Explained: Response Rates On LinkedIn & The Art Of Replying To Yes & No Answers

In the last post, I went through some of the basics of how to present your offer at the right time to increase the chances of positive responses.

So you’ve gone ahead and followed that advice, sent a short offer, and now you sit back, arms folded and smugly await recipients of your message to react like this:

But experience tells us that in more cases, it will be this:

And in some, it might even be this:

This post is about these responses; what you should expect if you are getting it right – and why you shouldn’t panic about hearing the word NO.

Getting into the right mindset to be a successful influencer on LinkedIn might mean developing some thicker skin – because guess what? Not everyone is going to like you. But that’s OK… you don’t need everyone; you just need enough.

There’s plenty we can learn from the best old-school salesmen in this respect but first let’s consider the types of results we should be aiming for.

Influencers get better response rates following consistent action

One thing is for sure on LinkedIn: if you do nothing, that’s what you will get in return.

You should already know from previous posts that the foundation to getting positive responses to an offer is to have done your groundwork before sending it.

This groundwork is the consistent action you have taken with posting content, status updates, commenting, liking, and contributing to discussions in groups.

If you have taken these actions over a period of months and presented your offer in a timely and succinct manner, then you can expect response rates similar to the following examples from some of our clients:

●    83 franchise partner lead enquiries for an Australian telecommunications franchise network in a single month

●    An average of 53 lead enquiries per month for a mortgage broker

●    An average of 150+ lead enquiries per month for a business coach who specialises in ‘change’.

●    In excess of 200+ leads in the first month for an online registered training organisation specialising in innovation and entrepreneurship.

It’s really quite simple: those who get the best results take the most action.

Getting your YES responses right

Just because you start engaging with a prospect on LinkedIn doesn’t mean the relationship should stay there.

In fact, you should be doing everything within your power to take the relationship off LinkedIn.

Why?

Because sales happen in the real world – not on social networks (even professional ones).

LinkedIn is a wonderful vehicle to demonstrate authority, grow following and influence, and generate leads; but you convert interest into commitment offline, face-to-face or over the phone.

A YES answer may mean an intention to act. So the best response to a “YES I’m interested” like this…

…. is to pick up the phone as suggested and call them back. Even if they don’t suggest you call, you may be able to find their number in the contact details of their profile. Find it and call them.

Remember this:

84% of LinkedIn members only check their account every 7-31 days

So if you send your prospect a message, they may not read it for a week or more! What good is that?

Now, you don’t want to appear desperate and dateless, but I’d like to share some interesting stats from our clients regarding response times to positive messages:

●     Within 2 hours - 95 percent chance of converting genuine enquiry to opportunity

●     Within 24 hours - 75 percent chance of converting genuine enquiry to opportunity

●     Within 48 hours - 50 percent chance of converting genuine enquiry to opportunity

●     Greater than 48 hours – the lead has usually gone cold.

So you need to respond in a timely manner and not leave it more than 24 hours to get back to them.

The art of dealing with NO answers

Let’s turn to the salesman extraordinaire, Zig Zigler, for a little advice on the mindset of dealing with NO answers.

For many people, NO is a word we want to avoid – and it often prevents them from asking the question in the first place.

Many are fearful of the word and equate it with negativity, not getting something they want, or with danger (as a child).

But Zig Zigler welcomed NO answers. Every time he heard it from a client he would say “thank you” and explain that every NO brings him closer to a YES. Of course he is referring to the “numbers game” that we all play, whereby we know (for instance) that for every five NOs we will get one YES.

So we should welcome direct answers from LinkedIn responses – YES or NOs. It’s the time-wasting MAYBEs that we should fear, as we don’t know where we stand with them. MAYBEs can lead us to chase business that never materialises; bringing clients to a NO answer means we can move on to the next opportunity.

And remember: just because a prospect says NO now, it doesn’t always mean NO. It just means that, at that point in time, your offer was not right for their specific needs. That may change in the future – either with a new offer or due to their circumstances.

In truth, 97 percent of the time, your offer will not be right; it will be either ignored, deleted, or met with a NO.

Increasing the amount of leads and opportunities in your network is about taking the action: the more offers you send, the more people are represented by the 3 percent of YES answers.

Hopefully now you’re better equipped to deal with any answers that you receive to the offers you send out.

In the next post, I’ll take you through how you can segment your database of LinkedIn followers so that you can optimise your activity with them and present new offers regularly.

Cheers

Andrew

?

P.s. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways I can help you grow your business with LinkedIn

1. Grab a free copy of our book: It’s the roadmap to connecting with prospects, engaging with and converting new clients, and levelling up your consulting business - Click Here

2. Join the Influencer Boardroom and connect with other advisors and consultants who are scaling too: It’s our new Facebook community where smart advisors and consultants learn to generate more purpose, profit and power. - Click Here

3. Join Our Implementation Program and be a Case Study: I’m putting together a new consulting case study group inside The Influencer Project this month… stay tuned for details. If you’d like to work with me on your client-getting and business growth plans using LinkedIn… just send me a message and put “Case Study” in it and I’ll get you more info.

4. Work with me and my team privately: If you’d like to work directly with me and my team to take you from 6 to 7 figures and level things up… just reply to this message and put “Private” in the first line… tell me a little about your business and what you’d like to work on together, and I’ll get you all the details.