Sellers’ Edition: Latest in AI, Social mapping & selling, Buyer Activities, Organic leads + Inspiring conversations about creativity & positioning

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Every few weeks, I share new products and experiments that seem to be working — or not!— to give you some ideas for what we’re building, why we’re building it, and how we operate; I’d love your feedback on everything! – Tomer?

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I hope many of you are having a good transition back to work from summer holidays. To all the parents who have kids starting school soon, congratulations :).

On the platform, we are seeing continuous momentum and, as we shared recently, membership growth has now accelerated for eight quarters to more than 950 million members who come to LinkedIn to connect to economic opportunity.?

Today, we published our 1st State-of-AI report and I wanted to share five key takeaways on the profound impact AI is having on the workforce, particularly the accelerating shift in required skills:

1. The majority of LinkedIn members have experienced a 25% change in their jobs over the past eight years, a pace that is expected to grow to 65%(!) by 2030, driven by AI.?
2. When we look at a specific profession, like Teaching, we estimate that 45% of the skills required for that role will be affected by AI - including skills like lesson planning, curriculum development and teacher training.?See more examples at the table below.
3. Since ChatGPT's introduction, there has been a significant increase in U.S. job postings asking for soft skills that complement AI, like flexibility, professional ethics, and communication, indicating a move towards human-centric AI adoption.
4. The share of global English-language job postings mentioning GPT or ChatGPT increased 21x since November 2022.
5. Almost half of U.S. executives believe that “using generative AI will increase productivity” and 40% think that using generative AI will help unlock more revenue opportunities in the next year.?

This convergence of technology and human skills underscores the importance of adaptive learning and strategic investment in AI-related development. If you are looking to learn how AI works and the implications it had for your business and industry, check out my free LinkedIn course (it doesn't require any prior knowledge). In addition, we offer a Learning path on career essentials for generative AI, and we’ve released more than 300 generative AI courses for LinkedIn Learning and premium subscribers.?

And now, on to our product updates. Today’s edition is dedicated to sellers. As professionals we’ve all tried to sell something at some point -- a product, a service, a role, a partnership. There are incredibly powerful ways to do it on LinkedIn and I am excited to share them all with you. This section, co-authored by Monica Lewis , our head for Products for Sales Solution, will offer insight and guidance on leveraging LinkedIn's organic and paid selling tools to help grow your brand and business more effectively.

1. Find & engage your prospects with Relationship Explorer

One of the hardest parts of selling is getting in front of the right people at your customer accounts, with cold outreach often getting a response rate of less than 1%. In contrast, the most successful sellers uncover hidden allies who help them find the best path into an account. They do this by finding mutual connections, getting introductions through their executive team, identifying past customers, and more.

And we’ve made it simple for everyone who is selling to tap into these winning playbooks with Relationship Explorer in Sales Navigator, launched earlier this year. The feature resonates with sales leaders like CEO Amy Volas who shared, “It’s a game changer when trying to break into new accounts, expand, and keep existing customers.”

It’s simple: for any given account, whether a customer or a prospect, Relationship Explorer recommends you the top hidden allies, leads, and champions. Rather than relying on cold calls, Relationship Explorer automatically surfaces new hires, past customers, leads connected to your executives – all to help you open doors and close deals faster.

2 Prioritize leads & opportunities using Account hub to prioritize?

Sales is challenging, where sellers are responsible for dozens if not hundreds of customer accounts and often juggling many other responsibilities. And every day, there are changes you must stay on top of to be effective – new executive hires, key contacts leaving one of your customer accounts, and more. In fact, the overwhelming majority of sellers (86%) say they have had deals lost or stalled in the past 12 months due to a key stakeholder leaving a client or prospect company. Knowing what’s happening and when to reach out to an account can make all the difference, but it’s hard to interpret all of these signals and know what to prioritize.

Now, with Account Hub in Sales Navigator, you can prioritize the right customer accounts with confidence. Just load up your account list or book of business, and Account Hub will effortlessly prioritize it based on growth potential, buyer intent, or recent activity like new hires.?

We’ve heard this new experience really resonates with sales leaders like Anita Nielsen sharing, “I am LOVING Account Hub- one of the many new features you can find in LinkedIn Sales Navigator… When you upload your book of business, Account Hub can become your one stop shop for all kinds of POWERFUL insights about accounts.”

3 Drive higher response rate leveraging Buyer Activities

At any given time, only 5% of buyers are in the market to make a purchase, and knowing who is in the market at a given time can be game changing. And with LinkedIn’s global network of over 930M members, our unique buyer signals help you do just that. We're gathering more signals, such as website visits for companies and new connections to colleagues, to help you understand if a potential buyer may be interested in your solution.

In total, six brand new buyer activities are visible on Account Pages and in the new Account Hub in Sales Navigator. And the impact of these signals is big: on average, you’ll get a +70% higher response rate when you InMail out to accounts with high buyer intent instead of low buyer intent.

4 Surface the right people with customized Personas

When you’re selling, you need to know not only what customer accounts to focus on but also who is most likely to purchase your offerings – be it operations leaders in Germany, CMOs in APAC, or HR leaders in California.?

And now, you can use the Persona feature in Sales Navigator to easily capture your ideal customer, which then powers personalized experiences across Sales Navigator, from search results to recommendations and beyond. You can define the function, seniority, geography, and even job title of your leads. Then, Sales Navigator will automatically surface the right people, helping you save time and ensuring you’re always focused on the right leads.

Powered by LinkedIn’s network of over 950M members across 200 countries, you can be confident that you’re getting the most current, accurate view of your market when you use Personas in Sales Navigator.

5 Connect with Your Buyers directly from your LinkedIn Profile

When you’re selling a product or service, the LinkedIn profile is incredibly valuable in building your credibility, demonstrating your expertise, and ultimately connecting with the right buyers on LinkedIn.?

So, be sure to take advantage of the new Custom Button on Profile, available to Sales Navigator and Premium business subscribers. It lets those viewing your profile sign up for a demo, request a consultation, and more. Now, when prospective buyers visit your profile, it’s that much easier for them to reach out to you to kick start new relationships.

Every day I’m amazed by the heart of the LinkedIn community and the incredible sense of purpose, passion, generosity, and humor that is showcased through conversations across the platform. I love seeing all the unique and inspiring posts－and I’m excited to share some of my favorites with you.??

• Rapper Snoop Dogg joined LinkedIn and shares about the importance of personal branding , digital transformation, and authenticity. His journey inspired Elizabeth Solaru to share her biggest takeaways from his post.

• Guillaume Huin , Social Media Director at 麦当劳 , shares an insider view on the viral Grimace Trend. Fans created the trend, his team gave tools, reintroduced Grimace, and let the character take over.?

• Theo Baker , Editor at The Stanford Daily , breaks the news on Stanford President Marc Tessier-Lavigne resignation after his report confirms repeated research misconduct accusations and lack of correction.

• Linas Beliūnas , a business developer, shares the economics behind the massive 10-year deal Apple signed with MLS last year, making Apple TV the only place you can watch every Messi match (?? on ??tv).

• Joe Glover, Co-Founder of The Marketing Meetup, shares how the box office competition between Barbie and Oppenheimer can be a good thing . The phenomenon known as 'Barbenheimer' has – sparked an entertaining meme battle with marketing insights.?

With gratitude,

Tomer