If you want to generate more sales leads, clients and revenue on LinkedIn, you need to eliminate these misguided, mistaken approaches as soon as possible.
As someone who spent 48 straight months studying how to sell products and services using LinkedIn, I’ve seen some incredible success stories.
I’ve also run across the same six misconceptions about the platform over and over again.
My hope here is to put those myths to rest once and for all, along with showing you how to utilize LinkedIn to generate more sales leads, clients and revenue for your business.
Myth 1: LinkedIn is only for job seekers and HR professionals
Try as it might, LinkedIn cannot seem to escape it’s origin story. Yes, it started back in 2003 as a place for job seekers and hiring managers to come together.
Today, LinkedIn has more than 400 million members in 200+ countries and adds two new members every single second. More importantly, it is quietly becoming a one-stop shop for professionals worldwide to:
- Find a job
- Find an employee
- Get industry-specific training and certifications
- Consume industry-specific news and content
- Create and share original, industry-specific content with a global audience
- Network and Engage with industry members, experts and celebrities
- Find vendors, business partners, investors and customers
That’s a far cry from the days of LinkedIn as a “job seeker” website!
Myth 2: Your Customers Aren’t on LinkedIn
At its current pace, LinkedIn should surpass 500 million members by the middle of next year (if not sooner).
The network is also actively cultivating and signing up scores of students, growing that demographic along with the countless business professionals already well into their careers.
Do me a favor: Conduct a simple “boolean search” on LinkedIn like this one and use the job title of your typical prospect or customer. Next, filter those search results based on someone’s location, industry type, company name and much more.
See how detailed it is? See how many potential customers are out there waiting for you to contact them?
Because unless you’re selling hairbrushes to pre-teen girls, chances are very good that your clients and customers are on LinkedIn right now. The key, of course is understanding how to use the network to locate and engage them.
Myth 3: LinkedIn is Boring
Sure, it’s not Facebook or Snapchat, but LinkedIn is far from boring. By making it easy for users to post images, videos thatautoplay in the newsfeed and even embed ready-to-play podcasts and other rich media, LinkedIn is inviting us to be creative and entertaining in how we present and share our content on the platform.
Also, some of my most viral status updates on LinkedIn have had nothing to do with work, reminding me that human beings are still … human beings.
That doesn’t mean silly cat videos and nonstop vacation pics should be the norm on the platform, but occasionally mixing in your personal brand and practicing what I call “info-tainment” (presenting information in a fun and entertaining way) works well on LinkedIn.
Myth 4: Nobody spends time on LinkedIn
Naysayers will cite data showing people don’t spend as much time on LinkedIn as they do on other social networks. So what? After all, the power of selling your product or service on LinkedIn doesn’t depend on someone spending all day, every day reading his or her LinkedIn news feed.
Rather, it lies in locating, engaging and quickly building a 1-on-1, personalized relationship with a prospect you find on LinkedIn, and then getting them off the platform as soon as possible.
Although many LinkedIn users might not actively log into the network every day, they do get email notifications, mobile alerts and other indicators that someone (i.e., you!) is reaching out to connect, sending a personal note or message, or whatever else. That means people do see you!
Myth 5: You Can’t Generate Meaningful Business on LinkedIn
I’ve chronicled elsewhere how I built a six figure business from scratch in just 90 days using LinkedIn, and I can also point to numerous case studies and results I see other professionals getting on the platform.
The key, again, is understanding how to use LinkedIn to generate business for yourself. There is a specific strategy and psychologyyou must adhere to on the network in order to be successful.
Once you have that down, the sales and business deals follow.
Myth 6: LinkedIn is too Expensive
True, LinkedIn’s advertising platform is insanely high-priced, and I don’t recommend using it unless you have Nike or Microsoft-sized marketing budgets.
But, if you invest in a premium LinkedIn profile, you’ll get the critical customer insight and data you need to quickly locate, engage and build the type of personalized, 1-on-1 marketing that works so well on the platform.
Finally, if you invest in some of the automation tools that integrate with the platform, you can save countless hours each week when it comes to the lead generation process.
Add it all up, and you have a winning formula to generate lots of business for yourself on LinkedIn!
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