Any tips for approaching people on LinkedIn to "sell" B2B?
Discussion
If it's well reasearched targetted contact then I don't mind receiving it, I can jsut delete it if not interested. But if it's clearly "sent to everyone I know" then that's very annoying. e.g. I get from time to time people offering to reduce my energy/stationery/toner/telecoms costs....clearly haven't researched what we do.
I don't like it when people do it to me either, especially since Im not a purchaser/buyer, im a technical service.
My advice would be to use linkedin to research who best to contact but don't contact via linkedin, email them on their company email or ring them on their work number. If your emailing then you need a really on point and brief statement about the services you provide.
My advice would be to use linkedin to research who best to contact but don't contact via linkedin, email them on their company email or ring them on their work number. If your emailing then you need a really on point and brief statement about the services you provide.
My take on new business generation in general is that the amount of "contact" that exists in the interaction is directly proportional to its effectiveness. In other words, from most effective to least effective:
1. Face to face
2. Telephone
3. (Rather archaically) a physical letter
4. Email
5. Social marketing
I rank email as more effective because I think business based social networking is not only optional, but also not frequently used. I have a Linkedin account but I rarely log into it (perhaps once a fortnight). There just doesn't really seem to be any point in it.
I'm not saying don't use Linkedin, just accept that the conversion rate is likely to be very poor. In general terms, I'd say that online services like that can be good for market awareness, but I'm yet to be convinced of the value for lead generation - particularly from a B2B perspective. Relationship selling is much more effective IMO - especially if you have a good interpersonal nature.
1. Face to face
2. Telephone
3. (Rather archaically) a physical letter
4. Email
5. Social marketing
I rank email as more effective because I think business based social networking is not only optional, but also not frequently used. I have a Linkedin account but I rarely log into it (perhaps once a fortnight). There just doesn't really seem to be any point in it.
I'm not saying don't use Linkedin, just accept that the conversion rate is likely to be very poor. In general terms, I'd say that online services like that can be good for market awareness, but I'm yet to be convinced of the value for lead generation - particularly from a B2B perspective. Relationship selling is much more effective IMO - especially if you have a good interpersonal nature.
I've no doubt it will yield good results. Just a few successes starts the momentum of getting a good customer base I think - and that way they're also more likely to want to work with you rather than feeling too put upon, which is never a great start!Jubal said:
Isn't this missing the point a bit? Start a group, write some useful articles or just post an update that's interesting once in a while. Surely that's the way to use LinkedIn if it works for your market.
I might well be missing the point as I've not really used LI until this week.I've just started to use LinkedIn for work as opposed to whoring myself out to recruitment people 
I sell Mercedes cars to large companies, so have targeted fleet managers and purchasing managers and I've done ok in the few weeks since I started using it this way. It's sparked up conversations with the right people, has opened the door to a company that has a 'no name policy'. A few minutes on LinkedIn and I found the guy I needed to talk to was so rang back and asked for him. And he was up for a chat and I'm going to see him in a few weeks time.
I think if you spam the life out of it you're going to annoy people and get nothing from it. But used wisely I think you can gain contacts and business from it.
I sell Mercedes cars to large companies, so have targeted fleet managers and purchasing managers and I've done ok in the few weeks since I started using it this way. It's sparked up conversations with the right people, has opened the door to a company that has a 'no name policy'. A few minutes on LinkedIn and I found the guy I needed to talk to was so rang back and asked for him. And he was up for a chat and I'm going to see him in a few weeks time.
I think if you spam the life out of it you're going to annoy people and get nothing from it. But used wisely I think you can gain contacts and business from it.
Edited by Fast Bug on Thursday 9th April 21:31
The best stalking and research tool for sales people, lots you can't do with an unpaid account limited searches are coming in, limited messages to those not in your contacts, inability to see full profiles outside of 1st or 2nd degree contacts etc etc.
I get loads of messages from people trying to sell services, I read them and ignore the ones that aren't appropriate but every now and again there's someone interesting offering something I want or putting business my way.
If you're going to message people just be direct, state you what you want to discuss, the benefit to them and ask for a conversation, add them at the same time, it's not like FB friends, it's business networks so far less precious To the majority of users.
To avoid paying for an account where it won't show the persons name just copy and past the job title, first name etc into Google and the full name will usually show top of the search results.
Go back to LinkedIn and type in their full name and company and you'll be able to read their full profile that was previously blocked, use info and approach by phone/email.
Add as many appropriate people as possible, a large percentage will accept and have their email or phone number in their profile contact section, makes life easy.
I used to train salespeople and LI changed the game for ease of getting direct contact but it's only good if you use it properly and LI messages will never replace the old school ways to approach people.
I get loads of messages from people trying to sell services, I read them and ignore the ones that aren't appropriate but every now and again there's someone interesting offering something I want or putting business my way.
If you're going to message people just be direct, state you what you want to discuss, the benefit to them and ask for a conversation, add them at the same time, it's not like FB friends, it's business networks so far less precious To the majority of users.
To avoid paying for an account where it won't show the persons name just copy and past the job title, first name etc into Google and the full name will usually show top of the search results.
Go back to LinkedIn and type in their full name and company and you'll be able to read their full profile that was previously blocked, use info and approach by phone/email.
Add as many appropriate people as possible, a large percentage will accept and have their email or phone number in their profile contact section, makes life easy.
I used to train salespeople and LI changed the game for ease of getting direct contact but it's only good if you use it properly and LI messages will never replace the old school ways to approach people.
Advertising via LinkedIn can be effective but targeting must be ninja-like or you'll hemorrhage money. Get the relevance right and you can concentrate on the bigger issue of user intent - people using LinkedIn aren't usually in the mindset to do anything but stalk each other... 
InMail (https://www.linkedin.com/static?key=about_inmail) would be my first port of call. See https://www.linkedin.com/ads for more options. I also strongly recommend you let their team help you set things up, especially as there are more options on their side than on the self-service dashboard.
OT, OP have you tried advertising on Twitter with relevant terms? Conversion rates aren't as bad as you may think, and retargeting is ridiculously effective and cheap compared with other networks.
InMail (https://www.linkedin.com/static?key=about_inmail) would be my first port of call. See https://www.linkedin.com/ads for more options. I also strongly recommend you let their team help you set things up, especially as there are more options on their side than on the self-service dashboard.
OT, OP have you tried advertising on Twitter with relevant terms? Conversion rates aren't as bad as you may think, and retargeting is ridiculously effective and cheap compared with other networks.
Hoofy said:
I hadn't considered actual advertising. Will have to look into that!
How does advertising on LI and Twitter compare to Google Ads?
Depends what you're advertising for but LI (for display) always seems expensive to new advertisers - partly because many treat it just like Google Adwords. Twitter is hot right now and engagement is incredible - it feels a little like Facebook did a few years ago. Google, for what I do at least, remains the best traffic but growing competition is squeezing returns across all sectors.How does advertising on LI and Twitter compare to Google Ads?
sa_20v said:
Depends what you're advertising for but LI (for display) always seems expensive to new advertisers - partly because many treat it just like Google Adwords. Twitter is hot right now and engagement is incredible - it feels a little like Facebook did a few years ago. Google, for what I do at least, remains the best traffic but growing competition is squeezing returns across all sectors.
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