LinkedIn Enablement is Critical to Sales Readiness

Sales Enablement. Two words covered in reams of paper, books, classes, articles, and eLearning modules. Essential to every company and critical to readying sales professionals to drive revenue.

During my tenure co-leading a global Social Selling Using LinkedIn program, I worked with numerous sales and customer facing teams to use LinkedIn and Sales Navigator to engage, educate and excite customers and prospects on our experts and analytical capabilities. I also mentored our Chief Sales Officer to amplify his presence through thought leadership content posts and increase his LinkedIn relationships by more than 300% resulting in him passing numerous opportunities to our sales teams around the globe.

When I think about creating solid connections via this social channel, I view it as a row of dominos that must fall to reach the target, the fewest dominos the better to get to revenue opportunities. What actions and how many actions it takes to engage a connection to prove that you understand their business challenges. and become a trusted advisor that can help solve their problems now and in the future.  

Marketing is essential for creating events and content, but relationship building depends upon each person reaching out and taking time to establish trust. To prove yourself as a thought leader, it is critical to post company-focused and 3rd-party content that not only addresses current challenges but forward-thinking that sparks ideas of where they should be 6, 12, and even 18-months from now.

In talking with friends and colleagues at other companies, I believe training for deep social engagement on LinkedIn to prospect and sell is lacking in many organizations. A comprehensive Social--or Virtual--Selling program
using LinkedIn should be integrated into sales training and account planning and maintain close working relationships with Marketing, Enablement, Customer Experience, Advocacy and User Groups, and these dominos:  

1. Enablement that teaches feature/function of LinkedIn Sales Navigator, social strategies built into account planning that is driven, supported, and measured by sales leadership 
2. Marketing that builds thought leadership and other assets specific for social channels, and integrates social strategies directly into marketing plans
3. Coordination with teams that support consulting, references, customer success, advocacy, and user groups to help cross-sell, and keep brand reputation strong and top of mind

By all levels of sales and customer-facing staff—senior leaders down to account managers—supporting and executing social engagement, increased brand awareness, lead generation, and revenue opportunities are optimized. Communicating best practices, learnings, and sales wins internally continuously motivates sellers and encourages healthy competition among peers.  

Many organizations haven’t yet put their dominos in the best pattern to use LinkedIn effectively to amplify brand awareness, increase market share and optimize revenue opportunities.  With the global pandemic keeping many working virtually, now is a great time to review, re-evaluate and revamp your social selling plans to reduce the number of dominos needed for greater success.