Using Linked In For Sales Prospecting - 4 Strategies For Account Managers

Using LinkedIn for Sales
Prospecting
Four strategies for account managers

by Roch Gauthier

The copyright of this work belongs to Roch Gauthier, who is solely responsible for the
content. Please direct content feedback or permissions to roch.linkedin@yahoo.ca. You
may not extract or re-use any of the images in this document.

© 2009. All rights reserved. Page 1
rochgauthier eβooklet

Using LinkedIn for Sales Prospecting

Introduction
•

Two Important Questions
•

1. What color is your LinkedIn network?

Contents
2. Do you use the “Advanced People Search” functionality
on LinkedIn?

Four LinkedIn Strategies for Sales Account Managers
•

1. Make it a habit to send a LinkedIn connection invitation
to customers after every meeting
2. Get introduced to “Super Connectors”
3. Search for prospective buyers using the “Advanced
People Search” functionality on LinkedIn
4. Regularly deliver value to your first-degree contacts

Conclusion
•


Introduction

Recently, I had coffee with three former colleagues who are all
sales account managers working for different software compa-
nies. We had not gotten together for a number of years, so it
was nice to see everyone. Eventually we started to talk shop
and I inquired about the health of their sales pipelines.

I learned that they were all facing similar challenges. As new-
comers in their sales organization, they had been assigned chal-
lenging accounts with little to no account penetration whatso-
ever. They were all struggling to break into these accounts.

I asked my colleagues if they were using LinkedIn, a social net-
working website for professionals, to identify sales prospects
within their accounts. They each gave me a puzzled look and
asked me what I meant. Although all three of them had a
LinkedIn account, they had not considered how they might use it
to find sales prospects. I told them that I would share with them
my LinkedIn strategies, but first I needed to ask them two ques-
tions.



Question #1: What color is your LinkedIn network?

I grabbed a napkin, drew a stick-figure in the middle of it, sur-
rounded it with eight circles, and then proceeded to connect the
figure to the circles with straight lines. “These circles represent
your first-degree contacts on LinkedIn”, I told them. “They are
all the people that are connected to you.” (Figure 1)

I then asked them to imagine assigning one of two colors to eve-
ryone in their first-degree connections:

Yellow for former work colleagues or school friends;
Figure 1: Stick-figure on the napkin •

Green for existing and prospective customers
•
“These circles represent your first-
degree contacts on LinkedIn”
“So what color dominates your LinkedIn connections?” I asked.
After some reflection, all three said the majority of their connec-
tions could be represented as yellow circles. I grabbed two
highlighters from my bag, one yellow and one green, and up-
dated the picture on the napkin. (Figure 2)



This did not surprise me. As a general rule, most people use
LinkedIn to keep in touch with work or school colleagues. This
means that most LinkedIn users probably have a predominantly
yellow-colored first-degree network and use it exclusively as a
career networking or contact management tool. Don’t get me
wrong, LinkedIn is a great contact management tool but it can
be used for a lot more than that. However, most people don’t
take the time to imagine how else they can use LinkedIn.

“You can use LinkedIn as a powerful sales prospecting tool”, I
told my old colleagues, “but to realize that, you need to under-
stand and be able to visualize what I refer to as your extended
Figure 2: Stick-figure on the napkin
LinkedIn network.”
“After some reflection, all three said
the majority of their connections
could be represented as
yellow circles.”



I drew two additional orbits of circles on the napkin and con-
nected some of them. The network now spanned a total of
three degrees of separation from the stick-figure in the center of
the napkin. (Figure 3)

“This represents your extended network”, I told them.

I asked them to guess what color would now likely dominate the
extended LinkedIn network on the napkin – yellow or green?
“The network now spanned a total
of three degrees of separation from
the stick-figure in the center of the
napkin. This represents your
extended network.”



“What you said earlier about the general rule of social network-
ing should apply here as well. People tend to use LinkedIn to
connect to former work colleagues or school contacts. Since
we’re looking at the network form the stick-figure’s (sales per-
son’s) perspective, his colleagues (yellow circles) are likely con-
nected to their own networks of colleagues and associates who
work in similar roles and/or industries (more yellow circles). By
that same rule, customers (green circles) in the stick-figure’s
network are also primarily connected to colleagues and school
friends. That means that a customer’s contacts may be poten-
tial sales prospects for the stick-figure (more green circles).”
“Because the stick-figure is primarily
connected to yellow figures, I would
My former colleague continued: “Having said all of that, I will an-
guess that his extended network will
be primarily yellow.”
swer your question regarding what color likely dominates the
network on the napkin. Because the stick-figure is primarily
connected to yellow figures, I would guess that his extended
network will be primarily yellow.” (Figure 4)



“That’s right”, I said. “The extended network is probably domi-
nated by yellow circles.”

Now that my former colleagues had a new way of mentally visu-
alizing their LinkedIn extended network, I asked my second
question.

Question #2: Do you use the “Advanced People
Search” functionality on LinkedIn?

They all said no. They did not realize that LinkedIn has an
“Advanced People Search” capability. Given that this functional-
Figure 5: Advanced People Search
functionality on LinkedIn ity is somewhat hidden on the LinkedIn website, I was not sur-
prised. (Figure 5)



“The Advanced People Search allows you to conduct highly spe-
cific searches for people who also have a LinkedIn account
(Figure 6),” I explained. “For example, you can specify the per-
son’s:

First name
•

Last name
•

Industry
•

Company (current or previous)
•

Job title (current or previous)
Figure 6: Advanced People Search •

City
•
It allows you to conduct highly
Country
specific searches for people who •
also have a LinkedIn account.
Keywords contained in the user’s online profile.
•

The best search results are ob-
tained by using a combination of In my experience, the best search results are obtained by using
industry, job title and keywords.
a combination of industry, job title and keywords.



“Because most people use LinkedIn primarily to keep in touch
with existing and former colleagues, they will likely have com-
pleted the following fields in their online profiles:

First name
•

Last name
•

School(s) attended & degree(s) completed
•

Job title (current)
•

Company (current)”
•

“The search results can be displayed in one of four ways: rele-
vance, relationship, relationship + recommendations, and key-
word. (Figure 7)

I tend to sort my searches by relationship because it allows me
to quickly determine who in my extended network can introduce
me to people of interest.”

Search results can be displayed in
one of four ways



I pointed back to the napkin with the drawing of the stick-figure
and his extended network. “Assuming that you have some
green circles (your customers’ work or school contacts) in your
extended network, you should be using LinkedIn’s Advanced
People Search capability to locate prospective customers.”

“Given that you all know the job titles and industries of your ideal
sales prospects, you can search to see if anyone in your ex-
tended network is connected to someone that fits your profile.
You can also try searching for prospects using very specific key-
words related to their expertise (e.g. financial modeling, six
sigma black belt) or job accountabilities (e.g. responsible for de-
veloping cash flow forecasts for the business unit, responsible
You can also try searching for
for maintaining the SAP system) in order to locate prospective
prospects using
buyers.” (Figure 8)
very specific keywords



“That’s really neat!” one of my colleagues said. “I had no idea
that LinkedIn allowed you to conduct such targeted searches. I
can see how this would be of use to me to locate prospective
buyers.”

Now that they understood how they can use LinkedIn for sales
prospecting, it was time to share with them my four LinkedIn
strategies for effective sales prospecting.



Make it a habit to send a LinkedIn connection invita-
tion to customers after every meeting

Your goal is to grow the number of green circles in your direct
and extended LinkedIn network. This will allow you to search
for people across your contacts’ extended network.

Remember that your customer’s LinkedIn connections likely in-
clude other people working at the same company and col-
leagues working in similar roles (as their current one) at other
companies (where they previously worked).

When you connect to a customer on LinkedIn, you gain visibility
to their first-degree network (provided they keep this option en-
abled, which most people do) and will benefit from their ex-
tended network when you conduct searches.



Get introduced to “Super Connectors”

When you connect to a customer on LinkedIn, take the time to
browse their direct connections and identify what I refer to as
“Super Connectors”. Super Connectors are people who have
hundreds of contacts in their first-degree network.

By connecting to a customer with so many connections, your ex-
tended network will grow much more rapidly than if you connect
to a customer with fewer connections.

Your goal is to find ways of getting introduced and ultimately
connected to these Super Connectors on LinkedIn. Even
though a customer Super Connector does not fit your ideal sales
prospect profile, it is worth getting introduced to these people
because they can greatly help you expand your extended
LinkedIn network.



Search for prospective buyers using the “Advanced
People Search” functionality on LinkedIn

Now that you’re being deliberate about growing the amount of
green circles in your direct network, use LinkedIn’s Advanced
People Search capability to identify prospective buyers or influ-
encers. Once LinkedIn shows you how you are related to these
prospective buyers, your task is to figure out how to get intro-
duced to them. Here are some ideas on how to do that:

Do you both know someone in common via LinkedIn? If so,
•

ask that person to introduce you. Explain the value that you
may be able to provide to their contact.
Do you both belong to a common LinkedIn group? If so,
•

send them a LinkedIn message to discuss your common in-
terest / membership.
If their LinkedIn profile shows their employer, find the com-
•

pany’s telephone number and cold call them.



Regularly deliver value to your first-degree contacts

Remember to nurture your first-degree network. If you plan on
asking your contacts for favors, please remember to keep in
touch with them and to deliver value to them (e.g. sending a
web link to a resource that you think they will find useful). Oth-
erwise, they will see you as very utilitarian and it will ultimately
hurt your online and offline reputation.


Conclusion

rs!
ome
st
d cu “Thanks for sharing these LinkedIn strategies with us”, one of
an
my old colleagues said. “I’m definitely going to develop a habit
of sending a LinkedIn invitation to every customer and prospec-
tive customer I meet. I can now visualize the power of being
able to tap into other people’s networks in order to locate pro-
spective buyers.” (Figure 9)

Figure 9: Add customers to your
network

“I’m definitely going to develop a
habit of sending a LinkedIn
invitation to every customer and
prospective customer I meet.”


Using LinkedIn for Sales Prospecting

About me: Roch Gauthier
I am a marketing and management consulting professional currently working
in the software industry. I have been using LinkedIn for just over a year and
have 412 people in my first-degree network. This in turn connects me to an
extended network of 2,225,900+ people. In the past 2 days, my extended
LinkedIn network grew by 3,292 people. At this rate, my network will grow by
over 1,000,000 people over the course of the next year. Isn’t that amazing?!

Contact me at: roch.linkedin@yahoo.ca

“At this rate, my network will grow
by over 1,000,000 people over
the course of the next year.

Isn’t that amazing?!”


Using Linked In For Sales Prospecting - 4 Strategies For Account Managers

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (12)

Viewers also liked

Viewers also liked (17)

Similar to Using Linked In For Sales Prospecting - 4 Strategies For Account Managers

Similar to Using Linked In For Sales Prospecting - 4 Strategies For Account Managers (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Using Linked In For Sales Prospecting - 4 Strategies For Account Managers