Lead generation is a challenge for any business. You want to get as many high-quality leads as possible, and you want to get them fast. Guess what? You’re not alone. This is the case with pretty much every business. And when it comes to lead generation, there are many channels that you can use.
Back in the day, cold calling was the only option that sales teams had. They get a list of numbers, start calling people, and hope they’ll be able to sell them on whatever it is they’re selling.
Now, LinkedIn is the place to be if you want to generate a lot of high-quality leads fast. In this guide, we’ll show you how to turn LinkedIn into your number 1 lead generation channel AND do it on autopilot.
Before we dive into the details of how you can do this, let’s first learn more about the reasons that make LinkedIn such a great network for lead generation.
The cold approach that doesn’t work
One of the reasons that make LinkedIn such a great choice for lead generation is the alternative sales teams have, which is cold calling and emails. This alternative is so bad that it makes LinkedIn outreach sound like a dream.
Why are cold calls and emails so bad? It’s mainly because people hate them.
Let’s just say that getting random calls and emails from strangers trying to sell things to you is a horrible experience. These channels are also so full of spam that people don’t even want to listen anymore. Even if your offer is genuinely good, you’ll get a lot of pushback from leads.
Do you ever get excited when you get one of those weird salesy emails or calls? Or do you just almost instantly mark them as spam, or block the caller? It’s the same with your leads.
The reason why cold emails and calls are not as effective is that people consider them an invasion of their privacy. Unless people give YOU -and not some random landing where they filled out their info- an explicit permission to email/call them, they don’t want to get these calls and emails. Not to mention the fact that you rarely have the phone number you are looking for, and the process is a nightmare to manage at scale.
And that’s exactly why LinkedIn prospecting is a superior alternative…
LinkedIn: The future of lead generation
On professional networks like LinkedIn, people have a completely different attitude. Unlike with phone calls and emails, the main purpose of being on a network like LinkedIn is connecting with strangers.
A message or a connection request on this network could be the opportunity they have been waiting for. And as a result, people tend to pay much more attention to InMail messages and connection requests than say, emails from complete strangers!
Of course, we’re not saying that cold emails don’t work for lead generation. It’s just an outdated outreach method. When you combine your email outreach with LinkedIn prospecting though, people are more likely to engage with you.
Of course, LinkedIn can be spammy if not used properly. That’s why we’re giving you a step-by-step guide for using LinkedIn the right way.
Generating leads with Salesflow
Now that you know the edge that LinkedIn has over the good old-fashioned cold calls and emails, it’s time to learn how to do it. And that’s where a tool like Salesflow can be super helpful. Using this LinkedIn automation tool, one of our users, Cellular Attitude, was able to generate 1197 new connections in 15 days.
In addition to helping you make the most out of your LinkedIn outbound efforts, Salesflow will help you automate the entire process. By doing so, you’ll be able to find and engage leads in a much more appealing way, all without wasting your time on doing it manually.
Step 1: Connect your LinkedIn account
The first thing you need to do is connect your LinkedIn account to your Salesflow platform. All you have to do is log into both your LinkedIn and Salesflow accounts, and follow the setup instructions.
By doing so, you’ll be able to control your LinkedIn outreach process from your Salesflow account. Here is our in-depth guide for optimizing your profile and getting more connections.
Step 2: Prepare your connection messages
Instead of wasting your time on sending messages to your leads manually, you can automate this process with Salesflow. All you had to do is prepare the message sequence in advance, and the entire process will be automated. This includes sending the initial outreach message and even follow-up messages when needed.
In fact, we’ve prepared some high-converting LinkedIn message templates that you can use to get started right away.
Step 3: Set up your outreach campaigns
After you prepare the messages you’ll be sending to your leads, it’s time to set up your campaigns. Instead of choosing the people, you’ll message manually, you just set the criteria on the right leads for Salesflow. This includes things like a person’s geographic location or job title.
Once you do this, Salesflow will be ready to handle the entire LinkedIn prospecting process, from finding leads to engaging them with connection requests and messages.
Step 4: Measure and adjust
When it comes to LinkedIn outreach campaigns, there’s always room for improvements. Using the insights and reports you’ll get from Salesflow, you make data-driven changes to improve the performance of your campaigns.
Conclusion
While cold emails and calls were the way for outbound lead generation, this is no longer the case. Engaging leads on professional networks like LinkedIn is a much warmer approach that people are actually willing to engage with.
When you combine the lead generation potential of LinkedIn with the right automation tool, you’ll be able to scale your outreach process like you’ve never thought was possible.