Hybrid Selling: The Optimal Mix of Face-to-Face and Remote Sales Calls with Existing B2B Customers

Growing cost pressures and customer demands toward digital engagement at the organizational frontline have accelerated business-to-business (B2B) salespeople’s adoption of hybrid selling, in which the same frontline salesperson combines face-to-face and remote (video or phone) sales calls to service the same customer. However, many salespeople fear that efficiency and potential interaction quantity gains come at the cost of interaction quality losses, potentially harming their customer relationships. We conceptualize hybrid selling and establish its financial and relational consequences based on two field studies with a leading European B2B manufacturer. Study 1 establishes an inverted U-shaped sales performance effect using customer relationship management (CRM) data from 3,565 customers (15,172 interactions). Study 2 matches customer survey and CRM data for additional 651 customers (5,971 interactions) to extend sales performance findings to relationship quality and show that product complexity, customer channel preferences, and salesperson interaction knowledge shape its effectiveness. We find that, in comparison to pure face-to-face selling, the optimal hybrid mix can increase performance by up to 27 percent in some interaction contexts, while in others, a pure remote approach can harm performance by up to 32 percent. Our results provide guidelines for salespeople and their executives when developing effective hybrid selling strategies to improve B2B performance.