LinkedIn Lead Generation: Cold Email Has Nothing On This | Selling Made Simple

As your quarterly deadline creeps ever closer, you begin to have a terrible revelation—you just aren’t going to make it. Not this time. But… why? You haven’t changed a single thing about your sales process. Your cadences are as tight as ever. And your schedule’s already jampacked with cold calling and cold emailing. So, what are you doing wrong? These days, many B2B salespeople find themselves falling behind due to a lack of “social selling”—incorporating relationship building into the sales process. And today, a staggering majority of social selling happens in one place: LinkedIn. This guide shows you how to effectively incorporate LinkedIn lead generation into your routine. Inside you’ll learn the three-part framework you need to use LinkedIn’s potential to its fullest. And with it, you can build a steady and robust pipeline of quality, qualified leads. Best of all, once you get going, the system practically runs itself. Now let’s jump in. The What & Why of LinkedIn If you’re a professional, well, anything then you probably know what LinkedIn is—a social media platform with a twist. Unlike other platforms, the focus is on business. You won’t find piano cats, baby pictures, or “Charlie bit me” videos here. Instead, it’s all about connecting with other professionals, learning business-related tips for success, and growing your career. And as a well-informed salesperson, you can use LinkedIn as a powerful source of leads. As author and sales professional Marcus Sheridan put it in our interview: “As a salesperson, a sales professional, go all-in on LinkedIn. I've watched salespeople's careers and therefore wallets and bank accounts explode because of the way they use LinkedIn.” But why? What makes LinkedIn lead gen so powerful? There are four reasons in particular: * It’s huge * It’s trusted * It’s scalable * It “builds trust at scale” Let’s take a closer look at what I mean by each. It’s Huge On the one hand, LinkedIn is a mammoth social media platform. And it’s bigger than most people expect. Sure, sure. Facebook and Instagram and the like are bigger. But LinkedIn still has nearly 800 million members across the globe. Plus, there are millions of businesses with public profiles. Beyond that, the wealth of information you can glean from these profiles is huge too. Past positions and experiences, shared professional connections, branding elements—the list goes on. The benefit here is that there are plenty of opportunities for B2B salespeople on the platform. For example, the enterprising salesperson can use LinkedIn to: * Learn about new businesses that have recently entered their industry. * Research competitors and their content marketing strategies. * Become better acquainted with potential leads. * Discover talking points you can use during sales meetings. Ultimately, LinkedIn is big and growing. And the info on it is massive. The Numbers Wondering just how huge LinkedIn is? Check out some of the stats below to get a better idea. * LinkedIn has nearly 800 million members in 200 countries and regions worldwide (LinkedIn). * LinkedIn has 33 offices, is available in 24 languages, and has 16,000 employees (LinkedIn) * More than 57 million companies are listed on LinkedIn, as well as 120,000 schools (LinkedIn). * Seventy-seven job applications are submitted via LinkedIn every single second (LinkedIn).