How to sell on LinkedIn in 2023: build business by being personal

You might think - being personal - what do I mean, we are talking about business, here. But trust me: tips from this article can massively impact everything you do on LinkedIn.

But first, a big note for you:

Being personal on LinkedIn does not mean sharing stories from your private life.

Read it again.

LinkedIn has changed. Because we don't do business as we used to. Don’t give up on LinkedIn ? understand the transition.

3 reasons I think made the transition to personal stories on LinkedIn??

• Strictly business communication is passé - on LinkedIn, emails, phone, events.. Remember when was the last time your conversation with your business partner was strictly business?
• Society/peer pressure that everybody can (or even should) be a personal brand - sometimes you can feel between the lines in the post that it’s created forcefully
• Personal posts always get the best engagement - we cannot avoid the “likes” temptation

There is a big difference between sharing your personal stories about your private life and being personal. Adding your personality to your LinkedIn activities will help you create business opportunities and build deeper relationships, that are crucial for closing the sale.

I am sure you heard about the H2H. For years, we have been talking about how working in B2B space is basically H2H - human to human. Well, have you ever met a non-personal human? Exactly, neither have I.

I will give you a lot of tips on where and how to do it but first, let's repeat what selling on LinkedIn is all about. I have written an article called 7 steps to generate leads on LinkedIn in the RIGHT (and effective) way. Click here to read it , or continue reading the major points.

Social selling is NOT about bombarding strangers with salesy private messages. This is spam and we shouldn’t do it.

Social selling is all about relationships. Sales, as well, of course, but …

• Conversation first, conversion second.
• Relationship first, transaction second.
• Rapport first, closing sale second.
• Listening and providing value first, talking about solutions second.

7 steps to generate leads on LinkedIn in the RIGHT (and effective) way

1. The golden rule – have a giving mindset
2. Understand your potential buyers
3. Optimize your LinkedIn profile
4. Post relevant content
5. Find the prospects
6. Engage with their content
7. Take the conversation off LinkedIn

READ THE ARTICLE: 7 steps to generate leads on LinkedIn in the RIGHT (and effective) way.

Now that we understand the mindset of how to approach selling on LinkedIn, let me reveal the secrets of how and where to be personal in the process.

5 strategies to be personal on LinkedIn

1. On your LinkedIn profile

2. Posting content on LinkedIn

3. Engaging with their content

4. Sending an invitation to connect

5. Sending direct messages

Now let's talk about all 5 steps.

1. On your LinkedIn profile

Our profile is a source of relevant information for our potential clients, but you can use it to spice it up with some of your personality.

Have you noticed on my profile that I call myself a LinkedIn therapist? This is my personal mission: to help you overcome your fears on LinkedIn.

Another great example from Aleksa: being a football player has nothing to do with what he does in Quantifly but has a lot to do with his personality. And a great icebreaker for conversations. Super smart!

Our LinkedIn profile is not just a bunch of information we throw into our visitors, but a landing page with strategic descriptions that can impact our credibility and trust.

2. Posting content on LinkedIn

This one is my favorite. Being personal in my LinkedIn posts has become my safe place. I have posted about it, read my post >> .

Fun fact, with more than 86.600 impressions, it is by far my biggest post.

My tips on how to navigate around being personal in the content or not:

• When you start as a personal brand, post exclusively educational content - you need to build credibility first in order for people to be curious about your personality
• Mix your content topics - don’t post just personal stuff but focus on educational content that you combine with your personal stories (remember you are not active here for the likes)
• It is on you to set the limit on what you want or doesn’t want to share with your professional network
• If you don’t want to post a personal post, don’t

Now, let me give you a strategy on how to add personality to your posts in 2 small steps:

1. write the technical part (include all the elements for an effective post, including ###)
2. add a sentence or two with a touch of personality - like your opinion, expertise, or point of view

Your clients don’t buy your products or services just because of the features, but for who you are. The same goes for your content, so it shouldn’t be mechanical.

You can add your thoughts in a very simple way.

Here are a few examples:

“I like this article because it reminds me of a situation in a company I was working for a few years ago.”

“The author of the post exposed 3 things; it’s like he was reading my mind.”

Recently I posted a very technical post about UTM parameters. I could just add all the technical stuff and tips, but I wanted to add Manca to it. I did this with one simple sentence and one emoji:

Can you feel the difference?

3. Engaging with their content

Comments are the most important communication section on LinkedIn. And another great placement to be personal. When you comment on a post of your lead (or any other person), don’t just add a short comment like “Great!” or “Congratulations!”

This is something anyone can do. Even automation tools.

Be insightful and creative: you can add photos, gifs, emoticons, questions, your perspective ... And value! It is like talking to a person live, don't forget that.

You can be funny, too (Mi?o is killing it with his comments!):

A bad example (I found this by coincidence on LinkedIn):

As he would say to them: "I don't really care for you but I am commenting on your comments because I read it is good for the algorithm". It is funny how LinkedIn didn't even bother to add See translation for the last one! ??

4. Sending an invitation to connect

Now we are to some really important parts. I cannot stress this enough:

Sending the invitation to connect without Adding a note one of the the biggest missed sales opportunities on LinkedIn.

Your leads will take it very personally if you don't take the time to read more about them or send a sales pitch in the invitation to connect.

Now, how to do it right? By being VERY personal with each person, of course. What does that mean: read their profile, check their posts and activity, browse their LinkedIn page ... to find something tangible and personal to them (don't forget, we DON'T TALK ABOUT THEIR PRIVATE LIFE HERE) to start a conversation.

Perhaps they got an award, published an interesting post, or you might have something in common (mutual connection is not personal enough).

Don't talk about yourself, make it about them!

5. Sending direct messages

The last part is the biggest and most important. When crafting messages for your sales conversations, don't be like most users who use templates and only change the name after "Hi".

Look, I know you struggle with time (we all have only 24 hours per day) but if you take my advice, you will boost your success on LinkedIn.

Your main strategy will be asking questions

Asking questions instead of talking about yourself is your way to go. Use this mindset:

• Do not talk about you
• Adjust questions to their role
• Use curiosity to ask questions - be genuinely curious
• Listen actively

Additionally, try one of these (besides voice or video messages):

• Send a picture of something you know is relevant to them (can be your selfie if you already have a relationship with the person)
• GIF – spice up the conversation with a funny gif; I love this one for people I already know or feel between the lines that they will accept the humor

I will not go into detail on what to write in this article. My only point here is that for every start of a conversation it is a must that you find something specific for this person to use in the messages.

Check out their LinkedIn profile (headline About section, Work experiences, Causes, Interests, Activity, and Posts), LinkedIn page, and google to see what comes to search results. You don't have to use everything (do stalk but don't admit it ??), you only need one thing to start a conversation.

You want to spark a conversation, not just start a conversation.

Let us repeat.

5 strategies to be personal on LinkedIn:

1. On your LinkedIn profile

2. Posting content on LinkedIn

3. Engaging with their content

4. Sending an invitation to connect

5. Sending direct messages

My favorite way to be personal with my clients is to say them in our trainings:

You are mine now. ?? I don't mean this literally, but I let them know they belong to my circle which means they can ask me anything about LinkedIn anytime.

Perhaps the inspiration comes from Moja jezera (eng. My lakes), my loving personal project to visit all Slovenian lakes, as I call all lakes of the world mine.

Don't be afraid to stand out by personalizing everything you do on LinkedIn. Following the average majority will not bring you business.

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About?Manca Korelc, the author of?Power Around LinkedIn Magic?Newsletter:

"When I first started my own business in October 2014, I asked myself a tough question: "How can anybody hire me if nobody even knows I exist?" ?? So I set up my LinkedIn profile and started writing. I jumped out of entrepreneurship a year later but continued creating content. Since October 2017 I have been an entrepreneur again with big results on LinkedIn."

I devoted my career to teaching the magic behind LinkedIn in business. In the last 8 years, I have conducted more than?500 lectures.

You can read more about me on my website >>

If you are eager to learn more about LinkedIn:

• buy my LinkedIn by the Book
• follow my LinkedIn page
• follow my LinkedIn Newsletter
• let us connect

I am a BIG lover of lakes

Almost five years ago I created a project Moja jezera (eng. My lakes). The story is simple: to cycle to all Slovenian lakes. The website mojajezera.si is becoming a true online lexicon of all lakes in Slovenia, or as I call it, a ??????????????????????????. At the time of this writing, it has 1440 lakes, 82 waterfalls, and 13 lake-view mountains.

The peak of the project, and my creativity is THE book. In 2020 I published my book ?????? ???????????????? ?????????? and I could not be happier about it. You see, I have been dreaming of becoming a book writer for almost 30 years. And now I am the author of 2 books! ??

You can buy The Slovenia Lakes book here >> .