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1 Hour a day = Social Selling Success!

Jamie Shanks
Jamie Shanks

Bring Your Own Self

Last week we wrote a blog $350,000 In New Opportunities in 6 Months – Cost $600, which outlined my success using Social Selling to drive new business. The statistics are hard to ignore:

Potential Revenue for Every $ Spent on LinkedIn = $583 : $1

Potential Revenue-per-Hour on LinkedIn = $2,341/hour

The response to the article was fantastic, but sales leaders wanted more. Sales leaders want to know HOW I’m spending that hour per day. Here is what I do (truncated) in order of operations, with a video below to help illustrate the process:

1. Check Marketing Qualified Leads (MQL’s)

Marketing Qualified LeadsThis is a service with LinkedIn Pro (which is a must have for any sales rep in my opinion), allowing you to see who’s looking at your profile. This is like a read receipt or marketing automated email which tracks opens. You can see nearly every prospect, client, potential partner that checks out your profile. They are reviewing your profile for various reasons.

1. You sent them a message and their not ready to reply (YET) – nurture them.

2. You meet the criteria of their search – find out how and why!

3. You posted an article, question, answer that tweaked their interest – find our why!

There is not one stone left unturned in my LinkedIn. Unless I already know the reason my profile was reviewed, I will reach out. When I reach out, this WILL BE a multi-touch approach – don’t give up after 1x message.

2. Use Profile Organizer to Slot These MQL’s Into a Folder For Nurturing

Every prospect will be placed into a file folder, so they can be organized for a multi-touch approach. I keep notes on every prospect (while I wish this all rolled up into our Salesforce.com, it doesn’t). I keep my initial prospecting notes in LinkedIn until I can convert a prospect into an Opportunity (then move to Salesforce.com).

Profiles Steve Cowan

3. In Updates, Only Care About Connections & Shares (unless I have more time)

Since I have nearly 1,000 connections, I can’t place every connection into Signal to track their behaviour on LinkedIn. I use Connections to gather a 24 hour window on who in my network is connecting with someone of interest. I start thinking about clients I can leverage for an introduction, prospects that could be looking at competitive services and competitors that… (this is for another blog). I also like to review Shares as it helps me find value articles that I can curate to present to my audience.

LinkedIn Profiles

4. LinkedIn Signal – My Gateway Into Trigger Events

This is my “People, Places and Things” – I go through my keywords, searching the last 24 hours for opportunities. LinkedIn Signal is easily the most powerful but underutilized part of LinkedIn.

 LinkedIn Signal

5. I Extent That Search Outside LinkedIn to Hootsuite

I can’t let LinkedIn have all the fun. The reality is there are many articles and conversations that are vitally important, not in LinkedIn – but on Twitter. I use Hootsuite to cut through the noise and find relevant articles and opportunities.

LinkedIn to Hootsuite

6. Keep Hootsuite Open, and Use Feedly to Curate Articles

Since the moment I log into LinkedIn, I will be looking for articles, case studies, videos that would be of value to my audience. Unfortunately, many times the articles that circulate LinkedIn are from LinkedIn Headlines. While these articles are great, they are not necessarily unique and thought-provoking. I want articles from Heinz Marketing, The Bridge Group and Jill Konrath that really peak sales leaders interest. I use Feedly to take my 50+ blog subscriptions and turn them into a readable newspaper – ripe for sharing articles. I try to identify 3+ articles per day to share with my audience, separating these messages using Hootsuite.

Application

7. Hit the Market With InMail

Like a good sales rep, I have my prospecting list already built the night before (in Profile Organizer). I’ll devise a strategy for today (whether it’s a client story told to their “sphere of influence” or prospects matching a search), I’m ready to send, 5, 10, 20 InMails. These InMails could also be a follow-up from a campaign days ago – and they can be nurturing or more direct in nature. We use a host of strategies to open doors.

I have a game plan every day to maximize my time, and just before finishing with LinkedIn, I’ll devise a plan (and save applicable profiles) for tomorrows campaign. Even if it’s 5 InMails a day, Social Selling is like a snowball rolling down a hill.

All of this activity (business development or content curation) means greater opportunities. I’m very cognisant to the fact that I need to grow my network, viewership and relevancy as a sales leader.

See the Below Video Version of the 7 Steps

If you don’t want to be left behind the 8 ball – you need to start to take action. The following dozen blog posts on utilizing Social Selling strategies with LinkedIn can help you start. If you are really looking for some hidden gems on how you can attract a very specific prospect, I recommend you check out – How-to-Guide: Making $$$ with Social Selling.

Step ThumbStep Book Social Selling Talks

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The Ultimate Guide to Social Selling