Linkedin Social Selling Ebook 2016

Ralf VonSosen
Former Head of Marketing
for LinkedIn Sales Solutions
Ken Krogue
President Founder
InsideSales.com
HOW TO USE LINKEDIN AS THE
Ultimate Social Selling Tool

InsideSales.com | LinkedIn Share this eBook:
Page 2
Sometimes a little controversy sparks
amazing progress.
When Ken Krogue, president of
InsideSales.com, teamed up with LinkedIn’s
Ralf VonSosen on a webinar about the
death of cold calling in 2013, they had
no idea how much impact it would have.
Some in the industry expressed concerns
over associating LinkedIn with cold calling.
Professional sales teams use LinkedIn to
do pre-call research and build relation-
ships, but “cold calling” remains a popular
term because nobody knows what else to
call it. Krogue and VonSosen shared the
social selling best practices that enable
salespeople to stop cold calling and
start connecting with more prospects
and customers.
The webinar generated so much buzz that
it broke the record for the biggest webinar
InsideSales.com had ever done with 5,648
registrants.
So, naturally, Krogue and VonSosen joined
forces again in 2014 on a new webinar
that revealed how you can use LinkedIn as
the ultimate social selling tool. This topic
clearly appeals to modern sales teams.
This webinar crushed the previous record,
reeling in 6,930 registrants. We’ve cap-
tured the highlights in this ebook for your
reading pleasure.
With more than 300 million profession-
als using its platform, LinkedIn is the
single most powerful tool ever invented
for sales. It is creating incredible economic
opportunity by connecting the world’s
business leaders.
LinkedIn’s research shows that
sales professionals who use social
selling are:
• 51 percent more likely to
achieve quota
• 3 times more likely to go to
president’s club
• Promoted to VP 1.6 times faster
In this ebook, you’ll learn how to optimize
your LinkedIn profile to enhance your pro-
fessional brand, identify and nurture your
ideal prospects, measure and improve
your performance using LinkedIn’s Social
Selling Index, and close more deals with
less stress.
Introduction

Page 5
of Social Media
If you want to leverage LinkedIn for sales,
you must first master the basics. One of
Krogue’s most popular articles on Forbes
offers 27 LinkedIn tips, and that’s a good
place to start. Now we’re going to cover
the six basic skills of social media. This is
the foundation on which you should build
your LinkedIn social selling strategy.
Skill No. 1: Complete
Before you begin using social media, ask
yourself a series of questions:
• What is my purpose?
• Why am I doing this?
• What is my plan?
• How am I going to go about doing it?
• Am I prepared?
• Do I know how to use the
LinkedIn platform?
A lot of people just jump in and think,
“Well, it will be fun to follow a lot of famous
people. I’ll just follow Obama and Shakira
and see what’s going on.”
If you don’t have a clearly defined purpose
and strategy, you won’t achieve a lot of
results. Make sure you answer the ques-
tion, “Why am I doing this?”
Once you know your purpose, you can
complete your profile. Koka Sexton has
compiled The Epic List of LinkedIn Profile
Tips. It includes links to 36 articles with lots
of important dos and don’ts.
One of the best tutorials for salespeople is
10 Tips to Help You Maximize Your LinkedIn
Sales Profile.
To avoid common mistakes, check out 22
LinkedIn Secrets LinkedIn Won’t Tell You
and The LinkedIn Settings Mistakes Most
People Still Make.
One of the most obvious LinkedIn profile
tips that many people overlook is simply to
upload a professional photo. Displaying a
picture of yourself will help you establish a
connection and develop trust with others
in your network.
Profiles with photos receive a 40%
InMail response rate.
The 6 Basic Skills

Page 6
Skill No. 2: Content
LinkedIn allows you to share all kinds of
content that provides value to your net-
work. You can post audio, video, ebooks,
links and other types of media.
Find something cool that you want to
share about you and your company
and add it to your profile. Remember
that LinkedIn is no longer just a resume.
It’s a promotional tool where you can
offer important information and valu-
able insights.
Krogue lists his two most popular ebooks
– “Cold Calling Is Dead, Thanks to LinkedIn”
and “42 LinkedIn Inside Sales Tips” – right
on his profile for everybody to see. When
people click on one of these images, it
takes them to a landing page on the
InsideSales.com website, where they can
download an ebook. It’s a great way to
generate highly qualified leads.
The best sales leads raise their hands and say they need what you offer.
LinkedIn gives you a place to promote content with calls-to-action. Take advantage of that.
Here’s what it looks like when you add content to your profile:
of Social Media
The 6 Basic Skills
#2 on The Top 30 Social S… Forbes Article Cold Calling… #1 Forbes article on Twitter…
Ken wrote the #1 eBook Used by LinkedIn: C… 42 LinkedIn Inside Sales Tips eBook done wi…

Page 7
Use Shared Experiences
to Build Rapport.
You can also share content as updates
in your news feed. Gabe Villamizar, who
launched his career as the social media
guru at InsideSales.com, recommends the
4-1-1 formula.
4: Share four pieces of content around
the core value that you offer.
1: Post one piece of content that reveals
who you are as a person.
1: Publish one piece of content that
promotes your company or gen-
erates leads.
Take some time and develop a content
strategy. Establish your identity so you can
provide value to your professional network.
Create consistency in your topics and the
You can find networking, industry and
regional groups on LinkedIn. When you
meet new people at events, you can add
them to your network too.
LinkedIn shows you groups, skills and
experiences you have in common with
your connections. For example, Krogue
and VonSosen discovered that they
attended the same university.
Use shared experiences to build
rapport and engage in meaningful
conversations.
Popular Sales Groups on LinkedIn:
Inside Sales Experts
Association of Inside Sales Profession-
als (AA-ISP)
B2B Sales
frequency of your posts. You will experi-
ence more success if your network knows
what type of content to expect from you.
Skill No. 3: Community
Once you have your content, you’ll need
to figure out how to deliver it to the right
people. You’ve probably developed some
natural communities over the years,
such as family, friends, classmates and
co-workers.
When Krogue started his sales career, he
used to go to breakfast clubs. A couple
dozen people would meet at a restaurant
to share leads. That’s pretty hard to do on
a regular basis. It takes a lot of time.
LinkedIn groups are like breakfast
clubs on steroids. They make net-
working so much easier.
of Social Media
The 6 Basic Skills

Page 8
Skill No. 4 Connections
With more than 300 million members,
LinkedIn has become the go-to place for
connecting with like-minded profession-
als. As you meet new people, you can turn
your connections into valuable relation-
ships that help you close more deals.
Strengthen your connections with others
by following their updates, liking and
commenting on their conversations, and
sharing their content.
PRO TIP: Follow the company first.
LinkedIn will highlight any of your existing
connections who work there.
If you have LinkedIn Sales Navigator, you
can quickly discover prospects at your
target accounts using lead recommenda-
tions. When you visit a prospect’s profile,
LinkedIn automatically surfaces similar
decision makers to provide multiple paths
into the company.
Another cool feature is called “People Simi-
lar.” In the sidebar of a prospect’s profile,
LinkedIn shows you people who are similar.
So, for example, if you want to meet Ken
Krogue, you might be able to get an intro-
duction if you already know his business
partner, David Elkington.
Instructions for Tagging and Untagging
Your Contacts
Instructions for Sorting and Filtering
Your Contacts
Identify opportunities to connect with
prospects using LinkedIn’s Connected app.
The Connected app notifies you when
people in your network hit important mile-
stones like these:
• Job changes
• Mentions in the news
• Work anniversaries
• Birthdays
This app sends you highly relevant and
timely push notifications for pre-meet-
ing intelligence. It’s a valuable tool for
sales reps.
of Social Media
The 6 Basic Skills
People Similar to Ken
David Elkington
CEO and Founder at InsideSales.com
View Profile • 383
1st
Organize your connections with LinkedIn
tags. Tag people with keywords that
remind you how you met them or when
you might want to reach out.

Page 9
Skill No. 5: Comment
Worthwhile connections on LinkedIn start
with effective communication. Believe it or
not, there is actually an art to commenting.
PRO TIP: Avoid making meaningless drive-
by comments. Don’t make dumb, trite or
gushy comments you wouldn’t want to
read a week later. Invest some thought
and feeling. Share your insights and expe-
riences. Keep it real.
Comments matter. Some websites track
the number of comments to help deter-
mine the most popular articles. For
example, on Forbes a comment is worth
the same as almost 450 views.
Prime the pump by commenting
on other people’s posts and con-
tent. When Krogue launched his blog,
nobody ever commented. So he started
Treat your LinkedIn connections the
same way you would treat them if you
were at a cocktail party. You don’t want
to come across as inappropriate or phony.
If you normally wouldn’t wish someone
happy birthday, you probably shouldn’t do
it on LinkedIn.
commenting on other thought leaders’
blogs, and they quickly reciprocated.
Use trigger events to find opportunities to
leave meaningful comments. Krogue loves
to reach out to people on their birthdays.
He spotted a LinkedIn birthday notification
for an old friend, who was one of the best
bosses he’s ever had. So Krogue quickly
left a heartfelt comment and an open invi-
tation for lunch.
You can congratulate people when they
change jobs, receive a promotion, have a
work anniversary, or appear in the news.
Commenting is about nurturing your exist-
ing networks. It’s about giving back. It’s
about being a net exporter of goodness.
Always remember to remain thoughtful. If
you automatically act on every alert, that
will probably lead to some disingenu-
ous comments.
of Social Media
The 6 Basic Skills

Page 10
Skill No. 6: Converse
A comment is a one-way interaction. If you
want to build relationships and nurture
your network, what you really want is a
conversation. To spark conversations, you
need to encourage a two-way dialogue.
PRO TIP: Ask a question at the end of your
comment. It’s a surefire way to launch a
lively discussion.
Punctuation marks allow you to put your
foot on the accelerator with a question
mark or on the brakes with a period. You
can increase or decrease the tempo of
your interactions.
Ask a question. Make a statement. Be bold.
Stir the pot. Don’t be afraid to be a little
bit brazen on occasion. You can say some
things you might not be able to say face to
face. Give endorsements and recommen-
dations. This is the art of conversing.
Nobody wants to be cold called. But we
all love getting information about some-
thing that really helps our business. We
all love connecting with somebody who
respects and understands the struggle
we’re going through and can help us with
it. We love participating in these valuable
conversations.
LinkedIn provides a place for B2B mar-
keters, sellers and decision makers
to gather and engage in meaningful
conversations.
of Social Media
The 6 Basic Skills
Sales Acceleration
Platform
Dialing, emailing and
motivating powered by
predictive analytics and
machine learning
See a Demo

Page 11
InsideSales.com uses the ACQUIRE model for social nurturing. Social media is at the front
end of the nurturing cycle.
Understanding
Educate your audience on what you do
and the problems you solve.
Interest
What you do must intrigue your prospects.
Relevance
As soon as they realize that what you do is
relevant to them, they start to see a need.
Engagement
If you’re relevant to people, they will
engage. This is where good things
start to happen.
Increases Engagement
ACQUIRE Model
3 Stages of Content
You need different types of content
to guide your buyers through the
sales funnel.
Stage 1: Identifies a common problem in
your industry.
Stage 2: Shows how you help people solve
this problem.
Stage 3: Proves why you have the
best solution.
Learn more about the ACQUIRE model of
social nurturing.
Awareness
First, people must be aware you exist.
Social and PR are brilliant catalysts.
Here you use content that appeals to a
broad audience: stuff that’s interesting,
useful and fun.
Curiosity
Krogue recommends using research to
pique curiosity. Research attracts a lot of
attention, especially if it answers a tough
question nobody has answered yet.
Qualify
The qualify stage is where you start
sharing content designed for specific
buyer personas.

Page 12
The Real Value of LinkedIn
Close More Deals, Earn
Promotions Faster.
LinkedIn’s research reveals that sales pro-
fessionals who use social selling achieve
greater success.
Social sellers:
• Produce 45 percent more
opportunities.
• Are 51 percent more likely to hit quota.
• Are 3 times more likely to go to
president’s club.
• Get promoted to VP 1.6 times faster
than their peers.
Social Selling Index
If you’re wondering how effective you are
as a social seller, and how you can improve,
LinkedIn has a tool that will tell you. The
Social Selling Index measures your perfor-
mance in four categories and assigns you a
score from 0 to 100.
The four categories are:
1. Create a professional brand.
2. Find the right people.
3. Engage with insights.
4. Build strong relationships.
VonSosen points out that salespeople are
investing more time in building their pro-
fessional brands on LinkedIn. Attendees
at a recent InsideSales.com event had an
average Social Selling Index of 46, which
is more than twice the industry average.
But remember, the highest score is 100, so
there’s definitely room for growth.
In the next section, you’ll learn three
keys to successful social selling
on LinkedIn.

Page 13
3 Keys to LinkedIn Success
Invest in Your Identity,
Network and Knowledge.
LinkedIn’s mission is to create economic
opportunity by connecting the world’s
professionals. All of its products, services
and policies align with its “members first”
philosophy. The leaders at LinkedIn always
ask themselves, “Will this be good for
our members?”
The LinkedIn experience revolves
around three core social sell-
ing concepts: identity, network
and knowledge.
know with connection requests. Make
sure you have a solid reason for reach-
ing out. Focus on quality relationships,
not quantity.
Knowledge: What do you know? Where
can you add value?
Build your brand by establishing yourself
as an expert in your field. Share relevant
content. It doesn’t always have to be origi-
nal content. Post links to other people’s
insights and add your own analysis. Com-
ment in relevant groups and discussions.
Demonstrate that you understand your
buyers’ challenges and know how to
help them.
Identity: Your professional brand. How do
you want people to perceive you?
Your LinkedIn profile is not a resume. It’s a
place to build your brand. Include a profes-
sional picture of yourself. Display valuable
content. Write a summary that shows your
prospects and buyers why they should do
business with you.
Network: Who do you know? How well do
you know them?
LinkedIn empowers you to find your own
prospects. You don’t have to rely on the
marketing team to send you leads. Expand
your network by intelligently creating new
connections. Don’t spam people you don’t

Linkedin Social Selling Ebook 2016

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

More from unfunnel

More from unfunnel (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Linkedin Social Selling Ebook 2016