In today’s business, companies are facing a lot of different challenges. In B2B sales, companies are finding difficult to explore right kind of customers and decision makers. Also, for example, world economy has slowed down and competition has increased which brings more challenges to the companies to keep their business. (Rodriquez et al. 2012.) Moreover, companies are facing difficulties to implement the technology to their sales processes even though it would bring a lot of benefits, clarify the communication with the clients (Rodriquez et al. 2012) and create deeper customer relationships (Hunter & Perreault 2006; Rodriquez & Honeycutt 2011).
Social media has a remarkable impact on global economic. In 2019, the number of unique mobile users is 5.11 billion (2 % increase in a one year), the number of internet users is 4.39 billion (9 % increase in a one year) and the number of social media users is 3.48 billion (9 % increase in a one year) (We Are Social & Hootsuite 2019). Increasing number of social media accounts leads to the fact that companies have started to search for benefits from social media (Lacoste 2016). The following figure 1 presents the active user accounts in different social media platforms worldwide. Figure 2 gives an example of adult penetration of one of the social media platforms, LinkedIn, that is a professional social media platform and commonly used in B2B sales. These figures give insight to the fact why social selling can be a significant tool in B2B sales process and that there can be differences among the countries of how they use a specific platform. As said earlier, the figure 2 uses LinkedIn as an example but the same statistics of other social media platforms can be found in the report of We Are Social and Hootsuite (2019).
Figure 1. Social media platforms: active user accounts (in millions) (We Are Social & Hootsuite 2019)
Figure 2. LinkedIn audience: adult penetration (aged 18+) (We Are Social & Hootsuite 2019)
Social media is rather a new phenomenon when contacting B2B customers (Rodriquez et al.
2012) but in customer relationships it has started to play a role as a facilitator (Tedeschi 2006).
Nevertheless, B2B companies are adapting the use of social media slower compared to the B2C firms (Michaelidou, Siamagka & Christodoulides 2011). This was changed upside down because of the study by Moore, Hopkins and Raymond (2013) which presented that there are differences in sales process in B2B sales and B2C sales (Lacoste 2016). They concluded that in B2B sales, salespeople use more professional social media channels (e.g. LinkedIn) and one reason for this is that salespeople in B2B sales are concentrating more on relationship-oriented selling (Moore et al. 2013; ref. Lacoste 2016) which was previously founded by Michaelidou et al. (2011) who claimed that in B2B, relationship marketing is playing a crucial role. Also, Bauer, Grether and Leach (2002) and Sharma (2002) found that technology in internet could be used in relationship building. Furthermore, Ahearne, Jones, Rapp and Mathieu (2008) stated that long-term relationships are one of the basic tasks in B2B sales and if there is any technology which can ease the communication between the seller and the customer it should be suitable for tasks of relational selling. All of these views are giving ground for the significance of social selling in B2B sales process and how companies can benefit from it.
Social media is affecting to the buying process of the customers and companies have started to look benefits from it. Social media is not the same for every customer and company. It seeks to increase the value for every communication the company has with the prospect and customer rather than replace the traditional communication. (Andzulis et al. 2012.) Customers’ social media (e.g. Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube and Twitter) usage has grown drastically as mentioned earlier. Agnihotri et al. (2012) referred use of social media among the salespeople as any social interaction with the help of technology to creat content and develop networks.
Social media brings advantages for communicating because it enables communication to be two-way, 24 hours per day in seven days a week with fast updating and personalization of the message (Svatovatošová 2012). Järvinen, Tollinen, Karjaluoto and Jayawardhena (2012) proposed that social media can ease the transaction process with the firm’s current customers.
In addition, buyers are changing the selling process more to virtual interaction with social media and sellers have to adapt to this (Schultz et al. 2012).
If companies want to take part to social business environment they have to knowledge the changes in buyers’ behavior. Customers and prospects are using social media to search information and make purchases. It is possible that customers start the buying process even
without the salesperson and they can become more aware of the business of the seller than the seller is aware of the business of the customer. According to Business.com, customers are using social media when they are searching information about the product or service and this is the reason why salespeople should use social media in sales because there are the customers.
(Giamanco & Gregoire 2012.) Furthermore, there was a global survey of salespeople and they said that almost half of the buyers are seeing that social media is affecting to their buying process (Featherstonebaugh 2010). Even though the number is significant, only nine percent of salespeople were found to use social media in their sales (Featherstonebaugh 2010) and many companies are skeptical to the use of social media in their sales processes (Agnihotri et al.
2012).
Guesalaga and Kapelianis (2012) found in their research together with the Sales Management Association that even though the social media usage has a significant effect to sales, 70 % of the companies in this study were not using social media in their sales or they were only exploring the use of it (Guesalaga 2016). Safko (2011) suggested same results and according to the research, 99 % of business managers that have been surveyed, find that social media has a crucial effect to their business but over 60 % of them said that they do not fully understand the meaning of it (Schultz et al. 2012). Later, also Guesalaga (2016) found that social media is not used that much in B2B sales even though it has significant benefits and it is a potential tool in sales. For instance, costs, time and lack of knowledge slow down the understanding of how social media could be used to benefit from it (Gupta, Armstrong & Clayton 2011; ref. Guesalaga 2016). Furthermore, there has been wide problems with automation of sales force which has increased the skepticism towards use of social media in sales processes (Speier & Venkatesh 2002).
There have been research findings that social media has a positive relationship with sales processes (Rodriquez et al. 2012). With the social media usage, companies can be more agile which typically in today’s marketplace means more sales and higher revenues and at the end higher profits (Andzulis et al. 2012). Curtis and Giamanco (2010) proposed that using social media in sales is more a change in a mindset than focusing to the latest technology usage and the objective of this mindset change approach is to find the best technology for the spesific company that they are able to find efficiency and effectiveness in their sales (Schultz et al.
2012). Social selling will probably occur when the social CRM technology is implemented to sales processes and technologies that already exist in the company (Trainor 2012). According
to Curtis and Giamanco (2010), in social selling, salespeople can draw attention, communicate and close business with the potential customers (Schultz et al. 2012). There have been found positive effects in sales process when using social media e.g. in prospecting, qualifying leads and managing relationships with the customers (Giamanco & Gregoire 2012). People have found social media applications as an information source in addition to content sharing and status updates (Andzulis et al. 2012). According to Schultz et al. (2012), if a company is using social media in their sales they are able to have better communication with the customers, and through which, they can gain higher revenues, decrease costs and improve the efficiency.
Salespeople who are using social media in their sales, can increase loyalty of the customers and reduce costs and get better customer feedback. According to Ingram, LaForge, Avila, Schwepker and Williams (2012) salespeople ”obtain leads, build awareness, prospect, maintain good business relationships, obtain referrals to other potential prospects, communicate thoroughly and connect with customers to keep them feeling important” in their every-day work (Schultz et al. 2012, 78). According to Seley and Holloway (2008), social media usage can save time and effort in a sales process (Schultz et al. 2012). Salespeople can identify better sales opportunities if they have better information of the customers and social media usage can help to achieve this by bulding positive customer relationships and enhance the communication (Schultz et al. 2012). When customers are having deeper and loyal relationships with the salespeople, they will share information more easily which helps salesperson to forecast customers’ needs better, customize the products and in general increase value creation.
Moreover, when relationships are stronger and customer perceive value, long-term contracts are more possible which reduces costs in transactions and negotiations. (Bendapudi & Berry 1997.) All of these actions can be facilitated by the use of social selling.
Social media enables salespeople to communicate naturally with customers and it gives the access to them to information that was difficult to get earlier. With social selling, company can improve its sales and customer relationship management. Salesperson efficiency can be increased through real-time data of customers from social media because then salespeople can concentrate more to build and maintain relationships with the customers than spend time for data collection and integration. Also, salespeople can gain deeper knowledge of the social networks of customers and prospects and be able to join these networks which increases the effectiveness of salespeople. (Trainor 2012.) Through social media, companies can inform customers for example about new developments and have a communication with the customers quickly. So, through social media, the company can offer better service for the customers.
(Agnihotri et al. 2012.)
There have been studies that are providing practical proof of the importance of social media usage in B2B sales (Schultz et al. 2012). For example, Sanbolic Inc. increased their leads by using blogs and tweeting to connected LinkedIn accounts to offer training materials to stakeholders. In addition, in GridGain Systems, there was 20 % increase in Web traffic which was a result from using social platforms to communicate with the customers about new ideas (Bannan 2011; ref. Schultz et al. 2012.) Furthermore, Molex Inc. improved its sales opportunities by using the social platforms e.g. blogs, Twitter and YouTube (Callahan 2012).
As explained earlier, sales process is facing a significant change because of the emergence of social media (Andzulis et al. 2012). Customers are more social-driven and salespeople have started to pay attention to provide ”right content into the hands of the right buyers at the right time through the right channel” (Hutchison 2014, 1). Managing relationships is important in the every step of the sales process and when it is done properly, an ending of the one sales process can lead to a new one. Social media’s greatest potential is in the beginning and end of the sales process. (Giamanco & Gregoire 2012.) According to Featherstonebaugh (2010), selling is now a social event. Andzulis et al. (2012) argued that social media has an effect to every step of the sales process and it enhances the use of salesperson’s network which was agreed by Schultz et al. (2012) and Moncrief et al. (2015) who claimed that social media should be used in every step of the sales process. Next, the social selling usage is presented in every step of the sales process and how the company can benefit from it in each of these steps.
2.2.1 Prospecting/Customer retention and deletion
Based on the information available in social media, companies are able to concentrate only to prospects that are suitable for the company which is the one reason that prospecting has changed more towards customer retention and deletion. In addition, because of social media, companies can found spesific information of the suitable prospects that helps them to build the relationship with the customers already in an early stage of the sales process.
Curtis and Giamanco (2010) proposed that social media can be used in the beginning of the customer relationship where there are awareness stage, building the lead and prospecting (Schultz et al. 2012). Prospecting has previously contained cold calling but the return of it has
decreased considerably during last years (Agnihotri et al. 2012) and it has taken a lot of time and money (Moncrief et al. 2015). Social media saves time and effort of salespeople when they can with the help of social media qualify the leads early because of the open information which helps them to concentrate only to the right prospects. When qualifying leads, salespeople have to define the budget of the customer, who has the authority to purchase, what is the need of the customer and in what timeline. Surprisingly many of these informations can be found in social media in real time. (Rodriquez et al. 2012.) For example, through Facebook and LinkedIn, salespeople can search for detailed information of a prospect (Rodriquez et al. 2012) which makes social media as a tool to qualify leads (Shih 2009 ref. Rodriquez et al. 2012). This is a lot more efficient than traditional prospecting where the salespeople could work with the prospects that are not even qualified (Lacoste 2016). This was also found by Rodriquez et al.
(2012) who concluded that by using the social media to find the right prospects and increase the social capital, salespeople are saving time when they are only focusing to ideal customers.
In addition, social media usage has a positive relationship to creating opportunities by the companies when they are prospecting and operating their relationships (Rodriquez et al. 2012).
Moncrief et al. (2015) found that social media can direct prospects towards the organization.
Social media is changing the prospecting because social media platforms generate referrals, interest towards the company and likes in social media pages that can be used when prospecting the new customers (Moncrief et al. 2015). It is possible that customer do not even need the salesperson in the first steps of their buying process. As a result, companies can use social media to create digital baits: beliefs and points of view, expertise and invitations and offers.
Beliefs and points of view contains the beliefs of the company and what it is representing. It will not attract every customer but it will attract the ones who believe in the same matters.
Expertise represents high-quality information which is expected from the sellers in the customer point of view. Invitations and offers are the ones that are giving the opportunity for people to engage. Furthermore, companies should consider that their customers and prospects are leaving digital footprints of their indications of buying when they are e.g. using keywords in social media. Companies can use these digital footprints as sales leads. (Featherstonebaugh 2010.) In addition to gain leads, salespeople can search people from LinkedIn by e.g. industry, job title, keywords etc. to be able to define prospects who are looking for what the company is selling in a short time (Offenberger 2016). With the help of social media, salespeople can explore and exploit informal and direct relationships with the people outside the organization e.g prospects and customers. They are able to capture and organize specific information of their potential
customers through social media which reduces the cost of acquiring customers. (Agnihotri et al. 2012.) Also, customers can learn more about the salesperson in these platforms which decreases salesperson’s efforts by sharing important information (Anderson & Narus 1990).
Sales blogger Jim Keenan concluded that ”A lead today can be a complaint on Twitter, a question on LinkedIn, or a discussion on a Facebook page” which makes easier for the companies to contact the potential customers because they have already expressed the interest towards the company (Giamanco & Gregoire 2012, 91). Also, there was a research by CSO Insights Sales Performance Optimization study (2011) that found that salespeople can spend 25
% of their time to find right kind of prospects (Giamanco & Gregoire 2012). With the help of social media, salespeople are able to find right prospects easier and spend only 1 % to searching which transfers their time to actual selling (Giamanco & Gregoire 2012).
2.2.2 Preapproach/Database and knowledge management
Enhanced CRM technology and technology that are exploiting information from social media have made possible that salespeople are able to handle the database of the customers better and also gain more and deeper knowledge of the customers based on the information available of the customers in social media as explained previously. This has affected to the change of this step from preapproach to database and knowledge management. Social media has made this step of sales more efficient and useful for the salespeople and salespeople are able to concentrate to the particular needs of the customer or potential one and increase the value of the relationship based on the information available in social media.
In today’s marketplace there is a lot of competition and companies are offering same kind of products or services and providing similar benefits. With the help of social media, salespeople are able to personalize their sales message to the customers and also be able to find new business opportunities and create relationships with potential customers (Schultz et al. 2012).
Relationships should be built in a way where salespeople are doing activities that benefit the both parties, selling and buying companies (Hunter & Perreault 2007). This step is highlighting the importance of listening. Listening the potential customer is one of the most important part of sales process because customers want to be heard, understood and appreciated. Social media can help in this part because it enhances the listening of the customers and makes it easier
because of the information of the customer in social media. (Andzulis et al. 2012.) According to Hudson (2014, 54), ”social selling begins and ends with listening”.
Social media is bringing companies for example priviledged access to customers and discovery what the customers need (Agnihotri et al. 2012). Salespeople can gather information of the prospects and at the same time prospects and customers can gain the knowledge of the company when they are participating to social media groups (Andzulis et al. 2012). Salespeople can collect detailed and personal information of their potential customers more easily and handle this information better with the help of social media tools. If the salesperson knows this detailed information of his or her potential customer, he/she is able to give a personal touch to the business relationship. (Agnihotri et al. 2012.) When salespeople are using social media tools, they can increase the social capital and form deeper relationships with the customers when they are targeting the product information for the specific prospect (Rodriquez et al. 2012).
Salespeople can at its best to gain recent news and information that is relevant of the prospects in social media to open the communication (Greenberg 2010). Salespeople can for instance use trigger alerts for the necessary changes e.g. acquisitions, new products or other changes in the company which can be used for the personalized sales message for the customer (Giamanco &
Gregoire 2012). In addition, for example LinkedIn and Facebook connections can be transferred into company’s CRM software and more information of the prospect can be gathered which makes the future meeting or conversation more familiar and pleasant experience. (Andzulis et al. 2012.)
2.2.3 Approach/Nurturing the relationship
As relationship-oriented selling has evolved, the companies are concentrating more to the relationships with the customers and building the relationship with the possible ones.
Companies are communicating with the customers in social media. Customers and potential customers are seen as partners and salespeople are concentrating to offer solutions that are profitable both to the company and the customer (Moncrief & Marshall 2005) which is more nurturing the relationship than a traditional approach. Again, the information in social media has made possible and obligatory that a salesperson can more easily tailor offerings that are suitable for the customer but also for the company. In addition, the contacting of the customer