LinkedIn is a multi-faceted network: you can search for a job, study the career paths of potential collaborators, recommend colleagues…but you can also sell your services! This less visible aspect is known in the English-speaking world as social selling.
Social selling” techniques fall into two categories: hard and soft. The first involves advertising, sending your offer in a private message to prospects…which can be seen as aggressive and is often not very effective. Service professionals selling high value-added services will prefer the soft selling. This term refers to social networking techniques for building relationships, disseminating content, prospecting and strategic positioning, all of which can subtly influence a prospect and drive them towards your organization..
Unaccustomed to and reluctant to “sell themselves”, service professionals such as lawyers, chartered accountants, notaries, etc. will find social selling an ideal technique, far removed from traditional sales approaches. In today‘s digital world, it’s essential to be present on networks and to use them to demonstrate your expertise. Yet too few partners and associates today have an appropriate LinkedIn strategy. And yet, unlike traditional structures where only a handful of decision-makers have decision-making power, professional services firms have a strike force that can be multiplied: their employees, so why not invest in them?
THE SOCIAL SELLING INDEX (SSI)
Measuring your impact on networks when you’re not very computer-savvy can sometimes be complicated. That’s why LinkedIn has developed a reporting and analysis tool that’s easy to understand and access: the Social Selling Index. You’ll receive a score out of 100, revised daily, based on 4 criteria: the building of your professional brand, your ability to establish relationships, exchange information and find the right people. According to the professional network, “social selling leaders generate
45%
more opportunities than those with a lower SSI score. “.
LinkedIn is an essential tool for your professional brand, since according to SalesforLife.com, “84% of B2B CEOs use social networks to learn about a brand before making purchasing decisions” . This is especially true on an essential network like LinkedIn. This can be done by posting an expert commentary on the latest news in your sector, commenting on current discussions (by searching for # keywords) and refining your profile. In addition to being complete, it must be visually appealing, contain links to your work (PDFs, videos) and, above all, recommendations from peers and customers. In fact, according to a 2017 Harvard Business Review study, ” 84% of B2B buyers start the buying process after a recommendation” . The more detailed your profile, the more positive the impression left.
Expanding your circle and finding the right people is a long-term process, but one that often pays off. The first step is, of course, to add your current and former colleagues, customers and also people you’ve met through a forum or professional association. LinkedIn’s search tool is very efficient, allowing you to make a query using several filters such as keywords or second-level relationships. By making the most of these tools, you can identify high-potential prospects, save their profiles and ask to be introduced to them by your mutual contacts. However, decisions are made by many people, so the more contact you have with a company’s management, the better. It can also be interesting to get in touch with people who have visited your profile or liked your publications.
Relational skills involve approaching your targets in a personalized and qualitative way, for example by joining shared groups, posting relevant comments on their publications and liking and sharing them. Finally, pay close attention to your targets’ appointments and job changes. Your knowledge of their profile and interests will be very useful in sending them personalized messages.
The information you share must both reflect your expertise and be attractive to your prospects. This could include white papers, articles by colleagues or peers, firm and customer news, the latest industry news or your viewpoint on a specific issue. It’s best to include photos/videos/graphics in your publications that will engage the reader.
The more quality, clean content you produce and share, the more engagement you’ll get, i.e. “likes”, “shares”, “comments”. LinkedIn’s algorithm favors this type of publication, making it even more visible. Engagement can be improved by tagging your targets/customers/colleagues on your publications to point out something interesting or ask for their feedback.
OUR ADVICE
As with any network, a LinkedIn profile needs daily maintenance if you want to maintain your visibility and expert brand. To achieve this, it’s crucial to perform a certain amount of gymnastics: publishing quality articles, liking publications, getting in touch with prospects… However, you need to find the right balance between too little or too much activity, which could bore your audience.
Moreover, publications have a limited lifespan, so be sure to publish at times with a high audience (and not at the end of the day).
Finally, it’s crucial to raise awareness among your colleagues, so that they adopt the same strategy on LinkedIn. It would be a shame to lose a prospect because he has received several different messages from your partners. Integrating data from professional social networks into CRM systems helps prevent this problem.
Your employees are your brand’s ambassadors, and their behavior on the networks influences the way your company is perceived. As well as training them in the best LinkedIn techniques, it’s essential that they fully engage with you by sharing your news and their expertise, thus becoming opinion leaders.
To encourage your teams to participate in your social selling strategy, why not include their SSI progress and LinkedIn appointments as part of their bonus criteria?
Further information
Social Selling: social networking reinvents the sales profession
Lawyers are anti-social. Can they use social selling?
