Five LinkedIn Prospecting Mistakes To Avoid

Entrepreneur | Bootstrapped to €3M ARR in just 1year | Founder of Worlds safest software for LinkedIn Automation Expandi.io | Vegan | Father

With over 750 million users in 200 countries, LinkedIn is still far from being the most popular social network. What it lacks in numbers, it makes up for in a uniquely work-oriented outlook. A clever prospector can leverage this pool of business-to-consumer (B2C) and business-to-business (B2B) buyers and do wonders with the right social selling skills.

Now, I am not here to tell you how to sell your own product. As a salesperson myself, I understand that no one is more familiar with all of the nuts and bolts of your business than you. However, I can help you avoid some common mistakes when selling on LinkedIn in 2021.

My company, Expandi, offers a LinkedIn automation tool to increase outreach, but automation isn’t the only way to sell on LinkedIn — there are other meaningful improvements you can make in your prospecting strategy. So, below are a few important LinkedIn prospecting mistakes to avoid, and what to do instead. 

Indiscriminate Pitching

The thing about an average person or an average customer is that there isn’t one. No individual truly embodies everything you’d expect to see in a perfect lead. This does not mean that you shouldn’t try and imagine one. Do not hesitate to be as detailed and as particular as possible when building an ideal customer persona for your product. 

If you reach out to individuals, think about your target’s age group, gender, revenue, education level and profession. If you are reaching out to businesses, decide which industry and niche you want to cover. Identify your preferred company size and revenue.

In other words, avoid the mistake of wasting valuable time and money on indiscriminate pitching. A failure to narrow down your list of prospects using the data mentioned above will reflect poorly on your sales. Once you have visualized your ideal customer, you can move on to reaching out to LinkedIn users who match the detailed description.

Clumsy Outreach Strategy

Do not even try to address your target audience with a clumsy offer. Opening with a sales pitch or leading too strong will make you look ridiculous no matter what you are selling. To properly use LinkedIn for sales prospecting, you are going to need a well-structured plan. Try and predict all potential pathways. 

Here are some questions you need to answer while writing up your outreach text.

• What is the goal of this interaction? 

• How soon should you mention your goal action, such as making a purchase or attending a webinar? 

• What is the most appropriate sending time? 

• How many follow-up messages do you want to send to indecisive prospects? 

• How soon should you give up on a prospect?

Remember that there is a downside to overdoing any of the steps mentioned above. Yes, you need follow-up messages to warm up cold leads, but you need to know when to call it quits. Instead of overflowing your prospect’s inbox, be polite and offer value, such as a free, informative blog post.

Additional tip: Keep in mind that writing down every possible conversation’s outcome is necessary but insufficient. For a successful LinkedIn prospecting strategy, do not be afraid to address the person and not the prospect when need be.

Failing To Build Authority On LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a professional network with over 55 million companies listed on the platform in 2021. If you want to reach out to them and you want them to take you seriously, that message in their inbox better not be the first time they’re hearing of your company. 

As a part of my outreach strategy, I never forget to update my status regularly and join reputable entrepreneurial LinkedIn groups. I post insightful, informed content daily for maximum coverage.

Let’s say that you have already identified your ideal prospects and know precisely how your conversations should unfold. The next step is learning where to find them. 

Join LinkedIn groups relevant to your niche and business size. Post valuable biweekly content to build authority. If your competitors have an open contact list, feel free to sift through it in search of prospects. Skim through your customers’ connections to find similar people or businesses. To make things easier, consider scheduling posts. 

Failing To Move The Conversation Outside Of LinkedIn

Using LinkedIn for prospecting allows you to laser-target your sales. Still, knowing that LinkedIn is only the beginning of your journey is one of the most critical LinkedIn prospecting tips.

When you know for a fact that your prospect is interested in exploring your options, move the conversation out of LinkedIn. LinkedIn is a perfect way to laser-target your audiences and establish a professional online presence, but you should not use it to make sales. Email, for instance, is an excellent channel to nurture and convert prospects.

Not Using Automation To Optimize The Outreach Process

Let’s say that you have successfully targeted convertible prospects. You also wrote up an effective outreach strategy and built up your authority on LinkedIn. You have figured out a core value and a core message that will resonate with your audience. At this stage, you may consider automation tools to stay ahead.

Here are some reasons a professional might choose to use an automated LinkedIn prospecting tool.

• Segment prospects into groups according to their likelihood of converting.

• Mimic human behavior with randomized delays between actions.

• Send many more invites and messages per day than what can be done manually.

• Gradually increase campaign limits.

There is no use in denying the common fear that automation makes your outreach efforts appear offbeat, repetitive and forced. When done properly, however, automation can actually help to increase personalization.

Final Words

Ultimately, making these improvements can help you find an audience, build authority and personalize your outreach via automation. The result? A long-term increase in sales and a healthy client base.

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