6 Tips Anyone Can Use To Sell on LinkedIn
Everyone wants to sell on LinkedIn but not everyone thinks they can.
I will tell you from personal experience that you don’t need to have hundreds of thousands of followers/connections/views to successfully sell on LinkedIn.
All you need are these 6 simple tips:
1. Engage With Your Prospects’ Content
Just by having a LinkedIn profile, you are substantially closer to closing more sales. Even without posting yourself, you can provide value to your prospects by interacting with their content.
Interacting with your prospects’ content is going to communicate some very vital things -
You are a profile open to engagement
You are an expert in your industry
You are putting yourself in front of your prospects
Simply leaving a like and valuable comment before you engage with them directly will make the sales journey a lot smoother once it enters DM territory.
2. Stop Writing DMs like Emails
If you’re currently sending DMs that start with anything like “My team and I can help…” or “We help our customers…” then STOP. The moment your prospects see a message like this in their inbox, it’s an automatic dismissal.
The hard truth we all have to accept is that people don’t want to be sold to, but that doesn’t mean they don’t want to buy. Believe it or not, this isn’t as complicated as it sounds.
People want to feel like any buying decision they make is their own. Writing long, hard sell and promotional DMs will be an instant red flag for your prospects. Instead, talk to them like a person. Say “hi”, introduce yourself without mentioning what you have to offer, or ask them some questions about themselves.
Only once this casual relationship is established should you move into the sale.
3. Host Audio Events
Podcasts are popular and there is a way you can utilise this popularity on LinkedIn. LinkedIn audio events are a live conversation that you can have with your connections. You host it and your prospects can participate in real-time discussions, interviews and Q&A sessions.
Audio events are an opportunity to network and share your knowledge with those who want to know. It’s a time-efficient way to connect with a large number of your prospects at one time and break the ice for sales conversations further down the line.
4. Avoid Overusing External Links
When it comes to posting your own content, there are a few simple ‘dos’ and ‘don’ts’ to be aware of. A major ‘don’t’ is overusing external links; this includes links to your website, a blog post or other social media platforms.
This isn’t to say you should never post external links, but there is a way of doing it that won’t negatively affect your profile and ability to sell on LinkedIn.
Consider if you really need to include the link in a post. Could you actually benefit more from including a CTA instead that asks people to DM you directly if they’re interested? You could even include the link in the Featured Section of your profile and direct people to that.
5. Use the Featured Section of Your Profile
A few of you might now be wondering, “what the heck is the Featured Section on LinkedIn?” As previously mentioned, it’s a place where you can host links to external pieces of content without damaging the reach of your LinkedIn profile. However, that’s not the only reason you should be utilising it.
Adding past posts, LinkedIn articles and other external media highlights your success and achievements. It also encourages people to learn more about you and discover for themselves the service(s) or product(s) you sell.
It increases the possibility of your prospects reaching out to you, already expecting to be sold to because they’re enquiring about your expertise and what you can achieve for them.
6. Optimise Your LinkedIn Headline
You’ve showcased your expertise in your Featured Section, now it’s time to do the same with your LinkedIn headline. The headline is the bit below your profile picture on your profile and communicates to the digital world what you have to offer.
So, just including your job title isn’t going to cut it when you want to be generating consistent leads. Your headline is yet another way to tell your prospects what they’ll gain from a business relationship with you.
Highlight your USP, and include keywords and industries to boost your profile SEO. Just make sure you don’t get too carried away. Only include what’s relevant, for example; Head of Marketing @ [business name] | Elevate Your Content for Lead Generation | Helping Coaches and B2B Professionals Close More Deals in Less Time.
Why will these tips help you sell on LinkedIn?
A lot of people believe that content is king on any social media platform. On LinkedIn, however, content is only one part of a successful selling strategy. Optimising your profile, building your engagement across the platform and avoiding DM taboos are the other steps most people overlook. But, they’re the ones that are going to increase your lead generation and successfully close more sales.
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