Effect of Combined Use of social media, Digital, and Traditional Communication Tools in the Business-to-Business Sales Process of Multinational Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs)

Hu  Licong; Abhijit  Ghosh

doi:10.46977/apjmt.2023.v03i04.002

Authors

Hu Licong Lincoln University College, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor D. E., Malaysia
Abhijit Ghosh Lincoln University College, 47301 Petaling Jaya, Selangor D. E., Malaysia

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.46977/apjmt.2023.v03i04.002

Keywords:

Business-to-Business, SMEs, Social Media

Abstract

Social media and digital networks have gradually changed how firms sell themselves. In a world where technology is permeating society more and more, understanding how sales teams use business-to-business (B2B) markets can provide insight into the motivations driving the selling process. In the three crucial stages of the B2B sales process, this study investigates how global SMEs use traditional, digital, and social media sales communication methods.

The paper's use of grounded theory shows how social media may be quite effective in luring clients from outside. The effective phase appears to be where digital communication tools are most common, whereas customer relationship management still favours more conventional communication methods. Nevertheless, certain important potential boundary circumstances, like relationship culture and closeness to a location, technology, the strategic value of the consumer, creativity, and capital, appear to have an impact on how international SMEs employ a range of communication channels when conducting business. To assist foreign SMEs with their sales communication, designers provide a method for understanding the flow of the B2B sales process.

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