By Jill Konrath, Contributing Editor
Editor's Note: In this first part of a three-part series, Jill Konrath covers how the social networking medium LinkedIn can help sales professionals. Members can read part two and part three of this series on RainToday.com. Or, you can download the complete ebook on Jill's website.
As a self-professed technophobe, using social media such as LinkedIn is not second nature to me. I force myself to experiment with this and other new mediums knowing that ultimately they'll have an impact on the selling profession – even though I'm unsure what it might be.
About two years ago, I set up my profile on LinkedIn. It was sterile and boring, conveying only enough to enable me to say I had an online presence. Then last year I read the article, "LinkedIn Profile Extreme Makeover," by entrepreneurial guru Guy Kawasaki, and felt compelled to redo mine based on what I learned.
Since then, I've accepted numerous invitations to connect, yet fretted if I should since many came from total strangers. I've written a few recommendations and received a few.
Mostly I have been a passive observer – waiting for some sales miracles to happen. Of course, they never did, and I began to doubt LinkedIn's ability to deliver real tangible results.
Not wanting to quit too soon, I began answering sales and business development questions on LinkedIn. Why would I help total strangers? I saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate my expertise, as well as to get exposure with potential prospects for my services.
Nothing much happened as a result but, still, I suspected that I'd barely tapped into the power of LinkedIn. That's when I discovered I'm on LinkedIn – Now What?, by Jason Alba, the CEO of JibberJobber. I was ready for his help.
Immediately, I discovered that I was a "promiscuous linker," willing to hook up with anyone who approached me. (Please don't tell my mother.) But I also learned it was okay.
In his book, Alba shares a whole slew of uses I'd never even thought of before. If you're just starting out, it'll help you get going right away. One thing that intrigued me was when he talked about why and how to ask a question on LinkedIn. I decided to give it a try.
Since I was still trying to discover how to best leverage this social media, here's the question I posted:
Question: As a seller, how do you use LinkedIn to increase your sales?
Explanation: I'm writing an article on this topic. I'd like to include specific examples to help my readers learn how they can leverage this tool. Since I'm a bit of a technophobe, my experience with LinkedIn is rather limited. If you can tell me how you've used LinkedIn to open doors, create opportunities and grow your business, I'd really appreciate it.
Social media guru Scott Allen, coauthor of The Virtual Handshake and managing director at Link to Your World, was the first to respond. Here are his invaluable suggestions:
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LinkedIn can be used to support the entire sales lifecycle: lead generation, sales acceleration and solution delivery. Let's look at each of these pieces:
Lead Generation
Find and be found. Search by title and industry for the ideal contacts at your ideal companies. Search by title and company name for specific target prospects. Be sure your profile is complete and contains the appropriate keywords for your business so that people looking for your solution will find you.
Endorsements/recommendations count for a lot – get them from people who have actually been your clients if at all possible.
Sales Acceleration
Search for people in your prospect's company who are not closely involved in your deal – preferably 2nd degree contacts, not 3rd degree. Ask for an informational interview. This is where strong, trusted relationships count for a lot – "light linking" breaks down here.
Ask your interview subject about the priorities that are going on at the company – what are the high-level factors that might be influencing the buying process. Be completely open/transparent. If you have a good solution and a really good referral to a true "friend of a friend", you will very likely find an internal champion in that person. This is the #1 technique that LinkedIn supports better than any other tool.
Solution Delivery
Quite often, especially for small businesses, you can't do it all yourself. LinkedIn is invaluable for finding partners with particular skill sets who can help you deliver the total solution. In addition to searching, you can post questions asking about the solution area you need expertise in and use that as a way to attract potential partners.
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If you don't have a profile on LinkedIn, get going. If your profile is mundane and skeletal, flush it out and inject some personality in it. Social media can have a significant impact on sales. You don't want to let these opportunities slip through your fingers.
Jill Konrath is a Contributing Editor for RainToday.com and is a recognized expert in complex sales strategies and creating business value for B2B sales organizations. She is also founder of SellingtoBigCompanies – a web resource that helps professional services providers, consultants and salespeople win big contracts in the corporate market. E-mail Jill at jill@sellingtobigcompanies.com.
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