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Professor Michel van der Borgh og Assoc. Prof. Selma Kadic-Maglajlic (CBS) udfolder “Holistic Selling”-paradigmet fra Journal of Marketing (2025) – om salgsrollen som orkestrator, der balancerer empati, data og relationer.
In this episode of Oplev Salg, we speak with Michel van der Borgh and Selma Kadic-Maglajlic, researchers at Copenhagen Business School, about holistic selling as a discipline in B2B markets.
The episode explores what holistic selling actually means, how it differs from traditional and relational selling approaches, and what it demands of sales professionals navigating complex buying journeys and multi-stakeholder ecosystems.
Rather than focusing narrowly on individual transactions, holistic selling means coordinating all the touchpoints a customer has with a company across the entire purchase process and beyond. The sales professional's role shifts toward ensuring that customers can make the best possible decisions with the right information at every stage.
A large share of interactions between buyers and sellers now happens digitally. Holistic selling requires integrating these digital touchpoints, including webinars, social channels, networks, and conferences, into a coherent experience rather than treating them as separate activities.
A key concept discussed is the idea that modern sales people are expected to act on behalf of their own organisation while also genuinely advocating for the success of the customer. This is not a contradiction but rather a more mature and collaborative model of selling, where long-term value creation takes priority over short-term persuasion.
Sales professionals must be able to move across their own organisation to secure internal resources, and equally across customer and partner organisations. Research highlights that the ability to navigate these networks, connect the right people, and integrate information from multiple sources is increasingly what separates effective sellers from the rest.
Beyond product knowledge and interpersonal skills, holistic selling demands capabilities such as understanding channel dynamics, collecting and integrating data, and demonstrating emotional intelligence. The image of the lone sales hero is giving way to a more collaborative and ecosystem-aware professional.
Holistic selling represents a meaningful shift in how B2B sales is understood and practiced. It asks sales professionals to think beyond individual deals and to take responsibility for the broader journey their customers are on. As buying behaviours grow more complex and digital interactions multiply, the ability to orchestrate rather than simply persuade becomes the defining capability of high-performing sales organisations.
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