Marketing prospecting on LinkedIn: the 8 common mistakes!
LinkedIn, created in 2003, is fertile ground for developing your business. All the more so if you are in BtoB.
However, ignoring how LinkedIn works and the prospecting techniques that don’t work can lead to failure.
Too many professionals go headlong into direct prospecting thinking it will work and then wonder at the poor results. They are unable to generate new prospects, their business is not growing, traffic statistics are at their lowest, etc. The negative consequences of this way of working are numerous.
While mistakes can be learning opportunities, repeated mistakes over the long haul can become crippling for your brand and business.
I have listed the main mistakes to avoid in order to be successful in your prospecting.
LinkedIn prospecting – Mistake # 1: Not targeting your prospects
Whatever the strategy adopted, successful prospecting is thoughtful and targeted prospecting. Many beginners or experienced professionals think that being a generalist can reach more people. It’s wrong ! Finding a niche and specializing can be much more profitable in the long run. Therefore, you need to understand the importance of targeting your prospects. To help you in this process, you just need to answer two questions:
- What do I offer as a service?
- Who am I doing it for?
In other words, what is your offer and to whom are you targeting it?
Once you have found your target, you will need to study it.
It is tempting to disperse in order to reach as many prospects as possible. However, this is not the right strategy, as it often represents a considerable waste of time. Remember, if your prospects’ time is precious, so is yours! Like I said before, you absolutely need to target your prospects. To do this, you need to retain the prospects with the most potential. You need to study the most profitable type of leads for your business.
Example: if you are a freelance and you hope to earn a living from your activity, it is better to approach large companies than the small trader in the corner.
I distinguish two types of customers:
- The low budget client
- The premium client
The low-budget customer is the customer who doesn’t have a lot of money to pay you your fair price. Conversely, the premium customer is the customer who will not shy away from a question of money.
Knowing how to identify these two types of customers allows you to find the most profitable target for you.
Another example: you sell solutions to businesses. You will analyze your current customers, to find the ideal target with high potential. This can be with the criteria of the position of the buyer (budget manager in an SME), geographical area (Toulouse region), sector (aerospace industry), size of the company (10 – 100 employees) or other criteria.
If you want to laser target your market, you will need a premium LinkedIn account, click here to compare different LinkedIn subscriptions.
Once you have found your target, you will need to study it.
LinkedIn prospecting – Mistake # 2: not studying your prospects
A second mistake is not to study your target. Finding your target is good, but you still need to be able to answer the most important questions about it:
- What does she work in?
- What are its challenges?
- What does she care about?
- What problems does she encounter?
- And how can I help him?
You need to show your prospects that you care about them. To do this, you should always ask yourself these questions before seeking to canvass or apply your marketing strategy. You can’t want to sell your service to them before you even know what they need!
LinkedIn prospecting – mistake # 3: sending a message to sell
I know your goal is to sell and run your business. Still, you’ll have to take it easy. Traditional marketing is becoming obsolete. Gone are the days when professionals put their products or services at the center of their strategy. They no longer try to sell a product at all costs if no one wants it. They put their prospects at the center of their sales process and create products or services that meet their needs. Therefore, sending a message directly to propose your offers is not the right strategy! The same goes for telephone prospecting. This approach also leads to failure in 90% of cases (and again, I am optimistic).
LinkedIn prospecting – Mistake N ° 4: Not trying to solve a problem
This is THE MAIN MISTAKE that professionals make. My customers often forget that their product is used to solve a problem. Like I told you, a successful strategy is a strategy aimed at responding to a need or solving a problem encountered by your prospects. This is the only way to succeed in your BtoB! Your prospects must be at the heart of your business strategy . This strategy will take the usual sales process more slowly, but will create a long-term commitment and relationship. . Neglecting the issues of your target is a monumental mistake. In the internet age, the vast majority of the sales process is handled by the consumers themselves. Therefore, your service must be designed to bring added value to your prospects. So what are your products for? What thorn in your prospects’ side are they removing?
LinkedIn prospecting – Mistake # 5: forgetting about call-to-action
If your goal is to solve a problem, you must also think about your business and the sale of your services or products. You must put external links encouraging your prospects to visit your website, your YouTube channel , to join you on Facebook or Twitter or to discover your new online training. External links in LinkedIn articles are particularly effective. External links help generate traffic and bring your prospects to the center of your business. Be careful though that they are not the main subject of your post, at the risk of making LinkedIn’s algorithm work against you! To learn how to post your links and play the algorithm in your favor, click here.
LinkedIn Prospecting – Mistake # 6: Staying Within the LinkedIn Framework
A long-term relationship cannot be created if you do not meet the prospect face to face or at least on your sales platform. To create a real relationship of trust and a strong commitment on the part of your prospect, you have to go beyond the framework of LinkedIn. By meeting the person in real life or in video, you will be able to discuss your activity and be able to concretely explain to him what he needs from you! Be careful, however, not to rush into absolutely trying to sell your product on the first date. You must take the time to explain, to convince, and only then can you suggest that he take the next step.
LinkedIn prospecting – mistake # 7: underestimating recommendations
Recommendations are of paramount importance on LinkedIn because they allow you to forge your credibility and generate even more prospects . Once you have succeeded in converting your prospects into customers , it is important to capitalize on this customer experience by offering them to write a recommendation on LinkedIn. Be careful not to limit yourself to LinkedIn alone. You can also ask them to tell their own network about you. It allows your business to grow and gain popularity. The more your customers talk about you, the more new prospects they will attract to you.
LinkedIn prospecting – mistake # 8: neglecting loyalty
Do you think that having more and more leads will propel you to the top? Think again ! Having a few loyal customers can be more profitable than chasing new customers all the time.
Yes, on this blog, we remove all preconceived ideas about marketing, for more results.
This is why the loyalty process is very important. To retain a customer, do not hesitate to check in from time to time to find out how he is doing. Thus, you make sure that he does not forget you.
If your prospects convert to customers, your prospecting strategy has worked. However, even if a prospect told you no, don’t hesitate to ask for a briefing so that you can always grow and improve . It is a good opportunity to develop, in a more efficient way, your personal brand in addition to proving your humility.
Also to discover: 9 expert secrets to be a good btob salesperson
Why is it important to do inbound marketing on LinkedIn?
Inbound marketing is the reverse of traditional prospecting. Instead of putting your heart and soul into finding customers, you just “wait” for them to come to you.
Obviously, inbound marketing on LinkedIn cannot be improvised and you will have to develop effective self-marketing and content marketing to hope to attract prospects .
The first step is to build an influential LinkedIn profile that converts visitors into prospects , this is what I call a #Proinfluent Profile, I reveal the steps to follow for free with my checklist available here.
Then, it goes through the creation of regular content that meets the needs of the market. The results of your inbound marketing strategy can easily be analyzed using LinkedIn statistics.
You will be able to measure your notoriety, your popularity and the interest that your target has in your profile and your content.
This tool is particularly powerful since it allows you to have an overview and to change direction in the event of unsatisfactory results.
To read : STOP! Stop Making Those LinkedIn ™ Prospecting Mistakes
In conclusion: there is prospecting and prospecting in the #Proinfluent way
There is prospecting on LinkedIn and prospecting in the #Proinfluent way. The mistakes I presented to you above can cost you dearly if you don’t avoid them quickly. LinkedIn is the ideal place for BtoB. However, you will need to adapt your strategy to your target prospects. For this you must put them at the heart of your sales process. By collecting as much data as possible about them , you will be able to understand them and thus hope to convert them into loyal customers.
