This document provides 7 tips for using LinkedIn and social media for sales. It discusses using your LinkedIn profile effectively, engaging in groups, connecting with others, communicating regularly by sharing valuable content, and using social media for sales intelligence and pipeline generation. Some key stats include that 79% of sales reps that used social selling achieved their quota, and positive tweets can increase sales more than traditional advertising. The tips encourage personalizing outreach, speeding up the sales cycle, searching for leads, and contributing to existing conversations to open doors without cold calling.
5. Three most used elements on Linkedin
• Profile
• Groups
• Feed communication
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Less used are:
Follow people
Follow companies
Direct messages
Search
6. Profile
• A LinkedIn profile is similar to a work resume. You
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can follow LinkedIn’s Profile Completion
Tips when editing your profile.
A great and attractive profile not just display your
education, work experience, skills, but also
presents, brand and leverage your current work
position.
Profiles with photos receive 40% InMail response
rate!
The more information you’ll provide, the more
preventative you’ll be, and get more response and
active references.
7. Tip #1 - Temporarily Turn Off Activity Broadcast
• If you’ve had LinkedIn for a while and have
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already connected with people, updating your
profile will fill their feed and your ‘Wall’ with
update notices. This means that if you happen
to choose to update your LinkedIn with ‘old
details’, for instance, if you are finally coming
out as the sales manager that you are, your
connections will think that you’ve only gotten
the job recently.
By turning off your activity broadcast
temporarily, you can silently update your
LinkedIn profile without letting the world
know.
8. Tip #2 – Endorsement and Recommendations
• Everyone are looking into the profile to look for
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endorsements and recommendations.
Some of them are also looking at the
recommendations you wrote to others, to see
articulation skills.
You should pursue for recommendations; from
customers, colleagues, and everyone you
were interacted business-wise with.
9. Be Active In LinkedIn Groups
• Groups on LinkedIn is a place for
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members to share and participate in a
professional setting in a specific
industry or area of interests. There
are plenty of groups for companies,
specific skills, specific role and job
title, technologic trends and a variety
of associations from all over the
world.
Being actively involved in these
groups could lead you to make new
connections, brand yourself, and
increase Magic’s presence in market
place.
10. Tip #3 – Find the right groups and post there
• Find where your target crowd is, post
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and comment.
Get reaching and exposure for you
and magic, to thousands of potential
customers.
i.e.
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CRM experts (59K members)
JD Edwards Experts (7K)
Mobile Development Business (16K)
SAP community (227K)
SAP people (26K)
Strategic Enterprise Mobility (6K)
Chief Information Officer Network (96K)
• Looking for an idea for what to post?
Just look at Magic’s group.
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11. Connect
• Connecting on Linkedin is all about extending
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your reach to prospect. Your 1st level
connections are connected to your 2nd tier, etc.
using a reference is the name of the game
(word-of-mouth recommendation).
When trying to make a new connection with a
fellow professional/ customer/ lead, you have
to send them an email request. The request is
already standardized but it’s always a good
idea to personalize it. You can even cut to the
chase and suggest a business meeting with
the person.
Meetings that are being set through Linkedin,
better with the help of a joint member, are
easier to set up, and are more productive and
positive towards closing.
12. Tip #4 – use Linkedin to speedup pipeline
• Upon meeting or conversing with any new
business associate or contact, or even
being referred to a beneficial resource or
contact, you should immediately follow up
with an invitation to connect on LinkedIn.
• As specialists describe, a sales cycle will
typically, statistically, require a total of six
contacts before a prospect is ready to tip
over the edge. Creating the LinkedIn
contact (as well as an immediate email
follow up message to a first
conversation), will instantly move the
number of contacts from a first meeting
from one interaction to three. Halfway to
goal!
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13. Tip #5 – How to add even more contacts
• Link your email account to find your econtacts on Linkedin
• Check the ‘who’s viewed your profile’
• Check the social buttons on
Salesforce, just below the lead’s
missing picture.
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14. Communicate
When
How
What
• Share updates and share often -
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Why
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people that share 2-5 times a week
see an increase in profile views and
engagement.
Don’t be too self-promotional
though – offer value and insight.
Become a resource for great
material – presentations, videos,
demos, success stories and tips.
Demonstrate Magic’s and yours
expertise
You *CAN* leverage your reputation
with Magic, and vice-versa
15. Sales reps that rapidly responded to trigger events via social media saw a 9.5%
increase in annual revenue.
- Aberdeen Group
79% of sales reps that incorporated social selling achieved their quota over the
last calendar year.
- Aberdeen Group
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16. A 30% increase in positive tweets is four times more effective in driving sales than a
30% increase in traditional above-the-line advertising
- Deloitte
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17. Profiling – sales intelligence
• Linkedin and Twitter can give you a wealth of information
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about your new prospect.
Go beyond the corporate stuff.
Before picking up the phone, look for commonalities that you
can talk about.
Follow his twitter account to get to know more about the
person, not the prospect.
Engage in conversation on topic (#hashtage)
18. Communicate
• Share updates using (#) on trends and well•
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known terms – people will see it – #CIO
#EnterpriseMobility #BYOD #IT #integration
Response and comment (reply) on others
tweets.
Hashtage (@) your contacts or prospect for
direct communication.
Become a resource for great material – link to
Magic and industries’ articles, presentations,
videos, demos, success stories and tips.
Demonstrate Magic’s and yours expertise
19. Tip #6 – Search and make lists
• Private lists: Just keep a particular batch of accounts of interest in one
place for an easily keep up with.
• Public lists: Public lists do two things that make a private list better for
this case - they tip off the people on the list that you have listed them
(and what name you have given that list). They also tip off anyone else
who is paying attention to your Twitter account that you have listed
those accounts (and again, what name you have given that list). Means,
you can rip valuable information by digging into public lists.
• So, you can create your own list of customers, and search and follow
public lists of IT managers
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20. Tweets not only generate valuable word-of-mouth effects that impacts consumer
demand, but positive tweets about a brand directly drive sales.
- Deloitte
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21. Final tip
“If you just write them a message with a pitch
and a link to your website, they will be
uninterested”
“If you say, ‘Here are some solutions to your
problem, maybe my product or service can
help’, they will know you care about them.
If you really listen to what they are saying on
social media, you can open doors and start
a conversation without having to make a
cold call.
”Contribute to a conversation they are already
having with their social network and share
content that they will find useful.
- Forbes
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23. The best sales reps are not just present in Social Media, they position
themselves as credible and influential resources in their customer networks
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