How to craft the perfect LinkedIn profile for social selling

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1. LinkedIn message templates “For us, our first connect message would be, something like: 'I see you've just downloaded something on our website, so I'm just introducing myself on LinkedIn, or, 'I see we have this person in common.'” Here are four LinkedIn message templates you can use:

   In LinkedIn connection request outreach

2. The danger people have is that they think social selling is going to be a magic bullet that will solve all their sales needs and bring hundreds of customers in through the door. They don't think they're going to have to put any work into it; they don't think about the context of other outreach activities, or, importantly, they think that social selling means foot-in-the-door hard selling. “In fact, social selling is about trying to build trusted relationships in the context of a sales process.” Social media allows you to express a little bit of your personality, bring some value to the conversation, build trust, build relationships. You've probably had emails that read like this: 'Hey, let's have a 10 minute meeting. Can I have 10 minutes of your time? Can I interest you in this product?' That's not a great way to start a relationship.

   In LinkedIn profile social proof

3. Examples of social selling include: “sharing relevant content” interacting directly with potential buyers and customers

   In LinkedIn profile social proof

4. sharing relevant content “interacting directly with potential buyers and customers” Sell as you would be sold to

   In LinkedIn profile social proof

5. The danger people have is that they think social selling is going to be a magic bullet that will solve all their sales needs and bring hundreds of customers in through the door. They don't think they're going to have to put any work into it; they don't think about the context of other outreach activities, or, importantly, they think that social selling means foot-in-the-door hard selling. “So if you're using social selling to try and close deals or to move straight to the bottom of the funnel, you're making a mistake.” Social media allows you to express a little bit of your personality, bring some value to the conversation, build trust, build relationships. You've probably had emails that read like this: 'Hey, let's have a 10 minute meeting. Can I have 10 minutes of your time? Can I interest you in this product?' That's not a great way to start a relationship.

   In LinkedIn profile social proof

6. In fact, social selling is about trying to build trusted relationships in the context of a sales process. So if you're using social selling to try and close deals or to move straight to the bottom of the funnel, you're making a mistake. The golden rule is 'sell as you would be sold to.' “That's not a great way to start a relationship.” The rule of thumb: 'Always be helping'

   In LinkedIn profile social proof

7. Sell as you would be sold to “The danger people have is that they think social selling is going to be a magic bullet that will solve all their sales needs and bring hundreds of customers in through the door.” In fact, social selling is about trying to build trusted relationships in the context of a sales process. So if you're using social selling to try and close deals or to move straight to the bottom of the funnel, you're making a mistake. The golden rule is 'sell as you would be sold to.'

   In LinkedIn profile social proof