanding of what interests the customer, and what sells. It also goes the other way around, more input from marketing to how sales can work would be desirable. A reason for this challenge can be that the organization is big. A few of our respondents from both B2B and IoT said that in a larger organization, it is common to work in silos. One respondent described this as an area for improvement where they can work more together and focus on value and selling point to the customers.

“But what is actually the selling point of the product? What is the customer using, and what is giving the customer value? Like we need to talk about value, not product. Also really important where we can definitely improve and then we're going to improve the conversion rates as well, I think.” (H2)

Furthermore, our respondents acknowledge that the integration and communication often depend on a few people. For example, the SDRs’ role in B2B is seen as important, because if they were not there, one person would have to stay in touch with hundreds of sellers. One respondent described the situation as fragile, meaning that if a few people would leave the company or become ill, problems would arise. There are also other challenges that might hinder the potential for sales-marketing integration. One respondent meant that there are too few employees in the marketing department, which is often the case in many companies. Marketing is also working a bit too analogue, where everything is not measured all the way. Here it is important to have demands on delivery, educate, use marketing automation, and discuss how the collaboration between sales and marketing can increase. Another suggested approach is to work in smaller groups in different projects to work with the people who are actually interested, and want to process the marketing-generated leads, instead of focusing on involving a lot of salespeople.

“For example, you ask who wants free leads. And then 10 people say ‘Yes, I feel that I would like to test this’, and then you have like these super users. So instead of taking 300 salespeople and telling everyone during a recorded session to do this in the system, click here, click there, where they don’t understand anything because they are never in Salesforce [CRM-system]. You can focus on smaller groups and find those who are interested.” (MA)

Perspective from the IoT respondents The respondents from IoT said that the collaboration between their departments works well now, but this is something that has been improved during the last couple of years. In the past, the IoT team was more siloed and did not talk to each other as much, so they were not aware of what was going on. Now, they have both formal and informal meetings to facilitate communication, which lets them work more cross-functional and support each other. The content manager from IoT says that it is important to talk to different people to understand their needs, what is going on, and understand what the customers need to know more about. When this information is shared, it becomes easier to tailor the marketing content to answer the customers questions and show them how Tele2 IoT can help them. From a marketing perspective, it is important to understand the larger picture and every part of the organization to be able to support them in the best way and land the customers, which goes back to not being siloed. One of the sales managers also described the importance of doing what you are good at, whilst supporting each other, and giving others credit. This sales manager feels very supported by colleagues from other departments within IoT, but believes that this gap exists in other places, where people might not support each other fully.

“I have two things when I do sales; people buy from people, and work smart, don't work hard. Work smart, they’re [marketing] used to doing these outreaches. They’re used to writing good texts and so forth. I'm just a sales guy or girl or woman. And if I can tell that they supported me getting a lead, I will be able to support somebody in marketing.“ (SM3)

Even if the integration is generally viewed as good, there is room for improvements. One sales manager says that they have not been able to work fully systematically and structured, because they are still developing their processes and testing what works, and what does not. This is something that still needs to be improved. One other respondent from the IoT organization is not fully satisfied with the current collaboration. This person understands that this can be related to the ongoing pandemic, which results in less meetings in the office which normally is a good occasion to find out what the colleagues are working with.

4.4 Establishing Sales Development To work with the identified problems at Tele2 IoT in finding new potential customers and to widen the pipeline, they have begun to formulate processes for a new sales development function, likewise the B2B department. Thus, they are in need of inputs on how to make it cost efficient, time efficient and other important aspects that need to be considered while implementing the new role into their business. Therefore, we have examined how sales development at the B2B department is working and how sales managers, marketing managers and people working related to this function sees it.

4.4.1 Considerations when initiating Sales Development for IoT The sales managers have pointed at the lack of leads and quality of leads which makes their work stressful in periods due to quarterly sales targets. The respondents explain that working with unqualified leads is time consuming and they would prefer some kind of filtration of incoming leads. As one of the sales managers outlined:

“There is a need for a good and effective way to get rid of the leads that are not qualified. We need someone who understands what we are doing. An imposition of hands between sales and marketing would be interesting… such a refining function is needed; it is not possible to automate everything... It is completely uninteresting for a salesperson to follow up on 50 leads which then turn out to be completely unqualified. It just takes a lot of time and generates nothing.” (SM4)

Furthermore, all respondents are pointing at the value of having someone dedicated to working with prospecting, lead generation and lead management. Currently, it is hard for the sales managers to prioritize the earlier phase of the sales process because they need to focus their time on managing leads later in the process that is closer to a deal. However, the company cannot survive on a few big customers, there must always be an inflow of new potential customers. One of the respondents said that implementing a sales developer could help the company become more digitized, cost-efficient and time efficient. For instance, one of the Sales Managers mentioned that it is important to understand how the Sales Development function should work to ensure that you get the most out of every penny deposited, the return on investment (ROI).

At the end of one conversation, one of the respondents also mentioned that the interview had opened the eyes for how much potential they have in developing such a function as Sales Development. Furthermore, it was kind of a wakeup call that they have not worked more on developing it because of its potential. The questions during the interview helped the respondent to start reflecting upon how the lead generation and Sales Development function could be developed much more efficiently. It is important to further decide and clarify how the process should be formed, who is responsible for the implementation and how the team and/or role should be gathered and built.

Defining the Processes To implement the sales development function there are some processes that need to be defined and set in order for the person, or people, dedicated to this role to understand what their responsibilities and activities are, and what is expected from them. To begin with, all the respondents think that the sales developer should work closely with both the marketing team and the sales team. The process for sales development is as mentioned currently not set for the IoT department. Thus, the sales developers from B2B mentioned that the IoT department could learn from their mistakes and successes. For instance, the three different processes for working with leads depending on whether it has been generated through outbound, inbound or marketing automation has worked well for them.

“It's a bit like a spider in the web between departments, helping to optimize the process and helping to scale away things that may not be as effective or as good, and helping us Sales Managers get as good and qualified leads as possible.” (SM1)

Marketing automation at Tele2 IoT has as mentioned not been prioritized, but it is evolving. Marketing automation will be an important part of the sales development function to nurture unmature customers. What is still unanswered is how the marketing automation emails should be formulated. Should there be a PDF attached or, a clickable link, and how often should the emails be sent? The respondents thought there should exist different programs for different customers depending on their cluster, maturity and complexity. These programs should include emails with different time horizons, like just a few days up to 6 months or so. To conclude, all respondents agreed upon the importance of a set lead generation process for the sales developers. This would make it easier for all people involved in and with the sales development.

Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) Another area that came up for discussion during the interviews was key performance indicators (KPIs). The respondents mentioned that it is important to understand from both a sales developer perspective and an organizational perspective what the goals with the function are. From an individual perspective there are different drivers and people are motivated by different things, which should be considered. Further, having set KPIs can increase the motivation to find new leads, and it will become easier to see the development and the value of such work. From an organizational perspective one of the respondents mentioned:

“We may not know that we will get three new deals from our marketing automation program annually, but we can hope so. What do we need to do to make it three? Yes, we need to make good content. We need to know who our ideal customer is and how it is that we should somehow know if we reach three or if we did not. Because if we do not even reach three, then we are doing something wrong. We should be able to achieve that and so on and I have not seen such KPIs.” (PM1)

Cooperation Cooperation and collaboration between different departments and other employees is also something all respondents highlighted as a success factor for a sales developer. A sales developer needs to understand the value of the service and different solutions, which makes it important to have good communication with other teams and people. The collaboration with other employees can also help the sales manager in finding new potential leads based on their personal contacts, experiences, or customers. One other opinion is that it is good to have projects with people from different teams. This favors the cooperation between departments and employees, which in turn will increase the service delivery. One respondent also mentioned the value with the project of implementing the SDR function. There is currently an ongoing project for this with different people with different roles from different teams coming together to discuss and give their inputs on how the SDR function should be formed. This is a good way for the whole organization to share knowledge and in turn make the whole department better, and the respondent asked for more projects like it.

Documentation An area that also seemed important for the respondents was the documentation parts. All respondents highlighted different things that need to be documented from a sales developer. The respondents mentioned loss reasons as an important area and one respondent from digital sales at B2B mentioned that their SDRs are responsible for documenting this. This is a lesson that Tele IoT can take with them to understand why they lose leads in the lead generation process, so that they can improve their marketing content, services, and price strategies.

“I think it's important to log the reason for why we are losing a lead. And for that we have a win-loss analysis functionality in the system. In my view this analysis should be reviewed on a quarterly basis to actually understand and learn from the negative experiences as well. And if those are, let's say price sensitive types of reasons, it's definitely something we should look into.” (PM2)

Furthermore, the sales managers asked for documentation regarding information about company size, industry, and the services the potential customer has. With this information it would be easy for the sales managers to take over from the sales developer, and the journey to closing the deal could be less challenging. One of the sales managers recommended initiating a problem analysis of the potential company before it is handed over to the sales manager, where the problem analysis should include for instance why the customer has lost as much money or what data breaches they have had. This would help the sales managers a lot to navigate them in the sales process closer to a deal.

Recognition One of the sales managers with experience of working as a SDR in another organization was particularly pointing at the importance of recognition and rewards for their work. It

is important that the whole organization understands the importance of the SDR role and that they get attention for reaching their goals. It is also important that the SDRs feels team-affiliation with both marketing and sales to ensure high performance and motivation. According to the B2B sales developers, people in the organization do not really know about the SDR function. However, the management shows appreciation and the SDRs feels recognized.

“Appreciation is very high from the management and the others. I mean it is still something very positive to give and send leads to others I would say.” (SDR2)

Organizational responsibilities The organizational responsibilities for the SDR function is also something that we have examined throughout the empirical data collection. In addition to a thorough onboarding where the employees get an understanding for the whole organization and other employees, it is also important with an introduction to the tools, and continuous education throughout the employment. There should also be some defined career paths for the employers in order to keep and attract good people. One of the respondents from digital sales at B2B also mentioned the importance of good leadership, with somebody who is open-minded and supportive.

Capacity To conclude, we believe that the empirical findings in this chapter has shown that there are a lot of good inputs from the employees regarding a SDR function, and there are already tools in place for the function to work. However, the SDR function is not in place yet. One of the sales developers explained why:

“We do not dare to press the go button fully yet, because we know that we have still found pretty well-qualified leads and we want to process them, but we want to do it in a good way so that the leads do not fall out. We believe that if you have initiated contact with a lead and then do not follow up properly, then you may have ruined that chance for a long time to come.” (SM1)

The respondent continued explaining that it is important to have a continuous dialogue and maintain the customers interest to build trust after the initial contact has been made. Likewise, the SDRs from B2B explained that the account managers taking over from them need to act quick to build trust. One sales manager mentioned that today, the capacity to handle all the potential incoming good leads that is already identified do not exist. The department is in need of someone dedicated to working with these leads, managing them and qualifying them further to the sales managers.

Expectations on Sales Development To be sure that Tele2 IoT gets the most out of every penny deposited in sales development it is important to understand what expectations the employees have on the function. It is also important to clarify what ambitions the management has with the implementation. According to one of the respondents there are still things to be considered by the project group before they can move the initiative forward. From a sales perspective, the expectation is that a sales developer will open up for a pipeline constantly filled with qualified leads that they can reach out to. The sales managers also expect that their burden will decrease so that they can focus on the closing parts with their customers. The sales manager can focus on processing the leads instead of searching for them. Another

expectation is that a sales developer has one foot in both camps, sales and marketing, which makes the whole organization and lead generation more coherent. This in turn would benefit the collaboration between the teams but also other teams.

“There would be a constant qualified lead pipe. I guess it will definitely ease the work for the Sales Managers. When they finish with one thing, then they wouldn’t have to spend too much time on searching for new leads as there would already be a list of additional and already pre-qualified leads that are actually worth to tackle, spend time on and work with.” (PM2)

From a marketing perspective, the employees expect that the SDR will monitor LinkedIn, the activity there and understand the software. They also expect the SDR to spend time on processing of leads so they understand what cluster they are in and what kind of solution that would fit each customer. Furthermore, they expect a SDR would contribute to increase the marketing generated leads. The marketing automation manager also hopes for good collaboration with the SDR within IoT.

4.4.2 Characteristics of a SDR Beyond the identified organizational and process factors for a successful sales development function we could also identify some characteristics that the respondents see as important for people working with sales development. This included personal characteristics, experiences, and motivation.

Personal Characteristics The respondents from the B2B sales development team mentioned some traits that an individual in a sales development position benefit from. A sales developer needs to be good in both oral and written communication because they have a lot of contact both in conversations online and through the phone. A SDR should feel comfortable and/or be motivated by talking to new people and enjoy social situations. They should also have the skill to make people feel trust and comfortable in new business situations, since they are the initial representative for Tele2 in contact with new leads. Furthermore, the head of digital sales at B2B also mentioned it is important to be a team player because you are not the person closing the deals and getting recognition for that, but you are very important to initiate the deals. Therefore, you need to be content and proud for the success of the whole team.

“You need to be a little bit like one of Tele2’s values, fearless, like social and entrepreneurial, not afraid of taking contact with new people.” (SDR1)

Experiences, Expertise and Competences We have already discussed different ways to approach and attract inbound, outbound, and marketing automated leads. Other ways to find optimal customers also include manual methods like utilizing your network, knowing people in the marketplace, and getting in touch with them to see if they are interested in IoT solutions. Therefore, experience within the industry, expertise knowledge within IoT solutions and competence is desirable for the position as a sales developer in IoT. However, one of the sales managers with experience of working as a sales developer mentioned that they still need to have a learning curve. You cannot expect the sales developer to be fully trained from the beginning, there should be room for development and maybe continued education for the SDR.

“You need more experience to actually be able to make a good assessment... It's a lot about expertise, or about competence and experience as well. You may have a wide network of contacts and then it will be much easier. It comes a bit with age and with time as well.” (SM1)

Motivation We also talked about motivation for a sales developer, because as one of the sales managers mentioned, it takes a lot of time and sometimes it can be hard to find qualified leads. The SDRs from B2B mentioned that they are driven by social interaction, customer contact and team affiliation. One of the SDRs mentioned that her education is within marketing automation, and for her working with that and between sales and marketing relates to her education and her interest. The other SDR from B2B has an education within business administration and has been part of the journey when they started to implement the function. For her it has been motivating to set the processes and continuously improve the SDRs work and resources. Furthermore, the sales manager with experience of working as a SDR also mentioned it is important to have a good career path to maintain and create motivation.

“There's also a learning curve because the idea when you have a sales developer, is not that that person is going to be a sales developer for the rest of their life, because that's the worst. But it is the capability to start becoming a really good salesperson and understanding what are actually the needs in the market and then being able whenever you have a handle.” (SM3)

Currently, a majority of our respondents believe that the content produced by marketing for Tele2 IoT has high quality where they for example produce very good articles, so they have good prerequisites and capabilities to produce good leads, but they need the capacity to follow up on these leads, which they lack at the moment, relating back to the need for developing their lead generation processes.

5. Analysis: Initiating Sales Development In this section, we will compare and analyze our empirical findings to scholarly insights within sales and marketing research. The ambition with this analysis is to contribute with recommendations and insights on how the customer acquisition-related processes can be enhanced, and how Tele2 IoT should implement a Sales Development function within their organization.

5.1 Improving customer acquisition activities The main purpose of this study is to give insights on how companies can work with sales development to improve their sales performance through lead generation and lead management activities - also referred to as customer acquisition. Therefore, we have strived to get a profound understanding of the current sales process with focus on customer acquisition phenomena within the case company. Thanks to detailed insights from our committed respondents, we managed to collect data on how their sales processes have evolved, what challenges they face, and how they believe these processes can be improved.

Approaching IoT customers Throughout the empirical data collection, the respondents pointed at the sales context for selling IoT and highlighted the phenomenon of increased competition and long sales cycles. These challenges have also been recognized by scholars, where sales cycles in a B2B setting tend to be longer and more complex than a B2C setting (Inks et al., 2019, p. 91; Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 173) especially due to larger purchases, fewer potential customers, complex solutions, and a higher need for knowledge sharing (Syam & Sharma, 2018, p. 142). The driving forces for the long sales cycle for Tele2 IoT were both tied to the company itself and to changes in society. To begin with, a lack of brand recognition of Tele2 among companies outside the Nordics was mentioned, which in combination with an increasing number of competitors reflects the importance of positioning Tele2 IoT as a knowledgeable and trustable IoT provider. The driving forces in society were connected to a changing digital sales landscape, more actors involved in the sales process, and big investments for customers to implement IoT. In relation to this, the consensus of our respondents is that the sales cycle can be decreased if they can identify and attract educated and mature customers. Currently, many companies know the concept of IoT, but do not really understand the service or how it can benefit their business.

Attending to a successful lead generation process, one important element identified among the respondents was hence their view on the ideal customer profile for IoT. According to Inyang & Jaramillo (2020, p. 616), a shared view on the desired customers can improve the performance of sales by targeting the right types of leads. We can conclude that the respondents have a common view of which segments and companies they are scanning for in their current lead generation efforts. They are looking for the customer who is knowledgeable about IoT solutions, is ready to invest, operates within any of the three clusters of monitoring & tracking, predictive maintenance, and remote steering, has an order of connectivity which exceeds 500 SIM cards, and/or growth potential. However, these customers are not always easy to identify. Thus, instead of finding educated customers, Inks et al. (2019, p. 92) presents the challenger sales approach where salespeople can take on the role as both disruptor and teacher to explain why the customer's business needs to change in a certain direction. We advocate that this

approach reflects an alternative focus on the sales process, compared to today where most of the respondents focus on more solutions-oriented selling approaches. However, the challenger sales approach requires certain skills (Rapp et al., 2014, p. 254), so more inexperienced salespeople might not benefit from this approach. Our data collection implies that this perspective exists within the sales force of IoT, but since the salesforce have various experiences, we argue that the challenger approach might not be the best alternative to employ. Instead, the selling approach should be adjusted to the potential customer, where adaptive approaches have proven to be especially applicable in businesses with long sales cycles (Inks et al., 2019, p. 91).

Furthermore, we contend that even if digital tools are widely used for approaching IoT customers today, our respondents describe how old-fashioned methods for meeting face- to-face like conferences is still one of their favorite approaches to build relations and meet customers. Our interpretation is that even if customers are more active online, and there are many effective sales tools available on the market, B2B selling needs to be personal and built on trust which is in congruence with more relational selling approaches (Moncrief & Marshall, 2005; Wengler et al., 2021). This indicates that Tele2 IoT needs to be aware of their customers, their needs, and focus more on educating their customers to stay competitive, develop relations, and continue to grow their customer base.

Embracing technology to improve lead generation Despite the shared view on the ideal customer for IoT, the Head of Sales at Tele2 IoT underlined that they still need to establish a way to best scan the market to identify these customers and make it easy to reach out to an accurate contact within the potential company. Our respondents confirmed this as the most difficult aspect with customer acquisition, and especially outbound lead generation; to find correct information, and decide what, how and when content and information should be delivered. The importance of rules and guidelines on how leads should be contacted was coherent throughout our interviews, but there were also reflections on how to know when leads are “warmer” and should be qualified into opportunities. This challenge has also been recognized by Espadinha-Cruz et al. (2021, p. 3), who suggest that the conversion rate can be improved by focusing on the qualification process for leads.

One suggested way to improve the qualification process is to focus on social selling, and a social CRM strategy, where social media tools like LinkedIn and Twitter are used to find contact information and communicate with potential customers (Ancillai et al., 2019, p. 303; Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 187). Our interviews reflect that social media channels, especially LinkedIn, is already a widely used tool for both sales and marketing people. Even if Tele2 IoT seems to work with both social selling and adopt a social CRM strategy, we argue that they could benefit from focusing on measuring their data from these tools, to assess which ones are most appropriate for their sales processes. Moore et al. (2015, p. 17) suggests that the potential return on investment (ROI) for different tools can be estimated, and that salespeople should be educated in using social media. Hence, we attend to the possibilities with expanding their usage of social media, where more focused and interesting content and conversations can generate higher quality of their leads. This is something that our respondents are already aware of, but we believe it could be of higher focus in their future activities. This can also be connected to the perspective of our respondents from the marketing department, who described the importance of creating relevant content and utilizing marketing automation to engage with customers. However, our findings reflect how not everything can or should be automated or digitized,

since this could remove the human parts of intuition and instincts. Even if Tele2 IoT is successfully adopting and integrating various tools, we argue that it is important to remember to keep focusing on value, trust, and relations, to be an excellent provider.

Another insight for improvements comes from B2B, where the sales development team has focused on creating a digitalized customer journey by using digital tools that are linked to digital touchpoints (e.g., their web page and social media channels). These digital touchpoints can indicate where the customer journey can be improved, which Rodriguez & Peterson, 2012, p. 188) describes as an important part of a social CRM strategy. Our respondents from IoT described that they have a dedicated content manager who produces for example white papers on important topics, to increase interest for their IoT solutions. Here, the importance of understanding what information the customers need was underlined, where different people in the organization needed to be involved to both develop relevant content, but also ensure smooth customer journeys for the customers. This reflects a holistic view on the sales activities within Tele2 IoT, where D’Haen & Van den Poel (2013, p. 545) suggest that the sales process should be seen as nonlinear and iterative, when people from different departments have an impact on the sales process. This view correlates with a service ecosystem perspective on sales, where value is created in an interactive process between different participants in B2B systems (Hartmann et al., 2018, p. 1; Marcos Cuevas et al., 2016, p. 97). Consequently, we assert that both marketing and sales processes need to be integrated to create and deliver value to customers, where coordination of different actors becomes a prerequisite to improve lead generation activities, qualification, and the conversion rate.

Cross-functional collaborations to create value To support customer acquisition activities, the importance of collaboration, communication, and integration was expressed by all respondents in the study. This has significant implications on the lead management process, where the efforts and investments made by marketing for lead generation activities can become unprofitable if the leads are not carefully and timely followed-up (Ohiomah et al., 2019, p. 163). Hence, a satisfactory cooperation between marketing and sales departments can increase the conversion rate for leads into customers (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016; Ohiomah et al., 2019), which is one ambition for the case company of our study.

From a marketing perspective, it is further important to work closely with different departments within IoT, not only with sales. Our interviews reflect that this is the key to making sure they are talking about the right topics, creating engaging content, and connecting with the right customers. When creating content marketing, the focus should be on actively listening to the needs of the customers and using expertise from knowledgeable people to create high-quality content (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 173). Instead of promoting or focusing on a specific product or solution, the content should focus on value, which relates back to the value-oriented perspective of our respondents. This further reflects how value can be created together, where Rouziés et al. (2005, p. 115) argues for how different departments within an organization need to support each other’s activities, be congruent, and consistent in their contact with customers. This collaborative perspective is reflected by our respondents, who describe that they see the benefit of supporting for example marketing, since they are the best at content, to ensure that sales get good leads and can do what they are good at. As described by one of the sales managers: “Work smart, don’t work hard”.

However, some of the communication between different departments seems to be depending on a few people, which reflects a fragility in both the B2B and IoT departments. To facilitate this communication, it is for example important that both sales and marketing managers support the collaboration (Le Menuier-FitzHugh et al., 2011, p. 1168), but also that managers make sure that there are formal and informal communications in place, and that joint achievements are visible in the organization (Malshe, 2011, p. 53). Here, a few of our respondents mentioned that they want to see more cross-functional project groups to stimulate knowledge transfer and increase service delivery. For example, if a team would consist of inside and outside salespeople, marketers, and other relevant people with a shared goal, Arnett et al., (2021, p. 266) argue that the communication could improve. Hence, we argue for the managerial importance in facilitating both collaboration and communication in and between departments.

Furthermore, our interviews consistently reflected that documentation is a factor that has a significant impact on the results from lead generation activities. We argue that this is an area for improvement, especially in the qualification process, where it is important to document information about the customer before they are handed over to, for example, a sales manager. Here, we want to emphasize the tacit knowledge transfer, which is rarely shared between individuals (Arnett et al. 20219, but very important to create a holistic view of the customer (Tanner et al., 2005, p. 173). If the story of the customer is not documented, vital information will be lost. For example, what is the situation for the customer, have they been losing money, why is that? Or does this customer prefer emails, or to be called? The documentation of this information is important no matter which process is in focus; inbound, outbound, or marketing automation. By knowing the specifics of the customer, we assert that the content can be improved, the sales approach can be adapted, and the potential hit rate for leads can increase.

A dedicated role for lead generation Our study has thoroughly examined the lead generation process for the studied case company, where the consensus is that the pipeline for leads needs to become wider, and that the generated leads should have better quality, meaning that the probability for converting a lead into a customer needs to be increased. This perception reflects the basic assumption for the sales funnel presented by Patterson (2007, p. 185), where increasing the number of opportunities, or the size of a deal are two parameters that can have a significant impact on the company's revenue streams. To succeed with this process, Sleep et al. (2020, p. 1044) recommends companies to have people dedicated to lead generation. The importance of a role devoted to this process has been recurrent throughout our study, where sales managers expect their workload to be eased, resulting in lower stress and giving them more time to work with lead management for closing deals.

Another interesting aspect described by scholars is how marketing is usually responsible for pre-qualifying leads before they are sent to a sales manager (Sabnis et al., 2013; Van der Borgh et al., 2020). This does not seem to be part of the process for Tele2 IoT, where the sales teams are currently responsible for the qualification themselves. From a process perspective, our respondents believe that the role of a sales developer representative can improve the qualification which will ultimately reduce the time that sales managers spend on leads that are not yet ready to buy. To increase the ROI for marketing-generated leads, we can further interpret how the quality of leads is important to ensure that sales representatives feel motivated to follow up on them. If the volume of leads is high, and they have not been filtered before they are handed over to the sales managers, the

motivation to follow-up on them is expressed as low. Scholars have suggested that the quality of leads is subjective, not objective (Sabnis et al., 2013, p. 62). To improve the lead qualification process, we therefore argue that both marketing, sales, and sales developers should be involved in setting up certain qualification criteria for prospects and leads. Hence, we are of the opinion that a dedicated person for customer acquisition is necessary for Tele2 IoT, mainly because their value proposition seems to be complex for people to understand, which takes a lot of time from the Sales Managers. A dedicated person working with these activities can become an expert of the leads process, understand whom to contact, how to find their contact information, and assess when they are interested to talk about an offer, which in turn has the potential to increase the overall sales performance.

5.2 Implementing Sales Development at Tele2 IoT The inquiries for a dedicated person working with identifying and attracting new potential customers to Tele2 IoT is something that was confirmed during the interviews both in the initial interview with the Head of Sales at Tele2 IoT and with the respondents. However, there are still questions regarding how the function should be formed, activities involved and what needs to be considered in order for the function to be as productive and cost- efficient as possible. With insights from the B2B department, who already has implemented a similar function and with inputs from employees with an understanding for customer acquisition activities, we could identify some common expectations. However, Tele2 IoT is still in the early phase of implementing a sales development function and therefore we want to give recommendations on how they should configure their sales organizations to embrace the full potential with sales development.

5.2.1 Structuring the sales organization Scholars have pointed at the increasing importance of inside sales due to changes in the environment, increasing customer demands and a call for development of digital sales processes within companies (Arnett et al., 2021; Ohiomah et al., 2020). These indicators reflect the current situation at Tele2, where the B2B department has already shifted their focus to digital sales, and now it is time for IoT to transform their sales organization. In the theoretical framework, we described how sales organizations can be organized in different configurations with the inside and outside salesforce, where Sales Development is a configuration where Sales Development Representative (SDR) represent the inside salesforce and are responsible for identifying and qualifying prospects (Sleep et al., 2020, 1044). Our empirical data presents how the development of a separate unit for Sales Development in Tele2 IoT can be a solution for handling the current challenges for lead generation and lead management. A dedicated SDR can be responsible for the early phase of the sales process before a Sales Manager takes over. This would include responsibility for lead generation, qualification, and follow-up to ensure that the qualified leads are timely managed.

Currently, the sales team for IoT seem to work with both inside and outside sales, since they combine digital sales channels with conferences and face-to-face meetings when possible. However, during the last 1,5 years, their interactions with customers has been primarily digital due to the ongoing pandemic, reflecting a somewhat forced change that not all sellers are content with. Therefore, we argue for the importance of defining the inside and outside salesforce and responsibilities, to ensure a lean sales process without conflicts, which the sales development configuration has the potential to contribute to

(Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). Another potential benefit of establishing a specific inside sales force is that they can be used to capture the mentioned tacit knowledge, since they will work closely with both outside sales and marketing (Arnett et al., 2021, p. 266). However, a reflection is whether the SDRs currently working exclusively for the B2B organization, could also be responsible for the lead generation for IoT? Since it is already established with several SDRs, set processes, and reliable tools, it might be a less costly solution than implementing Sales Development specifically for IoT. However, due to the differences in the value proposition for IoT versus traditional telecommunications solutions offered by Tele2, we deem that this solution is less feasible. Further, our interviews reflect that the SDRs in B2B are already working at a high capacity and adding IoT to that would probably require an additional employee. Hence, we argue that their current plan, to establish a separate Sales Development function for IoT, is a better alternative.

When organizing the sales organization through a sales development configuration, there are further various limitations that need to be considered. Firstly, if the communication between inside and outside salespeople is inefficient, the risk for low knowledge sharing increases, which can result in higher rejection rates by prospects (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). Hence, we believe that the SDR should work closely with the sales managers, both to take advantage of their experiences and selling skills, but also to understand what kind of information they want the SDR to document about the customer and ensure that the leads are of high quality. Another pitfall for this configuration is to not educate the inside SDR, where one solution can be to pair new inexperienced inside salespeople with experienced outside sellers (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1052). One third important consideration that our respondents mentioned was to provide clear career opportunities, and incentives. If this is not prioritized, the risk for turnover problems can arise (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1044). We believe that especially for Tele2 IoT, these limitations must be addressed early to ensure that the SDR gets the support needed from others within the organization, and ensure they are motivated and have the right tools to improve the current processes.

5.2.2 Developing the Lead Generation Processes For the current lead generation process for Tele2 IoT, we have identified that there are three primary sources of leads: inbound, outbound, and marketing automated. Even if the methods for processing different leads differ, they all move through the pipeline in a similar order. There were some important insights the respondents pointed at to focus on in lead generation overall. Within the IoT department, our empirical findings indicated that outbound leads are the prioritized source of potential customers. The company already has drafts on the outbound lead generation process and established tools, but they still need to set the process and communicate it internally. We argue that the process for outbound lead generation should be fully tested through trial and error to make it as efficient as possible, which is also recommended by Wengler et al. (2021, p. 609). This should further include integrating a clear workflow in the SDRs everyday work, where the use of integrated tools is underlined by our respondents.

With a relational selling approach driven by offering value to the customers, we further believe that the process for the outbound lead generation is something every company needs to elaborate and develop within the organization amongst people involved in the process, to ensure that interactions and offers towards potential customers are personalized and attractive. In B2B, they have one SDR responsible for each category of

leads, and thus only focuses on one lead generation process per SDR. They explained that they have realized that is the best way to work, to ensure that all categories of leads are managed adequately. However, in the beginning B2B had only one employed SDR, and due to capacity constraints, we see that this is also the most feasible for IoT in the beginning of the implementation. However, this might change when the processes become established, more marketing automation is integrated, and when the inflow of customers increases. We further see a need for close collaboration between the SDR, the marketing automation manager, and sales managers to ensure that the processes are integrated and to capture the experiences of different knowledgeable people within Tele2 IoT. Overall, we further believe that the initial focus of the SDR should be on prospecting for outbound leads and improving those processes. If they would be responsible for both inbound, outbound, and marketing automated leads from the start, we argue that it could be overwhelming, especially if the person is inexperienced and new within IoT.

One other aspect that should be developed when implementing SDR for IoT is the follow- up of leads. In B2B, they use Service Level Agreements (SLAs), to regulate how quickly different leads should be contacted. Since timing is one important challenge described by our respondents, and further acknowledged as a main challenge in lead management overall (Ohiomah et al., 2019, p. 163), we argue that SLAs must be considered when initiating sales development. The IoT department can consider their current processes, resources, and data, to develop clear SLAs. When these are established, the SDR should be responsible for ensuring that they are followed, and if not, they can remind the sales managers and/or assist them if they do not have time.

An iterative perspective In the current lead generation process, Sales Managers at Tele2 IoT are interacting with different people in the potential customer firms, they are interacting with digital tools such as CRM systems, social media platforms (mainly LinkedIn) and co-workers that may have valuable knowledge for certain phases of the sales cycle (e.g., technician, service manager etc.). This makes the crossing points of information more complex where important information can get lost. Therefore, Hartmann et al (2018, p. 12) has argued for how the sales processes need to facilitate interactions between actors to create value together and capture relevant information. Along with the changing views on sales, scholars have further proposed that the sales process should be seen as nonlinear and iterative (D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013; Hartmann et al., 2018). Inspired by this view, we argue for the sales process as well as the customer acquisition processes to be iterative where the salespeople move back and forth with information search and processing of customers. At the same time, various people with different expertise might need to be consulted to ensure a smooth customer journey for the individual customers in IoT. We claim that this will create a more dynamic pipeline which will result in a more efficient lead generation. Our respondents also pointed out that customers that are not ready to buy or mature today might need to be unqualified and approached at another time, which confirms how the process needs to be iterative. If it is not, the risk is that the company will miss out on good opportunities in the future.

Realistic targets and clear KPIs Key performance indicators (KPIs) were also something several of our respondents discussed in relation to the sales process. KPIs can both be used to assess the return on investment for different tools and activities, but it can also help to improve processes and content. With KPIs, the company can measure how many leads are converted to

customers, they can improve their marketing content, marketing automation processes and they can identify weaknesses in the different lead generation activities. Which KPIs are used is something each organization needs to reflect upon depending on their industry, challenges, and ambitions when implementing SDR. For example, the company can consider: 1. What kind of productivity and efficiency do they want to achieve with implementing such a function, and 2. How do they want to measure the sales developers' performance?

Further, we suggest that KPIs should be reviewed on a quarterly basis to ensure that the Sales Development function delivers the desired value and that errors can be fixed quickly. However, the targets need to be realistic and aligned with available resources (Van der Borgh et al., 2020, p. 136), to avoid perception problems between managers and employees. Further, we suggest that targets or KPIs for SDRs should not focus on behavioral outcomes, such as how many calls they make, or how many emails they send, since it can reduce their feeling of task autonomy (Sleep et al., 2020, p. 1051). We argue that the focus should be on encouraging creative, customer-centered, and value-oriented approaches to increase their social skills and deliver a good first impression to potential customers. Based on the different perspectives in the interviews, we recognize that it will be important to establish relevant KPIs to motivate the SDR in their work and make their contribution visible within the organization. For example, to fully capture their efforts, they should have a KPI reflecting the sales effort of the whole team.

Effective tools Interestingly, our respondents had individual opinions on the usefulness of their current tools. Some even said that they have too many tools available, where not all of them are of high use, which we believe reflects a potentially high cost with low return. As described in the theoretical framework, effective tools should be provided by selling companies to improve communication and the processing of customers (Hartmann et al., 2013, p. 14). However, our data also indicates that the company has high demands on their software, which must provide high hit rates, be cost-efficient, and optimized over time. Hence, we contend that these tools should be evaluated to ensure the efficiency and ROI of them. We also argue that the outbound lead generation and the utilized tools should be customized to each company, industry and the people working with them. Since B2B customers are increasingly active online, social channels and digital media should be used (Ancillai et al., 2019, p. 303), and inside salespeople need to be given proper education to succeed with their responsibilities (Sleep et al., 2020, 1052). Consequently, we assert that the education for SDRs should not only focus on the IoT solutions and the lead generation process, but also include how social media and available digital tools can be used to their full potential.

5.2.3 Hiring the right person To implement an efficient and productive SDR function it is important for the company to hire the right person/people into the position. Our respondents described how the characteristics of a SDR should be a social person that feels comfortable with establishing contact with unknown people, or at least feel motivation for initiating contact with new people. Relating to motivation, Sabnis et al. (2013, p. 55) proposed a model for how motivation, ability, and opportunity can explain why sales representatives put more or less time into different types of leads. In relation to this model, our respondents discussed motivation and ability, where external motivation in the form of managerial tracking is supposed to negatively affect the follow-up the more experienced salespeople is (Sabnis

et al., 2013, p. 55). In contrast to this, our empirical data reveals that the sales representatives see an advantage in having somebody who is formally responsible for following-up lead-generating activities. When nobody has been responsible, they have had delays in the lead management process where a lot of leads have been forgotten. Thus, our findings reflect how processes and people can be another contributing factor behind the problem of the sales lead black hole, confirming the importance of a process perspective presented by Van der Borgh et al. (2020, p. 140), and how a more formalized process for the follow-up might be a solution. Therefore, we argue that a future SDR can be responsible for lead generation, but also for ensuring that the qualified leads they have sent to sales managers are followed up in time, to ensure that they are managed throughout the whole process.

Our respondents from IoT also see a value in having the right incentives in place for sales representatives, where targets and KPI’s are suggested to increase the motivation for following-up on different types of leads. This reflect that external motivators can be of higher importance than intrinsic motivation, as presented by Sabnis et al. (2013). In contrast to this, the SDRs from B2B described motivation in a more intrinsic nature, where the person should be a team player and feel satisfaction for the team's success because the SDR will not be the one closing the deals. The person should also be a good communicator both orally and in text and be able to formulate themselves in business English, since they will interact with international customers. Furthermore, the SDR should be good at communicating because of their cooperation with other departments, employees, and potential customers. The SDR will be “the spider in the net”, communicating with other departments as its core. Furthermore, the SDR needs a problem solving and creative mind because identifying leads and lead sources is a bit of detective work. A hot lead can be just in front of you, but there may also be a gold mine somewhere out there, so they must also have a creative and curious side.

Organizational Commitments To implement a Sales Development function the respondents mentioned some things that need to be considered, and we argue that this should be a responsibility for the organization and the management team. To begin with, the importance of long-term orientation with the Sales Development function is crucial both to ensure the ROI and for motivation among all employees. One crucial organizational commitment it to have a dedicated budget for customer acquisition, and as the focus of this study, for sales development. Ang & Buttle (2006, p. 310) contemplates that this is a key to success, whilst for example CRM systems is not associated with the same excellence. Hence, before the implementation is done, a dedicated budget for sales development needs to be confirmed. They currently have an established project team, where they are brainstorming ideas on how the Sales Development function should work. However, without a dedicated budget, it is difficult to process. We argue that all roles in the group should be clearly defined so all people in the project group knows what to do and who is responsible for what. Furthermore, we argue that the project group should have follow up meetings continuously to make sure that the project continues to move forward and that the project group continues to feel motivation for working with the project.

It is further important to ensure that the SDRs get a proper education and are given a clear career path, to ensure that the potential problems presented by Sleep et al. (2020) related to high turnover and inconsistent qualification is accounted for. Furthermore, we contend that managers should focus on quality before quantity in sales development metrics to

both ensure that they focus on delivering high-quality leads, but also to embrace the value-oriented approaches that were reflected throughout our interviews. One way to make sure that a long-term orientation is in place is to create KPIs already from the start, where trial and error learning will increase the ultimate goals and numbers over time. Additionally, the organization needs to take responsibility for questions concerning data security and secure control of sensitive and personal data of identified leads.

5.3 Conceptual Model Derived from our presented analysis, and in relation to the purpose of this study, we have developed a conceptual model for an integrated and holistic view on lead generation and sales processes (see figure 5). This conceptual model aims to give an overview for how inside sales, Sales Development, can improve the overall sales performance through lead generation and lead management in businesses. Our proposed model is developed for businesses in a highly competitive business environment with long sales cycles where the primary resource of potential customers are outbound leads. The model begins with describing such a challenging business landscape with pointing at macro influences, such as digitalization of sales processes, increasing competition and increased customer demands, affecting the whole sales process. It also outlines the importance of understanding the customer needs to communicate what value the company can offer the potential customers. Driven by these three factors, the model proposes attracting and finding potential customers through three different main activities: outbound lead generation, inbound lead generation and marketing automation lead generation.

The outbound lead generation concerns activities such as sibling search, personal network, conferences, mingle on activities, cold calling, social media channels and digital tools. Inbound lead generation concerns activities like content marketing including blog posts, the website, white papers, newsletters, and social media etcetera. Furthermore, we have argued for a third way of creating leads, marketing automation lead generation, which refers to managing potential customers through personalized and marketing automated programs (MA programs) where the leads get information about the service and what value the company can deliver to the customer. Marketing Automation can also be used to track potential customers visiting the website and to arrange them in the programs to manage them. In this model, inbound lead generation and marketing automated lead generation are illustrated as narrower because they are not the primary resource of leads, but still need to be managed and qualified in an adequate way. This reflects that inbound leads and marketing automated leads are usually “warmer” than outbound leads, meaning that they will not be prospected and approached by sales. Instead, they initiate the contact with the company and already have an interest for the solution when the interaction begins.

The model also illustrates how a potential customer converts through the funnel from a prospect to a more qualified lead. If the potential customer fulfills the quality criteria and they are interested in implementing the solution that the company offers, they are qualified to an opportunity. A company that has been qualified to an opportunity is handed over to a Sales Manager who continues to persuade the value that the company can bring to the potential customer’s organization. These customers are also transferred into the CRM system where information regarding their needs, problems, organizational information etcetera, are documented. Those leads that are unqualified are those potential customers who neither are interested in the company or implementing the solution, these leads are just removed from the pipeline and not introduced in the CRM system. However,

unqualified leads can also be potential customers that are not mature enough meaning that they do not reach the company’s qualifying criteria but are still interested in implementing the solution. In the case company, these leads are removed to a reseller, but how to handle these leads can differ among companies depending on their solution and business ecosystem. Not mature leads can also be those who are interested but not ready to invest yet, these leads are put in a MA program to be managed.

While working with implementing Sales Development into an organization we argue for four supporting elements. Illustrated in the model is the importance of iteration throughout the funnel and in the customer acquisition processes. The iteration in the model refers to how a Sales Developer needs to go back and forth for two main reasons. First, regarding the information about the potential customers and their needs. For instance, a lead that currently is not mature enough can be saved for the future where the Sales Developer goes back to see if they are ready to invest later. The iteration also illustrates how learnings from successes and failures can improve the process where trial and error and continuous improvements are taken into consideration. Another supporting element in Sales Development is documentation, where information about the potential customer’s needs, problems, contact information etcetera are documented. Lead loss reason is crucial for the company to document because it can help them with improving the processes and understanding why customers choose or not choose to invest in their solution, it can also help improving marketing content. Furthermore, communication throughout the process among employees and teams are crucial. Communication will decrease the common loss of leads when a potential customer converts throughout the funnel. With communication and documentation, we argue this “black hole” will decrease. Finally, cooperation between teams, employees and managers is central for a Sales Development function to be efficient and productive. Cooperation can include sharing information about potential customers, new ways of identifying leads and sharing ideas of how the function and its processes can be improved.

The model we propose (figure 5) differs from earlier models in research by introducing three differing lead generation processes to widen the sales funnel to improve the overall performance of sales. Scholars have earlier examined the iteration and the sales marketing integration to widen the funnel ((D’Haen & Van den Poel, 2013, p. 545; Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016, p. 170), but they lack the combination of the three processes we have identified. We illustrate the model as a funnel to highlight the iteration and leave the linear and stepwise approaches behind. Illustrating the model as a funnel also reflects that customer will fall out of the pipe due to different reasons, for instance not fulfilling qualification criteria, not being ready to invest, or choosing other providers etcetera. However, we argue that the proposed framework has the potential to increase both the quality and the number of leads, which in turn will have a positive effect on efficiency, productivity, and the overall sales performance for companies.

Figure 5. The Integrated Sales Development Pipeline

6. Conclusions & Discussion The following chapter will finalize this thesis by linking our findings to the research question and purpose of the study. We will also emphasize how our findings are contributing to the case company, academia, and society. Furthermore, we will introduce some reflecting questions for managers to consider while implementing SDR. The chapter is concluded with a reflection on the study’s limitations, and propositions for future research areas within the field.

6.1 Conclusions On commission for Tele2 IoT, we have examined how a Sales Development function can be organized and managed to be efficient and productive. The purpose of this study has accordingly been to reveal insights on how inside sales, especially Sales Development, can be constructed to widen the pipeline, increase qualified leads, and improve the overall sales performance. We have substantiated the empirical findings through comparisons with existing academic research in the field, in order to answer our research question:

How can companies work with sales development processes and lead generation to improve their sales performance?

We have examined the early phase of the sales funnel referred to as customer acquisition, which is a prerequisite for companies to be profitable. In customer acquisition, lead generation and lead management are two central phenomena including generating potential customers and managing them in an adequate way. We have focused on processes for widening the sales funnel in a highly competitive business context with complex solutions for value creation. Our findings reveal that these parameters can result in long sales cycles, where companies need to educate their customers, have the right timing while introducing the solution, create value, but also identify customers that are ready to invest. We recommend that companies who are relying on different lead sources, and experiencing problems with their conversion rate, should initiate a dedicated function working with lead generation, which we have referred to as Sales Development.

To improve sales performance through implementing sales development, our results indicate that several elements need to be considered. First, to be successful in the B2B- market, all people working with the sales process need to focus on customer-centric, value-oriented, and relational selling approaches. By fully understanding the customers and their needs, SDRs should hence focus on how their solution, in our study IoT, can deliver value to the customer’s business. In this process, it is important to collaborate cross-functionally within the company to ensure that the right customers are approached, where a shared view on the customer profile must be developed. Furthermore, people from marketing, sales, and other departments should together establish relevant qualification criteria for leads, to ensure that they are of high quality.

Secondly, we argue that SDRs should utilize digital tools and systems to become experts on their lead generation processes and ensure that the conversion rate is as high as possible. Here, we acknowledge the importance of not having too many tools and ensuring that the integration of systems is sufficient. It can be frustrating to learn all tools and a leak may occur if information is transformed between too many tools. To further improve the lead generation activities, the company must assure that the employees can use the tools in an efficient way, measure data and ROI from different tools and social

media channels, and subsequently remove tools that are not bringing value to the process. The SDR should further document relevant knowledge about customers within the CRM- system, including tacit and individual knowledge about the potential customer and their business, to support the outside sales force in their subsequent qualification of opportunities into customers.

To further improve the performance of sales, content marketing and marketing automation must be considered. Here, we recognize that the marketing department should strive to incorporate insights and opinions about customers from different departments in the organization, to ensure that they deliver relevant content, in a timely manner, to the right people. Our conclusion is that people working in Sales development will work closely with both sales and marketing people, which indicates that they can capture important information from different perspectives. To stimulate collaboration and improve the sales processes, we also see that managers must establish formal and informal communication channels, and support cross-functional activities and projects so that each employee can do what they are good at, whilst supporting others.

The implementation of this unit will also require relevant KPIs to motivate the SDR in their work. The SDR role and responsibilities need to be defined and communicated within the sales team to ensure that they get recognition, even if they are not personally closing the deals. We conclude that clear and set processes together with internally communicated KPIs are important to consider for people working with, or closely to Sales Development. These considerations can make the customer acquisitions activities more focused on delivering value, instead of focusing on the product, which can result in higher quality of leads and make the overall customer journey more personalized.

To synthesize these different improvement areas and activities for lead generation, we propose an integrated sales funnel for companies adopting a Sales Development configuration (see figure 5 on p. 76). This model highlights three different lead generation processes: 1) outbound lead generation, 2) inbound lead generation and 3) marketing automation lead generation. The model also points out the importance of iteration to capture all potential customers and improve the customer acquisition processes through trial-and-error learning, and continuous improvements. Documentation, communication, and collaboration are other central phenomena to increase the number of qualified leads, the efficiency and productivity of customer acquisition practices. However, we recognize that it can be beneficial for SDRs to focus on one lead generation process, for example outbound leads, instead of focusing on different streams, to ensure adequate processing of the leads. Depending on what their responsibilities are, the SDRs will need education and support, where we conclude that each SDR should have a mentor, preferably an experienced salesperson.

6.2 Study Contributions 6.2.1 Contributions for Tele2 IoT By focusing on the case company Tele2 IoT, we will now present our findings for how they can proceed with their work on implementing Sales Development into the organization. Our findings can be considered contextually applicable due to the research being written on commission for Tele2 IoT, but we argue that our findings can be applied for businesses operating in competitive sales ecosystems where outbound lead generation is the primary activity for customer acquisition. With illustrative and nuanced insights from all respondents participating in the study, in combination with earlier research on customer acquisition processes, we argue that the implementation of a Sales Development function is a viable alternative.

According to the Head of Sales at Tele2 IoT, the IoT department heavily relies on outbound leads. Consequently, the steady inflow of customers to the pipeline is challenging which contributes to difficulties for the Sales Managers to close deals and reach their quarterly targets. Our findings reveal that implementing a Sales Development function can increase the time for Sales Managers working with directly profit generating activities, reduce stress, and particularly increase a steady inflow of potential customers resulting in an improved sales performance. As mentioned before, Tele2 IoT has begun to formulate processes and organized a project group for implementing the function. However, the processes for this function, and the activities and roles in the project group are neither clearly set nor communicated internally. To support their work, we have established a checklist of reflective questions (see table 8) for the management and the project group executing the process while implementing Sales Development. The table outlines some main activities, processes, and elements to consider for Tele2 IoT. We argue that this checklist is a good complement to our suggested model “The Integrated Sales Development Pipeline” (figure 5 on p. 76). The checklist is also applicable for other B2B companies that want to develop their sales processes by implementing a dedicated Sales Development Function.

Our findings firstly point at the importance for an intended budget for implementing Sales Development into the business. To ensure that the investment is profitable it is crucial with a long-term orientation of the implementation by setting up clear, realistic, and internally communicated ROI targets and KPI ambitions. We recommend the management team at Tele2 IoT to determine these numbers and establish a long-term orientation for Sales Development within their department. We argue that the ultimate goals and numbers need to adapt over time through trial-and-error learnings. Additionally, Tele2 IoT needs to consider questions concerning data, security, and integrity of identified leads and how to handle information about potential customers that has not yet been transferred to the CRM system.

Tele2 IoT currently does not have the capacity and dare to press the “go-button”. However, our empirical findings revealed that they have the tools in place and the knowledge about how to form such a function, but certain processes and roles are requested from the project group to be clarified. Therefore, we suggest that Tele2 IoT defines who is responsible for the implementation of Sales Development and selects a project manager for the project group. Furthermore, we recommend the project group to discuss our proposed reflective questions to develop an efficient and productive Sales Development function. We also recommend the project group to have continuous

meetings to make sure that the project moves forward. One prerequisite will be to hire the right person for the role as SDR in IoT, where social capabilities and team-building skills should be highly valued. The empirical findings also pointed at the importance of recognition and clear career paths for people working in the SDR function. We argue that these issues need to be considered by the management to ensure that the SDRs stay motivated.

Finally, we recommend Tele2 IoT to follow up the performance of Sales Development on a quarterly basis by comparing results with KPIs. We also recommend them to evaluate the processes in place and their formation, the people involved in the process, the collaboration and whether they need other competences. Furthermore, we recommend them to discuss the tools in place for the function, their efficiency and whether they need to be adapted.

Table 8. Reflective questions for practitioners for initiating Sales Development

Reflective Questions Project Group • Who is responsible for the implementation?

• What competencies do we need in the project group?

• Is there a clear timetable for the implementation?

• How often does the project team need to meet? Does everyone need to be present at all meetings?

Process • What are the long-term goals with implementing SDR?

• Do we have a clear and solid process for outbound lead generation/ inbound lead generation/ marketing automated lead generation?

o How should the processes be formed?

• What KPIs should be measured and what are the targeting goals?

• Are the processes internally communicated?

Sales Developers • How many SDRs should be implemented?

• What are the requirements of an SDR?

• What are their responsibilities?

• Who should they report to?

Tools • What tools do we need for lead generation?

• Do we have all tools in place and are all tools we have necessary?

• Do we have education and practices in place for SDRs to learn the tools?

Iteration • How can we apply iteration in the process?

• How should we save unqualified leads that can be interesting for the future?

Documentation • What should be documented and how should it be documented?

• Are there guidelines in place regarding what should be documented?

• How do we follow up on documentation?

Communication & Cooperation • What is important for SDR and connected teams to communicate/cooperate with?

• What and how should the information be communicated in the handing over to the Sales Managers (need analysis/ problem analysis)?

• What and how should the communication/cooperation with marketing/other departments look like?

Security and handling of personal data • How do we handle company information in a secure way?

• How do we save customers that are not ready to be implemented in the CRM system?

Management • Do we have a budget intended for SDR?

• What ROI is the ambition?

• What career paths do we have for SDR?

• What education should be included for SDR?

• Are KPIs set and communicated to those concerned?

Continues Improvements, Trial & error learning • On quarterly basis:

o Are the KPIs reached? Why/Why not?

o How can we improve Sales Development? (Process, people, data)

6.2.2 Theoretical Contributions We have completed an exploratory and qualitative study to contribute to the documented scarce research field of inside sales (as pointed out by Ohiomah et al., 2019 and Sleep et al., 2020). We have provided contributions for how inside sales performance can be improved through effective lead generation and management activities, which is an allegedly scarce research field (Ohiomah et al., 2019, p. 163). Our study provides empirical data from 12 semi-structured interviews from knowledgeable individuals operating in the telecommunications industry, with a specific emphasis on selling solutions for Internet of Things, where Lee et al. (2017) has explicitly requested more qualitative studies.

Firstly, our study provides an illustration for how the Ideal Customer Profile for IoT solutions can look like. The challenge with these customers is to educate them about IoT and help them understand how IoT solutions can benefit their business. From a supplier perspective, we have acknowledged that relational and adaptive selling approaches are important to understand the customers, develop relations, and grow the customer base through providing both knowledge and value. The use of either face-to-face interactions or digital tools has been analyzed, revealing that salespeople are using both, where for example conferences are viewed as one of the best ways to connect with both potential and existing customers. Hence, some people prefer face-to-face interactions over remote because it provides a more personal and trusting contact towards B2B-customers.

Furthermore, we provide support for how inside sales is becoming increasingly important for B2B selling, where the digitalization trend is pushing this change more than might have been expected by scholars such as Wengler et al. (2021). We have discussed motivations, capabilities, and skills for Sales Development Representatives, as part of the inside salesforce, which extends the current academia, and was also specifically asked for by Sleep et al. (2020, 1026). We have further demonstrated implications on how the Sales Development configuration can be applicable in competitive business contexts, with the telecommunications sector as an example. Sleep et al. (2020, p. 1049) requested future studies to focus on how industries or product type had an influence on sales structure, and why some people prefer face-to-face interactions over remote (and vice versa). We argue that we have contributed to insights on both issues by providing a comprehensive view over an example of Sales development, and the driving factors behind the implementation of this sales configuration in our case company.

We have further demonstrated how the implementation process for setting up a Sales Development function needs to be viewed as a continuous and iterative process to improve lead generation activities. To support and motivate SDRs, it is further important to work with KPI, where our study indicates that these should be both individual and on a team level, where it is important to acknowledge their performance to ensure a high level of collaboration between for example sales and marketing. Relating to this, we have explored different perspectives on the concept for sales lead black hole and its existence (as requested by Malshe et al., 2017), relating to sales-marketing integration. Here, our empirical findings indicate that it might exist within the company, but it is difficult to tell because this kind of data has not been accurately measured historically, and we can therefore only base our assumptions on this issue on subjective interpretations.

6.2.3 Societal Contributions The societal responsibility of growing companies has been lifted in the last decades, where FN has established a development program with seventeen sustainability goals to achieve before 2030 for sustainable development (UNDP, 2016, s. V). From a societal perspective, the responsibility of companies is highly relevant to reflect upon, and our study includes some interesting contributions. In our study we have examined the B2B- market for IoT, which is said to have the potential of improving societies in a sustainable way by smarter, more secure, and environmentally friendlier solutions. However, various concerns regarding security and data traffic reflect challenges for this market. From a social perspective, we have underlined that companies working with Sales Development need to handle contact information and confidential information in a secure and ethical way. This is also in line with ethical principles but needs to be lifted to ensure that companies are working towards the seventeen sustainable goals.

Furthermore, companies who are adopting a Sales Development configuration can benefit from our study, where we have given recommendations for how communication and collaboration can be improved to ensure success. We have also discussed the work environment for SDRs, where companies should focus on proper education, clear career paths, and recognition. We have further mentioned one important standpoint for the studied company Tele2, who aims to “lead in sustainability”, where they deliver solutions that are collectively important to ensure an open and communicative society. We assert that the findings and conclusion from our study can further be universally applied, where for example more responsible companies with circular business models can improve their sales performance through improved lead generation and inside sales activities. This can further have positive implications on society, by creating a holistic and value-driven focus on sales processes. Furthermore, we argue for increasing the productivity and efficiency in inside sales with digital systems in the sales process, which can contribute to less business travelling for Sales Managers and other people persuading sales for organizations. Increased digitization in the sales process with a Sales Development configuration also has the potential to decrease costs and the environmental footprint of businesses from an environmental and economic perspective.

6.3 Limitations & Future Research This study has been applied to one large telecommunications provider in Sweden. However, they are not the biggest IoT provider in Sweden, resulting in that the findings may not be applicable in bigger organizations. Sweden is also an unpopulated country compared to for example China or the United States of America, where the biggest telecommunications providers operate. Consequently, limitations for our study can be considered regarding its applicability in bigger organizations and countries. However, we argue that the model can be applied more widely, but the reflective questions may need to be adapted depending on the context, for instance company size, number of employees and hierarchical structures. Furthermore, our study is of qualitative nature, meaning that quantitative measurements and data are not considered. Accordingly, conclusions concerning the sales lead black hole are not included. For those kinds of metrics, we would have needed data on transferability among potential customers and lead loss reasons. We argue that this can be an interesting area for future research, for instance an abductive approach with both qualitative and quantitative data of Sales Development focusing on how the sales lead black hole can decrease in a similar business ecosystem.

To conclude, we have contributed with new insights for inside sales and sales development, but as Sleep et al. (2020) described, the academic research is still scarce. Future research can develop academic research for the inside salesforce, where it would be interesting to understand what characteristics are important in comparison to outside salespeople, whose characteristics have been widely studied in the past. Another interesting research focus would be a more longitudinal study, utilizing quantitative data to measure the effect of implementing sales development and SDRs, especially in organizations where integration and communication is a problem. Finally, future research can explore whether this sales configuration is really a way to improve lead generation practices, and resolve issues relating to coordination and communication between sales and marketing, as our study has indicated.

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Appendices Appendix 1 - Interview guide Checklist prior to the interview • Introduce/recap of the researchers, the research topic and inform that the interview is conducted as a part of the thesis. • Repeat the theme, the purpose and why the respondent has been selected • Clarify again that their participation is anonymous, that the thesis will be published in Diva, and they have the right to avoid certain questions • Clarify that if something is unclear, please ask for a rephrasing of the question or a further explanation. • Ask if it is okay to record!

Interviewee profile

1. What position do you hold at Tele2?

• What do you do in that role?

• For how long have you been working for the organization and in the industry?

The sales process

2. Can you describe your experience of selling/marketing IoT (or telecom solutions)?

• How would you compare your experience of selling/marketing IoT, compared to selling/marketing other solutions?

• How do you perform sales/marketing activities?

• How would you describe outbound/inbound leads?

• What are the challenges of working with outbound leads? What is your experience of approaching them to make them “warmer”?

3. How would you describe the ideal customer for Tele2 IoT?

• What are the challenges with approaching these customers?

• How have you developed your “Ideal customer profile” for IoT solutions?

Customer acquisition in practice

4. How does the lead generation (marketing and sales) process look today? (How do you find/create leads?)

• Are there any challenges with this process?

• How would you like to develop/change this process?

• What do you think is important in the lead generation process?

5. What channels/tools do you use?

• In your opinion, what is the most effective way to contact and create interest from potential customers?

6. Are you familiar with the term “Sales lead black hole”?

• What is your experience of that at Tele2?

• What do you think are the reasons for this problem?

7. Have you automated something in the customer acquisition processes?

• What kind of automation? Why?

• What is your experience from this automation?

8. What kind of software/tools are you using in the lead generation process?

• Pros and cons?

• How integrated are the systems?

• How do you manage your data from these sources?

Collaboration and integration

9. How well integrated is your sales department with the marketing department (vice versa)?

10. How are you experiencing the processes between sales and marketing today?

• What do you think are the drivers for these difficulties/advantages?

• What do you think could be a solution for the mentioned problems/difficulties?

Establishing Sales Development

One ambition is to set up a separate Sales Development function for the IoT department.

11. What is sales development for you and what do you expect from this function?

• How could this function help you in your activities related to lead generation and customer acquisition?

12. What do you think is important to work with for sales development to support and improve the sales and marketing performance?

13. Is there something we didn’t ask you about that you want to mention?

Checklist after the interview: • Ensure that all questions have been asked • Check if it is okay to return with complementary questions • Ask if the respondent want to review quotes before publication • Thank them for their participation

Appendix 2 - Information email to participants

Hi X,

Thank you for participating in our study. Here comes more information regarding the interview tomorrow.

We are two master students from Umeå University who are writing our master's thesis focused on Management and Business Development. As previously mentioned, we are exploring Sales Development processes with a focus on lead generation / prospecting for Tele2 IoT. The purpose of our study is to provide insights and recommendations for how Tele2 IoT can work to improve their lead generation, widen the pipeline and work collaboratively to develop the sales performance. During the interview, we want to get an understanding of your experiences, expectations and capabilities related to your work with IoT.

The interview will focus on the following topics: • Lead generation and digital tools

• The sales process within IoT

• Cooperation between departments within the organization

Your participation in the interview is voluntary and anonymous, and your answers will be treated confidentially. You can choose to not answer one or more questions, and you also have the option to end the interview. We will ask if it is okay for you that we record our conversation.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. We wish you a nice day and look forward to our conversation!

Kind regards, Annina & Malin

Appendix 3 - The three lead generation processes

Simplified overview of the outbound lead activities and tools for SDR Outbound lead activity Tools and activities

Search for leads & convert them into a • Ocean.io list • LinkedIn Sales Navigator

• Paper about IoT deals

• Website search

• Conferences etc.

Finding contact information • LinkedIn Sales Navigator

• Sales QL

Initial contact • Pardot (mail campaigns)

• Cold calling

• Mail

Qualifying Leads Lead Qualification • Identify needs, problems, clusters etc.

Qualification outcome • Qualified Leads Qualified leads are handed over to a Sales Manager

• No Answer/Unqualified leads Put in a nurturing program (not mature enough)

• Unqualified Leads Removed to a reseller alternatively totally removed from the list • Documenting lead loss reason

Simplified overview of the inbound lead tools and activities for SDR Inbound activity Tools and activities

Content Marketing • Blog Posts

• Website

• White papers

• Newsletters

• Social Media

Customer initial contact • Website

• LinkedIn

• Call

• Email

SDR filtering of leads Lead Qualification • Identify needs, problems, clusters etc.

SDR handing over to Sales Manager Qualified leads are handed over to a Sales Manager

Simplified overview of the marketing automated tools and activities for SDR MA activity Tools and activities

Identify companies/customers to put in MA • Outbound leads sended to Marketing program Automation Manager

• Identified interacting companies

Decide MA program What program should they be included in? • Cluster?

• Maturity?

• Needs?

MA outcome • Qualified Leads Qualified leads are handed over to a Sales Manager

• No Answer/Unqualified leads (not Put in a nurturing program mature enough)

• Unqualified Leads Removed to a reseller alternatively totally removed from the list • Documenting lead loss reason

Business Administration SE-901 87 Umeå www.usbe.umu.se