The Modern Guide to LinkedIn Outreach for Sales [2024]

Long gone are the days of blasting irrelevant, spammy cold pitches just to be ignored or blocked. The sales game has changed, and now, building relationships is everything. Savvy sales pros know that 2024 demands a more human approach, and that’s where the power of LinkedIn comes in.

LinkedIn takes you from being cold and faceless to being warm and welcomed by those seeking bountiful partnerships.

In this guide, you’ll learn how to become an outreach ninja – connecting with your audience, captivating influence, and transforming strangers into partners. Continue reading to level up your outreach for sales IQ and achieve LinkedIn gold.

Readers Also Enjoy: 3 LinkedIn Lead Generation Strategies to Try in 2024 – DevriX

What is LinkedIn Outreach?

LinkedIn Outreach is the art of connecting with people to build genuine relationships that drive sales. As no one wants to receive lame copy-paste messages that don’t speak to them, new, more out-of-the-box strategies and tools are emerging to boost organic connections and convert strangers into high-value customers.

Why You Should Do LinkedIn Outreach for Sales?

LinkedIn, with its 930 million+ members and counting, is a vast ocean of sales opportunities. You have to fish where the fish is, right? Well, 73% of buyers are more interested in salespeople who’ve reached out on LinkedIn. Marketers see up to 2x higher conversion rates on the platform. Additionally, this social network is rated as the most effective channel for driving high-quality leads by 40% of B2B marketers, and 89% of them use the platform for lead generation.

The Sweet Perks of Quality LinkedIn Outreach for Sales

Here are the great benefits of using quality LinkedIn outreach to boost your sales game:

• Increased reach and visibility. Expand your connections and put your brand on the map so you’re top of mind when opportunities arise.
• Targeted networking. LinkedIn’s data helps you reach out to your dream clients and decision makers in advance. Then you can move forward with your personalized approach to relationship building.
• Building trust. Providing free value helps people see you as an authoritative partner rather than just another salesperson.
• Generating qualified leads. Warm outbound leads from customized campaigns convert way better than any cold call. Nurture those links and watch your revenue funnel fill up.
• Enhancing brand awareness and authority. Position yourself as the prime expert in your space through consistent value sharing and thought leadership.

What Is Cold Outreach?

Cold outreach is when you contact someone out of the blue, attempting to promote your product. It may sound like spam, if not done correctly. You have to conduct research first, then craft personalized messages that truly resonate with your ideal client’s needs and interests. Being personal means being human – interesting and charming, and not sounding like a robot-weirdo. Short valuable messages with a human approach and no fillers are your way to go.

Ways to Cold Outreach on LinkedIn

There are four main ways to do outreach on LinkedIn:

LinkedIn Connection Requests ( With or Without a Note)?

The most basic way to establish contact on LinkedIn is by sending someone a connection request. You can also add a little note to your request.

The question is, is there a right way to send connection requests? No. According to a survey conducted by Waalaxy, requests without notes tend to have a slightly higher acceptance rate.

If you decide to include a note, the ideal approach is taking a moment to relate to who you’re contacting. Promotional language might trigger suspicions – people want genuine connections. Show familiarity with their role and experience to demonstrate shared interests. A dash of personal charm also goes far.

Direct Messages (When to Send the First One?)

So you just connected with someone new on LinkedIn and now you want to send them messages. When’s the right time to slide into their DMs for the first time? Many people go straight in for the kill and message seconds after getting accepted as a contact. That can come off as desperate and pushy.

Give your new connection a little time to scroll through your profile, check out your posts, and see your comments. Show them you’re more than just a random ad – prove that you’re sincere and you’re interested in them, not just their network and wallet. It takes work, but patience is key if you want to have success on LinkedIn.

InMails (Who Should You InMail?)

InMails are like internal emails you can send to any person on LinkedIn, whether you’re connected or not.

Since you only get a handful of InMails per month, you have to use them wisely. InMail the people who can truly impact your business. Personalize each mail carefully, making sure that what you offer has value so they actually want to respond.

Message Requests

When you try to message someone you’re not connected to, you can send them an initial message request asking them to accept. This allows you to share your value proposition If they accept, it opens messaging abilities. This works well combined with InMail requests.

Readers Also Enjoy: LinkedIn SEO Guide: Get the Most Out of Your Profile – DevriX

3 Steps to the Best LinkedIn Outreach Strategy

The best LinkedIn Outreach Strategy is to find the right people. introduce yourself, and pitch your product. If they’re a good fit, sell, if not, move on. But of course, there’s a bit more to it than that.

Step 1: Find the Right People (Not Through the LinkedIn Search Bar)

LinkedIn Sales Navigator is your tool when it comes to finding leads and reaching out. It has more power than the LinkedIn search bar. The navigator has advanced filters for laser targeted searches. Do you aim to find marketing managers at midsize fashion companies in NYC? Sales Nav can get specific to pull up your ideal prospects. Filter by job titles, company size, location, experience – even keywords. The Recommended Leads list also puts viable prospects on lock based on your selling style – so you waste less time hunting.

Another tool that can transform your LinkedIn outreach is Apollo. It has the tools to step up quickly: email finder to connect real inboxes to profiles. Painless browser extension for on-the-fly intel. Prospect management and messaging built right into LinkedIn, and more.

Step 2: Introduce Yourself (With Out-Of-The-Box Strategies)

When it comes to making an entrance on LinkedIn, you have to go beyond basic “hey, it’s me!” messages in the DMs. Crafting your whole profile into a vibe that attracts your ideal client is key – curate that content and serve authority and value to stand out to prospects browsing your way.

You need an out-of-the-box approach if you want to catch feelings and attention. Get creative with visuals – pack your profile with photos, and videos, Canva graphics that showcase your vision. Embed your latest Tweets, client testimonials, presentations – anything to dazzle. Open up about your personal come-up story. Drop insightful questions and conversation starters in your posts. Go Live to give ’em a preview of your expertise. Hit up connections with value, not just sales pitches.

Your network is not just contacts, but an audience. Introduce yourself repeatedly through content and engagement until you’re top of mind and partnerships manifest organically.

Outside-the-Box Cold LinkedIn Outreach Ideas

Here are some outside-the-box outreach ideas for creative and effective cold outreach:

• Personalized outreach videos. Record and send short 30-60 second personalized videos introducing yourself and why you’d like to connect. This creative approach stands out in inboxes.
• Value-first outreach. Lead with value by sending people articles, tips, or ideas tailored to their interests. This builds goodwill.
• Reverse cold outreach. Try ways to have target contacts reach out to you first. You can accomplish this by commenting thoughtfully on posts, joining groups they are in, and establishing yourself as an expert.
• Creative requests. Instead of boring connection notes, make a link request that is fun or intriguing with a creative opening line and an inviting call-to-action.
• Cold Giveaways. Giveaways like free consultations, informational interviews, book summaries, etc to selected recipients are always a hit.
• Cold Surveys. Design simple and quick surveys that have been personalized. You can use them as conversation starters to connect.

Pitch Your Product (Without Sounding Too Salesy)

Finally, it’s time to see if the fish are biting. After you’ve established a connection, and carefully curated your content in order to build trust, how do you pitch a product? There are two ways: directly and on the platform.

Pitching a Product in LinkedIn DМs

Pitching directly in LinkedIn DMs (and InMail) is easier when you’ve already been given some time to get to know each other. Of course not all of the following ideas will suit all situations, but here are a few creative ideas:

• Create personalized videos introducing yourself and highlighting the key product features suited for them.
• Send an intriguing gif or meme, then follow up with a product pitch tied to their needs.
• Offer free 1-on-1 consultations over LinkedIn Chat to identify prospects’ issues and tailor a demo.
• Craft carefully worded cold DM sequences focused on providing value before ever mentioning the product.
• Incentivize targets by promising exclusive time-sensitive discounts or trials.
• If there’s existing engagement, respond with a relevant product feature or asset that would interest them.
• Use Lead Gen Forms allowing prospects to self-identify themselves for further conversations about the product as needed.
• Develop sequences based on answering common concerns or objections with helpful assets before pitching.
• Partner with mutually respected connections on co-branded outreach campaigns endorsing your products.

Pitching a Product on Your LinkedIn Page or Profile

You can pitch your product directly through your page, but you have to be careful, as people are sensitive to too many promotional posts. Presenting your offer more naturally among your content would be the wisest and most effective approach.

Here are a few ideas:

• Create a LinkedIn poll to gauge interest and start a conversation about your product. Ask a question that engages people and gets them talking.
• Make a short video introducing your product’s key features and benefits. Share natively on LinkedIn to capture attention.
• Offer exclusive LinkedIn-only discounts or trials.
• Start or engage in LinkedIn Groups related to your product or industry. Provide value by answering questions without overtly pitching.
• Partner with influencers and thought leaders to co-create LinkedIn Live videos and webinars.
• Run LinkedIn Message Ads targeted to ideal customer profiles, leading to a landing page with helpful lead gen offers.
• Organize a LinkedIn-based contest or giveaway, prompting sharing and mentions about your product.
• Publish blog posts on the LinkedIn Publisher Platform about common customer pain points and how your product can solve them.
• Suggest or set up product demos over LinkedIn Meetings to enable personalized, interactive presentations at scale.

Readers Also Enjoy: 9 B2B LinkedIn Marketing Strategies to Grow Your Business – DevriX

Wrap Up

Making an effort to network and provide custom value on LinkedIn is game-changing. While your competition stays stuck in the stone ages, spamming’ the masses, you’ll be over at LinkedIn outreach forging partnerships, and pulling in a profit.

Remember, It’s all about quality over quantity when it comes to standing out and maximizing your gains.