Episode 196: 7 Types of Content that Sales Pros Should Share on LinkedIn

Bob Woods  00:00

Hey! Greetings, salutations, and welcome everyone to Making Sales Social Live brought to you by Social Sales Link. I’m Bob Woods LinkedIn Sherpa and I’m joined as always by fellow LinkedIn and social selling professional who is also known as the LinkedIn whisperer or Brynne Tillman. What’s up friends?

Brynne Tillman  00:19

Hi, Bob. How are you?

Bob Woods  00:22

Doing good, Thank you, Doing good, Doing good. Get right into it. 

Intro  00:29

Welcome to Making Sales Social Live, as we share LinkedIn, and social selling training strategies and tips that will have an immediate impact on your business. Join Brynne Tillman, and me Bob Woods every week, Making Sales Social Live! This is the recorded version of our weekly making sales social live show. 

Bob Woods  00:52

Many salespeople, I think equate creating content for LinkedIn with something physically painful happening to them personally. Most of the time, though, that feeling comes from a simple lack of knowledge or plan regarding what types of content to post. They just don’t know where to begin. So with LinkedIn proving rather to be a goldmine for lead generation and an invaluable tool for building meaningful connections with prospects, you gotta get over that feeling. Right, Brynne?

Brynne Tillman  01:25

Oh, absolutely. And, you know, there is lots of content that attracts lots of different people. So really what we’re going to cover today, and Bob, I’ll let you lead it in. But what we’re going to cover today is, what kind of content will help you to start conversations with your targeted buyers? So I’m really excited, but I’m gonna throw the ball back to you to get a start on number one.

Bob Woods  01:52

Yeah, sure. So actually, so these are like sections with subsections today, because we’re actually going to be covering a couple types of things for top of the funnel, and then a couple of things for mid to late funnel, and then even one for post sales so that you can use more and more sales out of “Yes”, Exactly. So, let’s start at the top with the top of the funnel. And first one’s gonna be, you know, content that just generates a need within your audience. 

Brynne Tillman  02:31

Yeah, Let’s rebuild the content before the need. So I love you know, what is happening before they need us? Where are they? So for us, there are a few things that are happening before they need us. Maybe they had sales training, and then we might be next right? Let’s say you are a CRM sales person, they may have hired their first sales person or their second sales person, and now they need a CRM. 

So what is happening one step before they need you. The reason that this is important is knowing this, and most of this is going to be curation. Some could be original. But the reason this is so important, really comes down to the fact that if we’re engaging everyone when they need us, they’re already shopping, when we really start engaging them and connecting with them prior to their knowledge that they need us. 

Number one, we can help build the story and be the influencer during that journey instead of late in the journey late in the buyer process. We can also, you know, we’re engaging them before they even know they may need our solutions. So we can really be part of that journey and help them. Yeah, so before they need us, I think it is critical to engage them at the top of the funnel. 

Bob Woods  04:08

Very, Yeah, Very tippy, tippy, tippy, top of the funnel. Especially when you consider that old statistic. I forget where it comes from, but it was something like 68% of the people will buy from the person who was there to provide insight first.

Brynne Tillman  04:23

74%. So it’s a corporate vision.

Bob Woods  04:28

Corporate. That’s right. Yes.

Brynne Tillman  04:30

It’s a corporate vision stat. And if I’m quoting, as close as I can remember, 74% of buyers choose the sales rep or company that was “First to add value and insight”. So that’s a perfect example of why early in their process even earlier than we think about we should be on their radar. 

Bob Woods  04:55

Exactly. So the second part of that tippy top of the funnel is once you get that book The before the need stuff, creating curiosity and getting prospects to think differently about their current situation, which quite frankly is what sales is all about in general, but I mean, but to create content around that, so that you’re not necessarily involved in that thought process, but then they will want to reach out to you because again, you are providing insights into it. 

Brynne Tillman  05:20

So I love this right? Really good content that is designed to start sales conversations comes down to a lot of this concept of what it needs to create curiosity gets them thinking differently about their current situation. So those are three elements. Sometimes we’ll have five in that, Like, “Resonate with your buyer”, “Create curiosity”, “Teach them something new”, “That gets them thinking differently about their current situation”, and “Creates a compelling moment”. 

Right? So why is this so important? Well, number one, actually, let me just back up for a second, this is not the formula for all content, Right? This is the formula for content that creates sales conversations that creates social selling engagement, not just thought leadership engagement. But when we can hit those five points. 

And Bob, you mentioned curiosity that gets them thinking differently about their current situation, we can now attract and engage people that are thinking about whatever it is they’re doing. So when we can create curiosity, typically, they’re leaning in and going, “Hmm, I haven’t thought of that yet” or “That rings a bell”, or “That is something we just talked about this topic in our meeting on Monday” or whatever that is, we’re resonating and creating curiosity that gets them to want to read it.

When they’re reading it, the resource that we have is getting them to learn something new, maybe a way to do something, or a way they shouldn’t be doing something that gets them to think differently about the way they’re doing business today. This, although is really at its core position to be a resource, it also is planting seeds in the minds of our prospects, that there might be a better way. 

And so right so that when we do that, we’re teaching them something new. That’s getting them thinking differently about their current situation, this will get them to respond. And if we can’t get them, we need that call to action, that compelling moment to convert them from a lurker to engage her so that we can start the really important conversation. I know I ranted a little bit about that, Bob. But I think that’s really important.

Bob Woods  07:56

Yeah, it definitely is, especially because once you get people into that process, I find that they open up their minds more, and they’re open to possibilities. And that’s ultimately what we want them to be feeling. And hopefully one of the possibilities is that you want to talk to them about having to do with your product or service.

Brynne Tillman  08:16

Yeah, that you can solve that problem. But the interesting thing about the content is we’re not talking about how we solve the problem, Right? We’re talking about the challenge, we’re talking about new ways to think of things and then we have a compelling you know, whether it’s to connect, set up a conversation around more of those insights that lead to our solution. So that’s your next step.

Bob Woods  08:43

We’re getting into mid to late funnel content now so the next example that we have is social proof. So that’s basically going to come from like the big one is like case studies, you don’t they don’t necessarily need to be formal case studies. Although if you have formal case studies, that’s fine as well. But you know, this is where you can prove that you are who you say you are and that you could do what it is that you claim that you do. 

Brynne Tillman  09:10

So I love that writing case studies too early in the sales process feels pitchy case studies after you’ve qualified them and they have shown interest is perfect. So as Bob said, “This is not the top of the funnel now, This is the nurturing of after first or second conversations”. Now, case studies, case stories, testimonials, recommendations, video testimonials, all of these fall under this category in the middle of the funnel. 

Now, be careful that we’re not sharing a ton of case studies on our newsfeed because the newsfeed is typically for the top of the funnel. So where we can share these case studies Number one, “On your profile is a fantastic place”. If they got their exploring number one obviously I would share this on your website. But one of the best places that I love to share this is in the inbox of people in a follow up. 

Maybe if you use something like dub or any of the video messaging, Vinyard, what’s the Zoom info. Zoom it. No, that’s a WIM file. No, what is gunner use? It’s so good. And I’m blocking what it is. 

Bob Woods  08:43

Me too. 

Brynne Tillman  09:10

We’ll find it. Gunner, if you’re listening, stick a chat in. Anyway, they’re all really good. And this is an opportunity for you to send a video follow up with some case studies or some case stories now. Thank you, Gunner, I love it. So yeah, So Loom, that’s, I love the way that he uses loom follow gunner for more information on loom gunner hood. 

So now we’re looking, you know, pace. Where are we using these case studies in case stories? Really, I would you obviously we want to include them in our testimonials on LinkedIn, our recommendations on LinkedIn getting these are crucial. Now I’m just going to quickly state the five pieces of this case study or story that really makes it work. 

Number one, “What was happening in their business that made them recognize they needed this solution”. Number two, “Why did they meet with you? How did they find you? Was it a referral? How did they get to you? And why did they choose you?” So that’s number two, how did they find you, and choose you? 

Number three is “What was it like to work with you?” Number four, is “What was the impact that it had on your business?” The results. And number five, “A piece that they are saying they would never choose anyone else if you’re looking for this, pick them right like that.” They close it by saying, “We’ve edited it”, “We did it all” , “We’re making it easy for you. Here’s the person”, Right? That becomes the formula for a case study or case story that works inside of your social selling. All right, we have number four, Next.

Bob Woods  12:40

Number four in sub second, the second one of subsection two. Oh, my god! Sounded like a contract now overcomes objections. So this is the content that specifically overcomes objections. Again, like Brynne said, this is probably not necessarily something for the newsfeed, this is something that you’re going to want to do a little bit more in LinkedIn, messaging, inbox follow up and things like that.

Brynne Tillman  13:04

Yeah, and email and lumen does. I totally agree with you, Right? This is something although we may be able to use what we’re about to say in a poll, Right? The key here is content that overcomes objections. So as a salesperson, “You’re not selling, if you’re not getting objections”. If you are not hearing, don’t have a budget, had other training, did other things. 

“If you’re not hearing objections, you’re not selling hard enough”, Number one. Number two, “If you’re doing a great job at sales, and you’re hearing all the objections”. There’s probably only three, four or five that you get all the time. And really optimizing how you overcome that. And articulating that in content is a pretty cool thing. 

One of the things that we did with some of the objections that we got is we put it in frequently asked questions at the bottom of you know, “Why would I buy your $997 program?” “Do I have a money back guarantee?” All those things are all these questions that people are going to ask. We identify them and put them right on the landing page where people can buy and they can click through and see the answers to overcoming objections. 

Now we can take that a step further and create content with the five reasons my buyers, whomever they are, choose not to buy and the consequences, Right? And so the consequences are our you know how we’re overcoming them by creating this and if they read this before we get to that objection, they’ve already almost answered it in their head. So even if they do throw Write that objection. It’s a consistent message that makes it easy for them.

Bob Woods  15:04

The next one we’re going to talk about is content that gives you the competitive edge. So here we’re talking about competition.

Brynne Tillman  15:10

I love this. And actually, you know, we haven’t here, this could be anywhere in the sales process. The reason Bob and I decided to put it in the middle of the sales process, is because after the first conversation, or during the first country, at the end, we’ll say, “Is there anyone else that you’re looking at?” “Is there anyone else that you know you’re talking to?” So we put that in the middle, this could also be used at the top of the funnel as well. 

But content that gives you the competitive edge is absolutely essential. It’s actually like one step beyond overcoming objections, in a way, Right? But here’s, this is what this can look like. And I love this, we go out and we identify we have, although we don’t really face that many competitors, there are a few competitors that we do face consistently in conversation, there are some things they do that we don’t do, there are some things that they do, for example, “They will manage their Sales Navigator and CRM”, We don’t do that. 

We’ll teach it, but we don’t manage it. Right? So if they were out selling against us, that would be a competitive edge. Make sure that if you are selling sales now or you’re using Sales Navigator with your CRM, that you have, you know, a company that knows how to manage that, that would give them an edge over us. 

Our edge typically is how do you start conversations without being salesy, because most of the other companies are not all, and we have a lot of competitors. Friendly competition isn’t really competition, because we all have different outlets and are really good at the relationship building side. But we’re anti automation. 

So our message would be like one of our competitors, not directly, but for the same dollars would be an automated program for LinkedIn. So we know that we’re fighting for the same dollars as automated companies. We know we’re fighting that. So we tend to have a ton of content about anti automation and why you shouldn’t use it to give us that competitive edge. Did I articulate that okay, Bob?

Bob Woods  17:28

Yeah, I absolutely think you did, I absolutely think do that. And actually, that kind of ties into our next one, because with our next one year, you’re going to have people within the company that you need to sell to, to who are going to need everything that we just talked about, as well. So content that will help you sell internally, I personally think is huge. 

Because whatever the old number was 6.8 people or whatever it was, who are involved in the average b2b buying decision. Just because you have a champion within the company, you still need to get to all these other people. So while you are trying to do that through LinkedIn, and through everything else that we teach, having content that’s already prepared, that your champion can give out, or that you can give to these people while you’re trying to get in touch with them.

I think it is crucial because it will present you in a way that these people in these specific positions need to hear. So for example, you know, sales, we’re related stuff, well, we need to talk to salespeople, we need to talk to marketing people, sometimes we need to talk to IT people, you know, all of these different parties within the company, have different concerns about talking to you. 

So when you develop content targeted at these people that will hopefully at least come close to answering the questions that they have specific to their concerns about your product is just as fantastic, I think.

Brynne Tillman  19:03

But I could not agree with you more. I think that this is a challenge for a lot of salespeople. One of the things on LinkedIn that we can do is we can buy your map and see as close as we can all of those decision makers and influencers based on the title that we think we should have a conversation with before the sale because from our experience, these are the titles of the influencers. 

So what you’re saying is crucial. Often we can say to our champion, “Hey, Typically these people we meet with before” but you can’t control it and you can’t backdoor your champion while you’re in the sales process. So if they say “No”, you just have to tiptoe lightly one of the great things that we can do and this is where we go back to video. 

I would say our content shouldn’t be introduced with us and you can create content for the IT person how easy this is to implement how safe it is if you’re a SaaS company you have for your CFO if you’ve got really great content on how even though this is an expense today, how what the how long it takes to get the return on investment? Because of the breakdown, Right? What does the CEO care about? Or the CRO? 

How will this help you bring in more top line revenue? Right? So I absolutely love what you said. And we need to educate each of these buyers, from their perspective, not just ours. And so content for that really makes a difference. I am seeing some engagement. 

Here we have Phil say, “What’s your take on Sales Navigator?” You know what I love about this question, we’ll come back to that at the end for sure. And then if Gunner Says, “If a salesperson if sales professionals are truly actively listening to their prospective clients, They will have an unlimited list of future content and it will be content that prospects want to consume”. 

I love that. I know we talked about capturing your genius all the time when you are on a call with a prospect and they ask a question and you answer it. Record that. Whether you’re literally recording it, or you’re writing it down you are. I love that Gunnar said that “You are interacting every day with people and you’re sharing your thought leadership based on the questions your audience is asking based on their thoughts and what you have gleaned”. So that is spot on.

Bob Woods  21:35

And the last one that we’re going to talk about is post sale. So once you close what happens next, you can develop content that will help you cross sell or cross solve into either other departments. Or if you have other products or services that you can also sell to the same people that will help them either solve additional problems or you know, depending on the situation. 

And there’s like a wide potential variety there. But you know, most people when they’re out selling, they generally have more than one product, more than one product that can help people within the company and then sometimes the same product that you sell in one department may help people in other departments of that same company.

Brynne Tillman  22:18

I love that. And you know, our friend, Jack Hubbard uses cross solves. So I knew we had to throw that in there somewhere. And I think that’s brilliant, because it’s cross sell, you know, we’re pushing, we’re pushing cross solvers. What other challenges do they have that we can help them with? One of the things throughout social sales link. Sometimes we will get into one branch or one department, and we help them and then once they have success, they can introduce us internally. 

But like you said, “Are there other things, so we have lots of clients that went through our LinkedIn training”. Now we have a thought leadership program where we can help the subject matter experts inside of the company, really get their voice out. So that’s a new product solution that we have that we can now go back and say, “Hey, are you still struggling with the content side? Are you still struggling with the thought leadership side?” 

Here’s some ideas, “You can use this internally with your marketing, That’s the content,” “Create the content 10 Things marketing can do to increase the thought leadership inside of their organization”.  And if you and then the question is, do you have the time and resources to do that? If not, are you open to exploring how we might be able to help you, Right? 

And so if you start with rather than telling them how you can help them, Help them! Provide the insights, provide the value, good enough that they can do it without you. And there’s such a controversy in the world about this. Don’t give away free consultation, the bottom line in today’s world now even with Chuck GPT anyone can do anything at any time. 

The reason they’ll hire you is your perspective, and their lack of time and resources should do it. So at this point, I know, it’s really important the content that helps you cross solve is education that leads to your new product or service.

Bob Woods  24:22

Absolutely 100%. And it’s kind of amazing that when I’m on Social, no matter where I’m at any more people talk about content and they’re now using that word, content to address so many different things, but it’s all ultimately about information that people consume. 

So content is becoming more and more accepted all of the time. It seems like so, you know, if you’re not using content yourself, we’ve given you seven different areas to use content that will help you with your sales efforts. Because I really do believe that people are expecting more content and they want more content because content can be consumed. And when you do it right, especially the way that we’re talking about can be shared.

Brynne Tillman  25:14

That’s what happens when you consume too much content too quickly. Exactly.

Bob Woods  25:23

Thanks again for joining us on Making Sales Social Live. If you’re with us live on LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, or Twitter  Right now, we do this every week. So keep an eye out for our live sessions. If you’re listening to us on our podcast, if you haven’t subscribed already, go ahead and hit that subscribe or follow button so you’ll have access to all of our current shows and when new ones drop. 

If you’d like more information, our podcast is socialsaleslink.com/podcast. Now we do two shows weekly, this one and are making a sales social interview series, where we talk with leaders and experts in sales, marketing, business, and many many more areas. So when you’re out and about this week, or any week, be sure to make your sales.

Brynne Tillman  26:10

Social. Bye Guys.

Bob Woods  26:11

Thanks everybody. Have a great Day! Bye Bye. 

Outro 26:13

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