Greetings!
Summer is almost over but selling season is in full swing. In this tough business environment, professional sales people need insight into what is being thought at target accounts more than ever. Armed with up-to-date, accurate account information, good sales professionals are better prepared to establish and maintain trusting personal relationships vital to closing sales.
Nothing new on the information technology landscape can have more impact on a sales professional's ability to build trusting business relationships than harnessing social networking. In this e-newsletter, we will explore the merger of customer relationship management systems and social networking - Social CRM.
Sincerely,
Rich
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What is Social CRM?
Most sales oriented organizations long ago implemented CRM software systems so all customer related information was in one database shared by sales, customer support, marketing and senior management.
Wikipedia Social CRM definition:
The use of social networking services, techniques and technology to enable organizations to engage with their customers. Social CRM is a philosophy and a business strategy, supported by a technology platform, business rules, workflow, processes & social characteristics, designed to engage the customer in a collaborative conversation in order to provide mutually beneficial value in a trusted & transparent business environment. It's the company's response to the customer's ownership of the conversation.
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Why is it Important?
Customer have moved - are you keeping up?
Ubiquitous, easy to use, social networking platforms are enabling customers and prospects to change, in their favor, the balance of influence with vendors. Sellers no longer control the flow of information. In fact, customers and prospects have discovered they can connect and collaborate with each other, resulting in a more accurate, timely and relevant experience without the vendor in the middle. A sales or customer service professional's ability to control the sales cycle is rapidly eroding. Organizations are grappling to regain influence but that requires new processes and technologies that embrace social networking.
Social CRM reconnects organizations with customers.
Traditional CRM implementations often yield disappointing results because they fail to grasp the complexity of the customer-company relationship. Most CRM software systems alone are ill-equipped to provide the sales and customer support users a complete understanding of what is really happening on the customer side. Simple Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter interfaces to CRM systems only scratch the surface of what can be learned using social analytic software tools. Social CRM captures both official and unofficial customer conversations, including emotional state and unvarnished opinions. Social CRM, done well, can uncover the full depth of a business relationship including the good, bad and ugly. Joining the virtual town hall where customers and prospects increasingly congregate provides sellers:
- Completeness of knowledge that improves decision making in a sales cycle.
- Brand appreciation in the eyes the target audience, causing prospects to find you instead of you finding them.
- Customers and prospects viewing you as a trusted advisor.
What sales person wouldn't love to know what's really going on in an important sales cycle? Social CRM can tell you.
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Introduced in the Spring 2011 e-newsletter, SoclWorx LLC is tightly affiliated with RC Scott & Associates LLC and dedicated to help organizations fully harness social networking through deep business innovation and information technology expertise. We bring social networking thought leadership, best of breed software, and top technical know-how to your organization so a comprehensive social networking engagement infrastructure can be established. This expertise can be applied at many different
organizational levels - from corporate-wide to departmental or function specific. The end result is a systematic social business design to assess, build, and maintain success, grounded in reality.
One SoclWorx offering is a Social CRM Enablement Service. Open this document to learn more:
Social CRM Enablement Service Fact Sheet
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Select Entry Points
Social CRM must deliver real value, not hype, given tight budgets and limited resources. For example, pick social sales, social customer support, or social marketing as an entry point. Get the help you need to have the right technologies, processes,
governance rules, and training in place to ensure success. Have metrics to assess business value and be prepared to make adjustments periodically.
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Visit Us Online
SoclWorx LLC
www.soclworx.com
RC Scott & Associates LLC
www.rcscottassociates.com
LinkedIn Group: Increasing Sales Using Social Networking Tools & Techniques
http://www.linkedin.com/groups?mostPopular=&gid=3664968
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