Social profiles are a great way to interact with people in your industry, monitor your brand and reach new customers. But a common trend within sales has left sales reps using an ineffective and time wasting tool.
LinkedIn is highly regarded as a place for professionals. Where people interact, network and keep their online resume up to date. LinkedIn has less customer service and sales capabilities compared to other networks like Twitter or even FaceBook.
Recently I have begun to receive cold calls through messages on LinkedIn. Simple messages from people whom I share a group with have reached out to me and my company to see if they could be of any assist.
This brings up a debate – Linkedin can help you spread the word about your product, service or company but should it be used to cold call? I personally feel that this was an intrusion on how I use LinkedIn and found the tactic to be ineffective.
I realize sales reps have quotas, goals and numbers they have to make but I do not feel that LinkedIn is a smart or affective sales tool. First it feels as an intrusion, second it is quite easy to ignore or turned down through a message.
A phone call or an in person visit is much more affective and allows the sales person to present some factual points on why their service is unique and should be purchased. With a simple message on LinkedIn the recipient of the message may feel the sales reps is sending out hundreds of these messages and can simply stop reading or delete the message before the sales rep has presented it pitch.
In summation there is no reason a skilled sales person should be utilizing messages on LinkedIn to drum up new business. If a company wants to dedicate an intern to sending out thousands of messages fine, but there is no reason to dedicate good talent to something with such dismal results.
My experience not only left a negative taste about the person who attempted to sell me SEO services through LinkedIn but also left a very negative mindset regarding the company as well.
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This is the first post I have written about prospecting throught LinkedIn and I appreciate where you are coming from.
You don’t mention how it is a good tool for gaining intelligence on client or prospect accounts. I often use LinkedIn as a resource to become informed on Account and Contact level information. I often would look to reach out to a group member or shared contact via other medium such as Email or Phone.
What is your viewpoint of this?
Hi Michael, thanks for the comment. I agree LinkedIN can be a great tool to find a contact at a specific target account. It does enable you to do a good amount of research prior to reaching out to a potential customer. It is the follow up after this research that is important. A simple message on LinkedIn isn’t as effective as a face to face visit or a phone call. But at the same time you are able to reach a much larger audience by duplicating a standard message to hundreds of people on LinkedIn.
Have you had any success using LinkedIn to gain new customers?
Couln’t agree more . . . . nice article Justin.
Thanks for the response Christie.
Yes – LinkedIn has proven a great resource for me and my company. Usually as a resource to enhance knowledge of an account or their contacts. In addition we have gained referrals for new business and recently I searched a group for accounts that met the necessary target profile.
My organisation has a small total available market and it is very difficult to find new prospects through other resource. Especially with little or no cost attached. LinkedIn has negatives but is more reliable than other directories etc.
If you like follow me on twitter. http://twitter.com/mike_trow
I look forwrd to more articles.
Sorry Justin – wrote incorrect name. Typical!
Hi, thanks for the comment. I’m very glad and agree for your comment. It is the follow up after this research that is important. Have you had any success using LinkedIn to gain new customers?
I would understand your frustration but that is the art of selling: pursue.
I think it’s a creative part on the sales people. Advertising and marketing are intrusive regardless.
Does LinkedIn allow certain people to message you?
Hi Thahn, thanks for the comment. I agree that advertising and marketing are intrusive but I disagree that this is a creative approach to selling.
The sales rep is just copy and pasting a generic email to group members via a LinkedIn message. There seems to be a lot more they could do to spark my interest i.e. posting a intriguing article about their product or service on the group discussion board.
Just wondering if you plan on writing any more posts abou this topic? thanks so much.
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I’ve just started using LinkedIn myself and quite frankly I have only joined the site from a recommendation from a friend. With all the networks around I admit that when I signed up I was suprised – and not in the good way – of how cold calling was allowed. This is never a good tactic in my view and I don’t see how it will get people very far in any business industry. This is also the reason why I prefer using networks like facebook that have more privacy enabled restrictions. Lets see how it goes…
That be frank about this, if you wish to have a profile online and be viewed then you need to expect some sales calls, sales and marketing as already mentioned are intrusive one way or another but that’s just how business works. The individuals that kick up a fuss are often themselves not on the front line. No clients means no work and eventually no job, so how do you get clients initially? Usually sales and marketing that’s right! If you get cold called and you genuinely have no interest just simply ask them to take you off their contact list. No big deal. If however they keep pursuing you despite you requested them to remove you from their database then that’s a unacceptable and complain to the appropriate regulatory athority.
Hi David, thanks for your comment. I wrote this article because I repeatedly receive spam emails through LinkedIn offering SEO link building services and hi power broad band internet. I have also received phone calls asking to speak to decision makers for something I am not even associated with. It was not effective and frankly a waste of time for whomever was sending the emails.
I understand LinkedIn can be a valuable source of leads for sales professionals, but since LinkedIn is not regarded in the public eye the same way Twitter or Facebook are (viewed as a more professional resource) I don’t believe it is the proper place to be sending spam emails or random cold calls.
There are also many effective marketing tactics that do not involve cold calling. Have you heard of networking? How about SEO or SEM? How about traditional print advertising? I head up an SEM team for a very successful ad agency. We generate thousands of leads per day for our customers not through spam emails on Linkedin, but through effective SEM and SEO strategies.
Hello Justin!
I came across your posting on “cold calling” via LinkedIn messaging. I was wondering if you felt this could be a useful tool for an undergraduate looking to make connections within a company as well as learning more about internship and job opportunities within a certain department. I am currently a senior in college from the east coast looking for an internship for school credit this summer in Los Angeles. I have considered this tool for approaching potential summer employers but am hesitant. Any opinions from professionals would be greatly appreciated!
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