LinkedIn Workshop – “Helping Sales Professionals

to leverage Social Selling for customer acquisition

and retention”

Introduction

2015 research suggests that commercial buyers are up *70% of the way through their

purchasing process before they reach out to have conversations with potential suppliers! In

effect, this means business buyers are using the Internet and social media platforms to

research and educate themselves about potential solutions and potential suppliers more

than ever before. B2B sales professionals now need to find ways to get buyers to engage in

conversations much earlier in the buying process. .... One of those ways is to engage is

LinkedIn.

Every Irish B2B sales function now needs to understand and integrate LinkedIn in to their

sales process. Look at the numbers of people in our geographical location on LinkedIn.

1.25 million are in Ireland

15 million are in the UK

9 out of 10 - Forbes 500 companies use LinkedIn as part of their sales networking

strategy.

40% of all LinkedIn members use it on a daily basis.

*78% of B2B buyers said they will buy from sales professionals who engage and educate with them on social media in the early parts of the purchasing process.

So how is your social selling strategy holding up? Here are a couple more questions to get

you thinking?

Can a sales target find you on LinkedIn for both for your area of expertise and the

offering you sell?

Have you integrated LinkedIn to your sales process or are you an accidental user that

dips in and out of it for research?

How are you attracting your sales targets to visit your LinkedIn profile?

Once someone has looked at your LinkedIn profile how successful are you at getting

them into offline sales conversation?

What metrics do you use to measure the value you get from LinkedIn (apart from

actual sales)?

Fact: Most sellers are accidental LinkedIn users. That is - they found it or fell into it - as

opposed to LinkedIn being part of the plan for sales success. In fact, most sellers are only

using it as a research tool and not leveraging the power of LinkedIn for acquisition and

retention. If fully integrated into your sales prospecting activities, LinkedIn will create better

online networking opportunities that will help shorten your sales cycle and help you win

more business. The Sales Institute is holding a special workshop focussing on LinkedIn for

customer acquisition and retention.

Warning: *This is not a technical training programme - it's 'how to for sales training programme'.

Course Objectives

Participants will learn a series of practical and ethical sales tactics that will help move them

closer to having conversations about potential business opportunities with their LinkedIn

network. This workshop will help you to examine your current LinkedIn sales strategy and

assess whether or not it is sustainable.

Workshop content

How to build a LinkedIn profile that will get noticed and sell your expertise

Understanding LinkedIn etiquette and steering away from areas that will get you into

trouble with both LinkedIn and people you are reaching out to.

Networking principles and applying them to LinkedIn

How to best reach out and connect with targets and prospects (and how not to)

Targeting prospects using the Advanced Search and other tools

LinkedIn Groups and how to engage with them and be seen as an expert within the

Groups

Thought leadership as a business development tool

How to write a compelling Blog and utilising LinkedIn to publicise it

How to invite sales targets to connect with you.

How to follow up on all invitations to connect.

Best practice and a recommended weekly LinkedIn regime.

How to measure your progress via LinkedIn

To get the maximum value from this workshop, it is also highly recommended that participants bring a laptop/tablet with them to use during the training. Participants should be existing LinkedIn users with an understanding of the basic functionality

Testimonial - Ronan Smith, Online Content Manager, AIB “Some invaluable tips on how to

improve your LinkedIn profile and better utilise the channel for networking and business

acquisition. A professionally presented and organised workshop that may make you rethink

how you use LinkedIn.”

Testimonial - Siobhan Doyle, International Relationship Manager, Danske Bank “Having

attended The Sales Institute LinkedIn for Acquisition & Retention workshop, I would highly

recommend this course to other sales professionals. Having personally set up a LinkedIn

profile I was not leveraging its full potential and thought the course was a great fit for me to

take the opportunity to learn how to give my LinkedIn profile a makeover. The course is very

practical, which gives you a great insight into how to increase your engagement through

your LinkedIn profile, and how to make you stand out from the crowd, which in turn allows

you to sell your expertise without having to leave the office. The workshop is very hands on,

which provided a better learning platform for me.”

DATE: June 29th 2015 Workshop: 9.30am – 1.30pm Location: The Gibson Hotel, Point Village, Dublin 1. Cost: Members € 215, non-members € 295 Please note: Business, Corporate and Enterprise members are entitled to free place(s) under current membership packages.

Please note: We will also be providing a photographer to take a professional taken photo for your LinkedIn profile at no charge.

To reserve you place, please contact info@salesinstitute.ie by 19th June 2015.