Social selling

The customer has all the power. Thanks to leaps in technology, today’s buyer is more informed, more aware, and more engaged than at any other point in human history.

The customer is in control of the buying process.

So, this heightens our need to grasp the changes taking place in the selling process and the forces at work.

Clodagh O'Brien of Digital Marketing Institute notes that social selling is one of the new trends changing the way we buy and sell.

Social selling is essentially using social media to interact with prospects and potentially generate leads. It dates back to the early days of social media emergence in the early 2000s. 

The other side of the social selling coin is social buying. Today, customers no longer need to wait until they are on the phone or in a room with a salesperson to learn about a company's solutions. They can conduct their own research independently by consuming content on the web. 

These changes create an entirely new dynamic between buyer and seller, and presents enormous challenges as well as opportunities. So much so that companies like IBM are training entire teams on social selling.

Sure, social selling produces a much more competitive space, it also gives businesses an opportunity to help educate prospects throughout the buying journey. 

If you’re still on the fence, well…be careful on the way down.