According to The Sales Gravy Podcast by Jeb Blount, LinkedIn is one of the greatest tools ever created for sales people alongside other technology like the telephone, cars, and the internet. This is not just a regular social media app for business people, in fact, this is a tool sales people can leverage to connect and learn more about their prospects and clients.

Today, we will be going over seven different ways to utilize LinkedIn in order to increase your sales. LinkedIn is a very versatile app and we will be going over features of the app, how it applies to sales people, and how sales people can use it to increase sales in their business.

1. LinkedIn Sales Solutions

The LinkedIn Sales Solution is a tool specifically geared towards helping sales people out with all of their sales needs. In fact, there are two products offered in this package. The LinkedIn Sales Navigator and Sales Insights. The LinkedIn Sales Navigator, in my opinion, is like a google search engine on steroids, but specifically catered for sales people. Sales Navigator can help you target the right clients you need for your business, understand the key insights, and engage with personalized outreach. On the other hand, Sales Insights helps sales people plan at a higher level with real time CRM data and insights. These tools are some of the best tools in the sales game and most big companies will use these tools and provide them for their sales people.

Since most companies use these tools, they are in fact very expensive to use. Usually only bigger companies use this tool because they can afford it. Furthermore, you have the ability to request a demo to see if it will even make sense for you and your business.

If you have access to these tools. Well, good for you. It can help you more than you think. Having both of these tools gives you so much upside potential compared to your competitors. You have more data, insights, and information about your clients and prospects than a lot of people. Being able to target your prospects and have endless data about them will give you the upper hand compared to other sales people who do not have the tool at all. Take advantage of this tool if you have access to it because it is so powerful for sales people like you.

2. Connect With The Greats

Sales is all about people. LinkedIn is a great tool that allows you to connect with people all across the world. Lets say you are an SDR (Sales Development Representative) working for a big company and it is your job to set up 20 meetings every week. That is a big task for some people. In fact, it would be smart of you use LinkedIn as a tool to help you reach that goal. LinkedIn can easily help you find your ideal customer due to its amazing filters in its search engine. LinkedIn’s filters consist of…

• 1st, 2nd and 3rd connections
• Location
• Current and Past Company
• School
• Industry
• Language
• Service Categories

This is a massive list and sales people need to take advantage of it in order to hit their numbers. These filter categories can allow people to find the exact person they need to talk to and do business with. Do not underestimate this tool. It is very powerful, so use it.

3. Engaging With Clients

According to LinkedIn Sales Solutions, there are 1.5 million unique users actively posting content and information on the app. This can be an app for people to learn about news in their industry or even a place for people to grow their personal brand by posting content daily. Or both. With the amount of activity on LinkedIn, it makes it easier for sales people to understand more about what is going on in their industry. Being up to date with industry and product news is something salespeople need to constantly be seeking out to stay ahead of the game.

4. Displaying a Good Looking Profile

For people that are still in college (like me) they are most likely doing research on companies and jobs for internships or even once they graduate. This can be a very stressful time for most people, in fact, job searches are not easy. Especially if you are wanting something very specific and specialized. LinkedIn allows you to create an executive looking profile to show off to recruiters and other people in your network to see. This is the first impression when someone clicks on your page. In fact, it allows you to describe previous or current job experiences, you can insert your resume or cover letter, insert any certificates that you have, etc.

This can help increase sales too. Your LinkedIn profile is pretty much a quick glimpse of what you are about. This is where your story is being told. If you can optimize this page to the best of its ability and make it look extremely professional, you will have people coming to you first.

5. Reach Out To Your Prospects

Once you have your profile set up, you are engaging with other accounts, and getting a grip on how to use the app, it is time to start reaching out to your prospects. According to Jeb Blount and Daniel Disney, the best way to sell on LinkedIn is to be customer based rather than being product based.

Someone is customer based when they value the relationship with their prospects, they provide value, discover their prospects most urgent needs, and do not sound like a super annoying sales person from the 80s. On the other hand, being product based is like being a super pushy, sleazy, and stereotypical sales person who will only pitch you about how the product is the best thing in the world. That is not how you want to sell on LinkedIn. You want to be customer based when using LinkedIn. Put all of your energy into providing solutions and caring about the relationship with your prospect and you will see your sales increase.

6. Involvement in LinkedIn Groups

LinkedIn Groups gets a terrible reputation because people think it is a place where sales people go to post tons of content and try to get them to buy a product. However, if you find a networking group that has strict rules for people who want to take it seriously, it can be a great opportunity to meet new people and grow your business. Find a group that is in your niche and connect with them. Do not be a product based sales person, be customer based and be so supportive they will never want to work with anyone else.

Hope you enjoyed and learned something from this read. Let me know what you want me to post in the future! If you have a question about anything in the sales, marketing, or entrepreneurship space please reach out to me. Remember to always be great and keep pushing to get to the next level.

Live for the Climb,

NL