42 linkedin inside sales tips

42 LinkedIn Inside Sales TipsBy Ken Krogue and Jamie Shanks

Ken Krogue

Jamie Shanks

insidesales.com

42

Share this eBook: InsideSales.com | Sales for Life

INTRODUCTION

LINKEDIN ISOUT-PULLING EMAIL 7-TO-1

42The 42 LinkedIn Inside Sales Tips eBook is designed to help you drive new business. You’ll learn critical practices to help you connect better with prospects and customers and increase revenue.

Traditional selling channels of email and phone are tried and true, but LinkedIn and other social channels can greatly increase sales performance. Here is a preview on just one of the powerful tips — did you know LinkedIn performs 7 times better than email in some cases? Get social and leave old school selling in the dust.

These 42 tips were originally presented by Ken Krogue and Jamie Shanks as a webinar which you can watch here.

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LINKEDIN CHEATSHEET

12 GRAB YOUR NAME

13 USE A GOOD PICTURE

14 COMPLETE YOUR PROFILE

15 MAKE YOUR WEDDING/FUNERAL LIST

16 CONNECT TO YOUR CUSTOMERS

17 FOLLOW YOUR CUSTOMER’S COMPANIES

18 CONNECT TO YOUR EMPLOYEES

19 HAVE A POINT PERSON

20 CONNECT TO YOUR PROSPECTS

21 RESPOND BY EMAIL THEN CONNECT

22 CONNECT AT TRADE SHOWS

23 JOIN INDUSTRY GROUPS

24 JOIN LOCAL GROUPS

25 UPDATE ON TWITTER

26 CONNECT A WIDGET ON YOUR BLOG

27 SEND MESSAGES INSTEAD OF EMAIL

28 USE TAGS TO CATEGORIZE

29 USE LINKEDIN EVENTS

30 OFFER VALUE TO CONNECTIONS

31 RECOMMEND OTHERS

32 USE LINKEDIN FOR INTRODUCTIONS

33 DO A 3X3 ANALYSIS

34 FOLLOW PROSPECT COMPANIES

35 USE 3 FREE SEO LINKS

36 LINKEDIN EVENTS WITH TRADE SHOWS

37 PROMOTE & SHARE EVERY EVENT YOU ATTEND

38 TARGET PROSPECTS BY SIZE, TITLE, INDUSTRY

39 ASK FOR RECOMMENDATIONS

40 ASK FOR CUSTOMER RECOMMENDATIONS

41 MAKE IT EASY TO ASK FOR REFERRALS FROM YOUR CUSTOMERS

42 DON’T SPAM

1 BE A THOUGHT LEADER

2 DRIVE OPPORTUNITY

3 THE SECRETS WITHIN GROUPS

4 SKILLS AS A SEO HUNTING TOOL

5 SAVE YOUR INMAILS

6 ‘HOT PROSPECTS’ IN GROUPS

7 FOLLOW ‘HOT PROSPECTS’

8 TIMING WITHIN FOLLOWERS

9 TIMING WITHIN SIGNALS

10 ATTACK FOLLOWERS

11 INSIGHTS INTO THEIR BUSINESS

JAMIE SHANKS TIPS

KEN KROGUE TIPS








ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Tips: 12-42Throughout Ken’s career, he has worked to grow the inside sales industry from a small department into an industry. Through his professional experiences, Ken has conducted research on the best practices and methods of selling—including socially. At InsideSales.com, Ken has used his experience of the inside sales industry to create a powerful sales automation software platform which increases the effectiveness and efficiency of an inside sales department.

Tips: 1-11Sales for Life provides two things for clients. First, they train sales teams to drive business through LinkedIn and Twitter. Second, they become the sales rep themselves. Sales for Life has a social selling, lead generation program that takes over a company’s LinkedIn and Twitter accounts and begins driving new opportunities similar to traditional B2B lead generation.Jamie Shanks

Managing PartnerSales for Life

Ken KroguePresident & Co-founderInsideSales.com








LEADERBE A THOUGHT

To start generating results from LinkedIn and social selling, you need to become a thought leader within your industry. There are two avenues of approach to being a thought leader in business.

Step OneIf you’re a sales rep at Company ABC, you need to be subscribing to pieces of thought-leadership that you can share with your prospects, vendors, and clients. For example, Ken is a fantastic creator of great thought-leadership. Jamie subscribes to Ken’s blog and views the information using Feedly, a product used to visualize RSS feeds into a newspaper. Other tools he uses to capture quality content to share with his prospects are Scoop.it and HootSuite.

Step TwoCreate original content. Easy ways of distributing content are using a blog, SlideShare or YouTube (video is becoming extremely important).

1







http://www.feedly.com/

http://www.scoop.it/

http://hootsuite.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/

http://www.youtube.com/user/officialinsidesales/videos


2DRIVEOPPORTUNITY

After relevant content has been curated and digested by your prospects, you can start driving meeting requests through LinkedIn. Remember, LinkedIn is not a repository for your resume. It’s a place to actively drive business.

Example If your prospect posted an article (update) on LinkedIn four minutes ago, you can see they are engaged online. Whether you use the telephone to call them or send a message through LinkedIn, you know the chances are high that they are available to pay attention to your message.

Additionally, make sure you’re using a call-to-action at the bottom of every message. This creates a much higher ROI. It’s a great method to booking meetings.

NOTPLACE TO SIT PASSIVELYREPOSITORY FOR RESUME

ISTO USE CALL-TO-ACTION

ACTIVELY DRIVE BUSINESS








When deciding which groups to become a member of, think in three levels.

First Join five to ten groups that everyone else in your industry is joining.

SecondGo a layer lower within specific verticals. For example, join groups that clients are involved in.

ThirdMost importantly, is to understand the persona of your buyer.

At Sales for Life, they sell to VPs of Sales and Sales Directors. Therefore, they need to be involved in every major group in North America that these buyers are part of.

3 SECRETS WITHINTHE

GROUPS

INDUSTRYCLIENT INVOLVEDBUYERS PERSONA

GROUPS TO JOIN

THINK IN3 LEVELS

Nothing is more powerful within LinkedIn than groups. As a member of LinkedIn, you are allowed to join 50 groups. Use every one.








4 SKILLS AS A SEOHUNTING TOOL

At the top of a company’s LinkedIn corporate page there is a button called “Insights.” This is where LinkedIn provides a profile outline of that particular company.

For example, on InsideSales.com’s LinkedIn page, it shows the most common skills that InsideSales.com employees have.

How to TargetIf you’re targeting companies like InsideSales.com, you can select a skill like “Lead Generation.” The link will take you to a page that shows all the most influential companies relating to that skill and the most populous groups you’d want to join. This tool is extremely useful when mapping out groups to join.








5 SAVE YOURINMAILS

If you aren’t connected to someone on LinkedIn, you are unable to send them a message without using InMail, a paid service.

However, if you’re a member of Sales 2.0 and Inside Sales Experts you can send anyone within that group a private message even though you aren’t a 1st degree connection.

There isn’t enough data yet to determine if InMails are opened more frequently and have a greater ROI than other LinkedIn messages. Regardless, sending messages through shared LinkedIn groups is the best avenue.

SEND MESSAGES THROUGH A GROUP PAGE








IN GROUPS‘HOT PROSPECTS’6

The great part about groups is that they provide numerous prospects. After sending a message and starting a conversation with a quality prospect, go back into that same group and target other group members.

How to Find ProspectsYou can do this by conducting advanced searches based on targeted keywords, key company functions or seniority. This will provide you an endless prospecting pool, all of which is available with free messaging.








‘HOT PROSPECTS’FOLLOW7

LinkedIn allows users to follow up to 5,000 people. Following is different than connecting but the benefits are the same.

Best Practice To build your database, go into any group you are a member of and pull up the list of group members. You’ll notice that at the bottom of the profiles of the people who you are in 1st degree connection, it will say, “Unfollow.” If you start scrolling into the 2nd and 3rd degree connections, you’ll notice that the button changes to “Follow.”








FOLLOWERSTIMING WITHIN8

Timing is everything when it comes to getting in touch with prospects. This is where LinkedIn is so helpful.

By using LinkedIn as a “time trigger,” you know the moment a prospect posts an update. Because of this, there is a strong possibility they could still be on their computer. Use this as an opportunity to time your message and increase the likelihood of making contact with a message on LinkedIn or a phone call!

TipIf your prospect has the time to be using LinkedIn right now – they probably are available to take a phone call. You have a much higher probability of getting him on the phone at this time than at any other time.








SIGNALSTIMING WITHIN9

Use this tool to create between 30 and 50 trigger words using competitors and key industry phrases. Check this tool three times per day: in the morning, at lunch and in the evening.

How ToOn the top bar within LinkedIn, hover over the option that reads “News.” Within that drop down menu, select the third selection called, “LinkedIn Signal.” This tool allows you to create trigger words to keep track of particular topics.

You can probably imagine how powerful this tool is. If someone says the words “social selling” and that’s one of your keywords, you will hear it and will be able to respond accordingly.

TipSales for Life has found, from their own business, that 70% of every lead created is through this method.








10 ATTACKFOLLOWERS

In addition to the “LinkedIn Signal feature,” there is another technique that is equally important for driving business with LinkedIn.

FirstPick a client with a strong success story from using your product.

NextGo onto their corporate LinkedIn page and click on “Followers.”

This immediately tells you they’re going to be the most receptive to a message that includes a success story featuring that client.

Why? Because if you are a follower of a company you are one of three types of people: the direct competitor (they want to know what you’re doing), competitive emulation (other companies in your space with the same target audience), or consumer that have used your product (vendors, partners and past clients).

DIRECT COMPETITOR

COMPETITIVE EMULATION

CONSUMER

3 TYPES OF

FOLLOWERS








BUSINESSINSIGHTS INTO THEIR11

In addition to viewing the followers of a client, you can also gain powerful information by clicking on that same company’s “Insights” button.

How ToThis feature within LinkedIn will retrieve six similar businesses that you can target. These are the people who would probably care about the success story of that similar company. Start messaging these people—they could provide great value.








NAMEGRAB YOUR12

Make sure that your public profile URL is shortened to contain just your name, i.e. http://www.linkedin.com/in/kenkrogue. If you leave the default assigned by LinkedIn, your personal URL will have a series of random letters and numbers. It looks like a mess and is hard to remember and link to. Make sure you grab your name before someone else does.

TipIf you aren’t able to grab your own name, try adding something that says something about your professional expertise or industry. For example, if Ken Krogue had been taken, I would have chosen /kenkroguesales. Sales says a lot more about me than /kenkrogue1, which is the typical fallback selection.

www.linkedin.com/in/kenkrogue

www.linkedin.com/pub/ken-krogue/2/4a/328www.linkedin.com/in/kenkrogue

www.linkedin.com/pub/ken-krogue/2/4a/328

DO

DON’T








USE A GOODPICTURE13

LinkedIn is a professional site—it’s not a personal site like Facebook. That being said, make sure your LinkedIn profile picture portrays you in a professional manner. You probably won’t have the same profile image as you do on Facebook.

How ToTo ensure your picture looks professional, use a good, close-up picture that stands out. At InsideSales.com, we use a black and white, short-cropped head shot. Why black and white? It stands out. Make your picture unique while maintaining a professional appearance.








PROFILECOMPLETE YOUR14

Set up your profile correctly to keep it fresh. This will help you gain credibility within the LinkedIn environment. It’s actually not as hard as it sounds.

LinkedIn provides the user with the necessary steps to complete their profile. By following all the steps, your LinkedIn profile can be 100 percent complete within a few hours.

Take the time to fill in educational history and professional experience. It will be easier to expand your professional network. More importantly, it sends a message of proactivity to prospects who may look at your profile.

Warning: Using LinkedIn with an incomplete profile is a mistake. It shows a lack of credibility and professionalism.

100% profile completeness








WEDDING/FUNERAL LISTMAKE YOUR15

MY NETWORK

BUILD YOURNETWORK

To begin building out your network, the first thing you can do is make a wedding or funeral guest list.

Why?This is an old prospecting technique with a new twist. I’m told that wedding planners and funeral directors estimate the average wedding or funeral at 250 attendees if they don’t know how many people are coming.

Imagine if you linked to 250 people who care about you. Wouldn’t they be the best place to start prospecting and looking for introductions, recommendations, and referrals?








CUSTOMERSCONNECT TO YOUR16

Within the B2B world, nobody is more important than your customers and clients. With that in mind, it makes sense that you should connect to each of them, adding them as part of your LinkedIn network.

By receiving their LinkedIn updates and content posts, I get to know them and can start to connect to others that have similar interests and pain points.

From connecting with your customers, they become your biggest resource for prospects. We recommend that your CEO, VP of Sales, VP of Support, among others, reach out as part of the welcome process to each new customer and connect. Then reach out to them now and again to ask, “How are things coming?”

TipBe sure to organize your customers with tags. That way you can easily find them.

ORGANIZE CUSTOMERS WITH TAGS

REACH OUTTO CUSTOMERS








COMPANIESCUSTOMER’S17FOLLOW YOUR

After connecting to your customers, follow their companies so that you can see the news flow that comes through LinkedIn. Similar to Jamie’s previous idea, by following customer companies you gain insight into the biggest news coming out of that company.

Keep in MindCustomers like when you know things that are going on in their organizations. It shows that you care and that you are invested in keeping them as a customer.








EMPLOYEESCONNECT TO YOUR18

When deciding who to add as a connection, start with the people you’re surrounded by every day—fellow employees. If you’re in a management level position, spend time and teach your colleagues and employees the value of using LinkedIn as a team.

TipDo it from day one in the onboarding process for all new hires. In order to gain the maximum results from LinkedIn, this should be a group effort. Make sure you get your people together and coordinate your efforts and strategies.








HAVE A POINTPERSON19

LinkedIn works by letting you view people who are two levels deep –meaning you can connect to a person through a series of two other people starting with the one you know.

Best PracticeHave at least one person in the company who reaches out to a lot of connections. Make sure these are real connections and that your connection requests aren’t spam. If everyone else at the company is connected to the point person, they act like a “doorway” with great connections for everyone else. At InsideSales.com, I am the point person. Within my professional network on LinkedIn, I am connected to over 3,100 people. Through me, all of my sales reps have the potential to connect to far more people.

Beware: If headhunters and recruiters connect with your point person, they have access to all of your people. Connect with caution!

Who’s Viewed Your Profile?

Your profile has been viewed by 6 people in the pastday.

You have shwon up in search results 44 times in thepast day.

644

Your LinkedIn Network

Connections link you to 14,680,285+ professionals

New people in your Network since October 2

Add Connections

3,10120,395








CONNECT TO YOURPROSPECTS20

Just as you should connect to all your customers, you should also connect with your prospects. Our salespeople are asked to connect to their prospects right after the first contact attempt.

Do they always do it? The smart ones do. They understand that by asking to become connected on LinkedIn it increases the rate of building a relationship and rapport.

How ToYou can search by keyword to find prospects. For us, anybody with “inside sales,” “lead management,” or “salesforce.com” in their LinkedIn profile is a prospect. Find out what the keywords are that target your audience and begin generating your prospecting lists.








RESPOND BY EMAILTHEN CONNECT21

People always ask, “How do you build your connections?” Personally I use the technique, “respond by email and then connect.” This method is a great way to make connections with interesting and valuable people.

How ToWhenever you receive an email from someone you think would be a valuable connection, simply respond by email and mention in the email that you will be connecting by LinkedIn. In your connection request remind them you just emailed them. LinkedIn penalizes you if you try to connect to too many people who reject you because they don’t know or don’t remember who you are.








TRADE SHOWSCONNECT AT22

My favorite task after going to a trade show is to take all of the new business cards given to me and connect on LinkedIn.

When you send the request to connect, remind them of the “common experience” you had together at the trade show so they remember and don’t reject you.

Best PracticeWe have a rule at InsideSales.com that we will never go to a trade show unless we are sure that we can set enough appointments before the show even happens to pay for the show.

Before we went to one of our biggest shows, Dreamforce (a Salesforce® show) last year, we already had over 700 appointments for demos at the show. This year it was over 1,000.

REMIND ABOUT COMMONEXPERIENCE








JOIN INDUSTRYGROUPS23

I strongly suggest that sales reps join industry LinkedIn groups. Why? Because the days of lunch networking groups are gone. A great group on LinkedIn for those in the inside sales industry is “Inside Sales Experts.” The group was created by Trish Bertuzzi, the Founder and CEO of The Bridge Group, Inc. in Boston.

When I first joined the group, there were 8,000 members. I recently checked and there are now over 20,000 members. I don’t know anywhere else on the planet where that many inside sales professionals congregate. Over the years I have now met hundreds of them and I count them as friends. I did this by getting involved in their discussions.

Trish Bertuzzi







http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=71624&mostPopular=&trk=tyah


JOIN LOCAL24In addition to joining industry groups, join professional groups in your geographic area. This is a great tool, especially if you sell locally.

How ToGo to the Groups search window at the top right and type in your home city and/or home state to find groups close to you. Now look for industries that you want to find prospects in. These groups usually have quarterly or annual meetings. That are a great resource for prospecting locally.

GROUPS








TWITTERUPDATE ON25

For the most part, you probably post similar content on LinkedIn and Twitter. At least occasionally. Why not kill two birds with one stone? By linking together your LinkedIn account with your professional Twitter profile, specified LinkedIn updates can be sent out to your Twitter followers as well.

It’s a great way for your prospects and followers to see the latest news about you and your company.

Warning: Just like most tools, this can be overused. I like to filter it down to just the best updates.








BLOGWIDGET ON YOUR26

In the social media age, content is king. By bringing in quality content that your connections on LinkedIn would care about, you offer value.

TipCheck out the widgets available on LinkedIn. I love the WordPress widget that publishes my three most recent blog articles to my LinkedIn page. Just like with automated Twitter posts this can be overused.

Make sure you are only pulling in the most relevant content to your connections. However, if your blog is targeted at the same audience as your professional LinkedIn audience you shouldn’t have too much of a problem. If you’re interested in inside sales, subscribe to my blog KenKrogue.com.

CONNECT A







http://www.kenkrogue.com/?utm_source=42-LinkedIn-Inside-Sales-Tips-eBook&utm_medium=Marketing-Content&utm_campaign=KK-Blog


INSTEAD OFEMAIL27

Through LinkedIn, InsideSales.com constantly tests different media through which to send messages to prospects in addition to testing the content of the messages. In terms of response rates, emails range between .1 percent and .3 percent.

The exact same message sent in our early in-house tests by LinkedIn responded 300 percent better.

We recently released a new product, PowerSocial, that integrates social platforms into sales automation technology. Already we have seen increases in or response rates.

PowerSocial gives your reps a social view without the distractions of going to the social networking sites.

SEND MESSAGES

POWERSOCIALEnable sales reps to learn about and engage prospects more intelligently.







http://www.insidesales.com/salesforce/powersocial?utm_source=42-LinkedIn-Inside-Sales-Tips-eBook&utm_medium=Marketing-Content&utm_campaign=Product---Webpage

http://www.insidesales.com/salesforce/powersocial?utm_source=42-LinkedIn-Inside-Sales-Tips-eBook&utm_medium=Marketing-Content&utm_campaign=Product---Webpage


CATEGORIZEUSE TAGS TO28

LinkedIn allows you to use tags to categorize your customers from prospects, friends, etc. tags are like ‘Circles’ on Google+. As your connections grow, the tag allows you to slice and dice your LinkedIn network for all kinds of communication purposes.

How ToTags are found in the Contacts section of LinkedIn and are absolutely invaluable for more advanced methods of using LinkedIn for prospecting, such as sending targeted emails to only specific categories.








LINKEDINEVENTS29

Look for LinkedIn events that correspond to trade shows. By adding the event, you can network within the group and invite them to come meet you at your booth at the trade show.

These groups attract hundreds of users that will be attending the same event. For example, if a group has 190 people who have said they are attending that gives you 190 people you can introduce yourself to before the event even begins.

Remember Tip 22InsideSales.com has a rule to schedule enough appointments before the event to pay for it. LinkedIn groups are one way we accomplish this.

USE








OFFER VALUE TOCONNECTIONS30

It’s important to interact occasionally with your LinkedIn connections and build relationships with them. Offer valuable content to your connections including training materials, quality books, best practices, tips, tricks, and best of all, referrals.

Best PracticeThe best way to build a relationship is through providing quality, relevant content. I reach out about every six months to my LinkedIn connections in Utah and share my latest seminar with them for free. I probably have 70 to 80 people come. I do the same with webinars nationally and usually have a few thousand attend.








RECOMMENDOTHERS31

I strongly endorse giving recommendations to contacts such as co-workers, colleagues, former employers and authors. It’s a great way to build morale and friendships. Don’t wait for people to ask.

TipMake a personal goal to reach out and recommend one person a week. If someone does something special, go tell them! You would be surprised what taking the time to show gratitude and respect can do to open doors and build strong rapport.








LINKEDIN FORINTRODUCTIONS32

I wanted to get in contact with the inside sales department at Novell. I looked up the company, found an old friend of mine that works there, connected with him, sent him a message and asked for a referral. The result was better than I could have hoped for.

My friend called me up and not only knew who I was trying to get in touch with at Novell, but his office was only two doors down. He walked down the hall, knocked on his colleague’s door and got me an appointment. It was amazing.

That was my first productive use of LinkedIn and I’ve been hooked ever since.

USE

MY FRIEND GOT ME AN APPOINTMENT








DO A 3X3ANALYSIS33

If you’ve ever had a call that you weren’t quite sure how to begin the conversation, this tip is critical. This is a technique that Steve Richard, from Vorsight, taught me.

How ToBefore reaching out to your prospects take three minutes and find three things you have in common. This will help you have something to talk to that prospect about. Keep this tip in mind when preparing to meet with anyone for the first time whether it’s sales related or not.








PROSPECTCOMPANIES34

When following prospect companies, you can’t follow too many or your feed gets overwhelmed–just as Jamie said. You have to be very strategic about the companies you are trying to get into. This is a great way to be able to speak intelligently when you have conversations.

TipI would recommend that you look at your prospect companies every time before you call them back so you can know the very latest news from that company.

FOLLOW








SEO LINKSUSE 3 FREE35

Most people don’t realize that LinkedIn provides three free backlinks that anyone can use for “Google juice.” These links should direct your connections to content to gain more information about you, your company, or your industry.

FirstIn the “Edit your profile” layout, click on the “Edit Contact Info”, this section will expand.

SecondNext to “Websites” will be a “+ Add to website” link, clicking the link will open a new page. Change the first box to “Other” and type the content that you would like to be the backlink.

Think of keywords that you want to rank for on Google. These keywords should be the text in your backlink.

ThirdInsert the link the content will point to. For additional content on building quality SEO, check out Ken’s articles on Forbes.com.







http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkrogue/2012/08/04/the-death-of-seo-part-2-generating-real-content/


EVENTS WITHTRADE SHOWS36

We talked about LinkedIn Events in regards to trade shows. But how do you actually make connections at these events? Well, if you find that the trade shows you’re going to have the social media foresight to build a LinkedIn event, then all you have to do is bring up all the individual attendees.

How ToSend a message saying, “Hi, I want to meet you and shake your hand. Come by my booth during the show and let’s get to know each other.” By using this method we’ve been able to add dozens upon dozens of additional visits to our booth, even if we can’t set appointments.

LINKEDIN








YOU ATTENDEVERY EVENT37

I speak probably 20 to 25 times a year and, often, I have found my prospect base within LinkedIn. I want to make my prospects aware of where I’m speaking because I want to meet with them.

We’ve been able to move several LinkedIn connections from prospect status to customer because they come to the event we’re already going to. Everybody wins when you promote events.

How ToIt’s really easy to do. Go into LinkedIn, add the event to your calendar, and promote it through the “share” feature.

PROMOTE & SHARE

EVERYONE WINS WHEN YOU PROMOTE EVENTS








INDUSTRYSIZE, TITLE,38

To help target prospects better, slice and dice your prospects through LinkedIn’s advanced search. The advanced search allows you to search for people and companies.

How ToWhen you search for companies you can target what you are looking for by the size of the company, industry, and title. It’s all about the power of the list, and LinkedIn is becoming one of the best in the world.

I love the concept of dynamic emails. LinkedIn sends me half a dozen dynamic emails with different sources of leads every morning.

I’ve found that the best companies to target are those who are hiring inside sales reps. It’s a strong sign that they are growing.

TARGET PROSPECTS BY








ASK FORRECOMMENDATIONS39

Just as you should give recommendations, you should also ask for recommendations from co-workers, colleagues, and former employers. Once you have lots of honest and frank recommendations, I like to move to asking for recommendations from customers.

How ToIt works best when you ask for recommendations early in the process as a measure of how well you do. I also do this if a prospect is asking for additional pricing discounts or negotiating terms aggressively.

You could say, “Well, with this discount I’m giving you, would you recommend me on LinkedIn if I have earned it?”








40If you present at a seminar, ask for a grade from those in attendance through a LinkedIn recommendation. Having these recommendations for prospects to see can also help to shorten the sales cycle.

This is similar to the Salesforce AppExchange—but here people recommend your apps that work with Salesforce from third party vendors. For our app, PowerDialer for Salesforce, we care deeply about recommendations that are left on the AppExchange for our product.

In the social media world, recommendations and comments are the new currency used to promote your business (check out this article on Forbes.com for more information about social media currency).

CUSTOMERASK FOR

RECOMMENDATIONS







http://www.forbes.com/sites/kenkrogue/2012/08/29/views-shares-comments-and-follows-the-new-currency-of-digital-media/


YOUR CUSTOMERSREFERRALS FROM41

To help generate more referrals, I tell my prospects, “One of the best ways I grade myself on how well I do is whether or not you are willing to recommend me to other people just like yourself when we are done.”

I set up this expectation early on and remind them once or twice during the sales process. Quite often I need to prompt them with ideas. Recently, I’ve been using LinkedIn.

How ToThis makes the whole process easier for both parties. I often say something like, “To make it easy for you and to help me grow my business with your recommendations, I’ve found a few people you know that I would greatly appreciate an introduction to.”

Once they have given their approval you can use the normal LinkedIn process. The LinkedIn process is better than cold calling them on my own.

MAKE IT EASY TO ASK FOR








DON’TSPAM42

Overzealous marketers ruined contacting by telephone, faxing, and email by sending spam. Just don’t do it. It’s a mistake we should make only once. I wish we had a dye that turned their LinkedIn page red for a week when somebody uses LinkedIn to brazenly pitch their product!

Best PracticeDon’t try and sell them something, it’s a turnoff. Just offer great content. If they want to buy something from you they will seek you out.

OFFERGREAT CONTENT

SPAMDO DON’T








SUMMARY

Now that you fully understand how to make the most of LinkedIn to drive business and results, you can now create a strategic plan to incorporate social media efforts to increase revenue.

LinkedIn will play a large role in the future of sales – the good news is, you’re already ahead of the majority of the industry. Hardly anybody is using LinkedIn in a way to expand and grow business.

For an additional, more in-depth discussion on using LinkedIn to drive business, watch this webinar featuring Ken Krogue and Jamie Shanks available here.

Be sure to connect with Ken and Jamie on LinkedIn for inside sales industry updates and best practices.

42







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OFFERSThanks for reading “42 Linkedin Inside Sales Tips.” While LinkedIn and other social media platforms can certainly help drive business and revenue, combining these tips with sales automation technology will increase the productivity and efficiency of your sales team even more.

For additional resources to support your inside sales team, check out some of the other solutions from InsideSales.com and Sales for Life.







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Share this eBook: Copyright © 2012 InsideSales.com

CREDITS

CONTENTKen Krogue | http://kenkrogue.com

Jamie Shanks | http://salesforlife.com/blog

WRITERSAlex Orton |

Jessica Winn |

COPY EDITORSJessica Dyer |

Thomas Oldroyd |

DESIGNERSScott Humphries |

Stephen Gashler |

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CO-AUTHORED BY JON MILLER OF MARKETO

MAXIMIZE RESULTSCHECK OUT THE EBOOK






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