The Role of Consensus in Sales Team Performance

Abstract

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