Updated · Originally published
A top new enhancement in is the ability for companies to engage in social selling. As defined by Microsoft, social selling gives businesses the ability to share knowledge more broadly than ever before. It allows Microsoft CRM users to connect to their customers' social media and other mobile platforms. Many clients have come to us wondering just what that means – both for them and for their business.
The best way to answer the question is to take a step back and look at just what social selling is. As a simple definition, social selling is prospecting using modern technology, as opposed to the traditional methods. Social selling is the point at which sales and social media merge. In much the same way that e-mail became integrated with selling, social selling is the process of combining social media platforms and general sales efforts to fill pipelines.
The key components of any social selling strategy involve social listening, social searching, social prospecting and internal social networks. Social listening is the method by which a company tries to find the people out there searching for their products or services. No matter what line of business a company is in, people are out there looking for a company providing what they do. Social listening is the attempt to filter through and refine a company’s “listening” so that they can find those people looking for what they provide. Social searching is similar to listening, but it involves looking for people asking for a specific recommendation on a product or service. There are millions of such requests monthly on Twitter alone – social searching helps you find the ones suited to what you offer. Social prospecting is using the social connectors you have in place – LinkedIn would be the best example – to reach out to potential new customers. This may involve something as simple as asking for an introduction, or more involved aspects of data mining to find the right people. And lastly, any social selling strategy needs a good internal network so that information can be stored – and more importantly shared – across the organization.
allows you to utilize a social selling strategy right for you by tracking the social web and integrating the data into your Microsoft CRM database. You will have the ability to transform account information from static to dynamic with constant updates of new and essential information. Microsoft CRM 2013 also features Yammer, which is an enterprise social network that will allow people to share information across teams, and organize around customers and opportunities.
To learn more about how social selling, please contact Intellitec Solutions at 866-504-4357
By Intellitec Solutions, a