Everyone has just about realised the potential of LinkedIn as a business development tool, yet despite this, very few are getting it right.
There are the ‘influencers’ who tell you ‘do this’ and ‘do that’ whilst sat in their ivory tower with a full-team team where they can afford to spend thousands each month on leveraging LinkedIn.
- So how can the salesperson do it?
- Can the business owner do it?
- Will people who are non-techy do it?
- How can someone who hates selling do it?
Well in this article, I will share with you some practical tips which will help you. I practice what I preach so I can say with confidence this will work for you.
It’s funny how many people try to sell £2k and £5k products and services by using tactics to sell £100 and £250 products and services. It doesn’t work.
How much is a £10k client worth to you? If you could spend £1000 to acquire this client is it worth it?
Hands down – YES!
Based on training over 2,000 people and the feedback we’ve received, you can close at least 2 or 3 £10k clients on 30 mins per day using LinkedIn.
If you are joined up in your approach of course.
Is 30 mins a day worth £30k?
If you still are still with me?
I’ll share with you some of the tips from my training I deliver.
At the end of the article, I will give you an opportunity to master this process with me teaching you 1-2-1. Typically, my system generates 8-10 clients per month for me and has done for others too.
- I do no hard selling.
- No pushy sales messages
- No cold calling.
If you follow these tips, you can massively improve your sales process using LinkedIn. I am giving you a glimpse into some of the keys I have found work on Linkedin. I am not stupid, so if you want more, follow me or sign up for 1-2-1 training.
Your profile is the key.
Your profile is the key to everything on LinkedIn. Don’t switch off, I am serious. Do not overlook the power of a profile. It is one of the most critical elements of your account.
How you build your profile determines who finds you.
What keywords are you placing on your profile?
Are they relevant to your customer?
Often people fill their profile with waffle which does nothing to engage their customer or worse they fill their profile with industry waffle which only attracts more people from the industry.
Everything you do on LinkedIn generates profile views.
Your headline and profile pic are your shop front, your headline follows you all across the platform, make sure it says something valuable to your ideal client. Use your headline to showcase your value to your prospective customer.
Instead of “Director,
“I do x for X to achieve X” vs “Director at Xco Ltd” which one is going to achieve more for you?
Most profiles have some basic information that gives no value to ideal prospects.
Content brings people to you.
In my training, I teach people how to use content to build credibility, trust and awareness. Content brings people to you. It is the best way to get inbound connection requests, increase profile views and build rapport.
You won’t sell anything on LinkedIn unless you build trust and rapport.
Consistent posting works, typically people see a 500% increase in profile views after they become consistent posters. If you want to succeed you have to commit to content.
Now important…. If you churn boring stuff, it won’t achieve anything. You need to create or post content which engages people.
Nobody cares about your amazing company.
I repeat… nobody cares about your amazing company.
Ease off the selling and you will gather a crowd who will be interested in you and what you can offer.
Content must engage and interest your target client. Think of your content as a fishing net, you design the net for the fish you want to catch.
Consistent posting makes a massive difference, even down to posting on a set day or time in the week, that way people can get used to seeing you on a regular basis.
I designed a post to attract salespeople and the banking industry. By doing a little bit of work and thought, I had a post which got me 20,000 views mainly from financial institutions and salespeople.
Design your posts for the people you want to do business with, making sure you are not just posting your own business propaganda.
You are doing articles wrong
If you’ve written an article you have probably been totally underwhelmed by the stats.
I use articles solely as conversion devices. I use them to give knowledge but ultimately, I am promoting something too. In this case, I am sharing advice, but also giving you value to demonstrate how working with me can transform your sales through LinkedIn.
These are the articles that matter.
I find a pressing problem, share some thoughts and ask people who want the information. There is a formula to it, but it is all part of my system for LinkedIn.
If contribute advice to a pressing problem of an ideal client, why would they not read it?
You’re are focused on sales and not engagement.
I’ll talk about process shortly, but engagement is where it is at.
If you are not engaging on the platform, you will lose.
That means making the time to build relationships and engage across the platform. If you are out for what you can get that will show in your post stats, profile views and inbound enquiries.
Adverts are not the answer
There is a much more cost efficient process than Ads. If you really want to get the most of LinkedIn you must have Sales Navigator. In my training I have a full process which is only possible with the advanced features of LinkedIn.
Adverts have their place but can be expensive, so you really have to have a smart process and very high-ticket product to make it work as the cost of a lead can exceed £100.
You are focused on your Company Page
Your company page is a validator; it is not that important. Personal profiles is where it is at. People buy from people.
Ask yourself: When was the last time you got excited about a company page? (Excluding your own)
People spend hours working on Company Pages, for some they have a place in brand building but for most businesses, they become a barren place which needs to be populated. I can share more about this for bigger brands but probably for another article.
Focus on the personal profiles of your team, that is the quickest way and most efficient way to generate new clients using LinkedIn.
Build a process
Most people play at LinkedIn.
Over the last 4 years, I have generated a ton of business directly from LinkedIn.
We do no cold calling
No follow up messages after connecting
Removing the automation cycles.
No pushy messages.
Your process needs to include stages which make people aware and show interest, only after you have interest should you adopt any form of sales follow up.
My process is diagrammed out in a series of Cogs which I share with students, It helps me visualise where I am up to and the goals I want to achieve.
Most people don’t do this because, they can’t be bothered to put the time in. They want instant results and so they play massive numbers games hoping one or two will bite.
Think about this differently, how would you want to be sold to?
You can’t automate LinkedIn despite what people say, it is a human to human process.
Every day I get InMails from LinkedIn experts trying to sell me lead generation. Would you trust someone to sell the way they are selling?
Would you want to buy from you?
Have you convinced people of the value you can deliver?
It comes down to having a system, my LinkedIn strategy is built on a model I’ve been using for years, it is called the Client Attraction Strategy. It works on the premise that nobody is ever eliminated from the sales process and the sales process starts with the assumption we don’t know our prospects… yet.
It also works on the principle that you place interest triggers out there. So you are only ever engaging with warm prospects.
Any prospects who aren’t warm yet, it is our job to warm them up!
It is about systemised outbound action to create inbound response.
When you think about that way, you never have to be pushy again.
- Each phone call scheduled because of interest.
- Messages I send are intentional but not salesy.
- Every post I share has a purpose (which is rarely to sell something, but it usually does).
If I had to compare LinkedIn with a cold calling, cold calling would win hands down for activity and short-term results. With cold calling you can close a client on the first day.
I tell clients with LinkedIn you can spend 30 mins a day and close 8-10 clients each month.
But you need a special kind of strategy to do that.
You have no outcome.
You need a really clear call to action on LinkedIn. I would go as far as to argue that without it you will fail. Within everything I do, my activity, posts, articles all are very clear about the actions I want people to take.
My content is designed to take people through the complete process.
Most people never join things up, never act consistently and don’t use all the tools in harmony. When you pull it all together, have a full strategy and implement it daily, you will start generating lots of inbound interest and consistent sales.
That’s all for now, but Do you want to hear my full strategy and training?
I am running 1-2-1 personalised training for LinkedIn.
I’ll show you my system and in 2.5 hours I will give you the full plan of how you can implement this.
Whether you are a novice at sales or a pro, my strategy will help you consistently and predictably close more clients using LinkedIn with no pushy tactics.
I do the training via 1-2-1 video conference. We’ll share screens and go through your account and refine it as I teach you how to leverage LinkedIn.
The cost for the 1-2-1 training is £482 / $600, if you would like to know more you can contact us on [email protected] or you can book and schedule your training here.
