At one time social media was solely for connecting with friends and family, remember Friends Reunited and MaySpace. Those have long been overtaken by the big two, Facebook and Twitter, but more are starting to emerge as niche competition such as TikTok for instance, and LinkedIn. Businesses want more sales and here’s how LinkedIn can help salespeople to sell better.
Social media sites are no longer only for connecting. In the 2010s, brands and advertisers saw the potential of using data to target customers with the products and services they are most likely to be interested in. This changed everything. Consumers expectations changed and so did brands, realizing that communication, authenticity, and transparency were all important going forward.
Similarly, on LinkedIn, salespeople have realized that the unique platform is not only useful for companies looking to recruit or professionals looking for work. It is also an excellent platform to promote products and services, reach the right people, gain trust, and make more sales.
How is this done? Well firstly, LinkedIn is an excellent platform to identify and research your target audience, or consumers. Not only that it is an opportunity to understand your competitors and how they operate. This information is invaluable for targeting your prospects and increasing your conversions. In the same way that targeted ads on Facebook use a consumer’s data to make the right approach, LinkedIn offers the same possibilities but for clients. Use LinkedIn profiles to learn about your customers, develop rapport, and stay ahead of the competition.
There are many other benefits if you want to
Learn LinkedIn for sales, such as making connections, making recommendations, and monitoring. We take a closer look below at ways to get the best out of the platform for sales.
The Profile
Your profile is the first thing you want to look at in order to increase your viability on LinkedIn. It’s easy to get on a social media platform and start using it without paying too much attention to the profile. Still, in the online world, your profile is like the clothes you wear to the office or a firm handshake – it’s the first impression you make to customers and clients and, therefore, should be modified accordingly.
Upload a professional picture. Something you would be happy to share with colleagues. It doesn’t have to be super formal, in fact, a relaxed transparency can work quite well, but you must have a reasonable profile picture if you want to be taken seriously. Data shows that you are 11 times more likely to have your LinkedIn profile viewed if you have one.
Next create a compelling headline. If you want to stand out it’s a good idea to make the most of these small opportunities to make an excellent first impression. Try not to be too company focused with what you write, instead concentrate on what you can do for potential clients. Customers are used to reading company-focused copy such as ‘we have got ten years experience,’ or ‘we have won an award,’ it might help to establish authority. Still, it’s unlikely to engage people reading your profile.
Instead use your summary section to outline what you can offer people and how you can solve a specific problem they have. Your profile should accomplish goals, introducing yourself, and promoting your business – all in a friendly, transparent way.
Efficient Connections
Social media opens up a new dimension to social interaction. Information can be shared collectively meaning those in your social media circles are privy to thought analysis, and promotion that you choose to share. Furthermore, connections that are made in the real world can be strengthened on social media with a request to connect. This new digital dimension should not be overlooked when it comes to interacting with clients and making sales.
Your sales potential can significantly increase with the right approach to LinkedIn. The platform is not designed to replace face-to-face interactions but optimize your connections for greater efficiency. Clients you have in LinkedIn, for instance, may already be aware of your promotion when you contact them and, therefore, more primed to discuss it. You could even use this as a marketing strategy in which you send out promotional material via LinkedIn before contacting the clients.
Furthermore, following a face-to-face meeting in the real world, it can be a good idea to get on LinkedIn and reach out to those individuals. They are likely to connect with you further, increasing your customer base, but it also provides you with an opportunity to follow up on the in-person meeting and build a core of trust in clients. The world of sales and marketing has shifted quite considerably in the digital age and more transparency is now expected. Luckily, platforms such as LinkedIn make this transparency much easier to utilize.
Don’t just accumulate connections on LinkedIn, try to view them as professional friends, and communicate with them in that mode. By regularly communicating, uploading, and sharing, in a friendly professional way, your client base will be conscious of you and more willing to interact.
Mutual Connections
The great thing about LinkedIn is that it allows users to research both clients and competition. This research is likely to be fruitful if you are persistent and know what to look for, but you can’t always make the connections you want right away. You wouldn’t knock someone’s door and ask them to be friends – I don’t think. The digital world is not much different and if you want to reach out to new people there are best practices to follow.
If you are reaching out to someone who you have no mutual connections with you must always include a short note introducing yourself and the reading for the connection. This strategy will not always yield results; however, if there is a good reason for it, and you can offer something in terms of a product, service, or new connections – it may well get results. A better way, however, is to connect with individuals through a mutual connection. People are five times more likely to engage with you if you do this.
The method is simple. Look through your connections and see who is connected to you second or third degree connections. These are your outposts. Contact these connections and request an introduction to their connections. A short message will be beautiful, and you can even write it for them if you think that convenience might be a factor. This will enhance your chances of making new connections and extending your client base. Following this, your outposts will be broadened and you can then request further connections. This way everything is kept linear and strategic.
Top Tier Customers
Sales is not just a numbers game. Numbers can help to increase the likelihood of conversions but efficiency is built on strong connections, transparency, authenticity, and trust. It’s better to have clients who are loyal and willing to buy from you time and again – this, after all in the core of your business. New customers need to be brought in all the time but turning new customers into existing ones requires time and effort on your part.
LinkedIn is the perfect platform to nurture these relationships and build the kind of trust you need in your client base. The platform allows you to search for clients by name, company, or position. This means you can modify your marketing campaigns and be selective about what you send to whom, and when. Perhaps you want to offer a discount or saving to customers that have been with you for a year or more, or a special promotion only available to an inner circle. This sort of selling can help establish stronger relationships with customers and grow more loyalty to your brand over time.
But don’t forget about your new customers. They will be the future of your business and also need to be encouraged into the inner circle. Remember to post regularly with updates and offers to stay relevant to your social media client base. Like any business and form of advertising, social media must be continuous, otherwise the interest quickly falls away. A good content marketing strategy is important to get consistent, relevant content in front of your audience.
Relevant Content
As a business operating in the digital world, even if it only a solo entrepreneur running an e-commerce shop, you will need an effective digital marketing strategy. By effective, we mean relevant and consistent. The adverts and blog posts your clients see should be on their newsfeed at least once a week and contain products and services relevant to them or to the time of year. All of this works together as part of a overall plan that includes how LinkedIn can help salespeople to sell better.
This can be achieved in a number of ways. Firstly a content management strategy (CMS) should be developed for the period of one year. The posts need to be relevant to clients and LinkedIn is one of the best platforms to access customer information. If you are connected with your customer, you will see their posts in your newsfeed. It will contain information about their interests, contacts, and updates. From this newsfeed information you should have everything you need to create content that is fresh and relevant to your customers. Put together cohesively, this is how LinkedIn can help salespeople to sell better.
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