In this Expert Insight Interview, Nik Eberl discusses the power of reciprocation and how you can build strategic relationships on LinkedIn that turn clients into clients for life. Nik Eberl is the co-founder and Chief Innovation Officer at The DealMaker System.
This Expert Insight Interview discusses:
- The rise of spamming on LinkedIn
- How to stand out from the crowd
- How to earn the right to connect with a prospect
LinkedIn Fever
Over the last couple of years, particularly during the pandemic, LinkedIn has gone a little crazy. Everybody is on the platform prospecting and spamming, but how can salespeople rise above that and still use the business social network as a strategic tool without getting lumped in with everyone else.
Engagement has more than doubled since the pandemic started, and decision-makers are bombarded. Your competitors are on LinkedIn, and so are your clients, and you have to earn the right to connect before you even start to pitch. That’s what the new LinkedIn algorithm is all about.
Reciprocation
You have to build rapport before you start selling. The beauty of LinkedIn is that it has many touchpoints that allow you to build rapport before you even ask for the connection. This is where reciprocation comes into play.
What happens a lot nowadays is that people write you a nice little note requesting your connection. It all sounds reasonable until you click on it and get an immediate automated email with a sales pitch. What salespeople need to understand is that they need to be authentic.
Building Rapport
If you want to connect with someone on LinkedIn, you first need to learn about them and view their profile. You need to follow them, engage with their content, and make sure it resonates with you. It would be best if you made sure to like their content and comment on it — that is how you stand out and get noticed.
Posting a meaningful comment on someone’s content almost guarantees that they will pay attention to your connection request and accompanying message because you’ve earned the right to connect with them. However, the process doesn’t end there. You also need to tell the prospect why you’re connecting with them, and more importantly, why they should accept your request.
Our Host
John is the Amazon bestselling author of Winning the Battle for Sales: Lessons on Closing Every Deal from the World’s Greatest Military Victories and Social Upheaval: How to Win at Social Selling. A globally acknowledged Sales & Marketing thought leader, speaker, and strategist, he has conducted over 1500 video interviews of thought leaders for Sales POP! online sales magazine & YouTube Channel and for audio podcast channels where Sales POP! is rated in the top 2% of most popular shows out of 3,320,580 podcasts globally, ranked by Listen Score. He is CSMO at Pipeliner CRM. In his spare time, John is an avid Martial Artist.
Comments