Hootsuite Snaps Up Sales Prodigy To Transform Social Selling

Social media management platform, Hootsuite, has acquired Sales Prodigy, a mobile app that can help sales organisations tap into social selling opportunities.

With Sales Prodigy, Hootsuite says its customers will be able to quickly and easily find social selling opportunities, and begin conversations with prospects and customers in real-time on social media.

Expected behaviour

According to ‘The 2015 State of Social Business: Priorities Shift From Scaling to Integrating’, a report by Altimeter, 64 percent of organisations have or plan to have a social selling program. The report states that simply teaching sales to use social tools isn’t enough unless it is backed up by an organisation that can support and integrate social selling via a content repository, engagement tools, and performance metrics that reflects changes in expected behaviour.

Matt Switzer, VP of corporate development at Hootsuite, said: “Many organisations have invested in social marketing and social support, but there’s a big gap in the market for social selling solutions, and we want to address it.

“Companies like Palms Hotel and Marketo already use Hootsuite as part of their lead generation efforts. With the addition of Sales Prodigy, we’re bolstering our platform to better align with our customers needs for social selling.”

Mik Lernout, CEO and founder of Sales Prodigy, said: “We started Sales Prodigy to help sales people build rewarding relationships with customers on social media. Hootsuite has been by our side every step of the way: as an inspiration, customer, and partner.

“We’ve been impressed by their ruthless focus on providing their customers with best in breed solutions, and could not be more excited to join their team.”

Sales organisations across a wide variety of industries, from financial services to real estate, could use Hootsuite to efficiently source and close deals, according the company.

It added that social selling solutions can help customers:

● Consolidate all of their social networks and online communities in one platform
● Filter out the noise through targeted, listening streams
● Track and measure success with comprehensive analytics
● Listen for the right opportunities to engage with prospects and customers
● Improve their understanding of target accounts in anticipation for sales calls
● Educate customers on social media policies and guidelines

Previously, Sales Prodigy was a part of Hootsuite’s open ecosystem App Directory, a versatile platform that supports more than 200 business integrations and applications, helping organisations extend social media into existing systems and programs.

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