LinkedIn is an indispensable tool for sales professionals looking to elevate their prospecting prowess. It’s so much more than your virtual resume; It’s a strategic gateway to a carefully curated network of business professionals.
In this blog post, I’ll dive into the reasons salespeople shouldn’t sleep on LinkedIn, how to build a profile that attracts prospects, and what tactics to avoid like the plague.
Why should salespeople bother with LinkedIn?
Relationships are your currency. And LinkedIn offers you the golden ticket to cultivating them.
With just a few hours a week, you could accomplish on LinkedIn what would take weeks of networking events to build. Instead of attending someone else’s party, you could be hosting your own on LinkedIn.
Show customers and prospects who you are without shouting over the cocktail hour din
You want people to know who you are? LinkedIn gives you the space to say it plainly in your headline and description. You want prospective customers to know how you can help them? Show them with LinkedIn posts. You want to show off the cool projects you’ve worked on? Have your customers leave you LinkedIn recommendations.
Build and leverage your own community of business professionals
The real power of LinkedIn is the community building. LinkedIn’s entire platform is built on connecting people with the resources and connections they need. Sales professionals are in the prime position to meet this need.
Not only can your customers recommend you, but you can recommend your customers and prospects. See one of your connections looking for a marketing agency? You know a gal! See someone searching for ideas to connect with their customers? You just so happen to know someone who can put a brand on any material under the sun.
By tagging your customers and prospects as the solution for someone else’s problem, you’re generating goodwill from the connections you’re helping, but the ones you’re recommending too!
How to build a profile that stands out
This type of LinkedIn greatness doesn’t happen overnight. It takes consistency, dedication, and a little bit of time. There are more than 950 million LinkedIn users across the globe. You have to set your profile up to catch the right fish at the right time. And that means thinking of LinkedIn less like a billboard and more like a skillfully laid trap.
There are two facets of your LinkedIn presence you have to nail to attract the right kind of prospect: your profile and your activity.
The anatomy of a good profile
Your profile is about you, your organization, and your products / services. It’s where you get to shout from the rooftops how great you are and show off all your successes. Before you put out any bait (posts), you need to have carefully laid your trap.
Photos:
Your cover photo and headshot are the first visuals your visitors see and set the tone for your profile. Check to see if your company provides a cover photo for you! Profile photos should be professional and clearly show your face.
Headline
Next to your cover photo and headshot, the headline is the most visible part of your profile. In addition to being at the top of your page, it also shows up in all search results. Keep it snappy, but don't be afraid to show your personality!
Activity
Activity is the "bait" to your trap. It's anything you react to, repost, comment on, or publish yourself.
About
Contrary to popular belief, the About section isn't about you. If you're using your LinkedIn profile for sales activities, the About section should be all about how you help your customers. Case studies, testimonials, and wins are always welcome!
Experience & education
These are the least important sections for sales purposes, but make sure they're up to date! The Mizzou Mafia is alive and well, I assure you.
Licenses & certifications
If you've got it, flaunt it! For some industries, these certifications help you get in doors and start more meaningful conversations. If you don't have any, remove the profile section entirely.
Skills
Even if you don't have certifications, I know you have skills! Don't be afraid to show yours off. Bonus points if you tie them to your work history that shows off the wins you had with specific customers.
Recommendations
Businesses have Google reviews, sales professionals have Recommendations. Don't be afraid to ask your customers to leave you one after a big win!
How to use LinkedIn for sales prospecting once you have a completed profile
There are two strategies for LinkedIn prospecting: herding and hunting. Herding targets your existing pool of connections by engaging with and posting relevant, timely content. Hunting, though, is more in line with typical BDR outreach tactics.
Herd your existing connections to your profile.
Once you've laid your trap well, it's time to put it into the wild. There are three main types of activity that will drive visitors to your profile:
Sharing your company's LinkedIn posts. This is the bare minimum of activity. It's like taking a Nerf gun out during deer season; it's probably not gonna do much. But this is a good way to get your feet wet and used to the platform. You can repost without your personal thoughts (in which case, you might as well leave even the Nerf darts at home) or posting with your own thoughts about the content or context of the original post.
Engaging on other people's posts. Liking, commenting, and sharing posts is a good way to subtly get your name in front of a potential buyer's eyes. It's unassuming enough that it won't register as a sales activity, but will definitely help when you go to make a formal introduction if you consistently engage with their content.
Post your own content. Posting your own content is the BEST way to be active on LinkedIn. Sharing your own thoughts and ideas is a great way to establish trust and relationship with your connections. Just remember the "Give-Give-Give-Take" rule for posting. You should aim to provide value 75% of the time and only ask your audience to do something (give a referral or book a demo) 25% of the time.
These types of activities take the longest to see results. But by providing consistent value to your ideal target, you're setting yourself up for long term future success.
Hunt for businesses who would be open to learning more about what you sell
The other option is to take matters into your own hands and search for the businesses you want to sell to. LinkedIn's platform, Sales Navigator, makes this process easier, but you don't have to open your wallet to get the same benefits. Here are some weekly activities you can do in under an hour:
Send out 2-3 connection requests. Send customized messages with your connection requests to individuals you think your network would benefit from. You want fodder you can share and engage with so they see your face in their Notification menu. So look for people who are already providing value or posting as you start.
Join a group where your target hangs out. There are LinkedIn Groups that target specific regions, industries, and niches. Find one that resonates with your target audience and join the conversation! Share relevant news articles or studies with your commentary, respond in comment threads, or (depending on the group) post funny gifs. Your goal is to get involved and show your face.
Start building recommendations. Treat recommendations the same way you should treat posting: "Give-Give-Give-Take." For every three recommendations you give to customers, community leaders or mentors, ask for one in return. If you have a really good relationship with that person, give them some specific insight into what you want the recommendation to reflect when you send the request!
Send 1 pitch message. Once you're comfortable on the platform and have engaged (reacted AND commented) five to ten times on content from one of your connections, send a message asking to meet up for coffee to chat about what you sell. The most successful messages are quick (less than 25 words) and aim to provide value to that connection during the chat.
Dos and Don'ts of LinkedIn
Just like every other social media platform, LinkedIn has its etiquette rules. These rules are nuanced and oftentimes dependent on the networks you've created or joined. But there are some hard and fast rules:
DO NOT: Sell in your connection request.
LinkedIn is not a sales platform. It's a networking platform. Respect that the majority of individuals, especially business owners, are on the platform to learn and connect with people, not get spammed with hundreds of sales messages. Sales messages can be welcomed, but you need to establish a rapport or relationship with the person first.
DO: Talk about your personal life.
You're a human talking to other humans. Your whole life doesn't revolve around work. It's okay to talk about what you did on vacation, the cool thing your daughter presented at the science fair, or the math you *tried* to help your son with the night before. As long as you continue to provide value to your network, talking about your personal life helps build better relationships and break the ice for certain connections.
DO NOT: Post anything you wouldn't say in front of your mother or 5 year old daughter.
Keep it civil and above board. Funny jokes are only funny if everyone laughs. The quickest way to ruin all the effort you've put in to your LinkedIn strategy is to say or post something negative, demeaning, misguided, or misinformed.
DO: Be selective about who you connect with
It might seem like contradictory advice, but don't connect with everyone and their dog just to connect with them. You should be strategic about who and when you connect with individuals (especially prospective buyers) so you can be sure to consistently engage with their content enough that they can pick your name out of a busy inbox. Pro tip: If you want to stay up-to-date with someone but don't want to connect, give them a Follow instead!
DO NOT: Act like an expert without the experience to back it up
It's okay to not know everything. If connections are posting questions, provide your opinion, but don't act like an expert if you're not. Instead, use the opportunity to tag someone in your network who *is* an expert in that area (and count it towards your five to ten engagements before you can pitch to them!).
Start building your LinkedIn network today!
Selling on LinkedIn doesn't require you be a rocket scientist or brain surgeon. It's not even especially hard. But just as you wouldn't expect a seedling to produce fruit the next day, you can't expect immediate results from your LinkedIn posts.
Want to learn more? Shoot me a message for a full LinkedIn profile audit and strategy!
Comments