LinkedIn survey: Tech tools are vital for relationship-building

Technology tools that allow real estate professionals to build better relationships with their clients are having the biggest impact on their bottom line revenues, according to a new survey sponsored by LinkedIn.

The survey, which was conducted by Market Cube, found that 77 percent of the top salespeople use some kind of sales intelligence tool. It also found that the top performing salespeople are 24 percent more likely to attribute their success to their use of such tools.

In the survey, “The State of Sales in 2016”, sales professionals cited the most important technology tools as “relationship-building tools, sales intelligence tools, CRMs, productivity apps, and e-mail tracking tools.”

“Today, building relationships by providing value from the first interaction is a requirement for winning new business,” the report notes. “As marketers turn to software to generate more qualified leads, sales organizations have begun to recognize the value of technology to create human connection at scale. In fact, salespeople cite the ability to build stronger relationships with prospects and customers, and the ability to close more deals and generate more revenue as the top two benefits of sales technology.”

Technology is obviously winning the hearts and minds of today’s modern salesperson. Almost 90 percent of sales professionals say they use social networking tools, which they use to network, build relationships with prospects and customers, and then nurture those relationships. Popular social networks include LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter, the survey says. Another interesting finding is that 62 percent of large company employees say they can “build stronger, more authentic relationships with customers and prospects,” by using social selling.

The study provides a useful breakdown of salespeople’s usage of technology tools:

• CRM: 33% of users spend 3 to 5 hours per week using CRM tools (24% spend more than 10 hours per week using CRM tools)
• Sales intelligence: 33% of users spend 3 to 5 hours per week using these tools
• Social selling: 28% spend 3 to 5 hours per week (20.9% spend 5 to 10 hours per week)
• Productivity apps: 30% spend 3 to 5 hours per week
• E-mail tracking: 26% spend 3 to 5 hours per week