The 30-Day LinkedIn Challenge to Increase Sales Performance

As SRG’s Director of Marketing, one of the most common questions I get from sales professionals is whether LinkedIn can really increase sales performance.

The answer is, of course, yes. According to research by Aberdeen group, social selling pros create more opportunities, are more likely to achieve quota, and are more productive. 

Unfortunately, one of the biggest obstacles preventing most sales professionals from leveraging the power of LinkedIn is that they don’t know where to start.

Getting results from LinkedIn requires that you make it a daily habit and new habits take time to adopt.  Below is a 30-Day LinkedIn Challenge for Sales Professionals.  By completing each of the steps described below over the next 30 days, you will develop foundational LinkedIn habits that will help keep you stay top of mind with prospects and customers.

STEP 1: Share a company blog post

Go to your company’s blog and select a post to share with your LinkedIn connections. Take the time to read it so that you can explain to your connections why they will find it helpful and useful. I know this may take a couple minutes, but by adding just a little bit of your own commentary will help you add value for your connections.

STEP 2: Connect with a Prospect or Client

Follow up on phone call or email with a sales prospect with a LinkedIn connection request. Every new connection will expand your social reach, which means the more people that may see the content you post and share on LinkedIn.

This is a great way to nurture prospects in between call follow-ups or opportunity stages, and for levering LinkedIn for account management.

STEP 3: Respond to Comments & Messages

Every day review your LinkedIn notifications for new comments and messages. Take the time to respond just like you would with email. You may rarely see comments at the beginning and that’s OK, but in case you have more comments that you would like to address, select at least one where your participation will add the most value to the conversation.

STEP 4: Start or Contribute to a LinkedIn Group

Find and join at least one active LinkedIn group most relevant to your company’s subject matter expertise and offerings.

Ideally this group should be one where your potential prospects frequent for advice and to collaborate.

This is a great opportunity to get in front of potential new prospects and establish yourself as a top contributor, thought leader, and trusted advisor in their community.

Every day, quickly scan new discussions for opportunities to participate and add value. This is where it comes handy to be familiar with your company’s content if you’re not a subject matter expert yourself.

If you don’t find any relevant discussions, start a new discussion using one of your company’s blog posts as reference. The most effective discussions (and sometimes the only ones group managers will approve) are the ones that start with a question.

Adding as much value to your prospects as you possibly can is the best way to earn new sales and grow existing accounts. In fact, according to research from Corporate Visions, 74% of buyers choose the sales rep that was “first” to add value and insight.

The 30-day LinkedIn Challenge for Sales Professionals will enable you to gain the momentum you need, to finally activate that LinkedIn profile you had hibernating all this long to help improve your sales results.

How Much Time Should I Spend?

This is probably the most common question and concern from sales professionals who are considering raising their social media profile.  The good news is that you can comfortably complete all of the tasks outlined above in only about 10 minutes per day.

I think we can all agree that investing 10 minutes per day into building a strong professional social network is not an unreasonable burden.

Invite Others to Join You

Not required, but I highly recommend inviting others in your team to join you on taking this challenge. Not only does having someone to hold you accountable increase the odds that you will follow-through, but partnering with others will make this challenge more exciting!

"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going." ~Jim Rohn