In our last article we discussed the importance of social media strategy in today’s B2B business environment. For B2B, social media can be vitally important at the beginning of a business relationship—but after a point a stronger stress must be placed on product benefits to the target company, and the insightful and personal customer relations between rep and buyer.
How, then, should a CRM solution support social media?
Old Way: No Context
Since many CRM applications do not support social media, viewing a Facebook, Linkedin or Twitter post—or, for that matter, an email—can only be done outside of the context of a sales cycle. A sales rep must check one, then the other, then the other, and make notes of some kind (electronic or otherwise) so as to remember to enter any vital data into CRM application. A rep can also keep all applicable aps open so that he or she is constantly informed when a social post from a prospective buyer occurs—but how much traffic can one person monitor with any kind of efficiency? With multiple sales cycles in progress, and with each of those having its own set of influencers that should be tracked, multiplied by the number of social platforms each influencer might be posting to, vital information can easily slip through the cracks.
It must also be pointed out that if a CRM solution is not logical and intuitive, data obtained from a social media source may not be entered into the CRM tool in a way that it can be easily retrieved. Hence a sales rep may resort to other solutions, such as spreadsheets or notes, adding yet another layer of activity onto an already overfull plate.
It is important that social media strategy be established and fully taken into account in today’s business environment—but if a CRM application doesn’t support it, there’s no real way a salesperson can really stay on top of it.
Modern Way: Social Media Strategy with Instant Context
Today’s leading-edge CRM solution makes it possible for all social media communications on major social platforms—such as Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Google+—to be viewed right in CRM. There is never a need to “toggle” back and forth between applications. This not only saves a sales reps tremendous amounts of time, it also insures that he or she will never accidentally miss something important.
Any vital information can then easily be placed right in context: for that particular prospect, and right within the step of the sales process to which it applies.
As noted in an earlier article, such a CRM solution also enables the viewing of all emails, of any of the rep’s email accounts, from right within CRM. That means that all possible communication channels can be monitored with instant context for sales cycles to which any messages apply.
A Solid Foundation
Today’s insight selling mandates that reps learn all about the buyer patterns of potential clients, as well as everything possible about the personalities involved, in order to provide valuable assistance to the target company. A CRM solution that empowers a sales force to monitor all important communication within the CRM application at a single location—including social media platforms—provides a solid foundation for insight sales, which includes having a viable social media strategy as a part of your sales process. That foundation means a substantially increased security for the remainder of the sales pipeline.
Social media support is only one of the breakthrough features of Pipeliner 6.0, coming in a few short weeks. Subscribe to our RSS feed and be the first to try it out.
