Tips From LinkedIn Experts

Cold calling or emails can be a challenging selling tactic, but with the right steps or tools – for example InMail - you can still reach an abundance of contacts and achieve results. Did you know that a LinkedIn InMail is 3 times more likely to get a response than a standard email? The key factor is to make those messages less cold by developing context, familiarity, and an understanding of the prospect’s needs. Here are 5 strategies that will help you achieve that: Effective Attention-Getter: Start by calling out something about their last updates on LinkedIn.com, any common connection or latest news related to their company.Friendly Introduction: Identify yourself immediately and quickly explain the purpose of the contact.Customized Value Proposition: Any time you can offer a free resource, with no expectation of reciprocation, you’ll increase your chances of a response.Conversational Tone: Try to seem friendly and brief, but always professional.Position Yourself as a Listener: Leave

 Hi Community members, A month ago we shared the Industry Spotlight for how sellers in Financial Services are leveraging LinkedIn Sales Navigator, and today’s Industry Spotlight will focus on Healthcare sales professionals. Just like the trend in finance, we’ve seen an increase in activity on LinkedIn in the past year from healthcare buyers, which we’ve categorized into:Business buyers: CXO, Medical Officers, Program Heads, Heads of Pharmacy, Board Members, and Director+ level professionals in Purchasing, Operations, or Administration.Clinical buyers: doctors and nurses  On the seller side, we also saw a 44% year-over-year increase in sharing content and a 90% year-over-year increase in posting content on LinkedIn. Even before the Covid-19 impetus, there were signs that the healthcare sector was breaking free of the social media shell and becoming more receptive towards online interactions and virtual selling. For one, there are currently more than 6M healthcare buyers from more than 6

Hi Program Managers and Admins, Sales enablement isn’t a term unfamiliar to most of you. It has been on the rise in the world of sales in the last decade and really gained momentum and precedence in the last few years. At the core, sales enablement equips your sales team with strategic resources it needs to excel, from tools to technology and from content to data and beyond. And in our increasingly digital and virtual environment, B2B sales enablement solutions are buyer-focused and aim to provide sellers with the right intel to engage with buyers effectively throughout the customer journey.  Before we dive into how to set up your company’s sales enablement process, let’s break down some of the significant benefits: Being able to scale success — Once your entire sales force is equipped with the right tools, methodologies, and resources, top performers don’t have to bear all the responsibility of carrying the team to hitting quota. Working with stronger sales data — Data houses the powe

Hi Community members,  As it goes without saying, your LinkedIn profile is one of your greatest assets to your personal branding toolkit and professional story. Read: It isn’t a resume; instead, it serves as an important representation of your digital persona. A well-crafted, detailed profile attracts more eyes than one that lacks content and personality. The correctly positioned profile provides more value and makes you easier to relate to, and as sellers, we all want our intended audience to engage with us. So now, let’s get into how to turn your LinkedIn profile from Expert to All Star level and how to use it to drive conversations with your targeted buyers.  First, take a look at this detailed presentation on how to Create an Effective Sales Profile on LinkedIn to make yourself stand out as an interesting, engaging, and resourceful seller. To summarize very briefly, here are the key sections you can brush up on: Custom URLProfessional Photo Background Photo Headline Summary Experie

Hello, everyone. Hope you’ve had a well-rested weekend and are ready to kick-off your week!  And, what’s the best way to start a new week? With an interesting discussion that will help you find out how your Virtual Selling peers are leveraging a feature like, for example, Smart Links.  As you’ve probably seen by now, last week we started a Community thread for everything you need to know about Smart Links, as an effort to inform you on the key things you should be aware of, as well, as help you understand how you take the most out of this Sales Navigator’s feature.  Today, after reading that post and finding out how you can use Smart Links, I’m looking to find out how you’re leveraging this tool in order to get a closer customer relationship.  If you’re still trying to figure this out I can share my 2 cents and let you know how I’ve seen others using it. For example, during the last couple of months, I’ve seen some users leveraging this feature for all customer & lead follow-ups. I

Hello, Community members.  As you’ve probably seen here, in 2020 LinkedIn has announced the Buyer First Methodology, a new vision for the future of selling, focused on respecting buyers’ evolving need and expectations, while being considerate of your time and expertise as a seller.  A year into this global pandemic, we’ve learned to reinvent ourselves, but also how we do business. The virtual selling approach, that aligns with the Buyer First Methodology, is here to stay and some countries and markets that have been slowly coming back to the office have continued to embrace this new working reality. Additionally, on a survey to 500 sales professionals, we’ve seen that 46% of those who are virtual selling believe they’ll continue to do so beyond the next 12 months.  What Happened During the Last Year?  During the last couple of months, we’ve learned that today’s buyers are definitely more selective when it comes to considering whom they choose to partner with. The reality is that we’re

Hi, Community members. Happy Friday! Just before we all finish our working week, the Sales Navigator Community team wants to share with you some key insights we collected from the latest LinkedIn Spark Event. We believe these will help you enhance your authenticity through virtual selling and help you get closer to your buyers.  We all know that it’s easier to establish some sense of authenticity during an in-person meeting. You can do it though eye contact, a hearty handshake, and a positive vibe that allow sellers to immediately connect to their buyers. But, how do you do that when you’re working from home and can’t meet them face-to-face? Well, according to Davin Reed, from Gong, ‘’building trust starts by being your true authentic self in every interaction’’ and you can definitely do it when working remotely.  Below you will find some tips on how you can embrace this as an opportunity, rather than a challenge. Be Yourself, and Give Buyers a Window into Your Life According to Reed,

Hi Community members, If you are a program manager or a sales manager for your virtual selling / Sales Navigator program, it is probably in your interest to empower your team to perform and coach them to succeed. Thus, we are highlighting the key takeaways for sales managers from Jesse Rothstein’s Carry That Quota, a book on sales as a craft and how to master it. (Even if you are not a sales manager, this book is designed to help sellers get in tune with their passion for what they too, especially the greener ones.) So let’s jump straight in! Know thyself — One of the first questions posed in the book is “Is a career in sales right for me?” The author goes into how he began his sales profession, weighs the pros and cons of this career, and illustrates the qualities found in the most successful sellers. More interestingly, Rothstein points out the importance of self-care in this profession. It may be easily overlooked, but building a healthy routine, knowing when to take a break, and pu

Hello Community members, As we continue to navigate the evolving world of work into remote collaboration and virtual selling, knowing how to connect with your customers and peers without the face-to-face interaction is more critical than ever. Last week, @Nadia Vieira​ shared a timely and relevant post on “Top Tips to Give a Great Product Demo.” Today, I will be diving into another similar topic: How to Create Compelling Slides. 1.    Know your audienceFirst and foremost, you need to know who you will be presenting to in order to build a sound and fitting slide deck. Just like writing InMail messages or sending emails, the information you want to deliver and how you deliver it depends on your audience. 2.    Focus on the message and the bigger pictureBefore you start building your slides, know what ideas and information you want to share so that you can structure and design the deck accordingly. Don’t get caught up with the smaller details like number of slides, transitions, etc. at th

Hi Community members, About a month ago, we shared the 29 LinkedIn Learning courses for sales professionals during challenging times — and guess what? There’s more! Today we are sharing four courses from sales experts that will help you understand how to ask great questions, identify sales growth opportunities, make the most out of Sales Navigator, and effectively manage your sales pipeline. These courses are free until the end of the month, so be sure to check them out and add them to your learning/watch list! Asking Great Sales Questions by Jeff Bloomfield — As we continue doing business in the Buyer First era, it’s imperative to shift your mindset from “selling” to “serving by solving.” Storytelling and effective communication are key to understanding your buyers’ needs and goals so that you are in the best position to solve their problems. Jeff’s course will help you gain insight into your customer’s business problems and objectives and use them to guide your sales questions. Learn

Hi Community members, We’re all familiar with InMail messages and use them daily to connect with a prospect, follow up after a meeting, or perhaps invite them to an event. No doubt many of us have been on the receiving side as well. However, do you know additional features such as creating Smart Links directly in a message or forwarding an InMail? If not, you’ve come to the right place as I’ll be going over some specific features in InMail messages you might have missed: Search your Sales Navigator Inbox — For sales professionals in a hunter type role where you’re reaching out to multiple new prospects in a day, your inbox may become crowded fast. Fortunately, you can type in the “Search messages” bar on the left, both names and keywords, to find a specific message quickly. Take a look at this Help article for more information.Create a Smart Link from within your message window directly — This is one of the two ways you can create a new Smart Link in Sales Navigator. Once created, the

Hi Community members, Earlier this month, I wrote about the best practices for providing a great virtual experience for the webinars you are hosting. In the current climate, live webinars are the main, and often the only, medium for hosting large-scale events right now, from tech conferences to industry summits and more. So today, I will be talking about how you can leverage Sales Navigator and the LinkedIn ecosystem to drive registrations and increase attendance to your virtual events. Read on to find out how you can fill as many (virtual) seats as possible at the events you and your team worked so hard on! Before the EventYour main goal before the actual event is to maximize the number of registrations so that it results in the highest attendance rate possible. This is also true for an in-person event. To achieve a high registration and attendance rate, make sure you are generating and building awareness among your targeted audience. Here are a few simple ideas to amplify the event:W

Hi Community members,  By now, I’m sure the vast majority of us have heard of the term multi-threading and have even adopted this practice when it comes to staying on top of important deals. However, why don’t we refresh our memories and make sure we know everything there is to know about this important sales strategy and share our very own best practices? First, as recap, multi-threading is the practice of staying connected with multiple key decision-makers on the purchasing side. And, why is this important? Well, there are certain reasons, but the main one relates to potential lost of contact with influencers in the purchasing organization during an important deal. We all know that employees move around within organisations, or that their responsibilities inside the company might change, so the person who was involved in the initial buying decision might not be the one who will be involved in the operational aspects of closing the deal and implementing it later on. This is why it’s c

Hi Community members,  Hope you’re having a great week and getting ready for the holiday season that is approaching.  Today, I’d like to discuss with you something I hear frequently from our Community members, especially the ones who are brand-new to Sales Navigator. When we start using Sales Navigator it’s important to understand the differences between leveraging Linkedin.com and this platform. Of course, these two are connected and feed each other, but the way you would take advantage of them can and should be different.  This said, let’s look at the differences between these two: LinkedInSearch: basic filters onlyResults: depend on your network (1st and 2nd degree connections + limited pool of 3rd degree connections)Updates/Alerts: only about your LinkedIn connections activityFeed: updates from prospects/customers mixed with your network, not filteringMessages: connections only  Sales NavigatorSearch: robust search engine with advanced filters Results: no restrictions, you’ll see e

Hi Community members, One thing that’s true about sales is that it is always evolving – the industry, the technology, and the needs of the buyer. Thus, it is important for sales reps to be at the top of their game and stay ahead of the trend. We’ve found that professionals have been learning at record rates since Covid-19 hit earlier this year and have added more than 140 million skills to their LinkedIn profiles. Here are the five fastest growing skills for sales professionals:Data AnalysisTechnical SupportCustomer Relationship Management (CRM)Sales ProcessConsulting Are you also interested in adding these skills to your toolkit? The good news is that there are courses on LinkedIn Learning designed to help you sharpen those skills. Take a look at this blog post for more information and to access them! Thank you & happy learning,Eva C. P.S. For those in the U.S. who celebrate it, have a safe and wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hi Community members,  Oftentimes in a sales cycle, nothing gives sellers more headache than an objection. However, many may argue that an objection is actually a blessing in disguise — after all, would you rather have no response at all and be left in the dark without any explanation? Furthermore, more often than not, a “no” simply means “not yet” in sales, especially after you ask follow-up questions and understand the underlying reasons why the buyers said “no.” For many of you, facing objections probably isn’t new territory for you, but today we will break down how you can handle objections in five simple steps and how you can continue the deal even after hearing “no.” Change your perspective and attitude – Stay positive and don’t be afraid of objections. In fact, challenge yourself to welcome objections and see them as opportunities to learn more about your buyer so you can be even more prepared in the future. If anything, future prospect as well.Understand the why behind the obje

Happy October, everyone! Even as we approach the final quarter and months of the year, with restricted travel still in place, many of us are still having customer meetings and attending conferences virtually. A couple of months ago, @Nadia Vieira​ and I shared tips on creating compelling slides. Today, I will be sharing best practices on yet another parallel topic: How to Turn Webinars into a Valuable Virtual Event Experience. Whether live or on-demand, webinars have long been here even before the current times of Work From Home / Remote Work. And while you may be presenting your demo and sharing a presentation in a webinar, webinars encompass many other areas important in the customer journey as well. For example, our own Education and Customer Experience teams have on-demand training webinars (i.e. CRM Integration for Admins & Program Managers and live office hours for Sales Professionals. As you can see, webinars go beyond more than just a customer meeting or a product demo. Let

Hi everyone, As the world continues to operate in a virtual, remote setting, the popularity and breadth of online learning also trend upward. While most of us have been working from home in the last 6+ months, the good news is that we also have more time on our hands. That is why, today, I am sharing LinkedIn Learning’s 10 Most Popular Courses Among Sales Professionals! They range from personal branding to time management, from marketing foundations to mastering Excel, all of which are great toolkits to add to the most important asset you can bring to the table— yourself. Additionally, here are 10 more technical courses on selling among the plethora that are offered on LinkedIn Learning:Creating Your Sales ProcessManaging Your Sales TerritoryKey Account ManagementAnalyzing Sales CompetitorsSelling to ExecutivesSales: Handling ObjectivesThe Persuasion Code: The Neuroscience of SalesFollowing Up after a Sales MeetingSales ForecastingCross-functional Sales Teams Bonus: Here’s an additiona

Hello Modern Sellers, If you're looking for unique and engaging InMail templates that will guarantee a reply, then you came to the right place! Today, I'm sharing an incredible pocket guide that includes different InMails templates that you can leverage. Here are 3 of them: 1.The “common ground” email Research the prospect online. Look for mutual interests, hobbies, or acquaintances. You could discover common ground and a reason to reach out. Approach with caution. You want to come across as having done your homework, not creepy. Subject: [Prospect Name], Jessie recommended I reach outMessage:Hi [Prospect Name],Our mutual connection, [connection name], and I were talking recently about [hot topic]. She said you were an expert on this issue.I’m writing an article about [hot topic] because it’s relevant, timely, yet confusing to many of my customers.Can I include your perspective, [Prospect Name]?Regards,[Your Name] 2. The “problem solver” email Prospects are looking for guidance and adv

Hi Community members, In one of my previous posts, I talked about the rise of video marketing as well as other forms of thought leadership. As we are all aware, as current times continue to trend towards remote and virtual, video has become more popular than ever. Here are more stats around video consumption and marketing: In 2019, the average person viewed online video for 84 minutes per day, or about half the time we spend with conventional television. By 2021, it’s estimated that this figure will increase to 100 minutes per day. [source: Marketing Charts]88% of marketers using video reported a positive ROI from it. That marks a 5% increase from 2019 and a whopping 55% increase since 2015. [source: wyzowl]99% of video marketers will continue to use video in 2020. 95% plan to increase or maintain spend. Of those who don’t currently use video, 59% intend to start in 2020. [source: wyzowl]86% of people want to see more videos from brands in 2020. [source: wyzowl] Now that you’ve seen th

Hi Community members, We are always selling, whether we realize it or not. Even beyond the business landscape and monetary transactions, we are often selling. Selling what, you might ask? You have probably heard of the saying "People buy from people" or "People buy because of the why" – they are both true, and yes, you are always selling yourself even if you don’t realize it. When customers make purchases, they are not only buying your product or service, but they are also subscribing to your knowledge, personality, and charisma and building upon the connection and rapport you had with one another. In today’s post, I will share the most common qualities I’ve seen from salespeople and in the many articles and lists I’ve read. However, by no means are these written in stone and hold the same value for everyone. They may be prioritized differently across different industries and in other regions. As a matter of fact, I would like to turn this into a discussion and invite members to share

Hi Community members, In one of my posts last week, I listed “understanding your customers” as one of the top qualities of a salesperson. This goes without saying to all of us, of course, and is a golden rule we all live by, but let’s dive into the details and how important that is today. Mapping out the Customer JourneyIt is not enough to simply know your customer — your CRM can easily do that, capturing the customer’s history of purchases, service requests, product returns, inquiries, and more. Nowadays, it is crucial to understand the customer through customer experience, or the “customer journey,” as many calls it. The customer experience starts before the point of sale, continues through it, and proceeds after the purchase as well. The actions you take at these touch points all contribute to understanding your customers, which is part of the positive feedback loop with closing sales and delivering customer value. (Source: SOEG Jobs) Benefits of a Positive Customer ExperienceNeedle

Hi Community members, In one of my first posts, I wrote extensively about the different types of thought leadership and why sellers should also be thought leaders. If you need a refresher on why you and your organization should have a Thought Leadership strategy, check out this presentation. To expand upon that, in today’s post, let’s explore the various forms of media that can be used for Thought Leadership content. According to a survey conducted by Wyzowl in 2019, here is a breakdown of how 613 unique consumers wanted to learn about a new product in a B2B setting:  (Source: Finances Online) As you can see, more than two-thirds of those surveyed prefer learning about a new product through video. The survey also noted that 94% of video marketers say that video has helped increase user understanding of their product/service. Furthermore, 51% of video marketers have used LinkedIn video as a medium and 84% of them have found it successful.  What Makes Videos so Popular Today?You’ve heard

Hi Community members, In addition to saving searches (which I covered in the 4 Efficient Ways to Search post earlier this week), you can also create and build your own Custom Lists – of both Leads and Accounts – to keep your prospecting organized and up to date. What Custom Lists Can Do for YouCustom Lists allow you to streamline your workflow and keep track of leads and accounts that matter most to you. They are also a great collaboration tool with the rest of your sales team: not only can you share Custom Lists, but you (and anyone you share them with) can also add notes to the accounts and leads within the list. Check out the tips sheet here for more details on each of the following features that Custom Lists allow you do:Segment your pipeline based on what’s relevant to you Share your Lists with your team to collaborate more effectively Take notes and collaborate on a lead or account directly Prioritize your Lists with Sales Navigator Spotlights Receive Alerts from your ListsAfter

Hi Community members, Today I want to start a conversation about following up after any sales meeting. Why? Because recently I came across with the following statement: ''according to a study published by Harvard Business Review, 71% of leads are never followed up on.'' The question is: why aren't sales reps following up and ensuring that those leads will actually convert into customers? Knowing how to effectively stay in touch with your prospects could mean the difference between winning or losing a deal. Here are a couple of steps any sales rep could pursue in order to do a successful follow up: 1.Stay in the KnowIn order to stay up-to-date on what’s happening within a target account, follow the main decision makers and their company’s LinkedIn Page. Combined with real-time updates from Sales Navigator, your sales reps will gain a better idea of how to steer follow-up conversations. 2.Gain Insights Through InteractionsIt’s likely that during sales meetings, reps don’t interact with e