Social selling is a way of connecting with your prospects via social media platforms to generate sales, retain customers, and build lasting relationships. Social media is the need of the hour. You manage to find the ideal prospects, develop confident alliances, and reach your sales objective with proper utilization of the social media channels.
LinkedIn, without a doubt, is an ideal place to be when it comes to social selling as it is easy to use and accessible around the globe – the platform serves as the home for almost all companies and professionals worldwide. In this article, we will show you how you can utilize LinkedIn as a medium for social selling. Here is the step-by-step guide to kick-start social selling on LinkedIn.
Step #1 Updated Linkedin Profile
Have a top-notch LinkedIn profile picture. There are more than thousands of buyers browsing your LinkedIn profile. It almost takes one-tenth of a second for a person to bring out opinions regarding you based on your photo. Showcase your expertise and your company to use it as a powerful marketing tool. Make sure to have used a professional image accompanied by the company logo where applicable.
When your ideal customers or prospects read the information that is relevant to their situation, they are more likely to connect, and it helps to establish trust and rapport with you and your organization, preparing your contacts for the sale.
You can also include client testimonials or a thank you message. Consider placing any rich multimedia that shows the benefits of performing with your firm, adding videos or case studies. Also, you can link Slideshare to your account. It works as a powerful and attractive method to publicize your thought leadership and capture traffic to your profile.
Step #2 Look for Verified Buyers
You can aim for your target buyers by using the Advanced People Search tool. To look for the buyers, click on the “Advanced” text link following the search field when using LinkedIn. Then you will be taken to a screen that helps you search for people through job title, industry, company, etc. Apply Boolean qualifiers (AND, OR, NOT) to further specify your search query.
You can message or view the profile of a member of the same group as another LinkedIn user without being a first-degree connection. Carefully observe every group’s discussion questions and posts and answer with helpful comments and vision. Also, watch for buyers exhibiting a want for your services.
Position your sales motivation, idea, priorities, and commitment to how you make use of LinkedIn. Use the correct keywords, pictures, and messaging to verify you have a customer-dominant LinkedIn profile. Discover your target accounts and multiple key decision-makers that suit your buyer images inside your target market.
Step #3 Locate the Presence of Your Target Audience
You may utilize the search tool within groups to filter members by job title, geographic area, and industry, making it easier for you to discover the potential customers.
Don’t limit yourself to merely joining groups that are related to your field. Find groups where your ideal customers hang out and become active, involved members of such communities.
Step #4 Engage Your Buyers
You have to engage your buyer in a manner that aids the customer, leads the purchasing process, and reaches the ultimate choice available for them and your company. Start posting frequently to boost engagement and foster conventionality.
The ultimate moment to post your updates is when your audience is active, so try to schedule your activities according to their time slots as it generally gets the top engagement. This might not apply to all the buyers, therefore analyze to see what performs ideal for you.
No matter when you share your content, always accentuate your key takeaways. You can make your content engaging by adding your outlook and offering it as a frame of reference to your group members.
Be influential in the news feed. You can share original content created by you and your company, relevant insights from thought leaders in your ideal customer’s industry, or a combination of both. Your goal should be to share information that speaks to the main challenge or problem your prospects are looking to overcome.
Step #5 Take the Leap of Faith
Don’t be hesitant to take the conversation offline once you’ve spent some time creating rapport. When you believe the prospect is ready to move on with more serious sales talks, offer to set up a phone call or meeting time to learn more about their difficulties and offer solutions on your company’s behalf.
Wrap Up
In this article, we discussed how you can use LinkedIn as a social selling platform. We prescribed you a step-by-step process to use LinkedIn to its full potential and make lasting customer relationships. The implication of LinkedIn as a social selling platform may vary from business to business or the industry you’re operational in. This article is based on generalized business practices and bears relevance to most firms out there.