Apr 03, 2020 Paul Sullivan

5 Top Linkedin Sales Strategies for b2b sales reps

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Are you a sales professional or business development professional struggling to adapt to using a LinkedIn sales strategy? This article will help you understand how to find leads and accounts, decision-makers and close deals using the latest version of LinkedIn.

 

Marketing on social media certainly has it’s benefits. It also has a lot of competition and a lot more distractions. Why not use a platform that has 500 million members and far less digital pollution? 

 

LinkedIn has everything that all those other platforms do, but far more professional. Not just a job-seeking site, it’s a place where connections are made and people come to network. It’s a place to do business!

 

Here are our 5 top strategies for making sales. 

 

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Marketing Tips for LinkedIn 

There is more to this site than looking at or posting resumes. 

 

1.    Complete a comprehensive personal and business profile 

 

What better way to let people know exactly what your personal or business brand is than by showing them. People buy people and are looking for signs of trust. Those LinkedIn profiles that are well completed, well endorsed and have links to work or projects obviously lay claim to a better level of projected trust.

 

In short, the more information you can share, the clearer your message will be. Be very specific and provide as much detail as you can to complete your profile. A profile that is completely filled out goes up in ranking. Check out our post on how to create a top profile here.

 

2.    Make connections and build your network

 

Think about who you usually do business with? Identify who makes the sign off decisions when you close contracts and whom you influence to do business?

 

Don’t just connect with people who are in a similar field make strategic connections with as many potential customers as possible. This will broaden your reach and bring more traffic to your profile and/or website.

 

As so many people use this site daily, don’t miss an opportunity. Build relationships with these other people by sharing their content, commenting and interacting with them. They will almost always reciprocate. 

 

Keep in regular contact with as many prospects as you can, make recommendations, send free samples and use this site like any other social setting. Just because the person you are connecting with doesn’t need your services, they will know someone who does. 

 

If you aren’t keeping track of who makes decisions in your sales cycles, check out our great guide to buyer personas. This will help you identify these people and also how to build campaigns to increase opportunities.

 

3.    Share your best articles and whitepapers 

 

Gaining the trust of potential customers online can only be done by demonstrating the value of your understanding of the challenges their business may face. By writing blog posts for your company website and then sharing those on LinkedIn you can demonstrate expertise and position your business for success.

 

It’s much easier to generate leads for your sales team when you share as much information as possible. Keep it consistent and update your status regularly. Share regular content from your blog and other marketing platforms here, as well. 

 

4.    Use Photos videos and gifs

 

Pictures of you, your team, your products all make for a far more interesting profile and will get far more views. It’s a great way to not only sell products but build trust and connect with potential customers. 

 

What better way to show off a new product than by actually showing it. Post-how-to demos of your products so people are clear. It’s a great way to peak people’s interests and sell more products. 

 

But remember, you can’t just sell, sell, sell and hope that works. In fact, it’s far more likely to annoy. Build brand equity, show videos of your team working, maybe do a daily update on how your customers could better benefit from a solution like yours. Offer real value to your audience and grab their attention by being of use, not of service. That comes later!

 

5.    Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator

 

LinkedIn sales navigator is the number one choice for enterprise and SME sales organisations.  By utilising the advanced search you can target your audience and only connect with the decision-makers. In addition to this, you can cherry-pick the profiles and build lists with saved leads. This helps you segment your audience and enables your sales team to work in industries, sectors or job titles.

 

As you build lists your sales navigator updates you on your prospects posts, activities and job changes. This ensures you remain on top of their social activity and maximises the opportunity to engage with them. 

 

 

Prospecting thoughts to consider 

This site is a hotbed for reaching out and networking with other businesses, potential suppliers, customers, and even employees. LinkedIn has grown considerably over the past few years and that shows no sign of slowing down. 

 

Using it to market your company is just good sense. Reach your ultimate audience, build relationships and sell more products with the right profile and content.

 

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Published by Paul Sullivan April 3, 2020
Paul Sullivan