How To Sell On LinkedIn

In today's video, I'm going to teach you how to prospect effectively using the LinkedIn platform. Working with insurance advisors, I can tell you that there are a lot of mistakes made when going on LinkedIn. But before I teach a method I call the four Ps of LinkedIn, let's talk about a couple misconceptions or mindset shifts we have to make if you're going to use LinkedIn effectively. Number one, let's just get the cat out of the bag and say, yeah, you need to be there. Saying LinkedIn is not an effective platform for you today is not a legitimate excuse to do business anymore. You see, it is 2022. And if you are going to be effective in prospecting, you have to be on social media. And if you're an insurance advisor, there's a really good chance you are in the B2B space. And if you are in the B2B space selling to businesses, you need to be on LinkedIn. Now, one of the things I often hear from advisors is, andy, I think LinkedIn is a waste of time. And, and when I look at how they behave and their strategy to LinkedIn, I would say, yes, it is a waste of time the way they're using it. So today I'm gonna help you fix that. I'm gonna teach a strategy I call the four Ps of LinkedIn prospecting so that you can ensure your time spent on LinkedIn is effective. And the key here is realizing that you need to block LinkedIn time into your calendar every week, just like you have been blocking time for cold calling for years, because this is the way people prospect these days. In fact, I believe we are as close to the cold call being dead as we have ever been before. Why? Well, number one, most people aren't going to the office anymore. So if you have somebody's office number, good luck trying to get ahold of them. And number two, we use cell phones to communicate these days. And what happens when you get a number on your call on your phone that you don't recognize? Yeah.

You don't pick it up. You let it go to voicemail, and then you determine if you want to return that call. That's what your prospects are doing to you. Worse yet, my iPhone tells me if you might be potential spam, could that be you when you're calling your prospects? So I truly believe we are as close to cold calling being dead as we've ever been before. So social media is a platform that's here to stay, and you need to Leverage social media as part of your prospecting strategy. So let's talk about the four P's of, of LinkedIn prospecting. The first P is profile. You need to create a profile that stands out. There are four areas you need to focus on to ensure your profile is standing out. Number one, profile picture.

Yes.

Let's make sure your profile picture is updated. It's not a photo from 10 years ago. It's clear and it's very obvious it is you.

Especially if you are somebody who's maybe facial hair has changed, hair length has changed. You have to make sure that profile picture represents who you are today. The second part of your profile is the banner, the image that goes behind your profile picture. Most people I meet don't even have a LinkedIn banner. You have to have a LinkedIn banner. And here is the key to a good LinkedIn banner. View it like it's your electronic billboard. I want to see your company logo on it, maybe a tagline. But most importantly, I want to see some contact info. Now, you might be sitting there saying, andy, why would I put contact info on my, on my banner if it's in my contact info in my profile? Here's why. Most people use LinkedIn today with their cell phone, with their smartphone, and for whatever reason, LinkedIn buries the contact information when you use the mobile app. But by having your contact info in your banner, it's easy for a potential prospect to see your contact information so they can reach out. The third area of your profile is what's known as the headline. That written information underneath your name. What most people reserve that space for is to give their job title and the company they're. What you want to do is use a tagline. Here's what I suggest. Under your name, I want you to tell me in one statement, what do you do and who do you do it for? Just like we do on a website. Your LinkedIn profile is your personal website. So your headline needs to tell me what you do and who you do it for. Because if I'm a prospect and I come to your profile, I want to know instantly if you can help me or not. And then the third area is your about section. Yes, you need to have an about section. And in that about section, I want you to use it as your personal bio. Almost imagine you're going on stage, about to speak, somebody's about to introduce you. Use that space to tell us about you. Let us get to know you. Tell us why you do what you do. This is your chance to have your Profile stand out. So if you have a good profile picture, a banner with some contact info, a good tagline in your headline, and a good about section, your LinkedIn profile will stand out. The second P is proactive connections. Now, here is where my community theory comes in. I want you to look at your LinkedIn profile today and determine how many connections you have. It might be 200, 500, 1,000, 10,000. No matter how many connections you have, I want you to view that as your community and you're the mayor of that community. Your job is simple. Number one, you want to go out and find more new residents, more of the right residents to move into your community that's making new connections. And number two, you want to make the residents who live there feel proud that they live in your community.

How do you do that?

You post good content, which we're going to talk about here in a second. So the second P of the four P's of LinkedIn prospecting is proactive connections. You have to be making proactive connections to the right prospects, people you think you might be able to do business with. Send connections out, reach out. And when they accept, don't spam them with an immediate ask for a meeting. No, you want to let your content do the talking. But when they do accept, why not shoot them a voice message? Did you even know that feature was on LinkedIn? Yeah. You can leave first connections, a voice message. Let them know that you're thanking them, that you appreciate their connection, that you hope they enjoy your content. Using the voice message feature is an instant way to stand out with your prospects once they accept your connection. The third P is posting content. You need to be posting content. Now. People ask me all the time, Andy, what kind of content should I create? There's two types of content I think stand out. Number one, content that educates your prospects.

Now, this is where you hesitate.

Because the content that is going to.

Educate your prospects isn't that sexy. It's not the kind of content that's going to create the sizzle, but it's the content your prospects want to see. It's the content that's going to help your prospects. You see, when you're about to create a piece of content for your clients, for your prospects, you have to stop worrying about what your peers are going to think. You just care about educating your prospects. Create content around topics they want to know, topics they're thinking about, questions they're asking, objections they're having. That's the kind of content you want to create to stand out the second type of content or piece of content I suggest is content that lets people.

Get to know you.

Listen, Building a relationship with a prospect is harder today than it's ever been. It's not like it was during the pre pandemic days. You can't just go take somebody to a ball game out for a round of golf or dinner. But you have to find a way to build a relationship before they ever meet you. And good LinkedIn content that educates them.

And lets them get to know you.

Is a great way to build that relationship. And then the final P is pull.

Them off the platform. Yeah, it's hard to believe, but the actual goal of LinkedIn is to pull people off the platform into a zoom chat or a phone call. And that's what your final objective is.

You want to ultimately pull people off.

The platform so so you can have a deep, good conversation with them. And the best way to do that is get right back in their dm, send another voice message and ask them if they want to grab a cup of coffee, join you for a lunch, or just jump on a zoom chat and take the conversation a little deeper. So the four P's in summary are your profile. You need a profile that stands out. You need to make proactive connections on a weekly basis. Remember, LinkedIn lets you make up to 100 connections a week. Don't get close, you will get penalized. Number three, you got to post content they like, educate them, let them get to know you, and then pull them off the platform. Once your content does the talking, pulling them off the platform into a conversation is going to be a heck of a lot easier. Here's the key. It is about performance over popularity. You can't go to the platform with the goal of wanting the dopamine hits of the comments and the likes of content that's effective. Content that drives business is often the content that doesn't get massive engagement. But it's content that works. So that's my advice for you if you want to be more effective on LinkedIn. Leverage the four Ps of LinkedIn prospecting. If you need help, you know where to find me. But remember, yes, you need to be on the platform. It's a great place to be. It's where your buyers are going to be here and in the future. And if you use it the right way, you're going to drive one heck of a pipeline through your business using LinkedIn as a great channel. Good luck.