Revolution in Sales: The Impact of Social Media and Related Technology on the Selling Environment

Over the years several articles have tracked the impact of technology on various aspects of the sales domain. However, the advent of social media and technologies related to social media has gone largely unnoticed in the literature. This article first provides brief attention to changing aspects of...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of personal selling & sales management Vol. 32; no. 3; pp. 349 - 363
Main Authors Marshall, Greg W., Moncrief, William C., Rudd, John M., Lee, Nick
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Abingdon Routledge 01.07.2012
M. E. Sharpe
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Subjects
Focus groups
Information technology
Marketing
Personal selling
Sales
Sales management
Sales personnel
Social media
Social networks
Studies
Technological change
Technology
Technology adoption
Vendor supplier relations
United Kingdom > UK
United States > US
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Summary:Over the years several articles have tracked the impact of technology on various aspects of the sales domain. However, the advent of social media and technologies related to social media has gone largely unnoticed in the literature. This article first provides brief attention to changing aspects of technology within the sales environment, leading to the identification of social media as a dominant new selling tool. A qualitative approach (focus groups) is employed to explore the breadth of current technology usage by sales managers and salespeople. Analysis of the data, collected in the United States and the United Kingdom, reveals six major themes: connectivity, relationships, selling tools, generational, global, and sales/ marketing interface. Results provide evidence of a revolution in the buyer-seller relationship that includes some unanticipated consequences both for sales organization performance and needed future research contributions.
ISSN:0885-3134
1557-7813
DOI:10.2753/PSS0885-3134320305