Time to read: 3.5 minutes. LinkedIn Sales Navigator training can be great investment. But it’s easy to get lost. Knowing your way around LinkedIn only gets you so far. Without an effective, repeatable messaging approach to get appointments set you’ll fail. Here is way to get prospects responding to InMail and Group messages. Inquiring—asking about what you sell. Plus I’ll give you a template to get started having more success, right now.

This “communications methodology” is the piece most Sales Navigator training (and trainers) are overlooking. That’s why most Sales Navigator investments fail.

Below, I’ll give you that piece. Plus, a proven, effective template. Start improving your ROI with Sales Navigator.

Want to learn this system and grab a few more effective InMail templates now? Here’s a workshop to get you started.

What does most Sales Navigator training give me?

Not enough.

There are a good tutorials on LinkedIn Sales Navigator available for free. Just Google them, or search on YouTube. LinkedIn also provides good tutorials.

But … they stop at “how to use the LinkedIn system.” Most training doesn’t teach an effective communications methodology. Worse, most training I’ve found recommends tactics that violate LinkedIn’s terms & conditions.

Your team does not need dangerous or outdated approaches recommended by people who don’t use the approaches they teach. Beware.

For example, the effective InMail templates they provide aren’t effective at all. They don’t work. Also, did you know sending LinkedIn connection requests to prospects actually violates LinkedIn’s terms & conditions—and is punishable?

Remember: Sales Navigator provides more & better access to the LinkedIn database, gives you InMail (so you can communicate “legally” with new prospects) and a few other bells-and-whistles.

Navigator is by no means a better way to meet, qualify and close buyers, faster. Nor are most Sales Navigator training videos or trainers.

InMail rules totally changed in 2015

Since January, 2015 LinkedIn gives “credits” (you buy) back—but only for InMails that earn a response in 90 days.

This is totally new—a reversal of the old policy!

Under the old system if you did not receive a response within a week, it was credited back to you. You were rewarded for your success AND for failures.

Now you receive get your $ (credit) back for each InMail receiving a response within 90 days.

What the new InMail rules mean to you

Your money is wasted when your prospect doesn’t reply.

InMail is not guaranteed to get a response anymore.

Plus, it never was guaranteed to be effective … and still isn’t any more effective at getting appointments.

InMail is still being monitored and rated by LinkedIn. It’s a privilege. You must maintain an InMail reputation score in order to send messages. If enough prospects mark you as spam (“not interested”), you’re out of the game.

This is yet another reason why you need a reliable communications process that sparks customers’ curiosity in InMails you’re sending. You’ve got to get them responding, asking, inquiring for more details about “your thing.”

What successful Navigator training looks like

I’m so proud of the below students of mine—sellers who are provoking prospects to reply and request more information about what they’re selling.

They’re using a reliable, effective and repeatable approach. Their messaging approach is reliable. An effective system.

Some of my most diligent students are making it impossible for prospects to resist hitting reply.

The most satisfying thing I can mention is the fact that the request for the meeting is coming from the other side. After learning about your approach I got into reactance. There is pure science into not trying to make people do something and leaving them a choice.

Daneil Gur Arie, MazeBolt Technologies

 

I sent an InMail template you suggested to 176 senior salespeople within the Fortune 500. 83 opened it (47%)… We not only have set a few appointments but are working a deal — even before the trade show. Good advice. Thank you, Jeff.

Michael Lake, Sr. VP, Marketing, Evergreen Partners

Do this right now

When writing LinkedIn InMail or email messages do this: Remove the “I’s” and “my’s” from your first paragraph. Destroy them. Give ’em the delete key. Focus like crazy on the prospect’s pains, goals, fears, worries… or their ambitions, objectives.

Most of all, state a clear reason the other side will benefit from hitting reply. And don’t kid yourself. The reason will have nothing to do with the pain your product/service can eliminate. It will have to do with their pain and your remedy.

Sans talking about what you sell!

Make inviting you to speak with them (about THEM) an attractive idea. Get invited to the party. Don’t just barge in. Sound wacky?

Here are simple guidelines to follow:

• Be brief, blunt and basic: Write 4 to 5 sentences MAX.
• After drafting, reduce the number of “I’s” & “my’s” in your message.
• State a clear reason you want a reply in your InMail.
• Conclude with the recipients name again. (hyper-personalize)

This will help you put an insane amount of focus on the prospect.

A template for you

For example:

Subject line: Does this make sense for you?

Hi, [prospect first name].
Are you looking for a better way to ________ [insert goal]? If so, may propose a short email exchange—to decide if a deeper conversation is justifiable? I’m a  __________________[insert description of you] who helps businesses like _______ [insert target business name]. If not, thanks for your time in considering. Please let me know your decision, ______ [prospect first name]?

Sincerely,
[your name]

Why does this template work? For a handful of reasons I’ll get into in this upcoming Email Writing Workshop.

When you write, make taking the next step:

• rewarding to the prospect;
• predictable and
• crystal clear to them.

Want to learn this system now? Join us for the workshop!

Photo credit: Alper Cugun