Holistic Selling in B2B sales with Prof. Michel van der Borgh & Assoc. Prof. Selma Kadic-Maglajlic

Michel van der Borgh, Professor at Copenhagen Business School (CBS), and Selma Kadic-Maglajlic, Associate Professor at CBS, join Oplev Salg to unpack the groundbreaking Holistic Selling paradigm, recently introduced in the Journal of Marketing (Kalwey et al., 2025). Together, they explore how salespeople act as orchestrators, balancing buyer and supplier interests, integrating data with empathy, and creating value across multiple touchpoints. Key topics: — What Holistic Selling actually means, and how it differs from order-taking, relational and digital selling — Why the salesperson increasingly acts as an orchestrator — "a spider in the web" — rather than a closer — The concept of dual and multi-agency: serving both the customer and the company without contradiction — What skills and recruitment strategies companies need for this new sales role — The blind spots of holistic selling, including the risk of over-bureaucratizing orchestration — Where Holistic Selling applies — and where simpler, transactional approaches still work — Why success should be measured as win-win-win, not just closed deals Tune in to discover how Holistic Selling is redefining the salesperson's role in modern B2B markets. This conversation is relevant for sales leaders, marketing scholars, and anyone working to understand the evolving role of the salesperson in complex B2B environments. (00:00) Introduction: what is holistic selling? (03:00) How holistic selling differs from relational and digital selling (06:01) The salesperson as "a spider in the web" (09:03) Moving beyond SPIN selling as customers gain power (11:41) Navigating and connecting touchpoints (13:01) The "superhero" salesperson: empathy, IQ and digital savvy (16:01) Rethinking recruitment: beyond negotiation skills (17:02) The blind spot: overthinking and over-bureaucratizing orchestration (19:02) The research agenda: building practical tools for orchestration (21:01) The risk of performance metrics: stress and burnout Connect with Michel van der Borgh: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelvanderborgh/ Connect with Selma Kadic-Maglajlic: https://www.linkedin.com/in/selmakadic/ Subscribe to the Oplev Salg newsletter: https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7421478328148070400 Follow Radiant on LinkedIn: https://dk.linkedin.com/company/radiantdk Oplev Salg is a podcast created in collaboration between Radiant and Copenhagen Business School (CBS), exploring modern B2B sales leadership.