LinkedIn has shifted from a networking platform to a site where one can do sales prospecting. Why? The rationale is that it has social media features and business ideas in one place. That way, people can cooperate and discuss business-related issues.
Imagine that 40% of marketers underline this media is the most effective social media for lead generation. For b2b companies, LinkedIn becomes a perfect environment for selling products and communicating with prospects.
This post is to show how to get customers on LinkedIn with the help of some prospecting tips.
How to Prospect on LinkedIn
Using LinkedIn for sales, prospecting in particular, can mean many things. Before all, they refer to searching for, connecting and engaging with leads. Moreover, the significant part of it is the assessment of your audience. Thus, prospecting for leads on LinkedIn means appealing to needs, soft-selling or cold emailing. Each of these actions can bring conversions if it fits the strategy the company is using.
Yet, you can relate prospecting on LinkedIn to such a term as social selling. It is about building relationships with prospects within the sales process.
If you ask yourself how to get customers on Linkedin, the answer is simple – engagement. It plays an important role here as the connection with the customer lets lead managers or marketers gently introduce their offers.
How? They can sell the value first. In this regard, a marketer can use content, expertise or advice to share. At the same time, salespeople can attract more people by connection, targeting, or LinkedIn search due to the social media factor.
So, yes, to prospect on LinkedIn, you should transmit the product’s image, start the dialogue right, and gather information. Why? That way, you attract customers’ attention, make them interested, and produce more engagement. Each of these activities leads prospects to the acquisition of service in the end.
The prospecting tips presented below can help you to do it right:
Advance your personal page
Before any social selling action, you should look at your profile. Ask yourself whether it tells enough about your company, your product and what you do. Your page should attract prospects and present the solution prospects seek. Try inserting a photo to increase views. In addition, write a short but clear bio and post some helpful content on your feed. Altogether, it will add to the trust and your personal image.
Build relations with LinkedIn outreach
Yes, there is LinkedIn Outreach. It involves getting in touch with the prospects via messaging or InMail. The particular strategy depends on the connections you make, as there are limitations for free accounts. For instance, you can apply a LinkedIn search to target specific specialists or specific people with a vast network.
Connecting with them will give you access to other people because you will be the 2nd or 3rd connection to them. Keep in mind that their page info is the key to personalized messages and greater engagement. Personalization is important as it helps to appeal to the recipient.
Connect with prospects
The second of the prospecting tips is a reminder that LinkedIn is a social platform. To influence people, you need to make a connection with them. You can search for specific prospects using LinkedIn search filters and write to them via direct messages to start a conversation.
The more connections you have, the more profiles you can browse. In turn, it means access to information that can be used to understand them better.
Engage with those who interact with you
When prospects interact or engage with your profile, try to use this event for building relationships. For instance, if they like your post or comment on it, write to them directly and answer their comment. You may as well offer some partnership or cooperation keeping their experience in mind. Another option is to write to people after you see their profile. It is a way to make cold outreach warmer.
Lastly, if you have closed a deal, ask for a referral. Leveraging referrals can work because they influence around 90% of b2b sales. It is just another way to use them and make a cold outreach warmer.
Foster communication in LinkedIn groups
For a marketer, social selling on LinkedIn usually starts with expertise and its sharing. Prospecting for leads can begin with a discussion in some groups to offer them some value or advice. At the same time, you can create your own community and share b2b insights, thus bolstering your image.
Apply LinkedIn prospecting tools to get an advantage
Another prospecting tip involves the usage of prospecting tools. What are their functions? They can scrape information, extract corporate emails or offer databases containing LinkedIn URLs. Why use such tools? They can help organize leads, get important info for direct contact, or structure information. Some of them have a web-based CRM system at their core. They are vital for organizing prospects into lists and finding their corporate emails. The latter can be extremely useful for the outreach approach.
Make an ad and let LinkedIn distribute it
There is always an opportunity to use the progressive alternatives LinkedIn proposes. One of them is a targeted ad that will show your offers, content or events to the prospects based on your buyer’s persona. However, make sure that you do not sell but offer helpful solutions in your ads. It would be best if you showed value and expertise first to attract a customer on LinkedIn.
