There are 4.2 million LinkedIn accounts registered in Poland, of which as much as 0.5 million were added in 2020. In September 2020, the website was visited over 51 million times. Users who come to LinkedIn are focused on business communication and are the best source of potential customers. Therefore, selling on Linked is an increasingly important source of customer acquisition.
Why LinkedIn?
About 75% of B2B customers use social media before making a business decision (according to IDC research). Salespeople who use social selling techniques report 51% better sales results. 89.9% of the best salespeople consider LinkedIn to be indispensable in their daily work.
Despite the growing popularity of sales via social media, many traders are just starting their adventure with LinkedIn. They don’t know how to start or what to focus on. That is why we have prepared 13 simple ways to sell on LinkedIn. After following these tips, social selling will become part of your routine.
How to prepare for sale on LinkedIn?
Before using our tips, remember that your profile must be properly prepared. Professionally prepared and developed in terms of industries and clients you are interested in. Extensive tips on how to develop your profile can be found in our e-book “How do I create a LinkedIn profile that sells?”. Remember that the first impression is the most important, so a well-prepared profile is essential for successful sales communication.
Profile – where to start
For extensive tips, download our e-book “How do I create a LinkedIn profile that sells?”. Below you will find a brief summary of the individual points and tips.
Photo: Use a professional photo
Headline: Adapt it to your target audience
Profile: Remember a short, simple message that you want to convey with your profile. Publish articles, videos and posts that will build your expert position. Take care of the linguistic correctness and clarity of the message.
News: Successively share content that may be of interest to your followers and your contacts. Avoid pushy sales messages.
Recommendations: Make recommendations to others and ask for a recommendation from close contacts.
A task at the beginning
An important element in building the customer base on LinkedIn is consistency. Spend a few minutes each day reading messages and browsing your whiteboard. React with your contacts through comments and likes. Share interesting articles that relate to your field.
Tip – Build a network of contacts
Add contacts every day. Select “My Network” on the top bar. You can use the LinkedIn offer or manually search for contacts according to your key. Think about your target group and try to add contacts that will be interested in your offer. With a free LinkedIn account, you can send around 50 invitations a day. With LinkedIn Premium, this number increases to 100-125 invitations per day. By using Sales Navigator, you can invite 200-225 contacts a day. Remember to include a personalized message as it will increase the chances that your invitation will be accepted.
If sending more than 200 invitations a day is taking up too much of your time, RobotIn can help. Many activities that seem time-consuming can be delegated to our algorithm, which will do it for you.
Tip – Search for business connections
Take full advantage of Advanced Search on LinkedIn. Search for people who will be interested in your offer. Search for people from specific companies or with specific skills. Remember that for contacts with whom you have not had previous contact, you must increase the chance that they will accept your invitation. Try to interact with the profile before sending the invitation. Visit their profile, leave comments under their posts, prove their skills. Each of these activities will increase the chance that your contact will accept your invitation and will be interested in your offer.
Tip 3 – Join Groups
Use groups to connect with other people on LinkedIn. You will find potential customers, business contacts, industry personalities and competitors there. LinkedIn gives you the opportunity to join 100 groups. When you reach 100 groups, you must unsubscribe or withdraw your request to join in order to join more. A useful feature is the ability to send direct messages to all members of the group. Publishing posts directly in the group will allow you to interact with a strictly defined target group. Use it when preparing the text and choosing the communication.
Tip 4 – Keep an eye on your contacts
You can not only send messages and invitations to contacts. There is also an option to follow contacts. You can follow up to 5,000 contacts. Their profile content will appear on your board more often and you will show additional interest in expanding your business relationship.
Tip 5 – Send direct messages
When your contact accepts your invitation, you will be able to send direct messages. Stay in touch with the people who make up your potential customers. Present your offer, but also build business relations. Respond to messages as soon as possible and don’t forget to keep in touch.
Tip 6 – Make the most of your network
Find people with whom you already have something in common. Search for them through former employers, colleges, locations, or people who connect you. Mention what you have in common in a personalized message. Remember about the message limits imposed by LinkedIn. For a free account: 50 invitations a day, LinkedIn Premium: 100-125 invitations a day, Sales Navigator: 200-225 invitations a day.
7 Tip – Company Profiles
Follow company profiles and check what your competition is doing on LinkedIn. What messages do they use, who they address their posts to and what profile of users is following them. Decide whether you want to stand out from the competition or follow their steps. Company profiles are not only your competition, but also suppliers, large customers and partners. By entering into reactions with their profiles, you increase your visibility and the potential range of your offer.
Tip 8 – List of potential customers
Make a list of people with whom you want to establish business relations or present your offer. Do you have any contacts in common? Are you in the same group? Are you interested in similar content? Prepare a plan on how you want to make contact and what offer you want to present.
9 Tip – Search for points of interest
Analyze the profiles from your list of potential customers. Look for points of common interest: former employees, joint contacts, LinkedIn groups, interests. If you can, ask your joint contacts to introduce you to the client on your list. Recommendation by joint contact is as important on LinkedIn as in business contacts outside social media.
Tip 10 – Analyze other users’ profiles
Use profiles of famous personalities from your industry on LinkedIn. Check how they write about their offer, what message you see on their profile, what people are following and what groups they belong to. Make notes of the practices you want to emulate and those you find impractical. Learn from the best, but remember to give your communication your own signature.
11 Tip – Who Viewed Your Profile
In the left corner of your profile, just below the photo, you will find the information “Who viewed your profile”. Regularly check who is visiting you and make contact with them. These are people who have expressed some interest in your offer. Maybe they got interested in the post you posted on your profile, or maybe they found you through the posts on the group. It is important that you continue the conversation and present your offer.
Tip 12 – What is in the Groups?
You have already joined groups using clue 3. Now it’s time to take a deeper look at them. Regularly check for new posts, look for content with which you want to interact. Answer questions, ask your own questions. Show yourself as an expert in the industry. Share tips and useful content for the group. Search for new members of the group, see who it is worth to further contact.
Tip 13 – The Results of Your Work
Remember to check the results of your work on an ongoing basis. Use LinkedIn tools for this, but also your own notes. Answer the questions to evaluate your activities on LinkedIn:
- How many contacts did you make?
- How many of them translated into business?
- How much time do you devote to your daily activities on LinkedIn?
- Do you see more interest in your business and offer?
- What can you improve?
- Do you need to change your sales message or target audience?
- How many people accept my invitation?
- What can I do to increase my reach on LinkedIn?
Once a month, sit down with a list of questions and find the answers. This will help you streamline your activities on LinkedIn and make sure you are on the right track.
LinkedIn – start today
Introduce the tips you found in the article into your routine and you will see that selling on LinkedIn is not as difficult as it seems. The more time you spend on these activities, the sooner they will become commonplace for you.