Is it sold on LinkedIn?
Increasingly so. According to the latest reports, professionals who are present on LinkedIn have a 78% higher success rate in generating business opportunities than those who are not. The reason is clear: to sell, you first have to talk, and LinkedIn provides a space to do so on a daily basis.
Every morning, you open LinkedIn and can talk, interact and position yourself as an expert in front of 19 million professionals in Spain.
In complex purchasing processes, when a buyer chooses, they want to buy from the best, and to do so, they have considered the information on LinkedIn. Being present and well positioned influences the final decision; personal branding is vital because people don’t just buy the company’s reputation, they buy from people they consider trustworthy and expert.
Everything counts in the sales funnel.
What is the first thing a salesperson should consider in order to be present on LinkedIn
Well, if you sell technology, your profile cannot convey the opposite. You have to show that you are digital, and your profile must be complete and perfect. Caesar’s wife must be and appear to be so, because on LinkedIn we must have an updated and well-maintained profile.
A sales profile should take care of at least 7 key sections:
- Personalised URL.
- Professional photo.
- Background image (avoid grey backgrounds).
- Contact information.
- Clear, value-oriented headline.
- ‘About’: professional storytelling.
- Highlights: banners, case studies, authority.
A good practice is to analyse leading profiles: professionals in the same role, sector or even competitors. Being inspired is not the same as copying; it is learning what communicates trust and expertise.
Tips for creating your network map
To do this, you need to reflect and take four important steps:
- Define the objective of networking. Get to know all my clients’ contacts and be alert to changes in roles or new hires, or get to know profiles interested in, for example, quantum computing, edge computing, AI, cybersecurity, etc.
- Identify contacts and classify them according to their potential to achieve the objective (a recommended minimum is to have a network of 800 contacts, which can include suppliers, clients, and colleagues).
- Develop a contact strategy in which you interact with events, publications, reports, conversations, interactions, giving likes, or sending private messages. The goal is to create connections.
- Develop a follow-up strategy. Keep in touch with a calendar, reminders or alarms so that the connection does not cool down.
Which is better: quality of contacts or quantity?
It depends on the objective. Quantity of contacts, for example, for an objective where you want to expand your reach and visibility because you are looking to be invited to events in which you are an expert.
Quality contacts are for building trust, collaboration, and a community with common interests in order to open up business opportunities and long-term relationships.
Studies on networking agree that quality relationships are the ones that generate the most value, mutual value in which both parties benefit.
The Sales Navigator licence for sales
Sales Navigator is an advanced, sales-oriented paid tool, and for me its main value is access to LinkedIn’s databases and advanced searches that help you connect with the profiles and roles you need, as well as segment and manage your sales work by creating saved lists that can be shared with your team who have the same licences.
Another feature that salespeople make good use of is the number of InMails or direct messages you can send per month, which is infinitely superior to the basic functionality, and the Smart Link, for example, to invite your clients to events or send documents, as you can see the click and the time spent on each page.
It requires a certain methodology and consistency; there is no point in paying for it if you are only online 10 days a month, in which case you are losing money.
Why the SSI (Social Selling Index) is important for a salesperson
The social selling index determines how the algorithm rates you and positions you in the feed of publications, measuring four factors, each at 25%.
- Your complete personal brand.
- Your searches on the network: are you finding the right people?
- You interact by offering information.
- You create relationships.
It is essential to take care of all four, because the SSI positions you in your sector and with similar roles. If you have more than 50, you are advanced and your posts will be positioned above your competitors.
What not to do on LinkedInConstantly posting promotional or sales content. The word “sale” makes people run away. We should give and offer news, reports and entertainment 80% of the time and keep the “call to action” to just 20%.Another bad habit is to ignore and not respond to comments made to us on LinkedIn. And thirdly, you mustn’t let LinkedIn be a time thief. To do this, it’s vital to open LinkedIn with your current goal in mind. I always talk about 5 actions in 5 minutes as a quick routine (maximum 25 minutes): check notifications, interact, read and/or comment, search and post.How AI helps a salesperson on LinkedIn Fundamentally, it is a total productivity accelerator. With the little time we have, it helps us, for example, to read and summarise the posts of your clients or interlocutors, to think better and structure your interactions or comments, training an agent for each client, and helping you to come up with keywords to appear in SEO, or improve headlines and the structure of your articles. In short, LinkedIn is a strategic channel that helps us position ourselves and open up business opportunities, reputation and relationships. Consistency and strategy will determine the value you bring.
