I can no longer count the number of times I’ve heard someone say that, “Social media is a waste of time in business.” This is just not true. People who don’t want to adapt certainly have that right, but my philosophy is that I want to have the best prospecting tools in my arsenal. LinkedIn happens to be one of those tools for people selling in the B2B world. Just imagine an event where all of your best prospects are. Would you want to be there? I hope so.
LinkedIn is that event and it’s going on 24/7. Here are three simple tips to prospecting with LinkedIn:
Use LinkedIn Groups: Most sales people target certain industries or types of organizations. There are groups for anything you can dream of. Simply join those groups and become a resource for the people there. Share information that’s relevant and connect with prospects that are asking questions. These are your prospects and they need your help!
Use the Advanced Search: LinkedIn is like a dating site for B2B. You want tall, dark and handsome? Or in the B2B world, how about VP of Operations for any company with between $40M and $100M, located 25 miles from your doorstep? By using the advanced search, you can locate all of those people. By then using Google, you can often get lots of information on those people.
Pay for InMail: Now that you’ve found those prospects, wouldn’t it be great to have a way to connect or follow-up your phone call with a written message? Well, with LinkedIn’s paid service, you can send direct messages to those high-level prospects. Plus, those messages often go to a personal email address, which is more likely to elicit a response. And if the prospect doesn’t respond, then LinkedIn will give you more InMail credits. Nice.
If you sell B2B and you don’t use LinkedIn, you are missing out. Simply get your account in order and start using it!
How do you use social media to find prospects? Please share below.
Written by Marc Wayshak, motivational sales speaker and author of the book, Game Plan Selling.
Enjoyed this article? Please share away!
Get instant access to our free sales training:
Why Prospects Push Back on Price, Give 'Think-It-Overs,' and Ghost in Sales Until They Meet a Sales Superstar Who Is Following These 7 Simple Keys
About the Author Marc Wayshak
Marc is is the best-selling author of three books on sales and leadership, including the highly acclaimed titles Game Plan Selling, The High-Velocity Sales Organization and his forthcoming book, Sales Conversations, Mastered.
Marc is a contributor to Inc, HubSpot, Fast Company, Entrepreneur Magazine, and Huffington Post Business. He also hosts a popular YouTube channel on sales strategy with over 103,000 subscribers.
Marc helps thousands of people his data-driven, science-based approach to selling that utilizes all the best tools available to sales organizations today.