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Sales & Retail vocabulary · Prospecting & Leads

Social selling

Meaning in sales & retail, with examples

/ˌsoʊʃəl ˈselɪŋ/nounCommon term

In sales & retail, social selling means: Using social media, especially professional networks such as LinkedIn, to find prospects, build relationships and start sales conversations.

In Turkish: sosyal satış, sosyal medya üzerinden satış

How it is used

Common in B2B sales. Social selling includes sharing useful posts, commenting on prospects' updates and sending personal messages rather than mass messages. Many teams see it as a warmer alternative to cold calling.

Example sentences

  1. Social selling on LinkedIn brought us three new clients in the energy sector.

  2. Our social selling training teaches reps to comment on posts before they send a message.

Common collocations

  • social selling strategy
  • social selling on LinkedIn
  • social selling index
  • lead generationThe work of finding and attracting new potential customers, through activities such as events, ads, content, cold outreach and referrals.
  • cold callA phone call to a person or business that has had no earlier contact with you, made to introduce a product and start a sales conversation.
  • prospectA possible customer who has been checked and seems a good fit, with a real need for the product and the ability to buy it.
  • rapportA friendly, trusting connection between two people that makes communication easy, for example between a salesperson and a customer.

More terms: Prospecting & Leads

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