Linked in for business 7 secrets to start sales conversations - #linkedwin

Editor's Notes

• #2: Results from LinkedIn come from having a valuable message and from getting it out there. Improving your LinkedIn Profile to support your sales and business growth is covered in another presentation of mine. The focus of this presentation is to provide guidance about which activities will start sales conversations. Some of these are better for creating enquiries, some for referrals and introductions, others for lead generation and website traffic. Be clear before you start about your objectives, and also your ideal customer, as this will guide your choices.
• #3: As a summary of the 7 Secrets this gives you a heads-up of what’s coming up: Your Headline – and what to do with it! How to create a compelling headline – and get it seen Searches and Saves How to use search more effectively Targets and Touches How to make contact with people The LinkedIn Dashboard How to make the most of the functions in front of you Status Updates Recommendations on what content and messages to share Articles and Actions How to get started with LinkedIn Posts, and then start conversations Teamwork and Referrals Techniques to work together as a virtual team or power group The key is to Take Action – LinkedIn is like Gym Membership – you only gain if you show up regularly. But it’s easy to feel overwhelmed – so pick 1-2 tips and ideas at a time and get going with those. Create an Activity plan that works for you – whether that’s an hour a week or 30 minutes a day The following techniques will deliver more benefit the more frequently and regularly you do them. To your success!
• #4: My message here – often delivered when standing in front of a group of people is: With the left hand – beckon people towards you – via keywords, status updates, activity in groups etc. With the right hand – go out and search and find people and go up to them and introduce yourself, with a virtual handshake To Engage - make an emotional connection with the heart - to be memorable and not just a passing hello & good-bye Categorise contacts – like putting business cards into different pockets – so you follow up- in different ways, but in batches. Nurture them by taking them on a journey, so they know, like and trust you, and feel more confident about making a purchase. And then when the time is right, the sale/purchase is a natural development of the relationship. LinkedIn can be used at all stages in this process, as the following “secrets” reveal.
• #5: Your Headline – and what to do with it! You can use up to 120 Characters Make it clear – about your level, your value proposition, include keywords and make it intriguing and memorable. The objective of the Headline is to make people want to read more about you in your profile. To encourage them to spend another few seconds reading the next element. And that should encourage them to read more, if it is interesting, relevant, valuable etc.
• #6: Here are some example to get you thinking about your LinkedIn Headline Not particularly the “outcome and activity and movement” aspect. Improving, Optimising, Mobilizing, Unless you edit this specifically the default is your Position at Your Company – which usually reveals very little.
• #7: The value of updating your Headline is really leveraged as you are more active on Linkedin, for example: When you show up in more search results – because you have good keywords in your profile, and a large network of contacts. When people look at your company and see who works there and they come across your profile When you write Posts and Article – your headline is displayed When you comment on status updates posted by others When you contribute to discussions in groups And when people look at your profile, by whatever route they found it. Having a good photo helps too – a headshot with a smile is best – it makes us look approachable and friendly.
• #8: Search in LinkedIn is Powerful, but the starting point is knowing what you’re actually looking for. Be clear on who your ideal customer is – and what characteristics they possess, and which is dominant: Company – sector, size, location etc. if this is dominant start by searching for Companies, then find people within those companies Person – job title is the main factor, although with LinkedIn Premium there are several other factors that can be used eg. seniority. Interests – if this is the dominant factor then search for relevant groups, join them, and ten search within groups to find people And as you get better at search you’ll identify more techniques to improve how you get found.
• #9: Start Search in the top menu bar and enter the phrase you are looking for. Add Quotations if you want 2 words adjacent to each other such as “LinkedIn Consultant” or “Managing Director”. Use the drop-down to the left of the box to search in different sub-sections of LinkedIn – such as Posts. Refine the results by using the boxes on the left – for example United Kingdom – as above. Alternatively, go into Advanced Search using the link to the right at the top.
• #10: Advanced Search opens up more options, for example, illustrated here: “Managing Director” - and we could restrict this to Current Role as well 2nd connections – so not 1st (we already know them) or 3rd (who are further away and harder to reach out to) Location – add one to be specific, or add more to cover a region Industry – this option could be really valuable if you specialise in vertical markets – or just to run a specific, targeted campaign. On the right hand side are more options available to premium linkedin users.
• #11: Now you have results, you can SAVE them. This means they are added into your Contacts although you are not yet connected.
• #12: Then, in Connections area: You can TAG Contacts to build lists – of prospects, customers, referrers etc. It’s a good idea to work out what TAGS you want in advance. Uses of TAGS: - to review and invite a group of people to connect - to send an email like message to a TAG group via LinkedIn *although check this is still possible, and that they don’t all see everyone elses name.
• #13: Getting Connected with people is a prime objective for many reasons. A personalised invitation is more powerful than a generic invitation. If you’re able to get your name in-front of them, by liking, commenting, retweeting etc that helps. Decide how valuable a contact is and how much time to research and personalise an invite. Alternatively you might decide to go straight for a phone call.
• #14: If you’re researching, - Check their recent activity - See who you both know - What articles have they published - What interests do you have in common LinkedIn is a gold-mine of background information about people.
• #15: Here are SIX valuable points on the linkedIn dashboard. Use these as the core of your routine to use LinkedIn effectively.
• #16: Send a message back when people invite you to connect.
• #17: The new LinkedIn Message area has lots of good features. It’s still very new and changing so I won’t go into too much detail now.
• #18: Have a look at the Relationship Tab on Contact Records. This is a good way to see the communications history, and also add notes, reminders, tags etc.
• #19: Here’s an example of scheduling a weekly reminder in LinkedIn. Check to see where they appear – they should turn up in the ‘Keep in Touch’ section, but LinkedIn has a habit of moving things around.
• #21: From the Dashboard we can add and share an update – and also upload photos and write and publish posts.
• #22: For people in sales and business development roles, including business owners, it can be all too easy to be active on LinkedIn but get little reward. My advice is to develop a broader mix on Status Updates, along the following lines: From the bottom left: For Lead Generation – and these can be pre-scheduled in Hootsuite or similar: Ones that link to your Sales pages on your Website – with an offer to download something of value Ones that highlight blog posts, which should have engagement offers around them. For Positioning yourself as an authority by curating great content Industry news – check in your in-box for trade journals etc that you’ve subscribed to – and share some of what you read. Sector leaders – Key people in your niche on LinkedIn – comment on their material, it gets you noticed by them and their followers For Customer Appreciation and Prospecting Share a quality article by a customer – maybe news of an award, a new contract, expansion etc. Share similar for prospects, particularly is someone is specifically named eg. the MD. It’s a powerful way to start a conversation. Maybe youre able to put out six a week, or six a day. Whatever the number, try to mix the topics around.
• #23: Here’s how to start writing a post on LinkedIn.
• #24: And then when people like the post you’ve written you can see who they are. TIP: We can also see who liked the posts written by others, so if there’s a really good person who is a magnate for attention you could look through and see who has liked and commented on their post. It takes time, there’ll be a lot of other vendors commenting, but occasionally you can strike lucky.
• #25: Here’s how to message people who commented on your post. It’s well worth going through these, to thank people for engaging, and sharing it with their followers, and also because there may be opportunities in there, to start sales conversations with people around the post you created. If you’re going to take time to write and publish then surely it’s worth following up when people do read, share and comment..
• #26: The other technique is to find and then look at articles written by leaders in your field.
• #27: A good comment adds to the discussion, raises our profile, and good can come as a result, immediately or over the longer term.
• #28: And finally, in this series of 7 Secrets - Create a Power Group People working in large companies have lots of colleagues who they can share the Social Media load with. When you’re in a small company, or working on your own, it’s a real benefit to develop a Power Group. You can share their content, articles etc. They will hopefully share your articles. And increasing circulation is one of the major challenges in LinkedIn, until momentum develops and we become minor celebrities.
• #29: And one way to collaborate with people in your power group is to ask for introductions to some of their contacts. Choose your power group partners with care, so you are complimentary, you’re both active on LinkedIn, and both prepared to reciprocate. It’s very similar to face to face networking in close contact groups like BNI. You get back in proportion to what you put in.
• #30: So, to summarise and round off here are The 7 Secrets that will help you get far more from LinkedIn – if you put them into practice: Your Headline – and what to do with it! Create a compelling headline – and get it seen Searches and Saves Use search more effectively Targets and Touches Make contact with people and connect The LinkedIn Dashboard Make the most of the functions LinkedIn provides Status Updates Follow my recommendations on what content and messages to share – until you get the hang of it Articles and Actions Get started with LinkedIn Posts, and then start conversations from them Teamwork and Referrals Work with others as a virtual team or power group And again, the key is to Take Action – LinkedIn is like Gym Membership – you only gain if you show up regularly. Dabbling in LinkedIn will create a dribble of results, at best. Clients of mine are now getting over half of their new customers through LinkedIn, from a combination of referrals, enquiries, introductions and lead generation. Try not to feel overwhelmed – by picking 1-2 tips and ideas at a time and get going with those. Try one new technique a week and see what works. Create an Activity plan that works for you – whether that’s an hour a week or 30 minutes a day Building effective techniques that work for you into your routine, they’ll deliver more benefit the more frequently and regularly you do them.
• #31: And if you’d like some further guidance and support here are some of the many ways I help business leaders, business owners, sales teams, consultants, people in professional services and many more besides, to Connect LinkedIn with Sales. To your success!