LinkedIn is a popular platform for connecting with like-minded individuals and finding career advancement opportunities. But it is also a sales tool that can prove to be invaluable for finding prospects and boosting conversions.
However, cold emailing or calling isn’t a tactic that will take you far on LinkedIn. No one likes being spammed with promotional content. LinkedIn bot is a helpful tool to avoid this kind of spam activity. The conventional prospecting strategies rarely work on such a platform.
Are prospects rejecting your connection requests? Are your messages being ignored? Is your content not getting any engagement? If your current LinkedIn strategy is failing to drive results, it’s possibly flawed. In this post, we’re sharing common outbound sales mistakes costing your business valuable opportunities. Take a look.
Failing to Optimize Your Profile
Before doing business with you, a prospective client is likely to check out your page. To ensure you create the right impression, it’s crucial to optimize your profile.
When you’re using LinkedIn to drive sales, your profile shouldn’t look like a resume. From the profile image to the summary, you need to be strategic about every section. It should give viewers a clean insight into your brand. An appealing profile plays a key role in creating a positive first impression.
Not Defining Your Target Audience
LinkedIn has 740 million members across 200 countries. Without knowing your target audience, you will be shooting in the dark with your outbound sales effort.
Invest time and resources into defining your target audience. In addition to knowing the key demographics like age, gender, and location, you can also consider factors such as company name, job title, skills, and more.
Not Segmenting Your Audience
It is important to realize that all the products offered by you are not going to be relevant for every prospect. Rather than wasting time on people not interested in a certain product, prioritize segmenting your audience. Dividing your target audience based on similar interest or buying behavior will allow better implementation of outbound sales strategies.
Just Using Basic Search
Are you just using basic search to find prospects on LinkedIn? You are missing out on a major opportunity to connect with a greater number of prospects. LinkedIn offers advanced search, which is a game-changer.
Using advanced search, you can highly customize your searches by making the most of the various filters. This feature makes it convenient to find the exact type of prospect you’re looking for. Don’t make the mistake of underutilizing this tool for your outbound sales strategy.
Not Continuously Growing Your Pool
Finding prospects is not a one-time task. Along with nurturing relationships with prospects, it is also important to continuously grow your pool of prospects.
If you’ve put in the effort to create a hyper-specific advanced search, remember to save it. You can reuse or rework saved searches to find new prospects. You can also use tools such as Alumni Search and Similar Profiles to have a steady number of prospects.
Not Utilizing Groups
Did you know that there are over 2 million groups on LinkedIn? This means there are groups on LinkedIn relevant to your business. Finding and joining such groups can help you connect with new prospects. It is crucial to follow the guidelines set by the group admin and avoid sharing irrelevant content.
Moreover, you can also consider creating your own group. This is a reliable way to build strong connections as well as establish credibility in the industry.
Trying to Sell Immediately
Building a long-lasting relationship with a prospect is not that different from a romantic courtship. You have to take your time to understand them, instead of putting all your cards on the table.
If you have been trying to sell in the very first interaction, stop. Why would a prospect agree to buy your product or service without knowing anything about your brand? You should find something in common with your prospect or engage with their content to get off the right foot.
Not Offering Value
An obvious sales pitch doesn’t usually work on LinkedIn. Unless you offer value, no prospect is going to care about your product or service.
What is in it for them? That is something you need to always think about. From understanding your prospects requirements to problems, you should focus on creating solution-centric content for LinkedIn. This is essential to improve engagement and boost conversions.
Not Researching Prospect
There is nothing more annoying than receiving a message for an irrelevant product or service. If you want to make the most of LinkedIn for outbound sales, make sure you research your prospect before you decide to send a message.
Just spending a little extra time on knowing your prospects can help you send personalized messages that are worth responding to. Your focus shouldn’t just be on making a sale, rather building long-lasting relationships.
Sending Default Connection Requests
A popular figure in the industry or a sought-after prospect is likely receiving several connection requests every day. If you want to stand out and get your connection request accepted, you cannot afford to send a connection request with a default message. Customized connection requests will distinguish your request from others and create a memorable impression on prospects.
Forgetting to Follow Up
Just sending a connection request is not enough. It takes time and consistent effort to build long-lasting relationships on LinkedIn. Following up is pivotal for securing a sale. After you have sent the initial message, remember to follow-up in a timely manner.
Not Having a Strategy
If you are serious about leveraging LinkedIn for outbound sales, then it’s imperative to come up with a detailed sales strategy. If you don’t have a system in place, it can become difficult to measure results. Instead of adopting certain tools randomly, a solid plan will help focus your efforts.
Wrap Up
When you’re just starting out, running campaigns and driving sales on LinkedIn can feel overwhelming. However, understanding your audience, using the right tools, knowing the inbound vs outbound sales difference, and making consistent efforts can help you build strong customer relationships as well as improve your closing rate.