The Evolution of Sales: Assessing the Integration of Social Selling into Professional Sales and the Sales Cycle Jen Riley (PhDGraduate) Brian N. Rutherford (Dissertation Chair) Adriane B. Randolph (Committee Second) Stefan Sleep (Reader) Overview Technological advancements, such as social media, have played a key part in the progression of professional sales careers, and have aided in the building of client relationships as well as achieving overall sales success. As one of the strategies often used within the modern professional sales role, social selling, the leveraging of technology platforms like social media within the sales process, has served as a catalyst for the evolution of the sales process and has increasingly integrated into the role over the last decade. However, although social media usage has increased within the sales process, there are competing thoughts about the proper execution of the tactic, its legitimacy as a strategic approach, hesitancies in adoption as a whole, and resistance to training and resources spent on social selling within sales teams. This dissertation explored social selling's place within the sales process and salesperson practices to address the technological changes in society.
22 | PhD Summaries
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