Social selling brings the sales function into the digital world and is a customer-centric way of reimagining sales. In today’s digital-physical world, 92% of B2B buyers start their search on the web. This digital paradigm shift has seen salespeople being replaced by search engines and social networks. The salespeople who haven’t yet been replaced are not just present on social, but they position themselves as credible and knowledgeable – the modern-day sales professional is an information concierge, a content connoisseur – a magnet for its buyers. Social media platforms are changing the way consumers make purchasing decisions and tapping into these online communities has become a necessary part of any integrated sales strategy.
The ABC’s of Social Selling – Always Be Connecting
LinkedIn is a catalyst in this evolution, a tool that is not only an extension of its most widely used, global professional network, but also a platform where sharing content and developing thought leadership is extensively endowed. This unique combination makes Sales Navigator a powerhouse on social selling and empowers a salesperson with all the requisite capabilities to make the transition from “hard selling” to “smart selling.”
LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Microsoft Dynamics is designed to create a seamless experience between Sales Navigator and Microsoft Dynamics customer engagement, saving your reps valuable time.
LinkedIn defines the 4 Pillars of Social Selling:
1. CREATE A PROFESSIONAL BRAND
Today’s world of B2B buyers are very selective and will only work with vendors they can trust. A strong professional brand shows you are an active participant in your industry. It leads to more inquiries from prospects. It leads to more responses to your communications.
2. FOCUS ON THE RIGHT PROSPECTS
Social selling enables you to find and connect with prospects more effectively than traditional sales. Over 76% of buyers feel ready to have a social media conversation and identifying prospects that meet your established criteria – such as role, function, or industry – with LinkedIn has never been easier.
3. ENGAGE WITH INSIGHTS
Position yourself as a subject matter expert by sharing relevant industry content, commenting on news alerts, and building your professional brand. Over 62% of B2B buyers respond to salespersons that connect with relevant insights and opportunities. Salespersons can enhance their thought leadership by staying up-to-date with prospect news, and by identifying new contacts or decision makers when accounts make key hires.
4. BUILD TRUSTED RELATIONSHIPS
LinkedIn Sales Navigator is built and designed for sales professionals in this social digital era and has a breadth of great functions and features:
- LinkedIn Recruiter integration, aimed at enabling dynamic candidate that provide managers and interviewers with the most up-to-date information
- Office 365 integration to enable hiring managers to quickly set up the right interview team and interact with both the candidate and hiring team’s availability
- Skype integration
- Strategic HR workflows, through the creation of comprehensive checklists for HR to execute strategic plans and optimise HR processes
- Candidate engagement, with a personalised guide that shows candidates their application status, allows them to input their interview availability, and more
- Personalised onboarding experiences with, for example, targeted activities and learning resources, plus access to relevant like team members and key contacts
- Consolidated HR profiles that encompass information from Office 365, Dynamics 365 and LinkedIn profiles
- Employee self-management, with administrative tasks such as requesting vacation and manage their direct deposit
