Creating a Sales Outreach Strategy for the Modern Buyer
Creating a sales outreach strategy is a crucial part of business, which is why engagement on social media has never been more important.
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Linkedin Social Selling: 3 Productivity Tips That Lead to More Sales
How To Save Time Without Cutting Corners When It Comes To Your Social Media Outreach
Author: Chaz Van de Motter - Chief Executive Officer
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Linkedin social selling can be a time consuming process. Whether you are using Linkedin Sales Navigator, spreadsheets, automation tools or a combination of all of these, 1 fact holds true: We all want to find ways to make Linkedin social selling more efficient.
According to EveryoneSocial, a good social selling program can drive 16% better win rates, 2x pipeline, and deliver 48% better deals when compared to cold email.The problem is a good Linkedin social selling program is much more difficult to manage and more time consuming than pressing a single button and sending out hundreds of emails.
While we all know Linkedin social selling should be a part of every sales playbook, inefficiencies and a lack of data, personalization or security stops many from taking the plunge of adding Linkedin as a sales tool.
In this blog post we will cover 3 Linkedin social selling hacks that will allow you to be more efficient in your Linkedin prospecting and sales outreach.
Event attendees can be great prospects for Linkedin social selling
Without the right prospects, Linkedin social selling will not be effective. Prospecting properly requires reading between the lines. By focusing on the actions someone takes on Linkedin will tell you more about them than they can tell you themselves.
To find quality Linkedin social selling prospects try this methodology:
- Type specific keywords related to your prospect in the search bar (i.e. social selling, marketing agency, etc.)
- Filter search results by “Events”
- Identify event(s) that your ideal customer might be interested in attending and click “attend event”
- Under the “registration link” click the linked registered attendees
- Connect and begin conversations with a highly concentrated audience of your ideal customers
Organization is critical when it comes to Linkedin social selling. Sometimes Linkedin, Sprout Social, Hootsuite and even Linkedin Sales Navigator do not offer enough customization when it comes to outbound sales engagement.
Start with Your Own Connections on Linkedin
Organization is critical when it comes to Linkedin social selling. Sometimes Linkedin, Sprout Social, Hootsuite and even Linkedin Sales Navigator do not offer enough customization when it comes to outbound sales engagement. To clarify, these tools are extremely powerful when it comes to managing the inbound comments, scheduling posts, and getting basic analytics on account growth, but tools often fall short when it comes to coordinating and reporting on the effectiveness of sales outreach.
Linkedin allows its users to export their existing connections in csv format. The connection export includes the following fields:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email address (if they have inmail)
- Company Name
- Position
- Connected on date
You can export a list of the connections you have on LinkedIn at any time by following these steps:
To export LinkedIn connections:
- Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
- Select Settings & Privacy from the dropdown.
- Click Data privacy on the left rail.
- Under the How LinkedIn uses your data section, click Change next to Get a copy of your data.
- Select Want something in particular? Select the data files you’re most interested in.
- Select Connections.
- Click Request archive.
- Enter your password and click Done.
- You’ll receive an email to your Primary Email address which will include a link where you can download your list of connections.
Exporting your connections is the first step towards building a refined database for Linkedin social selling. By uploading connections into a spreadsheet, CRM or a tool like Social Cycle you can build sales processes that take true advantage of Linkedin.
We recommend tracking users by the URL link to their profile. This is arguably more important than an email address. This URL link is a reliable, API agnostic pathway to a top of funnel conversation. By starting a conversation in Linkedin you can earn the right to have your prospect willingly give you their email address and expect your email. Linkedin social selling is not a substitute for email, but it is a gateway. Additionally, with robust spam filters and a nose for sales emails, most prospects will not be willing to respond to cold emails, much less schedule an appointment via cold email.
Using text replacement for your Linkedin social selling
Typing the same messages over and over again is a big reason why many do not stay consistent when it comes to social media outreach. Automating the sending of messages would be nice, however, it lacks personalization not to mention it is a direct violation of Linkedin’s terms of service.
Finding small efficiencies like templating your direct messages and utilizing text replacement will save lots of time. Rather than aimlessly crafting an outreach message or response message to everyone you want to interact with, create templates for these two messages:
- Sales outreach initial message: You will want to personalize the first part of this message, but not having to worry about the message you are sending other than the personalization makes Linkedin social selling move quicker (*Pro tip: Keep this message as short as possible).
- Message with calendar link for call scheduling: This is a great template follow up message for when someone asks you to set up time to chat or reacts positively to your initial message (Pro tip: try Calendly for free calendar links).
Depending on your preference of device you use for social media outreach the steps may be a little different. We find that doing your social media outreach on your mobile device can oftentimes be more efficient due to the mobile first nature of most social media platforms. With that being said, regardless of your preference there is a way for you to utilize text replacement for your templated outreach on any device.
Generate More Targeted Leads on Social Media.
Measure their engagement to determine which ones are most likely to convert.
Follow the steps below to use Text Replacement on your iPhone:
To use it, just type in a text field.
Set up text replacement
With text replacement, you can use shortcuts to replace longer phrases. When you enter the shortcut in a text field, the phrase automatically replaces it. For example, you could type “GM” and “Good morning” would automatically replace it.
To manage text replacement, tap Settings > General > Keyboard > Text Replacement.
- To add a text replacement, tap , then enter your phrase and shortcut. When you’re done, tap Save.
- To remove a text replacement, tap Edit, tap then tap Delete. To save your changes, tap Done.
Follow the steps below to use Text Replacement on your Android:
Here’s how to set up text expansions for Android:
- Go to settings > Language & input > tap on the settings icon for Google Keyboard. Keep in mind, if your phone has an OEM skin, things might be named differently or a little out of place
- Tap on Personal Dictionary
- Tap the + icon in the top right
- Enter a long phrase and your shortcut text
Follow the steps below to use Text Replacement on your Chrome Browser:
Access the chrome extension store and add the extension Text Blaze to your browser. Text Blaze helps users to save time and get more done by using snippets of text to replace common typing tasks. Just type in the shortcut ‘/sig’ instead and it will be immediately expanded. This chrome extension is compatible with Linkedin direct messages.
How were these Linkedin social selling productivity tips?
Our goal at Social Cycle is to help usher in a new way of generating leads. A way that focuses on personalization, adding value and being more interested than interesting.
Social selling done properly requires time, attention and intention. Using these tips and tools can help you to not cut corners on your social media outreach or social media engagement strategy while simultaneously being more productive in your efforts.
Social Cycle is a tool built specifically for entrepreneurs utilizing social media outreach to generate business relationships. Whether you are looking for customers, partners, recruits, or affiliates, Social Cycle can help you create a workflow of the steps to take to start a conversation as well as the metrics to back that the time you are putting into your outreach is turning into new opportunities. Welcome to the age of social selling!