Introduction
LinkedIn is essential for professionals, and even more so for salespeople and marketers. This article describes how to use LinkedIn for sales prospecting. It shows you how to improve your profile to generate leads and convert those leads into customers.
Here are five steps to success on LinkedIn. It covers preparing your profile, developing relationships with prospects, automating prospecting and tips for standing out from the competition.
Linkedin: an important customer source
LinkedIn serves as a professional showcase offering great potential for business development. With over 800 million users, it’s the world’s largest professional social network. It provides access to a database of contacts potentially interested in your offers.
The social network stands out for its precise targeting, its ability to build brand credibility, establish authentic relationships and act as a bridge to other communication channels. LinkedIn is particularly well suited to diversifying acquisition sources in B2B, where it is actively used by decision-makers. In 2024, customer canvassing can and should also be done on Linkedin to complement more traditional channels such as emailing or the telephone.
LinkedIn is more than just a B2B database. It is also complete and reliable, as it is regularly updated by its users. This makes it possible to track professional developments that are important for targeted prospecting.
What is Linkedin?
Founded in 2003 in Mountain View, California, LinkedIn is the world’s largest online professional social media. It enables users to search for jobs, create and strengthen professional relationships, and enhance their career skills.
A complete LinkedIn profile lets you showcase your career path through experience, skills and training. The platform allows you to take part in events, join groups and publish content, among other activities.
LinkedIn aims to connect professionals around the world, fostering collaboration and business opportunities. Originally, Linkedin’s main mission was to facilitate the recruitment of new talent, and this is still the case today, making it an important source for recruiters who want to intensify their Growth Hiring system. Its name reflects its mission to forge meaningful professional links.
What are the reasons for approaching customers on Linkedin?
LinkedIn is a preferred tool for prospecting, used by 78% of sales reps. A polished professional profile is essential for attracting potential customers, offering a convincing first impression.
The platform offers effective features for contacting prospects and converting them into customers. This includes a complete profile description, optimization, visit analysis and publication of relevant content.
Participating in conversations and groups, precisely targeting prospects, following their news and contacting them are effective strategies for successful prospecting on LinkedIn and for winning new customers.
5 steps to successful Linkedin canvassing
Canvassing on LinkedIn can be complex. Following these five steps will increase your chances of success. These steps will help you navigate Linkedin and exploit the automatable tools that revolve around it.
The first is to prepare your LinkedIn profile. It needs to be filled in with relevant, up-to-date information, and optimized for search and engagement. The profile is your professional showcase; it must demonstrate your expertise and unique value.
The second is to build your lead base. This requires targeting the right prospects with LinkedIn filters and other tools, such as LinkedIn Sales Navigator. Understanding their needs and challenges is crucial to proposing appropriate solutions.
The third is to convert prospects into customers. This requires effective, personalized communication. Messages should be tailored to their needs, showing how you can help them.
The fourth is to build and maintain relationships. LinkedIn is a networking tool. Long-term success depends on building trusting relationships. Sharing relevant content, participating in discussions, and staying visible and accessible is important.
The fifth and last is to stand out from the competition. Deliver exceptional service, demonstrate a deep understanding of customer challenges and perform A/B testing with MirrorProfiles.
By following these steps, LinkedIn becomes an effective canvassing tool. With the right method, you can generate qualified leads, build lasting relationships and increase your sales.
Step 1: Prepare your Linkedin profile for prospecting
Optimize your profile photo and banner
First impressions on LinkedIn are important. Your profile photo should be professional and reflect your brand identity. It should be of good quality, with a neutral background and good lighting. Selfies and unprofessional photographs are to be avoided. The banner is a space to showcase your personal brand or company values. It should be in harmony with your sector or contain an inspirational quote. Here’s an article detailing all the photo sizes you need.
Make sure your photo is public and conveys the right message. LinkedIn offers editing options, but simplicity is preferable. The banner should complement your photo in a professional way.
Update your photo and banner regularly to show your professional commitment.
Improve your title and summary
Your LinkedIn title should be catchy and represent your role or expertise. Use keywords to increase your visibility. The summary is an opportunity to present your achievements and the unique value you bring.
Start your summary with a hook, detail your experiences and finish with a call to action. Use a natural, personalized style. Include keywords to help with referencing. Think of your Linkedin profile as a website with its own SEO.
The summary should show your professional personality and how you can help your prospects.
List your key skills and experience
In the experience section, describe your previous positions, highlighting your responsibilities and successes, preferably quantified. When it comes to skills, choose those best suited to your sector.
Technical and interpersonal skills need to be balanced. Present the ones that set you apart.
Get recommendations and validation of skills from your network. This reinforces the credibility of your profile.
Step 2: Build your prospecting files
The creation of a prospecting file is essential for a targeted approach on LinkedIn. This allows you to focus your prospecting efforts on the most appropriate prospects for your company. Successful canvassing requires precise targetting.
A well-developed file is a useful tool for tracking and analyzing interactions with prospects. It helps fine-tune communication strategy and serves as the foundation for LinkedIn campaigns.
The quality and organization of the information collected are crucial to the file’s effectiveness. It’s important to gather complete and up-to-date information, including contacts, current positions, companies, and prospects’ professional interests.
Using SalesNavigator Linkedin: advanced searches
This tool provides advanced search options to precisely identify prospects. Its filters enable you to refine your search according to specific criteria such as position, industry, location, and more.
It helps you save searches and create personalized lists of prospects, optimizing prospecting time and efficiency. Real-time alerts signal significant changes, such as job changes, affecting prospecting strategy.
It also makes it easy to optimize white paper sharing through Smart Links, allowing you to intelligently track your prospects, very useful if your target is a major account and you have an ABM strategy.
Tips: Linkedin is a rich source of leads
LinkedIn offers much more than improved filters. By default, several interesting data sources are available, such as :
- Job offers: indirectly, you can deduce that a company has a specific need. If they’re recruiting a developer and you’re a web development agency, it’s the right time to approach them.
- Linkedin groups and webinars: the advantage here is that you get qualitative information: what your prospect is interested in.
- Posts and comments on Linkedin publications.
- For more details, here’s an article that will interest you.
Step 3: Convert prospects into customers
Turning prospects into customers is the main objective on LinkedIn. This important step requires strategic planning. Timing and the right offer are crucial. You need to identify the right moment to present your offer in a way that meets prospects’ needs.
Once you’ve established contact and started a conversation, it’s essential to note the signs of interest from prospects. These signs indicate the right time to present your services. The aim is to present ourselves as a solution to their problem, not just a salesperson.
It’s crucial to personalize the proposal, highlighting how your services can help the prospect. A good understanding of their needs enables us to propose an offer that is perceived as support and not simply as a transaction.
When and how to offer your services
Offer your services on LinkedIn tactically. Creating a services page on LinkedIn makes it easier to present your offers. Prospects can contact you directly via this page.
It’s advisable to respond to requests promptly, if possible within 24 hours, to show your commitment. Responsiveness is one of the keys to Linkedin, which is why we created MirrorChat. Your proposal must be precise, clear and tailored, showing that you understand the customer’s needs.
The proposal should also contain a call to action, encouraging the prospect to discuss further or to a demonstration. This can help convert the prospect into a customer by offering a more personal interaction.
Follow up and follow up your prospects
Follow-up and follow-through are essential for successful conversion. You have to be present without being intrusive. Using LinkedIn’s features allows you to track interactions and plan judicious follow-ups.
Personalized messages and constant engagement strengthen the relationship. Showing ongoing interest demonstrates your willingness to meet their needs. A balance is needed between being present and respecting their space.
The relaunch must be timely and add value. It may offer new information, a promotion or an invitation to a relevant event. Don’t forget that you’re on a social network, so there are codes to respect in terms of the form and content of your prospecting messages.
Automate your Linkedin canvassing
This method can increase your efficiency by managing a larger number of prospects. Hey Reach, La Growth Machine and Lemlist automate Linkedin sequences, tracking interactions and scheduling follow-ups.
Automated messages need to be personalized. Automation complements human interaction, not replaces it. Once you’ve mastered it, it’s worth starting to build a real SalesMachine on Linkedin. This will involve renting Linkedin accounts in order to exceed quotas. This will ensure that your salespeople have enough Linkedin prospecting volume to make it rain qualified appointments.
Automate aims to improve prospects’ experience on LinkedIn, offering them useful information while allowing you to focus on the strategic parts of conversion.
Step 4: Build and maintain a relationship with your prospects
Establishing a lasting link with your prospects on LinkedIn goes beyond simply connecting. This requires ongoing commitment and in-depth communication. Regularly offering relevant content and interacting with expertise helps build a relationship based on trust and mutual respect, crucial to converting a prospect into a regular customer.
The content you share must correspond to your prospects’ interests and needs. It should be informative, relevant and illustrate your expertise in your sector. By distributing analyses, case studies, testimonials or in-depth articles, you demonstrate your understanding of the challenges faced by your prospects and your ability to respond to them.
What’s more, content must be presented with care. Use quality images, powerful headlines and a clear layout to make your publications easy to read and share. This improves interaction with your content and the distribution of your message within LinkedIn.
Publish relevant and engaging content
Publishing content that resonates with your audience is essential. Define your editorial line and fine-tune your content to meet your audience’s expectations.
Alternate publication types to keep interest and stimulate engagement. Infographics, videos, detailed articles, short, interactive publications such as polls or questions all encourage your prospects’ attention and encourage interaction.
Maintain a regular publication to engage your audience. A consistent publication schedule and a well thought-out content strategy are crucial for an active and appropriate presence on LinkedIn.
Interact regularly with your network
Interacting with your network is just as crucial as publishing content. React to comments, engage in discussions, congratulate your contacts on their successes and offer your help where appropriate.
Use LinkedIn’s tools to keep track of your network’s news, such as promotions or professional anniversaries, and seize these opportunities to reconnect.
Finally, personalizing your interactions is important. A personalized message has more impact than a standard one. Personalize your connection requests, congratulations and replies to show genuine interest in your network.
Step 5: Set yourself apart from the competition by going the extra mile
Distinguishing yourself in LinkedIn prospecting goes beyond strategy and tools. By adopting the right tools, it’s possible to optimize time and effort, while offering prospects a personalized experience. This helps you stand out from the competition.
Tool options for prospecting on LinkedIn include task automation and data analysis to better understand prospects. They facilitate network management and a targeted approach to prospecting campaigns.
Using these elements can increase the number of qualified leads and improve the quality of interactions, a key element in turning prospects into loyal customers.
Complementary tools to maximize your LinkedIn prospecting
Waalaxy, PhantomBuster and LinkedIn Sales Navigator help intensify prospecting on LinkedIn. PhantomBuster, for example, supports scraping automation, while Waalaxy offers features for interacting with the platform, managing your campaigns and establishing connections.
LinkedIn Sales Navigator provides advanced search and tracking capabilities, essential for targeted prospecting. This software makes it easy to locate and contact the right profiles, automate introductory messages and export quality profiles.
These tools should be selected according to specific needs and used ethically, in accordance with LinkedIn’s policies. Automating LinkedIn must support human interaction, preserving a personalized, authentic approach.
Verticalizing your LinkedIn prospecting
Verticalizing prospecting on LinkedIn means adjusting strategy to specific sectors or niches. This requires in-depth knowledge of the target industry, its challenges and needs, and adapting the approach accordingly.
By focusing on specific verticals, it’s possible to create content and messages that resonate with the target audience, including case studies and testimonials tailored to the industry’s unique challenges.
Verticalization may also require the use of industry-specific keywords and terms in profile and communications, which can enhance visibility and appeal to industry prospects.
Conclusion
In 2024, it’s crucial to know how to use LinkedIn to stand out in a competitive environment. By applying the five essential steps, from improving your profile to adopting additional tools, LinkedIn can become a key tool for developing your business. The key to success lies in the personalization and volume of prospecting you can achieve MirrorProfiles. Now is the time to take action and use LinkedIn to achieve your goals.
