Dow Jones Launches Innovative 'Social Selling' Tool
09 Novembre 2009 - 3:00PM
PR Newswire (US)
Dow Jones Companies & Executives utilizes Sales 2.0
functionality to uncover business opportunities and make warm
connections to decision makers. NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ --
The newest release of Dow Jones Companies & Executives, now
available, is designed to help B2B sales and marketing teams take
advantage of social selling opportunities to drive sales activity.
It signals an end to cold calling with tools that automatically
identify reasons to call companies and easily connect to prospects
with a real need. Using unique technology, Dow Jones Companies
& Executives Sales keeps sales pipelines filled by seeking out
triggers, or events that signal opportunity within a specific
industry. These triggers deliver sales and marketing people a
steady stream of fresh, warm leads for companies that might be
ready to buy. Triggers such as management moves, product launches
and other significant events are sent via email, helping sales
people quickly prioritize their best opportunities. Once a sales
professional receives a lead, Dow Jones Companies & Executives
Sales uses patented connection technologies to tap into their
social networks to identify warm introductions to target
organizations, helping to shorten the sales cycle. Utilizing the
power of "who you know," Dow Jones has created a comprehensive
mapping of key executives based on their work histories. When
coupled with contacts listed in an organization's in-house email
such as Microsoft® Outlook® or opt-in social networks including
LinkedIn, this mapping can provide a rich path of connections to
influential decision makers. The relationship maps highlight
connections of varying degrees of separation, from a mutual contact
to a third degree relationship. "Sales management's key challenge
is to enhance sales effectiveness to improve performance and
increase revenues," stated Simon Bradstock, vice president and
managing director, Dow Jones Enterprise Media Group. "Our solution
offers a new approach, enabling social selling which provides sales
teams with timely, qualified reasons to call, as well as warm
introductions. This drives activity and helps teams focus on the
best opportunities." In addition to identifying companies ready to
buy now, triggers also indicate potential future activity opening
up further opportunities in the medium to long term. For example,
based on independent research, 90% of companies that appoint a new
CFO also experience other leadership changes within 12 months. This
opens up selling opportunities for companies in HR or outplacement
industries. Another statistic shows that 75% of companies that
appoint a new CFO undergo expansion of operations within 12 months
through joint ventures, partnerships and/or establishing a
subsidiary, indicating future opportunities for salespeople
targeting real estate, HR and benefits, IT, construction and
manufacturing industries. "Our most recent survey of over 1,000
companies found that only 39% of firms surveyed reported a
conversion rate of qualified leads to first calls of greater than
50%," said Jim Dickie, managing partner, CSO Insights. "Sales
people need to come up with compelling reasons for prospects to
want to talk with them. Solutions like Dow Jones Companies &
Executives Sales give reps the insights into the prospect's
marketplace, the company itself, and all the key stakeholders who
may be part of the decision process, which is critical if they are
going develop effective strategies to get in the game and then
ultimately win the game." Unlike other sales intelligence tools,
Dow Jones Companies & Executives Sales is simple to use and
helps sales forces target warm leads and close deals faster than
ever before. The product will be available both as a web
application and as a series of widgets for integration into the
workflow of Salesforce.com and other CRM systems, and sales portals
to drive lead flow, call preparation, territory management and
sales management tasks. Additional functionality of Dow Jones
Companies & Executives Sales includes the ability to: -- Create
precise target lists by using the extensive company and executive
database; -- Nurture profitable customer relationships by using
news and insight to understand customers' business challenges and
engage in more meaningful conversations; -- Manage potential risks
with breaking news alerts focused on customers and prospects; --
Implement proactive territory management to improve performance of
every sales task; For more information about Dow Jones' solutions
for empowering the sales force, please visit;
http://www.dowjones.com/sales. ABOUT DOW JONES COMPANIES &
EXECUTIVES Using social selling techniques, Dow Jones provides
leading sales intelligence solutions that enable organizations to
identify and connect to the best business opportunities. The
combination of next-generation technology with actionable
information powers the performance of sales and marketing
professionals. Our award-winning solutions include the most
up-to-date and accurate global intelligence on millions of
companies, the executives who manage them and the relationships
that link them. Integrating these tools and content behind your
firewall - connecting vital internal and external customer
information in context for salespeople - provides a single,
complete view of a customer, further increasing your sales
effectiveness. ABOUT DOW JONES Dow Jones & Company is a News
Corporation company (Nasdaq: NWS, NWSA; ASX: NWS, NWSLV;
http://www.newscorp.com/). Dow Jones is a leading provider of
global business news and information services. Its Consumer Media
Group publishes The Wall Street Journal, Barron's, MarketWatch and
the Far Eastern Economic Review. Its Enterprise Media Group
includes; Dow Jones Business & Relationship Intelligence, Dow
Jones Newswires, Dow Jones Factiva, Dow Jones Client Solutions, Dow
Jones Indexes and Dow Jones Financial Information Services. Its
Local Media Group operates community-based information franchises.
Dow Jones owns 50 percent of SmartMoney and 33 percent of STOXX
Ltd. and provides news content to radio stations in the U.S.
DATASOURCE: Dow Jones & Company CONTACT: Annie Perkins,
+1-978-474-1900, , or Adrienne MacWhannell, +1-212-659-2486, . Web
Site: http://www.dowjones.com/
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