Building Relations on LI

Anyone got better advice than the generic nonsense that's out there when it comes to building relationships and connections via LinkedIn, especially when it comes to the selling side?

Particularly interested in better understanding what a proper and tru engagement model would look like using social selling, LinkedIn, etc.

🤘 Personal Growth

🔥 Revenue

👥 Social Selling

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poweredbycaffeine

WR Lieutenant

☕️

Think about LinkedIn as a funnel. Posts and comments gain engagement. Messages book meetings. Meetings close business.

Follow and engage with your prospects, but don’t start with cold messages. Chances are if they don’t regularly post that they don’t see LinkedIn as a platform where they want to be engaged. However, find someone in the company that does, engage with them, and leverage that as mindshare development. You can’t convert that directly into a meeting, but you’ll get your name and company top of mind for an exec on the team if you’re strategic and natural about it.

It’s very difficult to leverage social as a BD tool if all you want to do is book meetings without building a relationship.

FinanceEngineer

Politicker

Sr Director, sales and partnerships

I agree with the process, but want to add to your sentiment that it’s hard using social to just book meetings.
I’m still a strong believer in meeting “in person” and find that deals get done faster and negotiations are fairer. With that said, relationships are relationships and just booking meetings doesn’t matter if you are engaged with a piece of marketing on a site, via email, or through social. Engaging with the prospect with multiple touch points helps the flow from prospect to signing.

Founding BDR

Connect with anyone you’ve spoken to. I saw a lot more relationship building when I wasn’t spamming the pitch slap the second we connected. Asking some curious questions and not begging to connect right off the bat yield a lot more results

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

Solid points. Also +1 for 'pitch slap'

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

Best term of the day.

pirate

Big Shot

Account Executive

I add anyone I talk to via email or phone and then they end up engaging and seeing my posts

Founder and Lead RevOps Consultant

My strategy is to target a few people at a time and engage with their content (not with bullshit, but with real responses).

When I’m in a “social selling” season I also try to make sure I’m posting 1x to 3x a day to stay top of mind and make sure I’m impossible to ignore.

Then, I just wait for an opening — maybe they’ll post something about their life, personality, or interests (or hopefully about a work challenge they’re facing that I can solve) that I can connect with, and then I drop a comment and immediately hit them with a connect request w/ personalized message. I don’t push a meeting (unless they’re looking for advice), I just say that I resonate with their content and would love to connect.

Having my own podcast has been super helpful too. I often approach with “I think you might be a great fit for my podcast.” Even if they don’t end up coming on, it makes me more interesting and usually helps me get a foot in the door and start building a relationship.

After I get the connection, my go-to question is “What’s your story? How’d you get into [x]?” That usually warms them up pretty effectively.

I respond and engage and make them feel INTERESTING (by expressing that I’m interested in THEM).

Then I just gauge their friendliness. If they’re more extroverted, I can go for the meeting sooner with a “Would love to have a call sometime and get to know each other a little better. Open to it?”

If they’re more introverted, I wait awhile, usually a few weeks, keep posting daily (since I’m connected with them I know they’ll see my shit).

As a general rule I try to touch base with people every 30 to 90 days and be as disarming as possible, which means I have to pretty much rely entirely on empathy / intuition instead of a script or skeezy CTAs.

I try to pull a phone number from people ASAP too because I’ve found that if I can move people from video calls to phone calls, the relationship warms up FAST. Something about phone calls is relaxing and helps people put their guard down.

Social selling is definitely more of a slow seduction. You have to slowly train people to want what you’re selling as you build the relationship.

The key is to lean back and get people to ask you what you do — they’re much more apt to listen that way.

Patience and empathy are definitely the keys. You gotta feel what they feel and wait for the perfect timing.

Justatitle

Big Shot

Account Executive

rarely do I think that someone on LinkedIn is trying to connect for something that isn't just for their personal gain and not mine, even recruiters are really just interested in getting the role filled even if I get the job... So I guess my advice here is show that there is a way the relationship you are trying to build is mutually beneficial and not just for you to gain something.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I get just about an SDR per day who reaches out to me via LI. I decline most of them because:
(1) I know they just want to sell me something I am not empowered to buy.
(2) In my profile I tell people to tell me "why" they want to connect. If they don't, 99% chance of being deleted.
(3) because of #1, they aren't bringing me any real value.

Now don't get me wrong, I have connected with hundreds on LI in the hopes of selling them something. The rest of my connections are there because they are (former) co-workers or industry colleagues or from job hunting efforts. So I have no issue with connecting with someone with the hope of selling them something. I just try to bring them a bit more value and a better personal connection than a crappy sales pitch.

Sunbunny31

Arsonist

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

I ask to connect with anyone I've been introduced to. No big deal if they don't add me. Some proactively reach out. I use it to occasionally post content that I find of value, but that's about it.

CRAG112

Valued Contributor

Account Executive

Thanks everyone.

Talking to a guy that feels LinkedIn and organic sales and relationships are the way to go v calling and emailing. All in an effort to see some 6 figure sales quickly.

Not sure LI is the ideal way to do it, but it’s his money and I’m happy to work with the guy on how best to go about it.

Sounds like the concesus is the following.
Just don’t pitch slap.
Ask questions.
Try to have a conversation.
Engage people via email and phone once you’ve done those things successfully.
Try to focus on how what you offer is mutually beneficial to them.