“Hi [NAME], I see we share some of the same connections and I was hoping we could schedule a call to discuss your business needs in 2021!”
People send cold messages through LinkedIn Inmail like this all the time, but that doesn’t mean it’s a best practice for startups who really want to grow their sales. Quite the opposite, in fact.
Selling on LinkedIn begins with recognizing what it is, and what it isn’t.
LinkedIn is a social network. It is not just the digital equivalent of an old-fashioned rolodex, or an email list you buy from a third-party firm.
Yes, many of your customers are likely on LinkedIn today, but they didn’t set up their profile so they could become leads for sales reps.
People use LinkedIn because they want to advance in their careers — and that’s what you should keep in mind as you use the platform strategically to build relationships.
Where LinkedIn meets sales
One way to approach this Is a journey those relationships take from LinkedIn to your CRM.
The relationship might start on LinkedIn, for instance, but as you get to know someone better and gather relevant data about their pain points and buying preferences, that data will only make your CRM more powerful.
There aren’t really any short-cuts to this process, though. You need to treat LinkedIn more like an industry event where there are already compelling keynote speakers garnering a lot of people’s attention.
Your way in is by acting like someone who strikes up a conversation during a networking break. Behaves thoughtfully and professionally enough that your prospect is willing to have the relationship evolve into something more.
Here’s a three-step primer on how to do that in a way that feels natural, while still helping close the deal:
Step One: Establish yourself as a provider of value
People buy from people — particularly from people they feel that they can trust.
One of the great things about LinkedIn is that it gives you a way to earn that trust on a day-to-day basis.
Share articles that provide insight into problems you know your target market Is facing, whether they mention your product and service categories or not.
Leave a comment on someone else’s post that clarifies a common misperception about an industry issue, or showcases your expertise based on interactions with your customers.
Create a LinkedIn Story. This is one of the platform’s latest features, which can involve a mixture of photo and video. LinkedIn Stories is where you could offer a glimpse into how you’re serving your customer community in real time.
All these habits build up over time to show you’re not just there to sell, but to help.
Step Two: Build connections when and where prospects will be ready
You can sit in front of LinkedIn for hours, blindly sending out connection requests to your target prospects and hoping a portion of them will be accepted. Or you could do it in a way where the connection request will not only be welcome, but expected.
Let’s say you’ve just watched someone who might be a potential customer leading or speaking in a webinar. If you registered for the event, your name will already be on their list, and even if the prospect hasn’t scanned that list, they’ll know you would only have seen them if you signed up. Send a connection request afterwards, with a note thanking them for one of their key points and the hope you can stay in touch.
The same approach works when you read a blog post a potential customer wrote, or if you’ve seen one of their LinkedIn posts pop up in your feed because a mutual connection liked it or commented on it. A connection request can be much more compelling when it comes with a warm referral, just like it does though any other channel.
Also, don’t forget to send connection requests after initially meeting a customer, even if it’s just via phone call or videoconference. You may already have their contact details, but LinkedIn provides a way for them to continue seeing your content and learning more about you between the times you formally discuss a purchase. This can help build the relationship in a highly organic fashion.
Step Three: Smoothly transition from LinkedIn to ‘real life’
You’re probably not going to be sending quotes back and forth through LinkedIn. People won’t be signing contracts on the platform. You’ll probably run through your final pitch in another channel.
It can be a bit of an art to know when it’s best to take LinkedIn relationships to the next level. In some cases your customer might be the one to take the lead. Perhaps they notice a post you write on LinkedIn that suggests your firm is serving firms like theirs, and they send an InMail asking to arrange a meeting or call. That’s the ideal situation.
Failing that, you can add a gentle suggestion to connect without coming on too strong. Maybe you comment on one of their posts and offer an answer to a question they’ve posed. A sentence like, “We’re actually helping customers deal with this kind of thing today. DM me if you want to hear more” could encourage them to send a direct message. It might also signal to other prospects who read the comment that they should get in touch with you, too.
You don’t have to be that public in your sales efforts, though. Instead, you can simply reach out in a more traditional way — like email — and simply mention what you saw from them on LinkedIn that caught your eye. This shows you’re paying attention to them and their concerns, rather than randomly inquiring if they’re looking to buy something.
Startups often struggle to win over their first big customers. That makes LinkedIn a particularly helpful tool in making connections that turn into sales that build their credibility and reputation.
