Social selling: Microsoft Relationship Sales brings LinkedIn Sales Navigator to Dynamics 365/CRM

Yes, practically everybody in business knows LinkedIn; but many have not yet delved into LinkedIn Sales Navigator, the company's toolset that builds upon classic LinkedIn for "social selling."

Now that LinkedIn is part of Microsoft, Dynamics 365/CRM partners in particular should be taking note and assessing the value of the social network with their clients. Through the Microsoft Relationship Sales application, LinkedIn Sales Navigator integrates with Dynamics 365/CRM. When used together, Dynamics 365 users may find that LinkedIn becomes a platform to "leapfrog" the first introductory sales call and enter the second. LinkedIn Sales Navigator provides an introduction to the prospect, and arms the salesperson with knowledge of his or her requirements.

Shawn Tabor, a senior solutions architect with Hitachi Solutions America and a Microsoft MVP, has evangelized LinkedIn Sales Navigator in recent months and has demonstrated the application at CRMUG Summit 2017, eXtreme365, and for local CRMUG chapters.

He attributes the sudden and keen interest to the fact that "the integration with Dynamics 365 is relatively new in this form," but already very robust.

Previously, Sales Navigator was sold as its own solution, "and it was quite expensive. Our user community didn't adopt it wholeheartedly because in many cases, the license for a single user for Sales Navigator was about the same as it was for Dynamics 365. It's a very powerful tool; but doubling your licensing costs is not for everybody." The bundling into Microsoft Relationship Sales (starting at $135/user/month for 10-99 seats), "makes it much more attainable, and the ROI is a lot better," says Tabor.

Users will find quite a different experience from the classic LinkedIn interface. "...