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It shouldn’t come as a surprise that companies doing social media marketing get 80% of their B2B leads through LinkedIn. The platform has over 850 million members, most of whom are the whose and whom of vibrant companies. The secret to success is simple—engage senior-level influencers and decision-makers via relatable LinkedIn messages. After all, people use LinkedIn to network with other professionals.
However, despite LinkedIn being the ideal environment to pursue B2B leads, knowing how to use LinkedIn mail appropriately matters. Get the message wrong, and you may lose out on high-quality leads.
So how is it done?
This guide covers all the skills you need to get it right. Learn how to identify B2B decision-makers, add a LinkedIn message to the connection request and how to craft an engaging message. Read on to discover how to harness the benefits of this approach and also how to leverage automated prospecting and lead generation.
Why LinkedIn for B2B sales
We know LinkedIn has quite a large number of users worldwide, but Facebook has even more. Notably, the number of people using the platform isn’t what makes it a lead generation paradise. The type of people on it and what they use it for is the key in this situation.
With LinkedIn, users are already there to build valuable relationships with other professionals. As a marketer or a salesperson, this is the best setting to share how your brand can help them meet their goals.
There are also plenty of company pages on the site, making it easier to get to know your potential leads and business before diving into LinkedIn messages.
Here are a few encouraging statistics about LinkedIn selling you may not know:
- 80% of B2B marketing leads from social media come through LinkedIn.
- 92% of B2B marketers use the LinkedIn platform over all other social media.
- 46% of social media traffic to your company site comes from LinkedIn.
- 62% of B2B marketers consider LINKEDIN to be effective
- The Top 6 social networking platforms leveraged by B2B marketers list in order of effectiveness: leading the pack is LinkedIn (91%), Twitter (85%), Facebook (81%), and YouTube (73%)
- 77% of B2B marketers plan to increase their use of LinkedIn, but the majority of them are held back due to a lack of clarity on strategies and methodology.
How to find/segment B2B decision-makers on LinkedIn
Sending LinkedIn messages to random users on the site isn’t the best way to get started with your lead generation efforts. Making data-driven decisions pays off; that’s why it’s best to begin your marketing process with some research into possible leads.
High-quality leads will also improve your conversion rates further down the sales funnel. To ensure you are connecting with the right people, it’s critical to segment decision-makers through thorough research. Here are a few things you can do to improve the quality of your leads.
Look through a potential lead’s profile before sending a message to get a sense of who they are in the company. As yourself, do they influence decision-making, or can they show me the way to someone who does?
LinkedIn makes targeting users easy as important identifiers are displayed on their profiles. Find your ideal leads based on:
- Job Titles & Function
- Seniority
- Company Size & Location
- Industry
Adding a B2B LinkedIn message to a connection invitation
Unless you are a paid LinkedIn user (via LinkedIn premium), you can only message people who are your connections. Thus making connection requests is the first step to growing your sales via LinkedIn.
One great trick is to add a B2B LinkedIn message to the connection requests you send—you need to know how sending a personalised request is likely to encourage the recipient to respond positively to your request. Find more insights into how to connect with people on LinkedIn in our guide here.
Sales text message examples
Here are some templates to show you how to sell on LinkedIn:
| Hi [first name], Your profile caught my eye, and I noticed you are in the fintech industry; it looks like we share some common ground. Would you be interested in connecting? Regards. John Smith |
Once your connection request is accepted, here is a LinkedIn b2b message template you can leverage to sell on LinkedIn.
| Hi [first name], Thank you for accepting me. Are you currently happy with the way that you [insert situation]? We’re currently helping Company X with development outsourcing, and I thought there might be a good fit for your company, too. Our service has helped many fintech companies keep up with their development needs, and I think it’s something that your organisation might see immediate value in. Let’s schedule a short call to discuss this further. How is Thursday? Regards. John Smith |
How To Cold Message on LinkedIn for B2B: Dos & Don’ts
A successful LinkedIn message campaign follows a certain set of rules around marketing etiquette and the site’s user policies. Best practises to follow include:
What you should do:
Build your LinkedIn network
LinkedIn research shows that 73% of B2B buyers prefer sales professionals who have been referred by someone they know, and 87% of B2B buyers said they would have a favourable impression of a salesperson who was introduced to them through someone in their professional network.
Don’t just shove your product offers down your connection’s throat. Sharing other valuable content with them and also seeking their professional opinion on things helps create a genuine connection.
Interact with your target market
Engage in LinkedIn groups that your target market is interested in, then move from there to the Mailbox. According to findings by LinkedIn, sales professionals who yield high results using the platform engage with leads 39% more than their counterparts.
The research found that at least 98% of B2B buyers do a quick online search before engaging the sales team. Not to mention 57% or more of the buyer’s journey is now completed digitally before speaking to a sales representative. Your response rate is likely to be higher if you already have an existing relationship with the user
Write personalised LinkedIn messages
Do your research on your prospects so that your message reflects your knowledge about their expertise. You can add details like topics you have noticed they are interested in, their recent achievements and also their role at their current job. This makes people more receptive as it shows you have an interest in their careers.
Build your LinkedIn presence
Create an effective audience list by leveraging content like LinkedIn posts. This helps establish you as an expert in your field and will improve your LinkedIn message response rate.
Optimise your Linkedn profile
An optimised profile serves as your sales landing page, helping you build credibility. What should you mention there? First of all, people visiting your profile need to understand how your services or product is best suited to help them save money, execute a project, or address other pain points. Second, your profile should show why you’re qualified to recommend them the best solution (versus trying to simply sell). Here’s how to optimise your LinkedIn profile for best results.
What you shouldn’t do:
Don’t write LinkedIn messages that are too salesy
A message crafted only to inform the recipient about the benefits of your product is not going to inspire any confidence. Remember, people are on LinkedIn to network not to get spammed by marketers and salespeople. They already have a ton of sales messages in their LinkedIn InMail. Set yourself apart by building a genuine connection with them. Introduce yourself and set yourself as a valuable contact.
Don’t forget to log in
This may sound like a ruse but it’s not. Spending a long period inactive on the platform will backtrack any progress you may be making. Consistency is key when it comes to sales messages. If you reach out to a lead and then spend two weeks before replying to their queries, best believe the excitement about your product will have waned.
As you balance a full day, at the very least, take out 10 minutes of your day to log in, accept requests, and reply to your LinkedIn mail.
You will find that most LinkedIn message examples you come across cover introducing yourself and adding context to your relationship. That is because people tend to dismiss connection requests when they can’t easily assess why you want to connect with them.
Don’t send the same message to everyone
Although you are encouraged to look up LinkedIn message templates for inspiration, do not send the same message over and over again to everyone. Add something unique you have noticed about the prospect to gain their attention.
Outreachly as an AI-powered prospecting and lead-gen tool to help with your B2B lead gen efforts
As you seek to strengthen your B2B lead generation strategy, consider investing in automated LinkedIn prospecting software. Outreachly is the top pick AI-powered LinkedIn automation tool for lead generation.
A quick introduction to Outreachly:
The Outreachly platform leverages AI technology to mimic human behaviour online in LinkedIn interactions. It also enables you to send automated sales messages, ensuring you reach out to more prospects than you would with manual processes.
This is the tool to help you improve your sales conversions via LinkedIn messages!
Our platform will automatically select the best connection message to use on LinkedIn based on your prospect’s profile so you don’t have to worry about personalisation. In addition, Outreachly can manage the entire lead generation process as a part of our done-for-you service. Both options help you save time and raise productivity when it comes to prospecting tasks.
Want to leverage automated LinkedIn messaging for your business?
Try Outreachly for free
Conclusion
Knowing how to sell on LinkedIn is an important skill in the world of social selling. We have already covered that having an account on LinkedIn is just the start. Build your network, engage and leverage LinkedIn messages to meet your sales conversion goals. That’s the recipe for success.
Of course, you will need a little help in scaling your efforts. You can go ahead and join our demo today!
