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If you’re in a sales role, you already know what an important tool LinkedIn is. You might use it to connect with potential clients. You almost certainly use it to understand who the decision makers and decision influencers are with the companies you’re trying to win business from. If budgets allow you may be using Sales Navigator too.
These are all great uses for LinkedIn – and the flip side of this is that the chances are prospective buyers who are thinking about procuring your products or services are highly likely to be doing the same. Looking at your profile and Company page on LinkedIn. This is great news if your profile is completed and you regularly share and engage with relevant content. Not so good if you haven’t actually updated your own profile in years and have completed any of the about you sections!
And whilst you marketing department may be ensuring the content shared on the Company page is compelling – it’s still really important to have a strong personal page. So what does yours say about you currently?
Having a personal profile that could help in building relationships quicker with clients, and that aids your ability to generate new leads through LinkedIn is key. So how can you optimise your profile as a salesperson? Getting the balance right so that it isn’t too ‘much’ or overtly salesy is important.
Here are our tips and tricks on how to promote yourself and your personal brand on LinkedIn.
Selling is Hard!
Anyone who has ever worked in sales knows that it’s a hard job that requires resilience, perseverance, and tenacity. Let’s be honest anything that can make that role easier is welcomed.
With buyers/purchasers only looking to actively buy 5% of the time, 95% of the time your priority should be raising awareness of your offering and building trust with potential clients. LinkedIn is one way of being able to do this.
Why build a personal brand?
Shouldn’t it be the product or service that needs the branding we hear you say!
Building your own brand has never been more important and the old adage of people buy from people still carries weight. In many markets the USP’s from one company to another are not easily apparent to buyers.
Being a sales professional does not exclude you from being thought leader in your industry, in fact it puts you in a prime position to do so. Being on the frontline and close to customers means you know their pain points, their potential objections, and their concerns. Sharing content that speaks to these points and answers them can mean a lot of the hard work is done for you before you’ve even begun a conversation with a client.
Get the Basics Right
Before deep diving into the complexities of LinkedIn algorithms or how to improve your Social Selling Score, make sure the basics on your profile are in good shape. Follow our 5 steps to getting the foundations of your profile ready for 2023.
LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups are bit like marmite, people either love them or hate them! The challenge is that to know if a group is a valuable place to build a network you need to give it time and be active to really know.
Join the right one and it can be a pandora’s box of opportunity. It’s an opportunity to listen and learn from those you want to sell too. Our advice would be don’t look to sell straight away (this might get you expelled from the group!), listen and learn. Provide helpful answers to questions if you can, and comment on posts where you can add value and demonstrate your experience.
The Demise of Cold Calling
For many years, the effectiveness of cold calling has been declining, and most people don’t relish an unsolicited call from a stranger!
If you are using LinkedIn and making connections, you can also benefit from being able to start the relationship there too. Whether that’s through commenting on posts, sharing other people’s content and by InMail. By taking the time to develop contact in this way the need to pick up the phone to an unknown contact isn’t necessary.
Summary
There’s no doubt that selling in 2023 may be even tougher than in previous years, as businesses look to rationalise spend and will be looking very closely at the ROI of any investment they make. Being able to bring the brand you represent to life is going to be more important than ever.
LinkedIn is a springboard to help you elevate recognition within your potential customer group. Aim to build genuine relationships as you would do face to face and focussing on ‘helping’ rather than selling will always win the day.
If you need help in raising your LinkedIn game, or knowing more about how to create a winning personal profile please do get in touch.
