Looking to create more sales leads with LinkedIn?
Then keep these two words in the forefront of your mind – timing and presentation.
Get either of them wrong and it’s likely you’ll get called out for spam – or at least being a real nuisance and shedding social connections like wildfire…
Get these two key sales prospecting elements right and all your efforts will pay off. Optimizing your LinkedIn profile, engaging with your network, growing your following, and taking consistent action are all important actions you’re already taking – but how do you get to the next level of business growth?
Social Selling Basics: Do’s and Don’ts
In this post on the right time to start selling on LinkedIn, I covered timing and earning the right to sell. There’s no quick path to social selling – it takes roughly 30 to 90 days of engaging a new follower to build trust and connection.
Now I’ll share a few presentation secrets so that when you are ready to share your offer with a prospect, it receives an enthusiastic response.
Think gourmet cheese and wine – and less of the cheap tinned ham!
How NOT to sell on LinkedIn
We’ve all waded through sales pages that contain as much information as a short book. They’re usually very repetitive, and are extremely insistent that you buy something NOW NOW NOW by clicking the numerous call-to action-buttons scattered throughout the text. Maybe this looks familiar?
Let’s be clear – there is a time and place for landing pages like this – but LinkedIn is not it.
The last thing you want the recipient of your message to think is: “Groan – NOW what’s he trying to sell me?”
This response will undo all the good work you’ve done until now – so beware. It’s never the time to start selling like that on LinkedIn.
People on social networks engage and respond quickly. They want to know how your subject relates to them – and if it doesn’t? They’ll just move on – and maybe click that ‘Unfollow’ button on the way out.
You’ll never please all of the people all of the time but you can increase the odds. And that’s what to remember here: social selling is a numbers game.
Not sure how to market your consulting services on social? In the 10-day Challenge, we’re telling you exactly what to do. Join us this month!
Using short-form messages to engage on LinkedIn
So you’ve wowed your following with great content over a period of weeks or months and engaged with them consistently. You’ve liked and commented on their posts, contributed to community discussions and shared articles and videos – now’s the time to move and introduce a sales offer into the mix.
But how do you shape this offer for the most widespread appeal?
You know your target audience better than me. I can’t tell you what they need – but I can show you how to present the offer.
And that’s in short form. Because people consume content differently when on social media, we need to respect that and use it to our advantage.
Put simply, we must condense an offer into something that is palatable and likely to produce a good proportion of YES responses.
We’ve tested a wide array of messages out with our audience and we found the following format works best to increase response rates:
- 2-4 sentences long
- 50-100 words
- No scrolling required
- Highly personalised
- Conversational/informal in tone
Messages like this work especially well because they do not seem like general, broadcast messages and do not take time to read; the recipient feels like it is directed at them personally and it’s quick and easy to digest.
Social Sales messaging example
Here’s an example of a format that we often use.
Hi Peter,
I hope this finds you well.
As a LinkedIn profile builder, I checked your profile and noticed that your profile is optimised around the keywords of <Word 1>, <Word 2> and <Word 3>. Is that what you want to be found for?
For the next month, I’m going to be offering a free 7-point Profile Tune-Up to my 1st tier connections only.
If you’d be interested to know more about this or perhaps take me up on the offer, please let me know and I’d be happy to assist.
Kind Regards
Andrew
*********************************************************************************
The beauty of this approach is that many people don’t even interpret it as a sales message, so you avoid the clamming up process that some people go through when being sold to.
By the time they read it, the sales message has already been delivered – without even appearing as such.
Of course, you’ll need to tailor this message to suit your business. The offer might be anything along the lines of:
- Receiving some further information
- Allowing you to run a ‘health check’ on their business
- Taking part in a survey
The idea is to present value and make it easy to accept or decline.
Remember: social messaging is part of the sales funnel
The above message is non-threatening and has a relatively low ‘barrier to entry’. You are not asking them to invest their life savings or anything. You make it easy for them to say YES.
Keep in mind that all we’re doing here is moving the prospect a step along in the sales funnel. Too many business owners try to squeeze leads through to the end of the funnel too quickly.
Although we know we are selling, the idea here is not to close the deal and get the cash registers ringing. That comes later. Right now, your prospects are probably not ready to buy – and if they are, they’ll tell you.
So many people on LinkedIn are tired of receiving sales pitches. Take the time to get to know your followers and then deliver something of value to them via a short-form message and you will stand out from the crowd.
P.s. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways we can help you grow your business with LinkedIn
1. Grab a free copy of our book: It’s the roadmap to connecting with prospects, engaging with and converting new clients, and leveling up your consulting business – Click Here
2. Join the Influencer Boardroom and connect with other advisors and consultants who are scaling too: It’s our Facebook community where smart advisors and consultants learn to generate more purpose, profit, and power. – Click Here
3. Join us inside our pitch-free private training. We’ll show you our profile optimisation secrets. You’ll learn how to connect with prospects, engage with and convert new clients, and amplify your business on LinkedIn. Click Here
4. Work with me and my team privately and get big results in 90 days. If you’ve got an established business and want to level things up fast, let us help you implement a LinkedIn strategy customised to your business. Have a look at our client results, then apply here and give me some details about your business. Click Here