Part III: Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales?
Part III: Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales?
In this third article of my 4-part series, you'll discover even more ways you can use this tool to create more opportunities, connect with decision makers and win more business. Again, real sellers and real results.
Strategic Visibility & Connecting
Tim Hayden, President of Game Plan Marketing & Events shares what he's trained his team to do with LinkedIn:
1. Focus on connecting.
Anytime you receive a business card from its owner, you then "know" this person. While not everyone is a valuable link, search for that person on LinkedIn right away. Because you have their email, you can send them an invitation to connect.
2. Increase your visibility.
Don't simply add people to your network. Ask or answer questions on LinkedIn. Make sure your public profile is complete. But most of all, recommend people in your network and ask them to recommend YOU! Anytime you do any of the above, LinkedIn posts updates online or in weekly updates to everyone in your network.
3. Make LinkedIn your homepage.
Whenever I open my browser, I can immediately review my "LinkedIn Home Page" which shows what others in my network are doing and who they're connecting with. I also check every 2-3 days to see "Who's Viewed My Profile." Just as you can use web statistics to see what companies are looking at your website, you can also see with about 80% accuracy who's been checking out your profile.
In the past two months, I've used these strategies to identify more than 20 new business leads –and converted two to clients!
Keep-in-Touch Strategy
Stu Garrow, Managing Director of Software Traction Pty, Ltd says: As we know in sales, it's much easier to keep an existing contact happy than it is to create a new one. The real value in Linked-In is to remind you who you know and provide a way of keeping in touch with them.
Every week, you take 5 people from your list of contacts and you send them a short email. It is amazing how many times a few emails will turn into some live opportunities and the simple act of keeping in touch will place you way in front of a competitor.
Visible Network Reminder
Barak Kassar of the creative marketing firm Rassak Experience shares: Selling is networking – and sometimes networks are hard to visualize. LinkedIn can be like putting a die-trace on your network, making it visible to you. This makes it easier to figure out who to contact in a given situation, even if I don't always make the contact through LinkedIn. Also, I've been introduced to some incredible people directly through the LinkedIn tools.
Starting a Networking Group
Rob Kingma, Ernst & Young Revenue Growth Services adds: I started to focus on LinkedIn as a selling opportunity after hosting the first physical gathering of LinkedIn users in Australia. This event was an outcome of an in-person meeting I had with my country's most connected user. The result was a turnout of 120 LinkedIn users and three business opportunities for our practice.
Leveraging Long-Lost Relationships
Mark Hunter of The Sales Hunter says: LinkedIn can reconnect you with former colleagues you've lost contact with. I've used it to get in touch with people I worked with nearly 20 years ago. The process I used was simple. By entering previous employers into the search bar, LinkedIn gave me a list of people who'd also worked for these firms.
Though I didn’t know everyone, I discovered several whom I knew quite well at one point in time. Reaching out to these people not only enabled me to catch up on time gone by, but also to cultivate some significant opportunities that are on track to close this year. Plus these conversations led to other past associates and, again, potential prospects emerged.
Currently, my profile on LinkedIn enables me to be found by others who are doing the same thing. This proves the need to make sure your profile includes all of your previous employers and locations to allow you to be as visible as possible.
Creating a Business Relationship
Nick Wright, head of Nick Wright Consulting contributes: I use my Google Reader to leverage LinkedIn. I go to the homepage, click on the "Answers" tab, then I pick the categories I want to follow (ie: Marketing and Sales > Sales > Sales Techniques). Then I simply click the RSS button to subscribe to their feeds.
When I pop open my Google Reader each morning I quickly browse the headlines - which are the questions asked. If I find one that's aligned with my interests or business goals, I click on it and go directly to that question's page on LinkedIn. At that point I use the Q&A's as a reference tool to learn from ... and if I find an answer I really like, I'll click on the person's name to go to their profile.
Then I look for a blog or website listed on their profile and go from there. I subscribe to his/her blog and become a regular, ultimately planting the seed for a possible business relationship to grow.
Accidental Success
Kent Speakman of Suitcase Interactive shares: When I was adding contacts to LinkedIn, I mistakenly included the President of a very large company in my network. We'd been trying to get in to see him for about 7 months, but none of our account entry strategies had worked.
When he got my invitation to connect, he proceeded to check me out on LinkedIn. Then he sent me an email saying thanks for sending the link, but stating that he didn't know how he knew me. (I'd found his email address on Jigsaw.)
I responded with an email that contained our value proposition and a humorous apology. From there, we exchanged several emails and a series of voicemails. Because he liked what I was sharing, he connected me with his Vice President – who was indeed in need of our help. We got the bid for the work and hereby my first accidental LinkedIn success story.
So What Have I Learned?
LinkedIn isn't a panacea or a miracle cure for your sales woes. Instead, it's a valuable tool that we, as sellers need to learn how to leverage to our advantage. It's a way to augment our prospecting and business growth efforts, not replace them.
While I've focused on the numerous ways that people have used LinkedIn to get business, I've also heard from others that it may not be appropriate for what they sell or that the decision makers they're trying to reach don't have profiles posted. I'm sure they're right.
Since I started this exploration, I've discovered a multitude of ways to use LinkedIn that I could never have conceived of on my own. I've learned that it's not just about making connections with someone who knows someone who knows someone. Rather, it's about a new way of thinking about your network, your personal visibility and your relationships.
Personally, I am choosing to participate in this new Sales 2.0 world. I believe that it's the way of the future. I don't know where it's all going, but I am sure going to find out. Will you join me on LinkedIn?
Part III Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Jill Konrath's Website.
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What can I do to be more effective? It's a question that's always on my mind. That's why I began this exploration of LinkedIn. I wanted to find out if and how sellers were leveraging this technology to improve their sales results.
In this third article of my 4-part series, you'll discover even more ways you can use this tool to create more opportunities, connect with decision makers and win more business. Again, real sellers and real results.
Strategic Visibility & Connecting
Tim Hayden, President of Game Plan Marketing & Events shares what he's trained his team to do with LinkedIn:
1. Focus on connecting.
Anytime you receive a business card from its owner, you then "know" this person. While not everyone is a valuable link, search for that person on LinkedIn right away. Because you have their email, you can send them an invitation to connect.
2. Increase your visibility.
Don't simply add people to your network. Ask or answer questions on LinkedIn. Make sure your public profile is complete. But most of all, recommend people in your network and ask them to recommend YOU! Anytime you do any of the above, LinkedIn posts updates online or in weekly updates to everyone in your network.
3. Make LinkedIn your homepage.
Whenever I open my browser, I can immediately review my "LinkedIn Home Page" which shows what others in my network are doing and who they're connecting with. I also check every 2-3 days to see "Who's Viewed My Profile." Just as you can use web statistics to see what companies are looking at your website, you can also see with about 80% accuracy who's been checking out your profile.
In the past two months, I've used these strategies to identify more than 20 new business leads –and converted two to clients!
Keep-in-Touch Strategy
Stu Garrow, Managing Director of Software Traction Pty, Ltd says: As we know in sales, it's much easier to keep an existing contact happy than it is to create a new one. The real value in Linked-In is to remind you who you know and provide a way of keeping in touch with them.
Every week, you take 5 people from your list of contacts and you send them a short email. It is amazing how many times a few emails will turn into some live opportunities and the simple act of keeping in touch will place you way in front of a competitor.
Visible Network Reminder
Barak Kassar of the creative marketing firm Rassak Experience shares: Selling is networking – and sometimes networks are hard to visualize. LinkedIn can be like putting a die-trace on your network, making it visible to you. This makes it easier to figure out who to contact in a given situation, even if I don't always make the contact through LinkedIn. Also, I've been introduced to some incredible people directly through the LinkedIn tools.
Starting a Networking Group
Rob Kingma, Ernst & Young Revenue Growth Services adds: I started to focus on LinkedIn as a selling opportunity after hosting the first physical gathering of LinkedIn users in Australia. This event was an outcome of an in-person meeting I had with my country's most connected user. The result was a turnout of 120 LinkedIn users and three business opportunities for our practice.
Leveraging Long-Lost Relationships
Mark Hunter of The Sales Hunter says: LinkedIn can reconnect you with former colleagues you've lost contact with. I've used it to get in touch with people I worked with nearly 20 years ago. The process I used was simple. By entering previous employers into the search bar, LinkedIn gave me a list of people who'd also worked for these firms.
Though I didn’t know everyone, I discovered several whom I knew quite well at one point in time. Reaching out to these people not only enabled me to catch up on time gone by, but also to cultivate some significant opportunities that are on track to close this year. Plus these conversations led to other past associates and, again, potential prospects emerged.
Currently, my profile on LinkedIn enables me to be found by others who are doing the same thing. This proves the need to make sure your profile includes all of your previous employers and locations to allow you to be as visible as possible.
Creating a Business Relationship
Nick Wright, head of Nick Wright Consulting contributes: I use my Google Reader to leverage LinkedIn. I go to the homepage, click on the "Answers" tab, then I pick the categories I want to follow (ie: Marketing and Sales > Sales > Sales Techniques). Then I simply click the RSS button to subscribe to their feeds.
When I pop open my Google Reader each morning I quickly browse the headlines - which are the questions asked. If I find one that's aligned with my interests or business goals, I click on it and go directly to that question's page on LinkedIn. At that point I use the Q&A's as a reference tool to learn from ... and if I find an answer I really like, I'll click on the person's name to go to their profile.
Then I look for a blog or website listed on their profile and go from there. I subscribe to his/her blog and become a regular, ultimately planting the seed for a possible business relationship to grow.
Accidental Success
Kent Speakman of Suitcase Interactive shares: When I was adding contacts to LinkedIn, I mistakenly included the President of a very large company in my network. We'd been trying to get in to see him for about 7 months, but none of our account entry strategies had worked.
When he got my invitation to connect, he proceeded to check me out on LinkedIn. Then he sent me an email saying thanks for sending the link, but stating that he didn't know how he knew me. (I'd found his email address on Jigsaw.)
I responded with an email that contained our value proposition and a humorous apology. From there, we exchanged several emails and a series of voicemails. Because he liked what I was sharing, he connected me with his Vice President – who was indeed in need of our help. We got the bid for the work and hereby my first accidental LinkedIn success story.
So What Have I Learned?
LinkedIn isn't a panacea or a miracle cure for your sales woes. Instead, it's a valuable tool that we, as sellers need to learn how to leverage to our advantage. It's a way to augment our prospecting and business growth efforts, not replace them.
While I've focused on the numerous ways that people have used LinkedIn to get business, I've also heard from others that it may not be appropriate for what they sell or that the decision makers they're trying to reach don't have profiles posted. I'm sure they're right.
Since I started this exploration, I've discovered a multitude of ways to use LinkedIn that I could never have conceived of on my own. I've learned that it's not just about making connections with someone who knows someone who knows someone. Rather, it's about a new way of thinking about your network, your personal visibility and your relationships.
Personally, I am choosing to participate in this new Sales 2.0 world. I believe that it's the way of the future. I don't know where it's all going, but I am sure going to find out. Will you join me on LinkedIn?
Part III Can LinkedIn Increase Your Sales - To learn more about this author, visit Jill Konrath's Website.
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Joe DagerJoe Dager is President of Business901, a progressive coaching company providing no-nonsense direction in areas such as Lean Six Sigma Marketing and organized referral marketing. What others say: In the past 20 years, Joe and I have collaborated on many difficult issues. Joe’s ability to combine his expertise with “out of the box” thinking is unsurpassed. He has always delivered quickly, cost effectively and with ingenuity. A brilliant mind that is always a pleasure to work with.” - James R. If you want to learn more about Business901, start a conversation with us. We can be found @ Web/Blog: Business901.com Web/Blog: FundingYourNonprofit.com LinkedIn Profile Follow me on Twitter - Visit Joe Dager's Website |
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George LudwigGeorge Ludwig is a recognized authority on sales strategy and peak performance psychology. An international speaker, trainer, and corporate consultant, he helps clients like Johnson & Johnson, Abbott Laboratories, Northwestern Mutual, CIGNA, and numerous others improve sales force effectiveness and performance. Though it's George's strategies and processes that help corporations increase productivity and performance, it's his tremendous energy and dynamism that spark the transformation. Again and again, clients remark on his amazing ability to unleash human capacity and inspire men and women to break out of their comfort zones. The result is a whole new type of salesperson. His customized presentations teach achievers to make stunning advances in their lives. From helping salespeople realize cherished dreams to helping corporations exponentially accelerate revenue streams, George Ludwig leaves audiences and individuals empowered, emboldened, and clamoring for more. George is the best-selling author of Power Selling: Seven Strategies for Cracking the Sales Code and Wise Moves: 60 Quick Tips to Improve Your Position in Life & Business. - Visit George Ludwig's Website |
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David AchesonDavid Acheson is the founder of DCJA Consultancy. DCJA Consultancy is a management consultancy business specialising in B2B sales consultancy. They offer bespoke and packaged sales consultancy including Sales Optimisation Review, Interim Sales Management, Sales & Marketing Review, 1:1 Sales & Management Staff Analysis, Management Training, Solution Sales Training, Creation of New Pay Plan, KPI's, run Customer Feedback Campaigns, assist with Recruitment, Coaching, Appraisals and set up Strategic Marketing Campaigns. David spent his early career in accountancy and then moved into sales in 1982, working in Office Equipment, IT, Advertising, Training, Outsourcing and Consultancy. He has held many Senior Positions in SMBs and Global Organisations including Head of Sales Operations & Head of Business Development. His knowledge, skills and great experience of the Sales Industry has led to David making keynote speeches and running educational sessions to key businesses through organisations including The Chamber of Commerce and Business Link. - Visit David Acheson's Website |
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Dave KurlanDave Kurlan is the founder and CEO of Objective Management Group, Inc., the industry leader in sales assessments and sales force evaluations, and the CEO of David Kurlan & Associates, Inc., a consulting firm specializing in sales force development. Dave has been a top rated speaker at Inc. Magazine's Conference on Growing the Company, the Sales & Marketing Management Conference and the Gazelles Sales & Marketing Summit. He has been featured on radio and TV, including World Business Review with General Norman Schwarzkopf, in Inc. Magazine, Selling Power Magazine, Sales & Marketing Management Magazine and Incentive Magazine. He is the author of Mindless Selling and Baseline Selling – How to Become a Sales Superstar by Using What You Already Know about the Game of Baseball. He created and wrote STAR, a proprietary recruiting process for hiring great salespeople, and he writes Understanding the Sales Force, a popular business Blog and is a contributing author to The Death of 20th Century Selling and 101 Great Ways to Improve Your Life, Volume 2. - Visit Dave Kurlan's Website |
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Leanne Hoagland-SmithAre your sales where you want them to be? Will you be one of the few who achieves sales or business success or one of the many who have failed to change? Are you tired of being told you are like everyone else? Then you may find my first book on sales of interest. Be the Red Jacket in the Sea of Gray Suits, The Keys to Unlocking Sales available at Amazon or at http://www.processspecialist.com/red-jacket.htm. This book is a reflection of my no-nonsense approach to improving sales to overall business results. If you are truly committed to making sustainable changes, then I can help you secure a positive return on your investment because I focus on executable solutions not telling you the problems you already know you have. From training to corporate (group) coaching to executive one on one coaching, my approach is to assess, create awareness, build a goal driven action plan and then execute. The bottom line question is "Not do you or your employees know it, but do you or they want to do it?" Please call for a free strategy session at 219.759.5601. - Visit Leanne Hoagland-Smith's Website |
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Linda RichardsonLinda Richardson is the Founder and Executive Chairwoman of Richardson, a global sales training and performance improvement company. As a recognized leader in the industry, she has won the coveted Stevie Award for Lifetime Achievement in Sales Excellence and she was identified by Training Industry, Inc. as one of the “Top 20 Most Influential Training Professionals.” Ms. Richardson is credited with the movement to Consultative Selling and is the author of ten books on selling and sales management, including Sales Coaching — Making the Great Leap from Sales Manager to Sales Coach, and Stop Telling, Start Selling. She teaches sales and management at the Wharton Graduate School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Wharton Executive Development Center. Linda is a frequent speaker at industry and client conferences, has been published extensively in industry and training journals, and has been featured in numerous publications, including The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Nation’s Business, Selling Power, Success, and The Conference Board Magazine. Learn more about Richardson's sales training and performance improvement solutions at http://www.richardson.com web - Visit Linda Richardson's Website |
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John BrennanJohn Brennan Ed.D. Dr. Brennan is President of Interpersonal Development, LLC, a training and development firm. Interpersonal Development has provided sales training and coaching to more than 3,000 sales reps from over 100 companies. A native of Australia, Dr. Brennan received his doctorate from the University of Rochester. His dissertation researched the effectiveness of Behavioral Modeling Technology in training people in interpersonal skills. While he has spent most of his career designing or delivering training, he was also a Vice-President of Sales of a training and development franchise with operations in 25 markets. Dr. Brennan has designed and delivered sales training in North America, Asia, Europe, Australia and the Middle East. He has been a guest speaker at numerous national and regional professional conferences. When Microsoft wanted Best Practices articles on sales for their web site, they called Dr. Brennan. The results are at http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/FX011387391033.aspx His firm’s clients have included Volvo, The Prudential, Merrill Lynch, Eastman Kodak, Gannett, Equifax Europe, the Economist Group and countless small businesses. - Visit John Brennan's Website |
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Anne BarrAnne Barr has over 26 years experience in sales and marketing, six years as a franchisee. She has assisted over 367 business owners and purchasers to achieve their goals in career change, transition and exit strategy. She holds the designation of Certified Franchise Executive from the International Franchise Association, Certified Business Intermediary from the International Business Brokers Association and Board Certified Broker from the Texas Association of Business Brokers. Anne is active in professional organizations, networking groups and volunteers for non-profit entities. As owner/operator of four successful businesses, Anne has proven people skills and enjoys helping clients find the right "fit" in business ownership. Visit www.FranchiseOpportunitySpecialist.com for more information about me and my company. - Visit Anne Barr's Website |
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