TY - JOUR
T1 - The integrated use of social media, digital, and traditional communication tools in the B2B sales process of international SMEs
AU - Fraccastoro, Sara
AU - Gabrielsson, Mika
AU - Pullins, Ellen Bolman
N1 - Funding Information:
We acknowledge the generous funding provided by Academy of Finland , grant nbr 307483 .
Publisher Copyright:
© 2020 The Author(s)
PY - 2021
Y1 - 2021
N2 - Social media and digital tools are gradually changing the way firms market themselves. Understanding how these communication tools are used by sales functions within business-to-business (B2B) markets could clarify the dynamics underpinning the sales process in an increasingly technology-mediated world. This paper explores how social media, digital, and traditional sales communication tools are leveraged during the three main phases of the B2B sales process within international SMEs. The article's grounded-theory approach illustrates that social media can be particularly helpful in engaging international prospects. Digital communication tools seem to be most prevalent in the persuasion phase, whereas more traditional communication tools still prevail in customer relationship management. However, there seem to be some important potential boundary conditions, including relationship culture, location proximity, technology innovation/resources, and strategic importance of the customer that affect the way international SMEs use different communication tools during a sales process. We develop a framework for understanding the B2B sales process flow with sales communication tools included for international SMEs.
AB - Social media and digital tools are gradually changing the way firms market themselves. Understanding how these communication tools are used by sales functions within business-to-business (B2B) markets could clarify the dynamics underpinning the sales process in an increasingly technology-mediated world. This paper explores how social media, digital, and traditional sales communication tools are leveraged during the three main phases of the B2B sales process within international SMEs. The article's grounded-theory approach illustrates that social media can be particularly helpful in engaging international prospects. Digital communication tools seem to be most prevalent in the persuasion phase, whereas more traditional communication tools still prevail in customer relationship management. However, there seem to be some important potential boundary conditions, including relationship culture, location proximity, technology innovation/resources, and strategic importance of the customer that affect the way international SMEs use different communication tools during a sales process. We develop a framework for understanding the B2B sales process flow with sales communication tools included for international SMEs.
KW - 512 Business and Management
KW - B2B sales process
KW - Digital communication tools
KW - International SMEs
KW - Social media
KW - Traditional face-to-face selling
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85097744645&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2020.101776
DO - 10.1016/j.ibusrev.2020.101776
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85097744645
SN - 0969-5931
VL - 30
JO - International Business Review
JF - International Business Review
IS - 4
M1 - 101776
ER -