Raise your hand if you love salespeople!
Anyone?
Bueller?
That’s not quite fair. Salespeople are handy when you need one, but an annoyance when you don’t. The image of the guy in the plaid sportscoat diving on you as soon as you wander onto the grounds of a car dealership comes to mind. The problem is: Salespeople make the world go round.
Whether you like it or not, sales make everything happen. Unless you personally make everything you use, literally every product you touch every day has been sold at some point. Look around your home or office. The only way anything is there is because at some point, somebody sold it to somebody else – from the manufacturer to wholesale to retail to you. Nobody likes pushy in-your-face salespeople, but the sales that really make the world go around work their trade in the Business to Business (B2B) arena.
If your business is looking for a more sophisticated form of targeted sales, and if your salespeople work with consumers or other businesses, look at Viva Sales, It’s a great, time-saving tool.
What is Viva sales Microsoft?
Viva Sales is an application that will provide sales and lead insights. Office 365 and Microsoft Teams are well-populated with insights such as these. The focus of the app is to cut unnecessary manual entry to give sellers more time to sell. It will NOT replace your CRM (Customer Relationship Manager) but will rather connect to and serve as a handy bridge to your CRM and other sales related apps.
It’s all about sales data. Data entry is tedious for salespeople. The time they spend on administrative tasks is time they are not selling, and where commissions are involved, lost t6ime is lost money. But that data is vital, and the salesperson needs quick access to it.
It’s important to capture and categorize customer orders, quotes, and needs – any information that aids the sales process. Accurate lead and sales reporting helps a sales manager know where to direct their attention. Analytics also help drive more efficient ways of closing the deal.
This challenge is met by Microsoft Teams and Viva Sales. Microsoft Viva Sales is part of the ‘Viva’ line of apps, along with apps like Viva Insights for improved staff well-being and Viva Learning for staff development.
Some of the basic advantages of Viva Sales are:
- Eliminates Forms: Data entry for sales professionals is greatly reduced. This frees them up for more customer relationship building.
- Powerful Data Leveraging: Viva Sales connects to several platforms. This includes non-Microsoft programs and CRMs. The integration allows salespeople to cross-reference data points and gain valuable insights.
- AI-Driven Assistance: Salespeople get prompts that are AI-driven. These suggestions and reminders help them along in the sales process with a lead.
Interconnected Interface
Microsoft Viva Sales provides sales-specific insights throughout the various M365 applications. Salespeople natively see important customer details, wherever they are. Including in their Outlook Calendar or in their Microsoft or non-Microsoft CRM.
Sales Interactions Tags
Tagging is using someone’s name in a message with an ‘@’ in front to get their attention. It is a popular software integration used throughout many cloud-based apps including Microsoft 365.
Salespeople can use the familiar tagging function to capture data from another M365 application for a prospect or customer. This includes adding someone to a list of customers by using a tag for their Viva Sales name. The system will capture the contextual information on the lead or customer.
Enhancement for Collaboration
It’s easier than ever to collaborate with your team on a sales prospect or customer with Viva Sales. You don’t have to chase down information to copy/paste into a message. Use the tagging function to populate lead information from Viva Sales in seconds.
No need to look for and open another app because you can also easily edit or open a prospect/customer record. The process gets you where you need to go in as few clicks as possible.
Integrated Data & Call Summaries
Damage can occur in communications between customers and salespeople who lack an understanding about recent customer interactions, especially if those interactions were testy or left the customer unhappy.
This can happen when company communication systems store data from different sources separately. Such as phone call messages being in one place and a customer’s website chat session being in another.
Viva Sales brings all that customer engagement data together into a single view, so the sales or customer service person gets an immediate ‘snapshot’ of the customer’s recent history. This allows the salesperson to see call summaries and capture call action items.
Downloads & Customization
Salespeople that prefer an Excel view of their contact list can get this from Viva Sales. Download lead and customer lists. Customize the application per the organization’s needs.
Summation:
Microsoft built the Viva suite of digital experience apps for productivity. These apps help employees find information faster, feel more connected, and work more productively.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Viva sales free?
Far from it. At $40.00 user/month, Viva Sales is almost twice as much per user/month than the Microsoft 365 Business Premium subscription (at $22.00 user/month). There is a free trial available.
How do I get Viva Sales?
According to Microsoft, “You can install Viva Sales as an integrated app on multiple platforms or as an individual add-in on a single platform. Whichever method you choose, you can start from either the Microsoft 365 admin center or Microsoft AppSource to install it in Outlook and assign users.”
Will Viva replace SharePoint?
No. It provides improved access and functionality through using it with Microsoft Teams, which serves as the new interface. SharePoint will still be working behind the scenes.
Does Microsoft Viva track employees?
No. There are plenty of other tools available for employee tracking. According to Microsoft, “Managers can't use Viva Insights to discern anything about a specific individual because of the differential privacy that Viva Insights uses. Additionally, the personal insights you see are only available to you, and your managers can't access that information. “
How secure is your network?
As a longstanding, reputable member of the Charlotte IT Support community, ITFirm.com offers a FREE, no-risk network and Cybersecurity assessment. We perform a non-intrusive scan that allows us to deliver a comprehensive report of the state of your system and its vulnerabilities that is yours to keep. There are no strings attached, and you are under no obligation ever to use our IT services.
The two best defenses are next-generation Cybersecurity to protect your data from theft, and a top-notch Managed Services Provider to ensure continued reliability and defenses against newly emerging threats.
We put our 100% Money Back Guarantee in writing, so there is no risk in trying us out. Because we do not require a ‘hard’ contract, our clients can fire us at any time with 30 days’ notice. We have to be good.
Among the Managed IT services we provide:
IT HelpDesk Service
Onsite IT Support
Cybersecurity
Cloud migration and management
Email migration services
Backup and disaster recovery
VoIP phone systems
IT disposition and recycling
Office moves
White label services (IT to IT)
Planning an Office Move?
We have the experience to ensure a seamless transition. Your employees will arrive at the new location to find that our Managed IT Services crew has the infrastructure ready and open for business! For more information, or to receive your FREE no-risk network and Cybersecurity assessment, just fill out the form on this page or call us at:
704-565-9705
