LinkedIn’s Social Selling Secrets

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Dominic ArchibaldAcquisition and Customer MarketingLinkedIn Sales Solutionshttps://www.linkedin.com/in/dominicarchibald

Today’s speaker

• Housekeeping

• The Social selling imperative

• How we teach social selling to LinkedIn sales reps

• Q&A

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Webinar Agenda

My friend Dan

A social selling story

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A social selling story

LinkedIn Sales Solutions Mission: Connect the world’s buyers and

sellers to build relationships

are now involved in the average B2B buying decision

peopleBoss

Peer

Direct report

Business leader

Cross-functional partner

Corporate Executive Board 2013 – Winning The Consensus Purchase

Your target buyer

5.4

Decisions involve more people than ever before

75%of B2B buyers now usesocial media to be more informed on vendors

IDC 2014 – Social Buying Meets Social Selling

Decision makers rely on social media to choose between potential vendors

Network referrals

White papers

Company websites

Blogposts

Company pages

Your target buyers

Socialrelationships

Your competitor

Harvard Business Review 2012 – Tweet Me, Friend Me, Make Me Buy. Decision makers are C-level

90%of decision makers say they never respond to cold outreach

Decision makers now ignore cold outreach

You

Your competitor

XX

X

Your target buyers

%75of B2B buyers now use social media to be more informed on vendors

Relying on the buyer to inform you onkey updates

5.4people are now involved in the average B2B buying decision

Looking for one all-powerful decision maker

%90of decision makers say they never respond to cold outreach

Cold-calling prospects like they’re just a name in a database

I found out a month later the Director of Marketing left my

account and joined another top prospect

of mine

The VP of Marketing went dark and now

I’m back at square one

I keep pounding – email, phone, voicemail

– but can’t get a response

How well has your team adapted to this new normal?Are you still:

“”“

”“

”

Focus on the right people and

companies

Stay informed on key updates at

your target accounts

Build trust with your prospects and customers

Building relationships with prospects and customers is different in this new normal. You need to:

Social sellers perform better on key metrics

51%More likely to hit quota than social selling laggards

Social sellers perform better on key metrics

51%More likely to hit quota than social selling laggards

45%More opportunities

Social sellers perform better on key metrics

51%More likely to hit quota than social selling laggards

45%More opportunities

Promoted to VP faster by

17 months

The Secret Sauce – How we teach LinkedIn reps

Hunting on LinkedIn

Building an expert brand

Warm outreach

Selling through relationships

The Secret Sauce – How we teach LinkedIn reps

Professional photo is your first impression

Tagline should be action oriented, not just a title

Summary should describe your passions

Rich media should illustrate your story

Educate potential buyers who visit your profile

Building an Expert Brand

Your LinkedIn profile should inform and inspire

Great example

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Hunting – Step 1 is to build a lead list

Lead Builder is the key to finding 5+ decision makers

Let LinkedIn do the hunting for you

Hunting – Step 2 is to engage recommended leads

Hunting – Step 3 is to find team connections

Take advantage of your entire company’s rolodex

Hunting – Step 4 is to listen for selling moments

Social triggers create golden selling moments

XYZ Company

An example of a selling moment

The rep sees an insight in the feed…

XYZ CompanyABC Company

XYZ Company’s

An example of a selling moment

Reaches out while prospect is in the moment…

XYZ Company

…Magic happens

An example of a selling moment

Remember, we are asking for a favor

Silver BulletsRequest intros when they will

have the most impact

Make it easyOffer to ghost-write

the intro email

Follow-throughClose the loop with

the introducer

Selling through relationships – Introductions

• Fast and lightweight, yet powerful• Best used for less senior prospects or if connection is tenuous• Appropriate to name drop without permission

Name Drop

Selling through relationships – Name Drop

Get the value of an intro with a fraction of the effort

Appeal first to emotional (right) side of the brain…• Personal interests• School pride• Articles and posts• Recommendations

…Before challenging the logical (left) side of the brain• Insights• Data• Rankings

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Warm outreach

As a last resort, “cold” outreach can still be warm

Visit us at Sales.LinkedIn.com

Want to learn more?

Questions?

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