Social Media and Selling Today
Team Selling, Buying Committees, and “Chatter”
Sales of complex or customized products and services invariably involve two teams of people—the selling team and the buying committee or team. Important communications occur between and among members of the two teams. Information about technical and financial matters, information technology, facilities management, and other sales-related issues is exchanged throughout the sales process. Salesforce.comhas introduced a system called “Chatter” to facilitate collaborative communication throughout the sales process.
Chatter is linked to the Salesforce.comCRM system and incorporates the benefits of social media. Chatter is a secure, cloud-based online service similar to most social media systems. Members of both teams may create personal profiles. Those creating profiles may introduce themselves in a manner similar to, for example, introductions on Facebook. This personalizes the people working together and makes it easy for anyone with access in both companies to get acquainted with everyone involved in the sales transaction. Users can follow selected personnel in either company, sort the profiles by expertise, and form networks of specialists. Messages are easily transmitted among all participants and recorded for reviewing later. Although it appears to be social media, wise users should retain a “casual business” writing style and avoid too much informality.
Chatter conversations can pertain to specific subjects so users receive real-time news feeds and participate in the development of each part of the solution. This creates value for the total transaction in that anyone in the buying company not involved in the solution development, such as a board of directors, can review the exchanges to understand the results achieved. Sections of the Chatter system are for people within the selling company to confidentially comment and exchange ideas on how to best solve problems and move the sale ahead. When it is time for the sales presentation, everyone following Chatter’s continuous collaboration will be well prepared to confirm that the proposed solution is a good fit. The presentation contributions by sales team members can be better organized and coordinated. For more information, go to salesforce.com/chatter .
