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Your CRM solution has a lot of useful information about your leads and customers. But it could have much more if it was linked with LinkedIn.
LinkedIn is a social network for professionals, and if your client has a LinkedIn profile, you can learn a lot of valuable information to round out what you have already entered into your Dynamics 365/CRM solution. For instance, your lead’s LinkedIn page will show you his work background and experience as well as his interests and priorities. Use that knowledge to build a complete picture of your customers and you’ll go a long way toward knowing how to engage them and meet their needs.
Having so much useful data in one place, in your sales database, will make your sales team’s job much easier, more efficient, and more productive.
The power of Microsoft and LinkedIn
One of Microsoft’s most successful mergers has been the acquisition, in 2016, of LinkedIn. In the beginning, Microsoft wasn’t sure how the power of LinkedIn would be leveraged. In 2017, Microsoft revealed that it would integrate the Dynamics 365/CRM solution with LinkedIn users’ profile data, bringing a bounty of professional insight provided by the customers themselves. LinkedIn content can include an individual’s work history, networking, and content preferences. Today Microsoft users who have integrated their CRM with LinkedIn have that information to round out what they have gathered through other contacts with their clients.
Microsoft developed the integration to pull information from LinkedIn Sales Navigator into the Dynamics 365 for Sales application.
“This integration opens exciting possibilities for your CRM. All of this customer data is in one place. Now in CRM, you can view your leads’ LinkedIn profile information, too. You can see where they worked, who you may know that they know, what articles they liked or posted, and what groups you share in common.”
— Jennifer Margiotta, Director of Business Development & Partnerships, BroadPoint.
Armed with all this information, you can initiate new conversations and explore new sales opportunities. For instance, when you read that one of your leads will be presenting at an upcoming event that you also plan to attend, you might send a personal message through LinkedIn, suggesting a meetup.
LinkedIn also reveals mutual connections between prospective clients and your current client base by a second or third degree of separation. Knowing who knows whom, you can ask for a personal introduction to your lead. The LinkedIn/Dynamics 365 integration can even suggest additional contacts based on your prospect’s network. That could open up a brand new lead-generation pool.
Next steps for integration
Would you like to have access to all that information from LinkedIn? Integrate LinkedIn Sales Navigator with Dynamics 365/CRM to create a seamless experience between the two applications and make use of the powerful benefits when nurturing your sales pipeline. Two different kinds of LinkedIn Sales Navigator controls are available and can be placed on any desktop Unified Interface application. Configure your forms to show more than one control at once. The LinkedIn Sales Navigator Lead control shows information about a LinkedIn member profile, and the LinkedIn Sales Navigator Account control shows information about a LinkedIn company profile.
Microsoft will continue to invest in its LinkedIn partnership. Early this year, Microsoft plans to repackage some of its HR capabilities in Dynamics 365 Talent as Dynamics 365 Human Resources. By 2022, Microsoft will phase out Dynamics 365 Talent Attract and Talent Onboard apps, replacing functionality with LinkedIn’s Talent Hub.
Are you ready for a Dynamics 365/CRM and LinkedIn integration?
Microsoft Gold-certified partner BroadPoint, Inc. can assist with the integration process for all Dynamics 365 applications. BroadPoint’s team of software and project management professionals will provide ongoing support as you unlock new possibilities for your CRM. Contact our experts at BroadPoint.
By BroadPoint Inc.
