LinkedIn, often seen as the more professional and work-oriented social network out there, tends to lack the glitz and glamor of other platforms which focus on novelty filters, dancing and comedy, however, the one aspect in which LinkedIn truly excels is direct messaging.

When it comes to selling on social media, the mailbox holds a vital key for success for sales teams and agencies. On LinkedIn, this translates to direct conversations with decision-makers, industry leaders, and C-suite executives that you want to speak to through the built-in Messaging inbox.

Let's address a common misconception right away—LinkedIn Messaging is not a spam strategy. While some individuals misuse the feature to send impersonal and irrelevant messages with a hard sell approach, these spammy style messages yield exceptionally poor conversion rates.

Instead, we advocate that agencies and b2b sales teams for a different approach—an approach that treats each recipient as a real person and focuses on delivering value. By adopting this value-driven, human-centric strategy, you can achieve higher conversion rates than most other platforms combined.

The primary objective of effective LinkedIn messaging is to pitch to prospects without making them feel like they are being pitched to. With a simple and friendly message, you can accomplish the following:

1. Prequalify prospects to ensure you utilize their time, as well as your own, effectively.
2. Obtain permission to pitch, empowering your prospects and fostering a positive attitude towards buying from you (even if they don't make an immediate purchase, you have permission to maintain an ongoing conversation).
3. Demonstrate your expertise and value, setting yourself apart from the competition.
4. Engage in authentic and friendly conversations that align with your brand's voice.

While the basic search function on LinkedIn can help identify individuals based on their job titles or industries, fully leveraging the potential of LinkedIn Messaging requires delving deeper. You can utilize multiple search parameters such as job title, location, company size, duration in role, and educational background to create precise buyer personas. By curating lists of sales prospects based on these searches, you can personalize your messaging and connect with potential clients via private messages.

However, it's essential to keep in mind that LinkedIn imposes limitations on the number of cold messages you can send. To overcome this hurdle, you can purchase and combine LinkedIn Sales Navigator for your business with Ignite technology, allowing you to send up to 500 invites per week per user. Ignite will then empower your team to supercharge and customize your messaging by enabling powerful multi step campaigns.

This allows your team members to create complex flows with customizable time delays between each step, set unlimited follow-ups, and engage in natural actions like connecting, viewing, following, and messaging prospects. When Navigator is partners with Ignite, agency employees can enjoy a smart inbox which offers labels, and note-taking, allowing B2B teams to streamline conversations without leaving the app.

Now, let's explore the key steps of LinkedIn messaging in order to maximize your agencies effectiveness in engaging potential prospects:

1. Qualify the Prospect: In addition to conducting thorough research, ask each LinkedIn member to qualify themselves, ensuring you invest time and effort in prospects who are genuinely interested in your offering.
2. Offer Value: Once you capture their attention, demonstrate that the conversation holds value for them. Content becomes the currency that buys their time, interest, and engagement. By showcasing your expertise and providing quick wins through playbooks, templates, or demos, you establish trust and deliver instant positive results.
3. Ask Permission: At this stage, your prospects should be invested in the conversation, but you need their active buy-in. Seeking permission to continue is crucial. Keep the permission-seeking process simple by asking for a single keyword or an emoji reaction that they can provide with a single tap. The easier it is for them to grant permission, the higher the chances of receiving a positive response. Once you obtain permission, it's time to do some backend work.

If prospects don't respond or show interest, don't lose hope. It's still possible to follow up with a slight change in approach. Ignites platform will allow you to send them a similar message but offer a different topic or content format (we recommend setting follow ups a few days apart at least). Employees can follow up with fresh offers until they strike a chord. Persistence is key. Don't give up too soon. Keep following up until you secure a sale, receive a definitive rejection, or experience extended silence.

To further develop the connection, personalized follow-up messages are vital. While desktop messaging allows written messages with attachments like pictures or GIFs, the app offers much more. Take advantage of voice memos, videos, and photos from your gallery or capture spontaneous moments. These personalized touches foster a genuine connection, making your follow-ups more impactful.

Craft a quick, friendly clip that reaffirms your value and encourages prospects to continue the conversation. Use their name, speak naturally, and incorporate personal details that resonate with them. Check their profile and Sales Navigator notes for potential points of connection. Remember, everyone's favorite topic is themselves, so allow them to talk about themselves.

To maximize the impact of your follow-ups, maintain your response rates in the Ignite platform or use a Gsheet to track each prospect. Record the dates of initial messages, first replies, follow-ups, content delivery, and subsequent follow-ups. This data-driven approach empowers you to fine-tune your strategy on an individual and campaign level. You'll gain insights into what works best for specific leads and discover the topics and content types that elicit the strongest responses.

By treating each prospect as a real person and embracing a value-driven, human approach, you position yourself ahead of the competition. LinkedIn can be a powerful B2B lead generator if used the right way. In many respects, it is a modern day cold call and email all wrapped up in one. Therefore we recommend crafting insightful and thoughtful messages, asking permission, offering value, keeping consistent with your follow ups, being memorable and utilizing the power of LinkedIn messaging with Ignite technology to make meaningful connections that propel your agency and sales to new heights.