Many organizations that start using Salesforce don’t understand the power of Chatter and think it’s just another instant messaging tool. They may already be using Skype for Business, Messenger, Slack or another tool so they choose not to implement Chatter. In this article, we will highlight how Chatter can empower your sales force in many ways you may not have thought possible and make a significant impact on your sales and service operations.
Salesforce Chatter is a collaboration tool that allows you to chat, discuss, get opinions, conduct polls, post files and maintain a permanent record of these activities within Salesforce. Chatter can reduce the number of meetings and emails you need to attend to, improve information sharing, improve idea generation, make employees more connected and get work done faster!
Let’s take a look at some typical problems that all sales teams face and see how Chatter can help.
Sales Staff Departure
One of your sales team leaves the company, gets promoted or moved to another sales territory. Often this person has a great deal of knowledge about their customers that may not have been reflected in Salesforce. Maybe it’s just a subtle way in which they operate, who they are influenced by, or their favorite sport team. A quick shout out to the rest of the team can capture that key piece of information that you need to progress a deal. Having this information stored in Chatter on the contact record for this customer means it is always available in the future and can be a quick reminder for sales staff.
Tricky Technical Questions
Customers often ask tricky technical questions of sales staff, expecting an immediate response.
Gone are the days of “I’ll get back to you tomorrow with an answer”, they want quick decisive answers and they want them now. The Salesforce App on your cell phone can rescue you from this situation – post a quick message to your technical support team and before the meeting is over you have the answer. The response is permanently recorded on the opportunity or account record so you can incorporate it into any formal response you later provide to the customer.
Advice from Colleagues
How many times have you struggled to put together a value proposition for a customer? You may know all the features and benefits of the product you are promoting but creating value for the customer takes it to another level, requiring knowledge of their pain points and specific industry. A quick Chatter post or poll to your sales team can get you valuable insights on how to pitch your proposal.
Get the Latest Sales Brochure
Chatter enables you to post files to groups so you can easily access the latest product or marketing material in a safe, secure environment giving you the latest information at your fingertips whether you are in the office or on the road. Go one better and “follow” the group to automatically receive any updates to these files, ensuring you have the current version immediately.
Automation to Speed up Approvals
You’ve just met with your customer and they are looking for an extra discount above your approval limit. Get that approval faster by automating the approval process with a Chatter message direct to your manager. This can be done automatically as part of the approval process and the manager can approve the request from any device at any time.
Improve Customer Support
Keep the sales team in the loop when a customer raises a new case with your service team. The last thing a sales person wants during a sales visit is to get bogged down with a support issue that has caught the customer’s attention. Be on the front foot and automatically informed with the current case status via Chatter and be able to provide an accurate update on its progress.
Celebrate Your Wins
Just closed a major deal? Make sure the sales and management team know instantly with an automated Chatter message post. This keeps the entire team in the loop and is great for motivation and staff recognition.
Identify the Experts
Chatter profiles allow your staff to add their picture, skills, expertise and links to social media accounts so you can quickly identify the expert within you company that may be able to help. Being fully searchable allows a new team member to quickly find the right person to help when they need it.
Groups of Expertise
Within every organization there are groups of experts about a specific topic. These may be product or service specific or about more generic topics like sales techniques, presentation skills etc. Chatter groups help keep these conversations organized around the topic and relevant. These groups can be private “members only” or public for any staff member to join. Groups are great for information sharing, discussion and debate. Try to be inclusive as possible with group membership as you may find staff with great ideas on a topic may not be currently employed in that role and may have a useful contribution to make.
Follow What’s Important
Want to keep any eye on all activities about a specific customer or opportunity? Following the account or opportunity record will keep you in touch with everything happening. Get instant notification when the deal reaches a critical stage or be notified when changes occur at the company, all without having to do any more than click the follow button.
Salesforce Chatter is a collaboration tool that allows you to discuss, get opinions, conduct polls, post files and maintain a permanent record of these activities.
Enable the Daily Digest
Make sure you don’t miss any Chatter messages during the day by enabling the daily digest. This will provide you with a daily email of all your Chatter messages to make sure nothing gets missed.
Ready to reap the benefits of Salesforce Chatter? Talk to Us!
There are even more ways Chatter can help you with sales automation. If Chatter is not enabled in your Salesforce organization, contact the experts at KeyNode Solutions, a sought after Riverside Salesforce Consultant Partner that has helped numerous businesses around the country today. Drop us a line at hello@keynodesolutions.com or call us at (858) 215-5371
KeyNode Solutions is a full-service Salesforce Partner company. We deliver the ultimate Salesforce solutions to grow your business: Salesforce implementation, integration, customization, and development. Our best-in-class Salesforce managed services for ongoing support available nationwide.
