This Simple Step Can Drastically Increase LinkedIn Messaging Acceptance Rates for Sales Pros

Salespeople have dealt with getting rejected and ignored since the profession’s earliest days. Whether standing outside an unanswered door, or listening to a phone ring endlessly, or waiting on email replies that never come, it all comes with the territory. We accept it, we learn from it. 

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t always be aiming to minimize it. Which is why I’m excited to share this new insight our team has uncovered:

Simply keeping your LinkedIn profile complete and up-to-date increases LinkedIn Messaging acceptance rates by as much as 87% (per internal LinkedIn Sales insights).

If you’re a seller who is active on LinkedIn, your profile is likely to get a lot of visibility — sales pros receive twice as many views as the average user — so it’s monumentally important to put your best foot forward. Many people think of their LinkedIn profile as an online résumé, but for networking digital sellers it serves as more of an online reputation.

Let’s explore what it takes to ensure your profile is working for you rather than against you.

Increase LinkedIn Messaging Response Rates 

Turning back to those more traditional forms of selling and rejection, let’s take the example of a door-to-door salesperson. Put yourself in the shoes of a homeowner who hears a knock or a ring of the doorbell. You peek out the window, and see one of the following:

A) A nondescript car parked on the street, and an individual standing at the door with no clear identification, holding obvious sales materials.

B) A vehicle clearly marked with a company’s name and purpose, which aligns with your needs, and a person wearing branded gear, ready to engage in a conversation.

Which are you more likely to open the door for? No need to answer, it’s rhetorical.

We might not think about them in the same way, but our LinkedIn profiles can send many of the same signals. In fact, they give us much more opportunity to send the right signals and convince a stranger that we’re worth hearing out. You can only convey so much with your presentation on the door stoop, or in a 30-second voicemail message. Building out your LinkedIn profile gives people a real opportunity to learn about you and decide if they’d like to engage.

Making the content of your profile resonant and appealing goes a long way, of course, as does taking steps to make it visible for prospective buyers. But simply putting in the effort to make sure your profile is complete and accurate is itself a key factor. It tells visitors that you are serious about your business and transparent as a pro. And it can help quickly accelerate conversations beyond the “getting to know ya” phase.

What does a complete LinkedIn sales profile look like? Here are a few basics:

• Professional profile photo and catchy background image. It is human nature to be drawn to visuals more than text, so you’ll want to immediately catch people with a snazzy background image (representing your industry, specialization, or even favorite hobby) and a profile photo. Here are some tips for making a great first impression with your profile visuals.
• A creative and compelling headline. The headline space, which appears directly under your name, is one of the most routinely underutilized components of LinkedIn profiles. It will default to your job title and company, but many successful sellers take the opportunity to make a quick friendly pitch for themselves. Think about it: are you more likely to catch Wile E. Coyote’s attention with “Sales Rep at Acme Corporation,” or “Helping you find solutions to catch the speediest of roadrunners”?
• A summary that tells your story. The summary space in your profile gives visitors a chance to learn about you, your values, and your specializations prior to meeting you. Craft this copy in a way that genuinely reflects who you are, and gives customers a reason to engage with you. One popular approach is to write about why you got started in the business, and what drives you.
• Add in rich media. LinkedIn provides members with the ability to add content assets such as PDFs, presentation slides, and video links to their profiles. This is basically an opportunity for salespeople to make pitches to self-driven buyers who are researching on their own, so it’s not one you’ll want to miss.

It’s All in the Presentation

You get what you put in. No matter how you’re selling — in-person, over the phone, online — taking the appropriate steps to properly present yourself makes a big difference. On LinkedIn, prospects and buyers are far more likely to listen and respond to outreach if they can click through the sender’s name and find a robust, informative, and relevant profile as opposed to a sparse and vague bio. The data bears this out.

For more data-backed guidance on optimizing your LinkedIn sales approach, subscribe to our blog and we’ll keep the helpful advice coming.