How the Best Sales People Use LinkedIn

LinkedIn is not just for job seekers and recruiters. With LinkedIn, you can reach the right people, build strong bonds, and make more sales.

LinkedIn gives you access to thousands of professionals and powerful search tools. LinkedIn is the perfect platform for prospecting potential buyers.

Over 61 million LinkedIn users are senior-influencers, while 40 million have the power to make company-related decisions. LinkedIn is perfect for salespeople who are prospecting for B2B customers.

To use LinkedIn efficiently as a prospecting tool, you need to know how to use its features. A good salesperson uses all the resources available to them to make more sales. In this article, you will learn how to use LinkedIn for sales prospecting.

1. Joining the Relevant Groups

LinkedIn has a great system that allows people with similar interests to network. LinkedIn groups give you access to potential buyers. All you need to do is to identify the right groups to join.

Once you identify the relevant groups, be sure to send a request to join. It may take a while for the various admins to approve your request, but eventually, you will find your way into these forums.

If you are selling email marketing software, you should join groups related to email marketing. You are prospecting for email marketing professionals.

Once you join a group, try to be active. Comment on various posts, answer questions and start some discussions. Activity helps you build your presence and establish a voice.

Always remember to offer value before you talk about your products or services. For instance, you can talk about email marketing trends, marketing automation, and post helpful articles. By providing value consistently, you create a reputation that is easy to trust.

2. Using Search Filters

LinkedIn's search engine is quite advanced. With specific filters, you can narrow the scope of your search. You can target prospects and filter by location, connection, company, industry, and more.

The premium version of LinkedIn gives you more options and more filters. You can narrow down your search to company size, years of experience, seniority level, and group.

Overall, LinkedIn offers one of the best targeting systems. Between the contacts in your CRM and the LinkedIn search engine, you can identify and build a database of potential buyers.

3. Utilizing the "People Also Viewed" Functionality

On the right sidebar of any public profile, you shall find the "People Also Viewed" box. This section highlights the people (besides yourself) that viewing the profile.

This feature could give you an insight into your prospect's network. Usually, the individuals in the "People Also Viewed" section share similar traits with your target.

If you took a peek into the "People Also Viewed" section on the profile of a founder of a company, you could gather a wealth of information. The column would reveal other founders of that company and senior ranking officials.

Access to such details could be quite helpful. Account-based marketing reps know how valuable, such information is. You have the means to target the principal decision-makers of that company.

4. Tweaking Your Profile to Promote Sales

With a few teaks here and there, you can transform your LinkedIn profile into a sales prospecting machine. The LinkedIn users that you interact with (in various groups and forums) will most likely visit your profile. It makes sense that it's necessary to optimize your profile for sales.

Make sure that your headline conveys the services you offer, and the people you target. For example, if you sell enterprise accounting software, your headline should read something like this:

"I help B2B companies cut down on costs through accounting solutions."

To further optimize your LinkedIn profile for sales, craft a summary. The summary will serve as a unique selling proposition (USP). In an active language, pack your USP with the appropriate keywords.

Aim for a summary that is around three paragraphs long. Be specific about what you do and the companies that you serve. Talk about the results that you delivered and the people you met. It helps to include some visual content in your summary.

Your summary is one of the things that people will review when they see your profile. It would help if you polished yours.

5. Sending InMail Messages

InMail messaging is LinkedIn's internal emailing service. The service gives you the ability to send messages directly to other LinkedIn users. To access InMail, you need to sign up for LinkedIn's premium account. Depending on your subscription, you get a limited amount of credits for messaging. Be keen to use them strategically and sparingly.

Are You Ready to Use LinkedIn for Sales Prospecting?

LinkedIn and its features can give you the upper hand. Its features are useful tools for researching and network building. When you use LinkedIn as the prospecting tool that it is, you can target key decision-makers of major companies.

If you have a LinkedIn profile that you haven't used in a while, now is the time to dust it off and use it as a top salesperson.

Good luck and happy prospecting!