LinkedIn - Making connections and Sales Navigator

[Frimley111R]

I've not really used this in the past for making new business connections but have had some recent success through LI and want to try to use it to build connections with suitable contacts. However, as with any new system, some of it is simple and then some of it isn't.

I am hoping we have some LI experts on here who can help and , if possible/needed, chat me through a few things related to this. A couple of questions to get me/you started:

• Inmails cost and seem to simply allow you to write a bit more by way of an introduction, is that correct? At the moment I cannot see the point of the csot of these as you can write a message up to 300 characters to anyone.

• As strategy of searching for people with specific job titles and then messaging them directly to connect seems worth trying but will be labour intesive and slow (althuogh ahppy to work through this

• Sales Navigator seems good but I am not sure what else it will gain me that will be of real value. Or am I missing something?

[DSLiverpool]

We decided to use LI to target ecommerce managers on Magento and pitch replatforming.
We used a company called SoPro who have a very clever system that’s both intelligent and analogue in its approach.

We worked out 2 converts in the 3 month trial would more than cover it and whilst the sales process can take months we have had 5 good leads on the first 2 stages of the prospecting.

I’m pleased we tried it and I’m pretty sure we will continue.

[Frimley111R]

DSLiverpool said:

We decided to use LI to target ecommerce managers on Magento and pitch replatforming.
We used a company called SoPro who have a very clever system that’s both intelligent and analogue in its approach.

We worked out 2 converts in the 3 month trial would more than cover it and whilst the sales process can take months we have had 5 good leads on the first 2 stages of the prospecting.

I’m pleased we tried it and I’m pretty sure we will continue.

It looks like email marketing?

[DSLiverpool]

Frimley111R said:

It looks like email marketing?

It is but very next level and more importantly it works, they have a three email chat up funnel and we’ve been getting responses based on the first 2.
It’s very finely targeted just looking for specifics and maybe we’re selling magic beans so it’s easy but we checked references and they were broadly good actual a range of trades.

[jammy-git]

Interesting! I've had an email from a chap at SoPro just this week. Might actually respond to it now since you've had promising returns from it Dave.

[DSLiverpool]

jammy-git said:

Interesting! I've had an email from a chap at SoPro just this week. Might actually respond to it now since you've had promising returns from it Dave.

Dan dealt with it as I said it wouldn’t work and it didn’t first st, they started just throwing it through a few filters but the second time they clearly hand crafted it and it’s been very effective.
You could look at 1.9 to 2.0 prospects?

[skeeterm5]

From my perspective, I simply delete all unsolicited "sales" emails on LinkedIn so don't waste your money.

S

[Dave.]

skeeterm5 said:

From my perspective, I simply delete all unsolicited "sales" emails on LinkedIn so don't waste your money.

S

Same here, I have fk all to do with buying/pricing and it does my head in when someone wants to set up a meeting to discuss their offerings....

Plus, having your current employer on there, dhead recruiters ring up pretending to be a random (non-recruitment) company to get past switchboard, then announce they are actually a recruiter, etc, etc. wkers!

Actually, I deleted my profile a couple a weeks ago, I've gained nothing out of it really, other than "oooooh he's gone to work there has he" moments.

[Frimley111R]

skeeterm5 said:

From my perspective, I simply delete all unsolicited "sales" emails on LinkedIn so don't waste your money.

S

TBH that's because no-one bothered to contact you who could actually be of some help, or you aren't involved in something that would be assisted by networking/new products etc. I do get the same from random people who offer no benefit but I am targeting specific people who are responsible for the type of products we supply. Out of 10 connection requests, 4 have accepted since yesterday.

As with all type of marketing communication, it is the execution that is the key to it.

[jonamv8]

Used to pay more attention to it, too much noise now everyone seems to be trying to market or lead gen thru it. So easy to get hold of an email address for a user too even if you are not connected, that approach for me is better as I will still read a well read personal email thats not an obvious mailshot

[stub101]

I currently consult for 4 B2B businesses delivering Lead Generation and Sales prospecting using LinkedIn and then feeding into personalised email marketing and hands-on follow-ups.

For one of the companies, I’ve singlehandedly helped the MD build a sales pipeline worth £4million over the last 6 months (ave order £100k), of which he’s already closed £1m and ais impending decisions on another £500-750k next week.

Interestingly the process involves not one InMail or sales message being sent through LinkedIn...

[DSLiverpool]

We’ve closed 1 and have 2 larger ones quite far down the pipeline.
It’s far from perfect and embarrassingly has sent at least one email to a Magento agency but for the price it’s far cheaper than even an internal sales person.

[jonamv8]

stub101 said:

I currently consult for 4 B2B businesses delivering Lead Generation and Sales prospecting using LinkedIn and then feeding into personalised email marketing and hands-on follow-ups.

For one of the companies, I’ve singlehandedly helped the MD build a sales pipeline worth £4million over the last 6 months (ave order £100k), of which he’s already closed £1m and ais impending decisions on another £500-750k next week.

Interestingly the process involves not one InMail or sales message being sent through LinkedIn...

Harvesting emails via linked in sales navigator and a plug in ???

[ninepoint2]

Frimley111R said:

skeeterm5 said:

From my perspective, I simply delete all unsolicited "sales" emails on LinkedIn so don't waste your money.

S

TBH that's because no-one bothered to contact you who could actually be of some help, or you aren't involved in something that would be assisted by networking/new products etc. I do get the same from random people who offer no benefit but I am targeting specific people who are responsible for the type of products we supply. Out of 10 connection requests, 4 have accepted since yesterday.

As with all type of marketing communication, it is the execution that is the key to it.

TBF if you are in a Senior Management role it's highly unlikely that any unsolicited approach is going to be any use, after all the main reason you are employed at that level is to keep the organisation on a carefully planned strategic direction. In over 30 years in a senior IT role I don't recall any useful unsolicited contact. I was lucky enough to have a pretty ruthless PA who knew exactly how to deal with such an approach.

Edited by ninepoint2 on Sunday 28th July 00:50

[stub101]

ninepoint2 said:

TBF if you are in a Senior Management role it's highly unlikely that any unsolicited approach is going to be any use, after all the main reason you are employed at that level is to keep the organisation on a carefully planned strategic direction. In over 30 years in a senior IT role I don't recall any useful unsolicited contact. I was lucky enough to have a pretty ruthless PA who knew exactly how to deal with such an approach.

Edited by ninepoint2 on Sunday 28th July 00:50

Interesting perspective for the industry you’re in because the £2m of sales we’ve closed in the last 6 months have all been from implementing my process directly contacting the CEO, CFO, HR Director, L&D Director...

[stub101]

jonamv8 said:

Harvesting emails via linked in sales navigator and a plug in ???

In essence ‘yes’ but there are a couple of different plugins needed to successfully identify and then connect with the right people before any emails can be harvested. Plus only the ones with work email are used which are then fed into 2 other email marketing systems; one sequenced and one manual depending on the specific campaign we are running. This is all underpinned by a full suite of content marketing to ensure the person doing the contacting is seen as a real person of specialism and experience in their industry. Then when we make personal contact the majority of people are already warm and more often than not buy :-)

I’d love to say it’s a simple automated process but unfortunately that’s far from the case and is very ‘manually automated’. After 6 years of iteratively building it, it seems to work pretty well and pays for plenty of fuel in the M3...

[ninepoint2]

stub101 said:

Interesting perspective for the industry you’re in because the £2m of sales we’ve closed in the last 6 months have all been from implementing my process directly contacting the CEO, CFO, HR Director, L&D Director...

That's as maybe, however you don't mention contacting the IT Director and TBF none of those you mention above will have much clue about IT Strategy and may indeed be somewhat vulnerable to suggestions that may not be in their direct area of responsibilty or knowledge, so once the IT Director becomes aware it could be a very different story. £2m of sales does not equate to successfully implemented solutions, but merely to a convincing sales technique aimed at those less skilled to understand. However as always I am open minded and if you are able to quote case studies where your solutions have provided tangible benefits then I will be the first to sit down to a large plate of humble pie

[Flooble]

Size of business would also be relevant. Approaching the CEO of a 15 person company is not the same as approaching the CEO of a PLC.

There are firms and sectors out there who devolve sufficient budget authority to people who are very susceptible to flashy marketing, or sneaky marketing or whatever you want to call it. Ultimately while I feel personal networking is always the ideal approach, you need a way to bootstrap yourself and build that network in the first place.

[jonamv8]

As senders of this targeted spam, how do you respond when you receive it? Genuine question.... do you read or respond? My personal experience of being on the receiving end is that they can get lost in the noise due to the sheer volume

[Flooble]

jonamv8 said:

As senders of this targeted spam, how do you respond when you receive it? Genuine question.... do you read or respond? My personal experience of being on the receiving end is that they can get lost in the noise due to the sheer volume

I throw it all away but that is my nature and age - I can usually find someone to do most things by asking around people I know.

The MDs at two separate small companies where I worked loved all the wacky ideas though, they were always excited by the latest "big thing" to arrive in their mailbox.

So it's purely down to the person I think.