19. Social Selling in B2B: How to Get Jump Started

How can social media today be used intelligently and efficiently in the sales process to achieve goals and maintain customer relations? One possibility is the application of social selling—sales employees use social media, in the B2B sector especially social networks, to increase their knowledge of customers and customer needs, to establish contact with relevant players and potential customers, and to position themselves as topic experts in the pre-sales phase. The advantages for the company are many and varied, for example, high reach in the target groups, early presence with the customer, low financial expenditure, contact with important decision-makers, and in complex buying centers. The requirements: Sales staff with an affinity for social media. This article sheds light on a sales approach that has been investigated in academic research for quite some time now. With the further spread and use of the Internet and social media, this approach is gaining more interest and becoming more interesting for companies. From the practical side, the interest is also growing and it can be observed that social selling is increasingly used. The article deals with theory and practice of Social Selling, for example, how it works, core elements, success factors of a Social Selling strategy, and much more.