Use LinkedIn to Connect, Message & Follow Up with Your Managed Services Leads

Jul 07, 2020

Image Above: Hannah O'Donnell, Director of Sales at Collabrance, helps MSPs use LinkedIn and social media for their marketing and sales efforts.

3 Steps to Automate your MSP Outbound Lead Generation and Sales Development through LinkedIn

If you know your prospects are on LinkedIn, then why aren’t we spending more time connecting with them? If done right, this can create a goldmine prospecting list! I had the opportunity of participating in the Virtual Selling Summit with Impact where I sat in Josh Tuner’s (Founder and CEO of Connect 365) breakout session on LinkedIn where he shared, “the average sales person only spends 36% of time selling.” With all of the hats most sales people wear, this comes as no surprise.

Image Above: Collabrance Revenue Team attends IMPACT's Digital Sales & Marketing World "Virtual Selling Summit" (June 2020).

Here are 3 steps which only take 5 minutes per day, that Josh shared to help you build a full funnel of leads AND keep in touch with them...

#1 Connect

Send a personal message to increase your acceptance rate. Most people don’t take the time to write anything so this alone will help you stand out! Create a canned script that you can send to multiple people. Writing 10 messages only takes about 5 minutes per day!

Once per week, go to the LinkedIn profile of someone you recently connected with and learn more information about them. View their contact information including their email. This will help you build a quality prospect list. Doing this manually will take more time but ensure you are connected with more qualified people based on your target customer profile, and keep you out of LinkedIn jail!

Create a Lead List with LinkedIn Sales Navigator

1. Click "List," and select "Lead Lists or Account Lists" from the drop down.
   • From the Lead or Account Lists page, click "Create Lead/Account List."
   • Enter your new list name, and click "Create."
   • You can also create a new list directly from within your search results by clicking "Save," and "Create Lead/Account List."
2. To add or remove leads in bulk:
   • From the My Saved Leads or My Saved Accounts search results page, select the leads and accounts you want to save or remove.
   • Click "Save" to list at the top of the results page, and select your "custom lists" from the drop down.
   • To remove custom lists, click "Remove from lists" and select "Continue" in the pop-up box.
   • You can access All Saved Leads or All Saved Accounts in the top-right corner of your lead and account hubs.
3. Once your list is created, send a connection request with a personal message and follow up regularly with your new contacts.

Click here for more information and LinkedIn Tips.

#2 Message

There are 2 routes you can take to message contacts:

1. Manually message people through LinkedIn which can take FOREVER or…
2. Automate the messaging using your prospect’s personal email, your personal email and a personalized message. Here's 3 ideas:

• Create templated campaigns that will work for your personalized message.
• Share webinars, sales resources and other best practices to peak the prospects interest and show your credibility.
• Use video to stand out, build familiarity and share content! In the next year 80% of all content consumed online will be VIDEO (Marcus Sheridan, “They Ask, You Answer.”). Sales is all about earning your prospects trust. Video allows your prospect to see you, hear you, know you and ultimately trust you.

Collabrance Prospecting Email Example #1:

We have been listening to our MSP community and are hearing your needs. As a result, we’ve put together easy to use resources to answer both you and your customer’s FAQs. Check out this 1-minute video for information you can start using today for your managed services business.

VIDEO: MSP Resources for You

I hope you find this information helpful! If you have any other questions, please reach out to me to see how we can help.

Kind regards,
Hannah O'Donnell

#3 Follow Up

Do you know the magic rule of 7? Seven is the average number of times it takes to touch a prospect before they engage. However, most sales people stop after reaching out only 1 time! Why? Because it takes dedication, commitment and most importantly time to follow up.

Send personal email follow ups to ensure you are keeping up with your prospects. This can all be done by following the same steps above with different content. Below is an example of how you can continue building value through your follow ups by helping your prospects achieve success.

Collabrance Prospecting Email Example #2:

Hear what your MSP peers have to say! To help you gain insight, learn best practices, and understand how MSPs are adjusting to all the recent changes in the industry - we are going straight to the experts for answers to your questions. Check out this 1-minute video for more information.

VIDEO: Voices of the Industry

If you have any questions or would like to learn best practices to scale your MSP business, please reach out to me to see how we can help!

Hannah O'Donnell

At the end of his breakout, Josh shared a quote by Warren Buffet which states, “The business schools reward difficult complex behavior more than simple behavior, but simple behavior is more effective.” Five minutes per day is a simple way you can build and add value to your prospect list.

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RECORDED WEBINAR: Sales & Marketing Webinar for MSPs

During this presentation, we focused specifically on LinkedIn and Facebook, and answer your questions on:

• Where to start on social media ("What information should you make available?")
• Posting tips ("What do I say? What information do I share? How do I stand out?")
• What and when to comment ("How do I seek reviews?")
• How to grow your social network ("Who should I be following? How do I build my base of followers?")
• Hashtags do's, don'ts and industry recommendations ("How can I expand my reach?")

Watch our MSP sales & marketing recorded webinar and learn how you can craft your message to capture the attention of your audience and spread awareness using social media!

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