LinkedIn launches Sales Navigator, a tool for connecting buyers with salespeople

Updated at 1:51 p.m. Pacific with more detail on the service and comment from LinkedIn.

LinkedIn announced today the launch of a new service that could help salespeople find buyers and buyers find salespeople.

LinkedIn made mention of the service, called Sales Navigator, in its quarterly earnings release today.

The move could be a disturbance to companies like that have traditionally provided software to salespeople. And it could help further diversify LinkedIn.

“Sales Navigator is compatible with CRM [customer-relationship management] systems like SFDC [Salesforce.com] so that it’s easy to integrate information from LinkedIn into their system,” a LinkedIn spokesperson wrote in an email to VentureBeat. “We’re partnering closely with SFDC and see Sales Navigator a complementary product.”

The news comes following a slew of rollouts from LinkedIn as the work-focused social network passed the 300-million member mark in April. Other new services a way to see open jobs at your current company. And there’s a new iOS app.

The standalone Sales Navigator builds on the previous version, which was embedded inside the usual LinkedIn site. Now it has a standalone login.

Altogether, it “empowers sales professionals to establish and grow relationships with customers and prospects,” Mike Derezin, LinkedIn’s vice president of sales solutions, wrote in a blog post about the new service today.

It’s now available on desktop and mobile Web, initially only in English. Mobile apps and support for additional languages are on the way.

Considering the new Sales Navigator tool and other new LinkedIn services, things are looking up.

“LinkedIn achieved strong results across the business,” said Steve Sordello, LinkedIn’s chief financial officer, said in a canned statement. “The success of Sponsored Updates, scaling jobs, and the launch of the new Sales Navigator underscore the positive impact of recent strategic investments, and we will continue to invest aggressively in our member and customer platforms.”

LinkedIn stock was up more than 10 percent during after-hours trading.