LinkedIn is an amazing sales tool. There is no reason why you can’t be able to get a conversation set up with any company you’re trying to sell into, regardless of industry or location.  Once you have your prospect, you can drill into strategies to close that organization as a new client. Here are a few thoughts on how I approach B2B sales using LinkedIn.

Once you pick out the prospect company you want to target, use LinkedIn to review your network for connections inside the company. A simple search will give you a list of people that you have 1^st,  2^nd, and 3^rd connections with.

Review the 2^nd connections you have and find individuals as part of the executive team if possible. I’m looking for a decision maker, preferably at the VP level or C-suite.

Once I find the person that I want to reach out to, I write them a message similar to below. This may vary depending on the role they have in the company, how you’re connected to them, and what is relevant to them. I’m usually looking to learn about how they are building a strong culture inside of their company and share about how we (Cooleaf) are working with clients to see if there is a fit for us to work with them as a client.

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Hi ____,

We’re connected through ______. I’m the founder of a company based in Atlanta called, Cooleaf.

I would really value getting your feedback about how you approach building a strong, innovative and collaborative culture at your company. I would also be happy to share what we’ve seen from other organizations on how they approach reducing turnover and attracting the best talent.

I would really appreciate you connecting with me.

-John

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If they connect with me, I follow up with a thank you e-mail for connecting and asking if we can set up a phone call or time to meet over coffee or lunch. You would be surprised how effective this is. After all, you are only asking for feedback.

You won’t always get a response but if you take some time to research how and why to connect with someone, you have a decent shot. After that, it’s a numbers game. I believe timing plays a big role in making these connections. You will never make any connections unless you reach out to people in a meaningful way.