Bakawun

Partner

LinkedIn - critical tool or relic of a bygone era?

We all know LinkedIn response rates are at an all-time low. We all use tools to engage directly through other channels. But did it have to be this way and can we get more value out of LinkedIn?

Did sales automation ruin LinkedIn?

Attached poll

Yup, lack of personalization and lazy/broad targeting!! The LinkedIn community is a bit of a dumpster fire lately anyway so who cares... LinkedIn did it to themselves; ZoomInfo ate their lunch. Nope, SDRs in India spammed the community into submission with irrelevant dross

*Voting in this poll no longer yields commission.

🔎 Prospecting

🤝 Networking

👨‍💻 LinkedIn

19 comments

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Sunbunny31

Politicker

Sr Sales Executive 🐰

It works if it's the right message to the right person at the right time.

Too much is spray and pray, so you're not getting a relevant message out there, and any messaging that is going out goes to any contact - it's just noise. The "right time" is really the luck factor; you don't know if there's a relevant project, or interest, or even if your target is in a good mood and receptive that day.

Sounds pretty much like the challenge of sales any day, tbh. LI is just another place to connect with businesses, and if spamming has gotten us to a point of fewer connections, you should probably make sure that what you do put out there is relative in order to have a shot at rising above the noise.

Bakawun

Fire Starter

Partner

I agree with your points and they're well-articulated.

My rebuttal: if there's so much noise that people are not as likely to look at/read the message at all, even if it's excellent, relevant, targeted, etc., does it really count as a major channel anymore?

I'd love to see the latest data versus other channels such as email and calls.

NotCreativeEnough

Big Shot

Professional Day Ruiner

I do think it has its place. Zoominfo isn't usually the most accurate. So I'll crosscheck with sales navigator to see if the contact still works at whatever company, still has the same title, whatever.

You can also build account maps on sales nav which I've recently started doing and is super helpful.

all in all I think its kind of a dud of a tool, but it does have a few "nice to haves"

dreadpiratescript

Politicker

Producer

I use it for building lists, research on decision makers and prospects. I believe this is function of it is critical otherwise the messaging seems dead imo

SoccerandSales

Big Shot

Account Executive

Automation kills curiosity imo, if you have someone telling you about something, it is infinitely more exciting than an automated inmail that has been generalized to fit a huge demographic

Kosta_Konfucius

Politicker

Sales Rep

I am not getting ton of responses, but if I like/comment on the prospects stuff and send an actual personalized message they respond majority of the time.

mazee1406

Opinionated

Senior Inside Sales

I do a lot of Linked in, and automation is the worst u can do. i do a lot content, to create awareness and personal outreach and my biggest deals com from linked in contacts

ZVRK

Politicker

Enterprise Account Executive

Depends on what you sell, who you sell it to, and where are they from :) Also, what`s your role: SDR, AE, full cycle sales rep?

I`m an enterprise AE in SaaS rn and I only use it to connect with prospects I`ve already met and with clients.

Even for an SDR, I don`t think it`s as effective as it used to be.

The only thing it`s still super useful, is for building your network and making you visible for new job opportunities.

ThatNewAE

Big Shot

Account Executive - Mid enterprise

It’s a paradox.
Unrealistic targets. Stupid messaging. Spamming. And then the worst - Message right after connecting.
Endless cycle. We have polluted the market. I’d get good responses few years back, I don’t anymore.

Heck, I don’t even reply a lot anymore.

TennisandSales

Politicker

Head Of Sales

i think the basic truths still ring true.
if you have a message that is specific and relevant to the individual then you are more likely to get a response. whether this is on linked in or email or phone call.

i still think using a combo of all three of those methods is the best way to go.

Pachacuti

Politicker

They call me Daddy, Sales Daddy

I pay so little attention to anything automated. I have no idea why people think it works.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

It has a lot to it in terms of social selling. It's the influencers that creep me out.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

@Bakawun: What does your current success rate with LinkedIn look like?

Bakawun

Fire Starter

Partner

I use it for building out my targets and mapping stakeholders. The hit rate isn't necessarily the problem; I find a more hostile reception to outbound engagement given the all the noise. As a result, I try to engage outside LinkedIn just to escape the channel bias.

Gasty

Notable Contributor

War Room Community Manager

I'd shared some tips earlier which personally worked for me in the past. Here they are again, hopefully one or more of these turn out to be helpful for you, @Bakawun:

- When you connect with someone on Linkedin, and follow it with a "𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒔𝒕𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆𝒓, 𝒍𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒂𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒎𝒚 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒂𝒏𝒚, 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒔𝒐 𝒘𝒐𝒘, 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒖𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 30 𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒔", more often than not, you ain't getting any.

- This is why LinkedIn Inmails, more often than not, do not work. Since people are using it as a replacement for cold emails. That's a bad strategy.

- LinkedIn Messages are the best, in my opinion. Since you can use them only on your 1st degree connections (exception: open linkedin profiles can accept 'em without being connected firstly)

- LinkedIn was meant for networking. Usually, what works (in my personal opinion) is a "𝐉𝐚𝐛-𝐉𝐚𝐛-𝐉𝐚𝐛 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐇𝐨𝐨𝐤" strategy.

Which means give, give give, and then ask for something.

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 1:Connect with someone (blank requests work the best, since today's buyer has become more sophisticated and)

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 2:Write a message and ask for nothing in return. Like a "𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨". Or how you came across their profile and thought they'd be an awesome connection in your n/w. Don't overdo with flattery.[𝐉𝐀𝐁]

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 3: Couple of days later, give their profile a view (sends a notification, might increase recall of your/your company's name) [𝐉𝐀𝐁]

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 4: Another couple of days later, share something useful which helps them. Read their KRAs to know. It can be a whitepaper. Or a study. Or a video. A podcast. Anything to gain their trust. To add a little sliver of value in their life. Real value. Don't ask anything in return yet. [𝐉𝐀𝐁]

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 5:Based on their reaction of Step 4, a few days later, now try to very subtly ask what you want to. Don't plead for a meeting. Ask an open ended question. "𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘰 𝘟 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘭𝘺?" "𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘠". Not exactly this, but sth around this. [𝐇𝐎𝐎𝐊]

𝐒𝐭𝐞𝐩 6:You'll either a pulse through a response which can be 𝐍𝐎 : 𝐠𝐞𝐭 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 ; or 𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐗𝐗, 𝐘𝐘, or 𝐖𝐞 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐀𝐁𝐂 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐨𝐫...
The worst response would be : Silence

cheers!

jefe

Arsonist

🍁

I've been to a few conferences in the last month and it seems like nobody has business cards any more, so it's definitely good to connect with people you meet in person.

Never done much cold outreach.

CuriousFox

WR Officer

🦊

It's messy but useful in some circumstances.

antiASKHOLE

Tycoon

Bravado's Resident Asshole

I still use it.

FranchiseSalesQB

Politicker

Franchise Sales QB

1 and 2. F zoom/dorg!

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