LinkedIn Prospecting Strategy

“What’s the Best Way to Reach Prospective Customers Via LinkedIn?”

Think again if you expect to make a LinkedIn connection and then make a sale.

Just because someone accepts your LinkedIn request doesn’t mean they’ve opened the door for you to do a presentation. You need a little more “courting” before you can get to that stage. And besides, you want to make sure you are working on building a relationship with the right person. So…

LinkedIn Prospecting Best Practices STEP ONE:

Know who your targeted audience is. This includes Verticals and Titles of the typical decision-maker for your industry. Chances are there is more than one, so don’t just always look to connect with the “CEO.”

LinkedIn Prospecting Best Practices STEP TWO:

Have a valid reason WHY they would want to connect with you. Are you just a pesky salesperson or are you an SME (subject matter expert), or do you at least work for an SME that your targeted audience would care about?

LinkedIn Prospecting Best Practices STEP THREE:

Join LinkedIn groups that are stockpiled with your targeted audience and participate in the discussions, offering sound advice. Make it a point to post a question once a week that will get your audience talking and allow you to share some of your insight.

When you’ve come across a LinkedIn profile that meets your targeted audience profile and is part of the same group, you can send them a LinkedIn request.

But before you send the request, what is your game plan here? What if they ACCEPT your LinkedIn request? Then what?

Have a Game Plan to Nurture the Lead

One strategy is to share an informative newsletter/article/blog post or webinar by your company that focuses on solving a problem and invite them to sign up for your weekly / bi-monthly, or monthly newsletter.

Another is offering a free eLearning course to help your target audience solve a problem.

Having your LinkedIn audience get regular helpful newsletters that are chock-full of advice they can use will help them get to “know you” without risking anything.

And getting them to know you before picking up the phone will make your sales life much easier.

Michael Pedone –

Michael Pedone is the CEO/FOUNDER of SalesBuzz.com. An online sales training company that shows inside sales teams how to: avoid being rejected by gatekeepers, leave voicemail messages that get callbacks, and overcome tough pricing objections.

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