How Do You Sell When LinkedIn is Down?
Today LinkedIn went down for many of it’s European users – including the UK – although it appears to be working normally in the United States.
The company Twitter page said;
“Some members may be experiencing an issue with the site. We’re working on this as we speak and will provide updates as we have them. Thanks for your patience!”
Now – many people depend on the information that they have stored on LinkedIn – or contact details and data that they search for on LinkedIn (especially those who have upgraded to services such as Sales Navigator) – to do their job and grow their business.
But I couldn’t help thinking of some advice I got a couple of years ago with regards to using social media sites for business.
I was just launching my first book and all the articles I’d written to promote this were on LinkedIn, all my contacts were sharing the updates and tweet quotes on LinkedIn – and every single piece of internet activity was pointing to a single platform – LinkedIn.
You see, I’m a big fan of LinkedIn, I think it’s an amazing resource for salespeople.
But one wise old sage reminded me of a little piece of incredibly important advice – if you don’t own it, you can’t guarantee to keep it.
Businesses come and go – shops open and close – in the commercial world, things just aren’t meant to last forever.
With so much of my marketing and sales strategy invested in the platform, what was I going to do tomorrow if LinkedIn crashed?
So, if your job in any way involves growing your business or finding new opportunities – here’s a quick list of tips and strategies that will keep you ahead of the game, while your competition are sitting with their heads on their hands wondering what to do next.
Create Your Own Sales Swiss Army Knife
You should try to make sure that – when it comes to your sales approach – you have a number of different options for every situation.
Currently unknown by the prospect? Send a polite email with a link to case studies.
Can’t get through on the telephone? Have an introductory letter ready to send by mail.
Have a large account to engage? Sponsor an update on LinkedIn and make the target company specific.
There are hundreds of different opportunities to spread the message – and these days you can do so with laser like precision with social media, articles on trade sites and blogs, telesales drives and automated email services.
A marketing director at Mercedes Benz once stated that if the first time you see a Mercedes advert is precisely when you’re looking to buy your next car, then they’ve probably failed.
Equally, if the first time a prospect hears your name is when you’re asking to be put through, then there’s a fair chance you’ll be told they’re busy. Take a look at this list – and have a think which one you could use to get your message through (with an appreciative nod to marketing guru Perry Marshall);
- Postcards
- Invite them to join your LinkedIn Network
- Create a LinkedIn Group and invite them to join
- Introductory letter
- Twitter (when you follow their account your avatar and summary is emailed to them – which only works if it’s professional enough)
- FEDEX envelopes to highly-targeted prospects
- Trade Shows ( Invite them to meet you at the show)
- Promotional Flyers
- Do a custom webinar or teleseminar
- Invite them to hear you speak at a seminar
- Send a link to your magazine articles and e-zine articles
- “Lumpy Mail” – sending people interesting objects, like one guy who mailed out a six foot canoe paddle
Download, Backup and Save All Your Articles, Data and Contacts
If you keep it all in one place and that place disappears, then so does all your work. While writing The Extremely Successful Salesman’s Club my house was burgled. They took my computer, my laptop – and they took 18 month’s worth of work.
Keep everything safe – in more than one place if possible – because sometimes you come home and it’s just not there anymore – and you have to start all over again.
Get a Good Grounding in How to Prospect Effectively
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Next Effective Sales Prospecting Workshops (UK)
LONDON | MANCHESTER | SCOTLAND
(click on preferred city for full details)
This intensive one-day workshop has been designed to help delegates create an effective sales pipeline that delivers a regular, steady flow of genuine business opportunities.
WARNING: This Workshop is not a quick fix – “cold calling is dead” – waste of your time.
This workshop concentrates on the real way that a sales pipeline is created – delivering the skills, techniques and templates needed to succeed – but also explaining the level of commitment and activity required to make a difference.
At the end of this workshop delegates will be able to:
- Develop a prospecting and business development plan to help them build their pipeline
- Understand how to calculate the number of leads they need to achieve their targets
- Be able to identify Key Players within target accounts
- Recognise the “trigger events” within their specific industry and engage with prospects at just the right time
- Understand how to build targeted prospect lists
- Explain their 4 step plan for prospecting success
- Leave with a step-by-step Prospecting Plan
Next Effective Sales Prospecting Workshops (UK)
LONDON | MANCHESTER | SCOTLAND
(click on preferred city for full details)
