How LinkedIn Is Revolutionizing Business/Corporate Sales Training
If you’re like most of us, you may find it a little overwhelming to stay cutting edge — following every web marketing platform coming down the pike would certainly exhaust both your mind and your bank account.
One tried and true social platform for B2B lead generation is LinkedIn (follow our company page here). So much so, that business/corporate sales training is changing to take advantage of what LinkedIn offers to sales professionals.
Humble beginnings
While starting out as a place to post your resume to potential employers, the site has expanded and found itself a hub of content and connections. Facebook and Instagram may entertain, but LinkedIn is a powerful tool for both recruitment and lead generation.
As Cooper Smith of Business Insider says, “Engagement is rising fast on LinkedIn, as the social network becomes a content destination. The social network is also high-income and highly educated, and it has a big international presence. These factors will make LinkedIn increasingly compelling to marketers.”
The numbers would seem to bear that out. According to figures compiled by oBizMedia, there are 200 million+ current active LinkedIn users and those users span over 200 countries worldwide, making it a truly global social network.
New focuses for business/corporate sales training
Good business sales trainers know that the best salespeople spend at least six hours on LinkedIn each week.
Doing what, exactly?
One of the things we teach is to seek out mutual connections to members in targeted companies who can provide an introduction. At Asher Strategies, we call this “recruiting coaches,” which involves using insiders to help us close the sale.
There is an art form to this, and LinkedIn makes it much easier to accomplish.
Another new focus for business/corporate sales trainingis how to use LinkedIn for content marketing purposes, by publishing posts on your company page, curating industry news, and getting involved in one of the many discussion groups on the site.
Good business sales trainingshould cover this as well.
Provide a cohesive online presence
Your social media presence matters. A study by the IDC found that around 75% of B2B buyers say it’s a major factor in their decision making, Quoting from the study: “In the final stage of the purchasing process, when stakes are highest, online professional networks are the number 1 information resource preference of buyers.”
The best business/corporate sales training will help you design an online presence which reflects positively on you and your company. And, due to the sheer number of professionals on the platform, it should start with LinkedIn before anything else besides your own website and blog.
Other social media and content marketing avenues should match the messaging and design elements used on your LinkedIn page, so everything ties together nicely and you don’t confuse the people who visit your various profiles.
It’s clear the online revolution is ongoing. No business sales training can truly call itself complete without a long chapter devoted to LinkedIn.
