With over 600 million members worldwide, LinkedIn is one of the largest social networks. In fact, for businesses, it's arguably the best social network. Marketing professionals are increasingly using LinkedIn as their primary source of new leads and tangible revenue. They can't always wait for the marketing department to generate leads B2B companies , LinkedIn is a tool that can make prospecting faster, easier, and more profitable.
Tip #1: Never miss an opportunity to connect
The first thing you can tell a salesperson who's ready to take advantage of LinkedIn is to carefully examine their network. Networking is like LinkedIn's currency. If your network consists mainly of family members, friends, and former classmates, you have a lot of work ahead of you.
Connections create new links. Your first-degree connections open up a wide range of second- and third-degree connections. This is how you grow your network. Take advantage of this moment every time you meet someone (online or offline). Always send a connection request on LinkedIn , and do it while you're still fresh in the other person's mind.
Tip #2: Discover a better way to find your prospects
One of the main reasons for using LinkedIn is to find the leaders of the companies you're targeting. When working with multinationals, there may be many people involved in or influencing the purchase. But even for small B2B sales, you'll often need to influence several people.
You'd be surprised how much information people put on their profiles; they usually list their department, their office, and even their projects. With a little detective work, you can quickly get a sense of who you're talking to, their personality (look at their recommendations), and what they've done previously.
Tip #3: Never make another phone call
Almost no one enjoys making phone calls. They're often a waste of time, and people feel like they're banging their heads against a brick wall. These days, there's no reason to make a completely cold call.
With LinkedIn, you can almost always learn enough about someone to make a call or, if you're further along in the sales process, to tailor your pitch to their needs. This isn't cyberbullying. People are generally receptive to those who mention having seen their LinkedIn profile.
Regarding the profiles of your target prospects, you should pay close attention to the changes they make to their profiles and anything they post in groups. Also on LinkedIn, with a paid account, you can see the expanded profiles of everyone (not just your connections). This can provide you with even more valuable information that you can use later for effective networking.
Tip #4: Go further with InMail
Ask anyone who works in sales, and you'll hear that senior decision-makers are a difficult group. This is hardly surprising when you consider that these are likely people receiving emails and calls every single day, all the time. So here's what these people do to protect their time: they block unwanted calls, ignore most of the emails they receive, and have a barrier that keeps salespeople away.
Although we try our best to contact managers through traditional channels, they are often too protected. And that's where InMail comes in to do its job.
InMail is LinkedIn's internal email system that lets you send an email to anyone, even if they're not a contact. Essentially, InMail ensures that the email you send will reach the inbox of the person you want to communicate with. LinkedIn claims that with InMail, you're 30 times more likely to get a response than with a phone call.
READ ALSO: B2B prospecting: Email vs LinkedIn, which channel is the most effective?
Tip #5: Find a smarter search method
LinkedIn boasts an impressive search infrastructure. With advanced search, you can find people by title, company, location, or keyword. And if you have a paid account, you can also search by company size or management level. By intelligently combining filters, you can conduct in-depth searches and identify key individuals.
You can also save your search criteria and receive a weekly report in the form of a list of new people who meet your criteria. For example, you could save your search for a purchasing manager in the pharmaceutical industry within a 50-meter radius of your city. Then, with that search saved, you'll receive a weekly email from LinkedIn with the names of new people who match your search criteria. I can't even begin to describe how powerful this feature is.
Tip #6: Understand what's happening in your prospect's company
As any salesperson knows, change creates opportunities. People arrive, others leave, companies make important announcements, etc. Any change can be a good reason to contact a company and offer your help.
LinkedIn makes it easy to discover these changes. You can follow any company that has a LinkedIn . You'll be able to see the changes they make directly on your updates page. It's an easy way to stay informed and find new opportunities.
Tip #7: Use groups to facilitate tracking
Like most people on LinkedIn, you can also find that groups are a valuable source of new insights. Questions from group members can help you better understand their frustrations and needs, and knowing this information could be the perfect reason to contact a prospect .
Groups are also useful for:
- To give you more information about what is happening in a prospect's company, to see how active they are, if they are hiring, etc.
- They allow you to see more details about an individual prospect, such as their full name. Obtaining the full name is reserved for first-degree contacts (which demonstrates the importance of the first-degree referral).
- Joining a group allows you to make more connections and also gives you the opportunity to connect with them (this is one of the criteria you can select when sending connection requests)
Tip #8: Make your profile as attractive as your business
Don't forget that it's also important not to neglect the incoming part of your LinkedIn profile. If they're interested, your prospects will invariably take a look at your profile. That's why it's crucial to ensure it's 100% complete and presents a professional image of you and your company.
Be sure to include links to your company website and other social media . It's also important to get high-quality recommendations, especially from satisfied customers. These recommendations give visitors a better sense of who you are as a person.
Marketing experts have always been amazed by how few people know you can see who has viewed your profile. Unless visitors have set their profile to anonymous, you can click the “Who viewed my profile” link and see a list of people who have visited it. Free accounts have a limit on the number of people who can be seen on the list, while paid accounts give you the full list. Once you know this, it can become a habit.
For your information, Magileads automates LinkedIn sales prospecting for all employees within the same company. There's no longer any need to install a plugin or leave your computer on.
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