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As the leader of the Demand Generation function at Ambition, I have the great pleasure of partnering with Sales Development reps and leaders who continue to test, innovate, and power a big portion of our demand strategy.
We have one SDR in particular, Kaitlin Leng, who is pioneering a LinkedIn strategy that centers on something that truly is woven into the fabric of Ambition’s culture: living authentically and ambitiously testing new ideas all in the spirit of reaching peak performance. It turns out to be quite the success story because 5 months in a row she has gone 200% to goal– even achieving quota on the 10th of the month this month.
Today, I got the opportunity to sit alongside sales evangelist Donald Kelly with our friends at Saleshacker today to talk about best practices and strategies for setting more meetings on LinkedIn and share things that our reps are seeing on the front lines to help you and your teams set more meetings than ever!
Here are the top takeaways to catch you up to speed:
Use The Fogg Behavior Model to guide how you engage people on LinkedIn
Whether you are using phone, email, or LI– this principle applies. It essentially says that to get someone to take action, three things must happen (and must at the same time). There must be a trigger, ability and motivation. The trigger is the thing provoking the person to behave, ability means that it must be possible / they are able, and motivation is what motivates someone to behave. So take a LinkedIn message as an example:
Trigger: Bonding over location/Texas triggered a response
Ability: the prospect was online and at her computer, able to respond, as she read the message
Motivation: She accepted the meeting believing there was value to her at her in her role
People LOVE talking about where they live, work, and travel on LinkedIn!
In almost every one of Kaitlin’s initial messages to prospects on LI, she establishes a quick connection asking about where their banner photo was taken, or if they are a fan of whatever prominent sports team mentioned in their bio, or where she may hike or workout if she were to visit their city. It is a very popular trigger that drives people to respond allowing her to open conversations. Don't think you have to be a corporate version of yourself. Share places or hobbies you are passionate about with like minded professionals as a way to connect. Be. Human. This is a very simple (and effective!) way to personalize your outreach.
Strategically use gifting in LinkedIn!
We use a platform called postal to send gifts or gift cards to prospects to thank them for their time or build trust. You can send "magic links" via postal to buy someone a coffee while they check out a case study or hop on a call to learn more. This can be done right inside LinkedIn messenger or via email if you prefer. Sometimes, people at enterprise organizations can't accept gifts, but you could leverage a donation in their name in a similar way. A lot of people put the causes they support or serve on the boards of right inside their LinkedIn profile. It is a great way to get their attention!
Use LinkedIn Sales Navigator!
When you connect Sales Navigator to your CRM, it makes it easy for your business development reps to sort accounts and leads they own, but you can take it a step further and filter by the people at your accounts that follow you! Setting meetings with people that already engage with your brand is much easier than going cold. The filtering functionality in LinkedIn Sales Navigator allows you to identify opportunities to personalize based on a number of things like job changes or engagement with your brand and can help you focus on personalized prospecting!
For more tips on how to use LinkedIn to set more meetings than ever, check out the full recording below:
