Digital Transformation of B2B Sales Processes: Exploring Technology Adoption and Sales Performance Through a Qualitative Study

Digital transformation is reshaping business-to-business (B2B) sales processes through the growing use of customer relationship management systems, analytics dashboards, automation tools, digital communication channels, and predictive technologies. However, the performance effects of these tools remain insufficiently understood, particularly in complex B2B sales contexts where commercial work is relational, knowledge-intensive, and strongly dependent on organizational routines. Drawing on the Technology Acceptance Model, this study explores how B2B sales actors perceive, adopt, resist, and integrate digital tools into their daily commercial practices. Based on 18 semi-structured interviews with sales directors, sales managers, business development managers, and senior sales representatives, the study identifies a conditional process linking digital tool adoption to perceived sales performance. The findings show that adoption is mainly driven by perceived usefulness, while perceived ease of use depends less on interface simplicity than on compatibility with sales routines. Resistance emerges when tools create administrative duplication, threaten commercial autonomy, or remain poorly integrated into existing workflows. The study further shows that digital tools improve perceived sales performance indirectly, mainly through CRM integration, shared customer memory, data-driven prioritization, and follow-up discipline. Managerial mechanisms, including training, leadership use, digital champions, and phased rollout, play a decisive role in converting technical deployment into effective and sustained use. The study contributes to sales digital transformation research by proposing a mediated and performance-oriented extension of TAM in B2B sales contexts.