This is a guest post by Dino Skerlos, a Sales Xceleration advisor, and someone who knows a few things about how to turbo-charge LinkedIn.
When Jeff Slater, Chief Listening Officer from The Marketing Sage, made the kind offer to allow me to write a guest post on his marketing site, I immediately knew how I could help his audience. Although my fractional consulting practice focuses on sales, I often help sales and marketing teams increase revenue by improving their leads through smarter targeting. I’m a student of tools that can turbo-charge LinkedIn so I created a list of some of the best tools that I’ve seen work to benefit me or other businesses. When I shared it with Jeff, we agreed that his audience could benefit from it too.
In my sales consulting practice, the three most common challenges companies face, are:
- Unclear about their ICP – or Ideal Customer Profile
- Unsure how and when to engage with prospects that is consistent with their buying cycle
- Undisciplined in their focus. Many companies aren’t strategic and lack a systematized approach to sales.
Once these are established, the focus becomes on how produce more sales leads. However, consistency here is challenging because most organizations are either too small for a dedicated sales professional, or the sales reps are working both the top and bottom of the funnel at the same time, limiting productivity. Fortunately, however, some new tools have come on the market to help automate some of the business development work.
LinkedIn remains the best data source for leads since the user has an incentive to keep it up to date and, it is a social platform allowing for rich engagement. Simply put, there is no more cost-effective way to identify and communicate with prospects than by utilizing LinkedIn. A lot of marketers are already benefiting from premium versions of LinkedIn (e.g. Sales Navigator, Business) ever the following tools, used in conjunction with those premium services, can optimize sales efforts.
Turbo-Charge LinkedIn
Although the definitions get blurred between options, there are generally two ways of automating prospecting on LinkedIn. The first of which is the pure LinkedIn Automation Tool.
In this case, you are buying software, or in some cases, a browser plugin, to go and send out LinkedIn connections requests on your behalf. You author the message to send with the connection request, filter who to target, and then sit back and wait for connection requests. Once the requests come in, you are responsible for all follow up in an effort to schedule time to meet. This part can get time-consuming when you consider you’re typically sending out 25 to 100 requests per day and getting 10% to 30% connections.
The other type of option is a LinkedIn Prospecting Service.
This is generally more expensive but with the additional benefit of having more human or technology assistance throughout the process to help with the provided tool. That assistance helps cut down on the amount of follow-up required while also providing a few extras.
For example, you could have someone help you craft an effective connection message to increase your acceptance percentage, with the option of having them write and send a second message to those that connect with you. Additionally, they can provide advice regarding your own LinkedIn profile so that you’re making the best first impression.
Where to Start
The total list of LinkedIn automation tools is growing by the day; therefore, it’s challenging to know where to begin. The following includes services that I’ve used or know someone who’s had success using and believe to be worth consideration to add more fuel to your lead generation engine and help you find higher quality connections and truly turbo-charge LinkedIn.
Dux-Soup: https://www.dux-soup.com/
Dux-Soup is one of the more popular tools, maybe the most economical, and an excellent first tool to get started. Auto-visit 100 profiles per day. Paid plans start between $10 and $15 per month.
We-Connect: https://we-connect.io/
We-Connect, is another great tool to create your own campaigns and messaging using lists from LinkedIn. They have a very simple set-up process with a nice user interface, while providing additional features like a dashboard. You do not need premium version of LinkedIn to use. $49 per month after a 14-day free trial.
ClickedIn: https://www.clickedin.io/
ClickIn is more of a prospecting service, and the only one (that I’m aware of) that has integrated IBM’s Watson to help with responses, which ultimately keeps you from needing to respond to everyone yourself. Around $500/month
Integrated Alliances: https://integratedalliances.com/
This service is more expensive but worth it if you want to take prospecting to the next level. The Integrated team is very hands-on, with some of the most knowledgeable people about LinkedIn I’ve come across. They completely customize your campaigns with messaging and outreach assistance, as well as making sure your profile page is optimized. Around $750 per month with a $2,500 set up fee
Also, as much a service as a tool, you can get support from a service team to assist you with set up and execution. You can also chose the extent of the support you want. For example, you may want a human to respond to your prospects as opposed to those secondary automated messages. More support comes with more cost. Costs can be around $1,500 per month unless you use one of their third-party offerings.
HyperSocial: https://gohypersocial.com/
This company mixes automation with an agency in that they have people that are helping with your messaging and your LinkedIn page. They have a unique appointment setting services where they will take the conversations all the way to point of an appointment. All you do is watch your calendar fill up and go to meetings. The service costs $500 per month for about 100 leads per day and an additional $800 per month to get the appointment setting service.
KuWare: https://kuware.com/blog/linkedin-automation-tools-comprehensive-list-for-2020/
Quite unique in that instead of sending connection requests they simulate you visiting a prospects LinkedIn page with the hope that person sees you visited, looks at your profile, then asks you to connect. Very subtle, but surprisingly effective. The service is about $400 per month.
Turbo-Charging Sales
If you have questions about any of this software or want to have a free conversation about your sales challenges, you can reach me at my contact information below.
Dino Skerlos is a proven sales leader with over 25 years of experience in various industries. He provides strategic sales guidance and strong execution to encourage that next level of sustained revenue growth. Connect with Dino at 919-200-0299 dskerlos@salesxceleration.com He can help turbo-charge LinkedIn for your business.
Photo by Charlotte Coneybeer on Unsplash
Don’t ask me to ride a rollercoaster, but do contact me if you have a marketing challenge.
I can help. You can set up a time chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Our initial conver?sation is free. You talk, I listen. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com. Let’s explore working together today.
