5 Ways To Use LinkedIn To Generate B2B Clients In 2019

If you’re a marketing agency owner who is struggling with your direct outreach methods like cold calling, cold-emailing, networking events, then it’s time in 2019 to learn how to use LinkedIn to generate B2B clients. 

With over 500 million active users on LinkedIn, it has become the premiere social media platform for B2B networking. Unlike platforms like Facebook & Instagram, that have more of a social component to them.

LinkedIn is over 500 million professionals looking to actively network and create business opportunities. This makes it the perfect direct outreach method because it’s less crowded than e-mail inbox and you can get right to the decision maker.

Using LinkedIn B2B Marketing

LinkedIn Marketing can consistently generate 20+ new appointments on the calendar every month if done the right way. 

With that being said, here are 5 ways you can start incorporating LinkedIn into your client acquisition strategies going into 2019. 

1) 10x your sales effort with LinkedIn.

Maybe you’ve tried using LinkedIn already, maybe you haven’t. If you have, and didn’t see the results you thought, it’s mainly for three reasons: 

• You were inconsistent with your approach and the number of people you were reaching out to each day. 
• You gave up on the sale too soon. 
• You had no idea what your numbers were. 

I had those bad habits for a long time. I would reach out to 100 people one day, 5 the next, 25 the next and so forth. There was no flow or consistency with my direct outreach. I would send an invite, then an intro message to a prospect and maybe I’d follow up, only if that person responded to me. If they didn’t respond, I wouldn’t send another message because I figured they just weren’t interested. I was very inconsistent and scattered. 

It wasn’t until I came to the self realization, what I was doing clearly wasn’t working. I was left with two choices, continue to throw something at the wall and hope it sticks or change my approach. The answer was clearly change my strategy and execute. The result was consistently landing 10-20 new appointments on the calendar every month.

Here is the exact LinkedIn direct outreach campaign that I used in 2018 to generate a consistent 10-20 new appointments on the calendar every month. 

Step 1: Create 3-4 really good in depth pieces of content. Preferably 3 blog posts 750-1,000 words+, and 1 value video geared specifically for your niche market. The value video can be a webinar, case study, mini course, whatever you believe your target market will respond best to. 

Step 2: LinkedIn Request 100 new people per day in your target market niche.

Step 3: Focus on getting 7-12 touches in the first 30-45 days. A study conducted by Microsoft showed, the average consumer needs 7-12 communication touches before they will buy from you. Knowing this is the case, I don’t get wrapped up in trying to sell within the first 4 touches. 

 

Touch 1: Personalized LinkedIn Connection Request. 

LinkedIn is definitely more effective for cold outreach than email, but don’t forget that these business owners you’re trying to connect with are getting 20-30 or even over 100 invite connections every single day with people pitching them services. You have to find a way to stand out and separate yourself from the noise. The first step in doing this is by personalizing our LinkedIn Invitation request messages. 

I focus on keeping it short and to the point, I don’t try and pitch them yet or send them a long invite request that no stranger would want to read yet… 

Next, for those who accept the LinkedIn Request, I send a follow up that looks like this…

Touch 2: Thank you for connecting message. Just letting them know you look forward learning more about them and their business.

Touch 3: Send them a follow up with a link to a really good blog post directly from my agency’s blog. (Insert a popup or opt in form in the blog to collect data for follow ups)

I’ll usually wait 12-24 hours from the time I get LinkedIn connection to send touch #2. 

Touch 4: Send them a follow up with a link to another valuable blog post or your value video.

Ideally, if you can send them to a webinar or case study that would be best. Just make sure at the end of your value video there’s a Call To Action that asks your prospects to book a call for a strategy session. It’s important to remember that we have to guide and direct our prospects with what actions we want them to take at every step of the relationship building process. 

 

Touch 5: Request a phone call to learn more about each other and how you can benefit from being LinkedIn connections.

At this point in the relationship you’re ready to ask for the call. You’ve provided enough value to your prospect at this stage in the relationship to request a call. Keep it cordial don’t try and oversell to the get the prospect on the phone. Just simply ask for the call like you see below. 

Touch 6: Follow up if they don’t respond asking to hop on a call again and let them know you’re just trying to get to know your connections better so you can benefit from being connected.

Touch 7: Last Follow Up On LinkedIn

This is my last touch via direct outreach on LinkedIn.  If I don’t get a response at this point, at the very least I’d like to get their email address or phone number so I can keep them in my CRM and circle back with them at a later time.  

Now, what you see above is just one moving part of the full campaign. We do incorporate retargeting, direct outreach via email and voicemail follow ups as well.

Just to get started, focus on sending 100 LinkedIn Requests, 7 days per week, and go through your 7 touch campaign for a full 30-60 days and make sure to track:

• How many LinkedIn Invite requests did you send this month? 
• How many people accepted your LinkedIn request this month? 
• How many strategy sessions were you able to get booked this month? 
• How many proposals did you send out this month? 
• How many clients did you close?
• How much revenue did you generate from the campaign? 

Once you can really nail down these KPIs, you’ll have a really strong indication of what you need to do to hit your sales target for your agency.  

Now, in order for this LinkedIn B2B client acquisition method to work, you will need to go through step 2-5 in the rest of the article, because things like niche selection, lead generation, and goal setting all play a key role in putting together successful direct outreach campaigns with LinkedIn.

Step 2: Go All In On Your Niche

Whatever niche you’re working in or are thinking of diving into, once you’re 100% sure go all in. Especially with platforms like LinkedIn, if you have a niche it makes it much easier to find the decision makers in your niche market. 

Step 3: Market Your Agency In The Digital Age

In order for your agency to have success long-term you need to have systems in place that are generating appointments on the calendar every week. Solely relying on referrals. social media posting, blogs and networking events is a slower and more drawn out process.

Incorporating a paid advertising budget into your client acquisition strategies is a must if it’s feasible. Utilize advertising platforms like Facebook, YouTube, Google & Instagram to generate qualified leads on your calendar every week. Here’s a good formula to remember. 

The more you get out in front of your niche market = More opportunity to provide value = Greater chance to build trust and close clients.  

Step 4: Start Making Smart Daily Choices Now Don’t Wait 

It takes 21 days to build a habit. If you start making the right daily choices right now in 21 days you could have your first or couple high-ticket clients. That means focusing 80-90% of your daily activities based on revenue generating activities.

If it’s not generating you money or getting you one stop closer to improving your top-line, don’t do it. Most importantly don’t be afraid to tell people NO! You’ll notice how quickly your business will start to scale but the truth is it does take time.

Give yourself a full 30-60 days worth of sales prospecting to nail down your sales cycle so you can then scale it and systematize it. 

Step 5: Always Set Big Goals For Your Agency 

Obviously being practical and realistic is key. But any digital marketing agency owner should set sales targets that make them and their sales team get out of their comfort zone. Once you know the number you want to reach, put together a step by step plan of action of how you are going to get there. Then just focus on executing one day at a time. The beauty behind entrepreneurship is that there’s no one to pass blame off to and there’s no playing the victim. Your business is your baby, and you’re in the driver’s seat.

Everything shown above was my process and the strategy I used to generate results for my agency. It’s not for you to copy and paste, but rather, formulate your own multi-touch messaging campaign that works for you and your niche market. The key takeaways from this article should be:

• Start incorporating LinkedIn into your client acquisition strategy in 2019. 
• Focus on getting 7-12 touches within the first 30-45 days. 
• Value first then ask for the call. 
• Repetition and consistency is key. Make sure you send out 100 new LinkedIn invitations 7 days per week for entire month. 
• Track everything daily. 
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