LinkedIn Outbound Sales and Lead Generation that Work

Need help to use LinkedIn and leverage outbound tactics that work?

LinkedIn is a great platform for B2B business development and sales outreach, but there are certain things you need to do to be successful. If you believe LinkedIn can help, make sure you're targeting the right audience, using the right sales tactics, and saying the right things. This guide will show you how to find your leads on LinkedIn, how to message them so they're interested in your pitch, and how to make the most out of sales automation.

Here’s what we’ll cover:

• Outbound and Inbound Sales Tactics

• The Top Tips and Tactics to do LinkedIn Outbound Sales Well

• Dialing in your LinkedIn Outbound Sales Messages even with Automation

Ready to help you and your sales team make more sales with LinkedIn?

Outbound and Inbound Sales Tactics

Understanding the role and importance of inbound and outbound sales is a great starting point.

LinkedIn outbound is when you reach out to your leads instead of waiting for them to come to you. Meanwhile, inbound opportunities are when prospects come to you because they like your content and believe you can solve their problems. Both approaches have their advantages, but today we're focusing on outbound sales on LinkedIn. Later we'll talk about how Poseidon can get your lead gen on autopilot.

When doing outbound on LinkedIn, these are the most important outreach activities:

• Send connection request with notes – To connect with someone on LinkedIn, you have to send them a connection request. Including a personalized note that explains the purpose of connecting sets you apart. These notes can be up to 300 characters.
• Leverage boolean searches with your LinkedIn – This is a LinkedIn tactic that isn't used often. Boolean searches use keywords and operators like AND, OR, and NOT to find a more specific target audience.
• Be strategic with the LinkedIn groups you join – LinkedIn groups can expand your network with your Ideal Customer Profile (ICP). Find groups that are relevant to your niche and start connecting. Pro tip: You can message people in the same group even if you're not connected!

Top Outbound Sales Tactics

We’ve shared about a lot of different sales tactics and hacks on our blog but we’ve found the best outbound sales results are usually because of:

• Your offer – Good sales is about believing in your service or product. Has it been validated? Will you generate results for your client? Yes? The next step is most important.

• Your strategy for targeting your ICP – Do you know your people? Make sure you’re using the right language when engaging your prospects and that your offer is relevant to your targeting.

With a compelling offer, your prospect will feel like they are getting a deal that is too good to refuse. You need to have a strong offer that will make the client want to buy from you. Then, your strategy for targeting your ICP ensures you're always interacting with your ideal customer. Once you know who your ideal customer is, you can then begin to improve your messaging in a way that is relevant to them. It is also important to use the right language when engaging with your prospects so that they can understand what you are offering and sell your product or service.

With that said here are the top outbound sales tactics we recommend for LinkedIn:

1. Using an omnichannel outreach campaign

2. Personalizing your messages

3. Being disciplined with, or even automating, your follow-ups

1. An omnichannel approach will improve your outbound prospecting on LinkedIn and is all about using a combination of communication channels to get your offer in front of the prospect. LinkedIn should be the center of this strategy, and here's how:

• We believe LinkedIn and email are the heart of omnichannel selling. From there you can consider adding phone (both calls and text) to the equation,

• Finding the right pattern of connection requests, emails, LinkedIn messages, and calls takes practice. We help you find the right cadence at Poseidon.

• All the information you need is on LinkedIn and can be pulled up with the right tools.

2. Personalization of your messages

Personalization is key when it comes to reaching out on LinkedIn. Most people only personalize the first and last name, which is not very personal. Anyone can tell when someone is using a template, so it is important to take the time to write a personalized message. Templates are ok if you don't have time to write a personalized message, but it is important to take the time when you can. The more personal you are, the more likely you'll get a response from your prospect. Of course, this is made easier when you're using the right tools and Poseidon leverages templates that prompt personalized messages.

Examples are king so here are some ideas to consider when personalizing the message. Take the time to research your prospect, and know more than just the basics of their role and business. Go a step further and interact with them. Your leads will feel special when you engage and comment on their writing, and they’ll be more likely to connect with you.

3. Being disciplined with, or even automating, your follow-ups

One of the most effective sales tactics is to follow up with your potential customer. A study showed that 44% of sales reps give up after only one follow-up. Just because you have made initial contact with a potential customer, it does not mean that the sale is complete. Similarly, just because someone accepted your LinkedIn request and saw your message, it does not mean you should stop messaging them. They may have missed your initial message, been distracted, or simply have not had time to reply.

So it's important to keep tabs on your connections. I get a lot of messages and pitches every day, so I know how easy they are to miss. If you're wondering whether someone you reached out to on LinkedIn is interested, it's okay to follow up--but don't go overboard. Five times should be the limit. The final follow-up can mention that you won't be contacting them again after this.

"{prospect first name}, When I don't hear back from someone it's usually because they're busy. Did you see my above messages?

If I don't from you after this message I will assume a total lack of interest … and will not be in touch again.

Please let me know? Cheers, {your name}”

Play with this template to find out what works best for you.

Your follow-up cadences are a great place to leverage LinkedIn automation with Poseidon. You can set up a simple campaign that runs in the background and keeps you engaged with your top prospects. Now that we've covered these tactics let's look at the best cold messages to get a conversation going and reach out to prospects.

Outbound Messages via LinkedIn that Work

Sales development is all about writing the right connection request or cold message to ensure you set up meetings in your pipeline and close sales. Goes without saying you should not jump into selling yourself in the first message. Instead, as a rule of thumb, you should always make sure that your connection or cold outreach message contains the following:

• Personalization (yes again) – Mentioning something specific in your outreach campaign makes you more likely to care and connect with you.
• A real reason to connect with you – Your sales prospects are busy, and are getting 100 requests/messages daily. Having a clear purpose for connecting will help keep the conversation flowing.
• Profile Optimization – If you're reaching out to your LinkedIn network, they're going to land on your profile. Making sure everything about your LinkedIn account is in good shape will help round out your sales strategy.
• Note length – Your connection request on LinkedIn is limited to 300 characters. Having these small details ironed out will improve your sales process.
• People you may know – Leveraging mutual connections is a great way to find commonality with a prospect. An authentic reference will spark an immediate conversation and ensure there's trust from the beginning.
• Bring value – Prospects know that you're looking to sell to them. If you can bring value from your first message they will be much more interested to hear your offer.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is the best place to generate leads for your business because it's where decision-makers are at. When leveraging the right outbound strategies to grow your business, sales become a lot easier. Like we said earlier the two most important parts of your LinkedIn outbound sales tactics are:

• Your offer proposition – Play with this and get as much feedback from your current clients as possible. Always consider how you're crafting an offer so irresistible, that your leads can’t say no.

• Your target ICP – Talk to your ideal client and get to know what makes them ideal for your business. Have your sales reps learn this profile well and their outreach strategy will improve dramatically.

Finally, do what others aren't doing, and follow up. Not doing so means your throwing away sales because you didn't want to put in the work. Remember to make this easier, Poseidon provides the best suite of tools to ensure you'll never lose another prospect because you failed to be reaching out.