While an estimated 80% of all business-to-business (B2B) sales leads come from LinkedIn, the percentage of marketers using LinkedIn to generate leads with the greatest potential to result in sales is nowhere near as high. Based on my own observations, perhaps only 20% of marketers know the secrets of acquiring the best leads from LinkedIn and then leveraging them for maximum advantage.
I speak as someone who could once count himself among the clueless. I freely confess that, for a time, when it came to generating B2B leads via LinkedIn, I was doing it all wrong. Eventually, by experimenting and embracing the recommendations of people in the know, success with LinkedIn B2B lead gen came my way.
I’d like to share what I learned so that you can avoid spinning your wheels and instead go on to quickly reap the benefits of using LinkedIn to find outstanding prospective new customers or clients.
Strong relationships, stronger response.
The most important thing to understand about LinkedIn B2B lead generation is that success hinges on the strength of the relationships you forge with the people who make up your target audience. The stronger the relationships, the greater the response potential to your sales overtures.
So the question is, how do you build strong relationships with other LinkedIn users — people with whom you’ve had no previous dealings? The answer is that you must engage with them.
Sending a generic pitch letter to a mass of total strangers is not engagement. In fact, it’s a turnoff to most. However, conducting individual, personal conversations with strangers is engagement. People respond to engagement. They respond to it because it’s friendly and because it seeks to find and build upon common ground.
Be enticing.
The starting point for LinkedIn B2B lead generation is to identify those individuals with whom you can most powerfully engage. LinkedIn’s search function will help you spot them in a jiffy. Just enter into the search box the job title most relevant to your target market.
Use filters to limit the retrieved names to people who are, for instance, members of a trade association to which you also belong. Here’s why. If it turns out you and a sales lead are both involved in the same organization, the opportunity exists for you to break the ice and get a conversation going by asking that person what he or she thinks about some aspect of that membership body’s rules, goals, performance or value.
“Hi, I see you belong to the International Association of Buggy Whip Manufacturers, same as me, and I’ve got a question about it,” you might write to the prospect. “Do you think our organization is headed in the right direction by trying to get a law passed requiring automobile makers to install buggy whip holders in cars and trucks? Asking because I want to see if I’m alone in my thinking on this or if others share my views.”
Concluding your message there will serve as an enticement that draws a reply because the recipient will be left wondering what your views are. In that reply, the person will almost certainly ask you to state them. His or her reply will also likely contain the opinion you’ve solicited.
And voila. You’ve now got a dialogue underway — a dialogue that will perhaps give rise to a business friendship, which will in turn make pitching your product or service much easier and likely much more successful.
Have an awesome profile.
In addition to conversation starting, another important technique I learned for sparking engagement is to have a LinkedIn profile that’s up to snuff.
An awesome profile is essential because, when you initially attempt to contact people on LinkedIn, the first thing almost everyone does is reflexively go look at your profile. That’s understandable because you’re a stranger to them. People want to know as much as possible about you before they open up and embrace you as a business friend.
As such, it will behoove you to ensure that your LinkedIn profile banner, photo and summary strongly reinforce the good first impression made by your ice-breaking message (which you will have sent using LinkedIn’s InMail service or through a LinkedIn connection request).
You can also uncover high-quality LinkedIn B2B leads and start conversations by taking advantage of the platform’s update function. This feature lets you disseminate short announcements and informative tidbits that would be of interest — and value — to other LinkedIn members in your target market. These blurbs let you introduce yourself and score points for helpfulness. LinkedIn members who read your distributed content may reach out to you with comments, questions or simply a hearty pat on the back. Either way, they and you will be talking.
Participate in discussions.
In a similar vein, I’ve found it very profitable to be a LinkedIn discussion contributor. To participate in discussions, you first must join a LinkedIn-hosted group. There are tons of these from which to choose. Pick one or more that serve the needs of the people in your target market.
Members of groups are permitted to post questions with the expectation that other members will supply the answers. Many a lively discussion ensues from these Q&A threads. You’ll want to take part because doing so allows you to demonstrate helpfulness, knowledge, expertise and camaraderie — all of the elements required to convince people that you’re someone worthy of receiving their business.
There are 562 million people on LinkedIn. Naturally, only a fraction of them will meet your B2B lead-gen criteria. However, put into practice the tips I’ve learned for identifying and building relationships with the best prospects, and you’ll be able to focus on an even smaller number of LinkedIn members embodying outsized worth where your sales efforts are concerned.
