LINKEDIN – Great NEW Lead Nurturing Tool

Unfortunately, many sales reps are falling behind…

My recommendation is start growing your LinkedIn network, today!!

Research shows more than 50% of sales professionals still have fewer than 500 connections on LinkedIn. Approximately 25% maintain between 500-1000, while less than 20% have more than 1000 connections. Going just by the numbers, salespeople have a ways to go.

But the value of your first-degree LinkedIn connections you have doesn’t lie in their number. While the size and quality of your network matter (don’t let anyone tell you otherwise), it’s more important that you use insights from your connections to nurture and engage them along their buyer’s journey, especially those that you want to serve and do business with.

PROBLEM: “I Don’t Know What To Say…”

SOLUTION:

Think of LinkedIn as a big social function. You’re there with 500 people you kind of know. There’s no point of attending if you don’t take the time to get to know your fellow attendees. But what do you say?

Many sales professionals (including me – I’ll often revert to good old-fashioned selling) will launch into sales pitches. I’m an addict; I can’t help it sometimes. Like you, I love what I do.

But the smarter thing to do is to talk about what’s important to these individuals. How do you determine those topics? It’s a pretty loud room, but by focusing on one group of individuals, you’re able to hone in on their conversations. You realize they’re talking about something you have knowledge about.

It’s time to step up to the plate.

PROBLEM: “How Do You Interact Online…??”

SOLUTION:

There are many tools that can provide you information about prospects and buyers. One free tool that’s particularly useful to salespeople is Newsle.com, a company that LinkedIn recently acquired. I’m a huge fan of Newsle because it helps me have targeted, relevant, and contextual conversations with my first-degree connections.

Imagine having your own personal assistant who scours the planet’s top news websites looking for news stories about your connections. In Newsle, this content feed is updated real-time and it can even be emailed to you in a digest form. Newsle keeps you informed of what’s going on and what matters to your prospects.

I couldn’t have begun to speak at this level if I didn’t have these insights.

The Bottom Line

The way I see it, modern sales has three components (all of which can include social selling):

1.  Insights selling
2. Trigger event selling
3. Referral selling

Newsle certainly provides insights needed to practice trigger event Selling.

To stand out to buyers, you need to start having targeted, relevant and contextual conversations.

Newsle is a great way to gather insights that can help you start conversations with your first-degree connections. Don’t worry about the number of your connections yet – focus on nurturing and engaging those you’re already connected to.

So many great marketing idea can really get confusing, right?!!

Remember, if you have questions (or need some help), JUST ASK!!

We would be happy to help!

Contact us today to receive your FREE Digital Footprint Analysis Report – 800-234-1522 or support@m2dmg.com

Until next time…