Salesforce.com sparked a revolution among today’s always-on, mobile-first sales teams, providing a desktop-level CRM solution that empowered reps with better customer data at their fingertips, no matter where they were in the world.

Of course, quick access to contact info and contract status isn’t the only challenge that sales teams face. Today’s market puts a premium on efficient communication. Teams that can share strategies and trade tips more quickly are better positioned to win more business.

That’s the thinking behind Chatter, Salesforce’s enterprise social network. Integrated alongside Salesforce’s popular CRM software, Chatter has become a place for one-to-many communications for salespeople in the field and at headquarters. Yet while Chatter’s integration with Salesforce provides a convenient tool for communication, it’s lacked the key feature that has brought more engaging experiences to personal social networks for the last three years — video.

As sales teams become increasingly geographically scattered, video communication has become increasingly critical. Today, many sales organizations rely on real-time video conferencing tools, but have yet to tap the even greater opportunity of sharing insights, ideas, and best practices through on-demand video for sale enablement.

That was one of the key concepts we at Panopto had in mind when we developed an integrated video solution for Salesforce. By recording videos from their smartphone or laptop, sales reps can ask questions, share updates, and support one another, no matter where they are in the world. Take a look at just some of what’s possible in this sample recording:

 

 

Ask questions and offer support to colleagues

Enterprise social networks like Chatter can simplify the process of getting questions answered. By posting to the Chatter feed, a sales rep in the field is able to ask a question once and get a pool of responses.

Of course, getting colleagues to read and respond to each other’s questions can be difficult. For example, the work of describing a customer interaction often results in a text-based post that goes on for paragraphs.

Video, however, provides a “higher-bandwidth” form of communication. It allows people to describe questions and concepts in greater detail and in less time. For Chatter users, this makes it easier to quickly record a question by speaking, and for subject matter experts, to quickly record and share their answer.

Develop “ambient awareness” of activities across the company

In much the same way, enterprise social networks help entire teams have a better understanding of what is going on with other accounts and in other regions. By posting regular updates to Chatter, sales representatives support their entire organization by highlighting their individual contributions.

Here again, video is a powerful tool for social learning. Learning and development researchers have reported that informal knowledge sharing is twice as effective as formal training at providing employees with information they need to do their jobs. Through the use of video-based knowledge sharing on Chatter, sales reps can get a greater understanding of what’s happening across their organization, learning and applying best practices from colleagues around the world.

Share updates from marketing with the field

Enterprise social networks are also a great way for the sales field to communicate with the marketing team back at headquarters. Many teams already use Chatter’s file storage to build a library of marketing collateral, and marketing managers monitor and respond to questions posted to the Chatter feed. Posting video to Chatter gives marketing a new, powerful tool for updating the entire sales field at once, whether it’s on a new piece of collateral or updated competitive intelligence. Using Chatter’s commenting features allows marketing to get clear feedback from the field on their work and establishes greater transparency across the departments.

Celebrate sales team successes with video “high fives”

When spending the majority of their time on the road or at a home office, sales can be an isolating job. Sales managers and executive teams can use video and Chatter to publicly celebrate top performers in front of an audience of their peers. Similarly, social media coordinators and customer service representatives can share customer praise from social media and support calls, to give everyone on the team a virtual “high five” for their great work.

Of course, reps are frequently the ones with customer insights to share, so good news can travel two ways!

Related Reading: Store and Search Your Recorded Video Conferences Within Salesforce

 

Video brings enterprise social media to life, creating online community across a scattered sales and marketing field

Visionaries in enterprises across every industry are beginning to recognize the value of video beyond video conferencing—for social learning and sales enablement. Learn how Panopto’s new integrations with Salesforce.com and Chatter bring more engaging video communication to everyone in your organization through their smartphones and computers. Contact a member of our team today to sign up for a free trial.