22 Proven LinkedIn Tips for Salespeople

LinkedIn is the number one social platform for professionals and one of the best lead generation tools for salespeople today. But you can’t just go on LinkedIn and start sending sales pitches to anyone who may fall into your ideal customer profile. (Hint: according to LinkedIn’s State of Sales 2021 report, 65% of sellers say they always put the buyer first, but only 23% of buyers agree. 

Social selling is about building relationships with your professional network and creating a personal connection between you and your customers and prospects. 

These relationships can be long-lasting if you deliver valuable information, respond promptly, and help answer questions for your network. 

Read on to learn more about why LinkedIn is so useful for salespeople. We also included 22 tips (with screenshots!) to help you get started. 

Why is LinkedIn so useful for sellers?  

Short answer: social selling can help you close more deals and make more money. 

78% of social sellers outselling their peers who don’t use social media. According to LinkedIn, social selling is a more effective way to connect with prospects when compared to traditional sales practices, like cold calls and emails.In fact, over 76% of buyers report feeling ready to have a social media conversation over LinkedIn.

More people work, evaluate, and purchase products remotely in 2022 and social selling has taken the place of other in-person networking events. Instead of attending an event and walking up to people to start conversations and make new connections, you bring value to everyone, no matter where they are, through LinkedIn as a social network. 

The power of Sales Navigator 

LinkedIn’s free membership allows you to connect with people within your network. But to get the most out of your sales efforts, it’s worth taking a look at one of LinkedIn’s premium products, Sales Navigator. It has a number of features that can take your social selling game from manual and time-consuming, to expedited and effective. 

Top features for sellers include: 

• Advanced search capabilities with filters 
• Saved lead lists 
• Custom account lists to manage your pipeline
• Automated lead generation
• Access to out of network connections 
• LinkedIn alerts about changes in your saved lead lists
• Integration with your CRM or sales automation tools 

Perhaps one of the most useful features is LinkedIn InMail. You can message first, second, and third degree connections on the free version of LinkedIn, but Sales Navigator allows you to directly contact people outside of your network. This access to fresh leads allows you to extend your relationship building across the entire LinkedIn network. 

How do I improve my social selling on LinkedIn? 

Learning how to successfully sell on LinkedIn takes time and some trial and error. We’ll save you some heartache in advance with three ways to improve your social selling today. 

Don’t post sales pitches

Remember, social selling is about creating relationships based on trust and value. It’s not about the hard pitch and closing a deal. You’ll definitely want to discuss your products and services, announce new features, or highlight success stories, but always frame them in a way that offers value without expecting anything in return. 

Instead of just re-sharing a marketing post from your company website, beef up your new post with details about how you solved a problem for a customer using the information in the article. Ask people questions to engage with your content. 

When a conversation is sales ready, you’ll want to move things off of LinkedIn and over to email and phone calls. This is the appropriate time to dive into how your product works and set up a demo that meets the prospect’s specific needs. 

Focus on your industry and product niche

Start by following and connecting with people who are thought leaders and executives in your industry. Follow industry pros who have frequent and interesting things to say. From here, you can engage with their content by liking and commenting. This is the foundation of relationship building on LinkedIn. 

Go through your own professional network and add past and current colleagues, your executive team, industry influencers and bloggers, your customers, and your prospects. If one of your connections posts a new industry report, re-share their post and add your own commentary or respond to their post with a relevant anecdote.  

Beef up your content with statistics and quotes

Inspirational quotes are for Instagram and Facebook. On LinkedIn your content should always provide value. That value doesn’t have to be groundbreaking, and motivational content can be effective, just make sure it’s information that your connections can use. 

Don’t post “broetry.” You’ll recognize this content as the posts that have individual lines separated by a space and that give high level, vague, and not very useful platitudes. Posts that tell people to do exactly what you do (which somehow always works out perfectly), and offer vague advice like “never give up” or “fail fast to succeed fast” are off-putting for your readers and make you seem disingenuous.  

If you’re posting about why your platform helps companies accomplish a goal, bring in a statistic to drive home how important that goal can be. Look out for new surveys and reports from Gartner, Forrester, IDC, and annual customer surveys from software companies. You can also quote existing customers, your own executive leadership team, relevant news articles, and thought leaders who post forward thinking content on LinkedIn.  

What types of content should I post? 

When deciding what to post on LinkedIn, mix up your formats. LinkedIn supports longform text, images, polls, and video. Your network will appreciate a change of pace as they scroll through walls of text and company promotions. 

Telling personal stories is a great way to share your experiences and know-how with your readers. For example, you might share that as a salesperson you’ve struggled with a learning disability that used to make your job difficult. Explaining how you overcome this hurdle is both relatable and actionable. 

External stories are also very effective. Loop in current news events to show how your company helps customers adapt to unexpected economic changes. Try to mix things up and don’t always talk about yourself. 

Finally, vary the length of your content. Longform content is popular on LinkedIn but sharing brief opinions or stats can make it easier for scrollers to digest your content as they look through their daily feed. 

22 proven LinkedIn tips for sellers

Want to see this advice in action? Here are our top 22 proven LinkedIn tips, plus examples of how successful LinkedIn sellers use them every day.

1. Fill out your profile completely

Buyers trust connection requests from people who have complete LinkedIn profiles and are easy to vet. Make sure that you cover these fields: 

• Full name
• Profile and cover photos
• Headlines
• Hashtags you talk about most
• Current company and position 
• Industry and past roles 
• Location
• About me summary
• Any licenses and certifications 
• Skills and educational background 
• Publications 
• And other fields that give your network an idea of who you are 

Check out Chaniqua (Nikki) Ivey’s profile that clearly shows what her business services are. She also uses her profile to highlight her personality and passions. 

2. Get specific with your headline

When people search for experts on LinkedIn, your headline will show up in the search results before they open your profile page. Make sure that your headline is clear, catchy, and includes the keywords that relate most to your skills, company, and products. It’s also a best practice to explain to your network what you do rather than your job title. 

For example, Paul Castian is the Chief Sales Officer at his company but his headline tells us that he builds unstoppable sales teams. 

3. Choose the right profile picture

You can only have one profile photo on LinkedIn, so make sure it sends the right message. Make sure your photo looks like you (Don’t use a photo from 20 years ago), is high resolution, gives a clear view of your face, and has a professional feel to it. 

Melanie Fellay is the CEO of Spekit. Her photo is professional, friendly, and even uses her company’s branded colors (bright pink for the win!).

4. Choose the right cover photo

While your profile photo should show a professional portrait, your cover photo lets you have a bit more fun. First, make sure that your image has the right dimensions: 1,584 x 396 pixels and 129:8 aspect ratio. 

Try a cover photo that shows a favorite hobby, your city, bright colors, a company logo, or even your company’s upcoming conference. Our founder, Stephen Hakami, uses some of the fun, branded images from our website. 

5. Fill out your about summary

Focus on the results that your product offers to customers, rather than listing out a resume of your past work experience. Ensure that your summary aligns with both your personal brand and your company’s brand.

Timothy Hughes uses his summary to explain why his company teaches social selling and how he became involved in this career path. 

6. Connect with the right people (every week)

There are over 722 million users on LinkedIn today. You can connect to people every day without running out of new prospects, customers, and thought leaders. Make it a weekly practice to connect with new people who are relevant to your industry and can teach you something new. The more you connect, the broader your network becomes, the more access you have to new leads. 

7. Connect and engage with your prospects

Connect with every prospect that you speak to, both inbound and outbound. You can start your social selling motions alongside your more targeted email and call conversations. Providing extra value on LinkedIn can differentiate you from your competitors who don’t practice social selling. 

8. Make it clear why you are sending a connection request

It’s possible to be suspended if you spam too many people with generic connection requests. It also doesn’t help your lead generation efforts. When you reach out to connect with someone who you don’t directly know, send a message explaining why you’re interested in them. Maybe you have a mutual connection, see their posts in your feed.  

9. Post consistently

The most successful sellers on LinkedIn are those that nurture their network by posting consistently. The LinkedIn algorithm notices members who are regularly contributing useful content to the platform. Start with a personal promotional calendar that includes unique posts, articles, news-based content, and statistics that can help your connections in their day to day work. 

10. Leave thoughtful comments on others’ content

The best way to network with your professional community is to engage regularly with the content that they post. Like and comment on posts where you can add to the conversation. 

This builds good will with your network, while at the same time, increasing your reach, connection requests, and followers. But remember, avoid arguing with people on LinkedIn. Professional disagreements can add value but personal arguments may damage your reputation. Be thoughtful with your conversations. 

Amy Volas frequently comments on others’ posts and adds her own insights to encourage discussion. 

11. Mix up your formats

People learn in different ways. Some of your connections will appreciate infographics while others may enjoy long form text. Make your content accessible to everyone by using different formats like images, text, video, and even a meme or two. 

Marcus A. Chan is a sales coach and mixes in video content where he talks through his advice. This adds a personal touch to the information he’s sharing. 

12. Shoutout others when you have the chance

Everyone loves being recognized for their hard work. Make an effort to post shoutouts about people who are posting great content, have helped you in their career, or are simply awesome people. Lots of effort goes into mentoring others and most of it is behind the scenes. 

Donald C. Kelly helps promote his connections’ new ventures on LinkedIn by sharing their content and celebrating the value they add. 

13. Share personal, real world stories 

Personal stories are a way to show vulnerability and encourage others to connect with you. Try sharing stories that people can find relatable like overcoming difficult moments or how you tackled problems that were outside of your control. It’s not necessary to reveal something about yourself that you’re not comfortable sharing, but it can help to talk about experiences that others may also deal with on a daily basis. 

Cynthia Barnes posts content for women in sales that ties her past struggles to her current success.   

14. Respond to messages

As you post more and more fresh content to LinkedIn, you’ll see an increase in connection requests, messages, and people asking for advice or sharing their related stories. Obviously you’ll reply quickly to a prospect or customer who messages you on LinkedIn, but it’s also important to reply to people that won’t become customers any time soon.   

15. Participate in LinkedIn groups

LinkedIn groups are the perfect place to meet with people who work in your industry. Sometimes you’ll need to wait to be approved as a new member, but if you aren’t spamming every group out there, you’ll likely gain entry. 

These groups allow people to have more detailed and industry relevant conversations. Whether it’s a B2B sellers group, a women in tech group, or an information security group, the experts will be discussing important news in your industry here. 

16. Use linkedIn inMails correctly

InMails are one of the perks of a premium account like Sales Navigator. You can message anyone on LinkedIn, even if they aren’t in your network. LinkedIn says that InMails are 2.6x more effective than emails alone.

Remember, don’t send a message with a full sales pitch. Not only is there just not enough characters available to get your point across, you might come off as spammy. 

Instead, keep your message short and direct. Share content that you think is relevant to your prospect, like inviting them to a webinar or conference. InMails are well suited for sparking interest, not for aggressive selling. 

17. Leverage mutual connections

When trying to reach a new LinkedIn prospect, see if you have any mutual connections. You can either ask your mutual acquaintance to introduce you to the prospect or you can reach out directly while referencing your connection (make sure you check with your mutual connection first before using them in your outbound campaigns). 

18. Offer something of value, without expecting anything in return

Sometimes the best thing you can do is to provide value without any expectations of something in return. Value can come in many forms: share the latest industry research, teach your readers how to solve a complicated problem, or help connect people. 

Samantha McKenna, founder at Samsales, offers value by giving exposure to people in her network. 

19. Turn off private mode when viewing peoples’ profiles

Did you know that your LinkedIn profile may be set to private mode? That means that when you view a prospect’s profile page, you’ll show up as only a “LinkedIn member.” Turn your privacy settings off! Make it clear that you’re interested in starting a conversation by allowing prospect’s to view your profile too. 

20. Post industry specific content 

Make sure your content is aimed at the right people by posting industry specific content. If you only talk about selling and how to be better at sales, your prospects won’t know that you have a product that is designed to help them solve industry problems. 

Roderick Jefferson does this by making it easy for his network to access Gartner’s latest predictions report for the security industry. 

21. Use LinkedIn search alert

Sales Navigator lets you set alerts that notify you about activity in your saved leads and accounts.  There are numerous types of alerts including: 

• Account news
• Account updates
• Account growth
• Lead news
• Lead shares
• Buyer interest
• New decision makers 

22. Sync linkedin with your CRM or prospecting tools

LinkedIn is great for expanding your network and prospecting. But it’s not the right place to close deals. Once you have the interest of a new prospect, move your conversations over to email. Wiza helps our customers easily export leads and lists from LinkedIn Sales Navigator so you can sync your social selling data with your CRM or sales automation tools. 

Happy social selling!

We gave you 22 tips for social selling on LinkedIn – make them your own by adding your personal touch and personality to your posts. To learn more about how to use LinkedIn and email together, check out our post on LinkedIn messaging versus email.