3 Lessons from 3 Years of LinkedIn Sales Training

In May of 2011, I presented my first LinkedIn Sales Training Seminar. Here is the story of how I got there and what I’ve learned from training thousands of people over the past 3 years.

After a 20-year career in technology sales and sales management, I started my own sales training company in 2008. I started out trained B2B sales reps on soft selling skills like:

• Prospecting
• Presenting
• Negotiating
• Closing

Part of the Prospecting training involved using LinkedIn to connect with decision makers. One day in Feb 2011, I was teaching a public seminar of 50 people. The attendees kept asking questions about LinkedIn and we were running late. I said, “That’s enough on LinkedIn. We need to move onto other topics.” Just then, I hand went up in the back of the room and an attendee asked,

“Why don’t you just do an entire workshop on LinkedIn sales techniques?”

“If I did, how many of you would pay to attend it?” I inquired.

EVERY HAND IN THE ROOM WENT UP!

Recognizing the opportunity, I said, “OK, it will take me three months to create the program and I expect all of you to be back here in May.” I booked the conference room for May and begin creating and promoting the seminar.

You know the saying that it’s better to be LUCKY than GOOD?

Well, guess what happened the week before my first LI workshop? Linkedin went IPO. It was all over the news as the biggest pure Internet IPO since Google in 2004. Everyone wanted to know more about LinkedIn and how to use it to grow sales…and there I was with my seminar. It sold out and I’ve been focused on LinkedIn sales training ever since. As you can see from the photo of that first session, LinkedIn had just reached the 100M-member mark in May of 2011. In April of 2014, LinkedIn reach the 300M marks.

Here are three things I’ve learned in 3 years of LinkedIn training:

1. Social Selling is not the same as Social Media. A lot of companies have the Social Media Marketing person do an hour or two of training for the sales team. That’s a great start but it is not enough time. Plus, Marketing people rarely possess the real-world selling experience that is required to put lessons into context. Context and credibility result in higher adoption by the sales team.
2. LinkedIn changes… a lot. Companies that had LinkedIn training a year or two ago need a refresher. Features come and go like TV talk shows hosts. Many of my clients start with a live custom program for the entire sales team then, in 6-9 months, shift to On Demand training for refreshers and on-boarding of new hires.
3. Corporate LinkedIn strategies involve more than individual LinkedIn skills. Over the years, I’ve focused more on corporate implementations than on teaching individual LinkedIn skills. While individual skills are the foundation of a corporate program, a corporate implementation also includes training sales managers how to manage social selling practices and how to involve Marketing for its content expertise.

I am excited about what the next three years will bring.

How has your LinkedIn usage changed in the past three years?