LinkedIn, the social media network for professionals, is aiming to provide more services to enterprises through the addition of PointDrive to Sales Navigator.
Sales Navigator, as it stands, is LinkedIn’s social selling platform which allows sales people to directly pitch their goods and services to people within a business. The addition of PointDrive will enhance this by allowing Sales Navigator users to package, share, and track their pitches more efficiently.
LinkedIn acquired the platform in 2016, stating their intent to integrate the service with Sales Navigator software. Currently there are three versions of the software available, Professional edition, designed for individuals, Team edition which, as the name suggests, is better for teams of salespeople and includes more InMails, and the third is Enterprise edition which the company says is designed to be the best version.
In a blog post Doug Camplejohn, head of products, LinkedIn Sales Solutions, said: “Successful salespeople tell great stories. But what happens when you have a terrific meeting and your prospect asks for more information, like a presentation, data sheet or customer videos? You send them an email with a bunch of attachments and links. With an average of 6.8 people in the buying process, the minute they forward that email to the rest of the buyer’s circle your story is lost.”
“In 2016, we acquired a company called PointDrive because they nailed the experience of delivering this type of content better than anyone else. With PointDrive, you could easily package up a bundle of materials and have them beautifully rendered in a mobile or desktop experience for the buyer. And once the content was sent, the seller could track how it was being consumed and by whom.”
DrivePoint’s Enterprise edition is ‘turning up the volume to 11’ by including up to 50 InMails per month, adding Single Sign-On support, and adding the new feature TeamLink Extend which allows users opt in to their organisations TeamLink pools sharing their connections making it easier to reach specific leads.
Camplejohn also specified that this new update is not a challenge to SalesForce, and that the changes have been made to support the position within sales that LinkedIn already has. Microsoft purchased the professional social network, in December of 2016, believing that its real value lay in the networks position as a connected database of business professionals.
Sales Navigator Enterprise edition is available today, from a starting price of $1,600 per seat, per year.
