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Sept. 26, 2019

#CX 24 - Is Your LinkedIn Prospecting Helping or Hurting? w/ Ethan Beute

In this episode of the #CX series, , Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, shares what he learned from the LinkedIn community about how people react and respond to unsolicited pitches in LinkedIn messages. Check out more episodes of Ethan's...

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B2B Growth

In this episode of the #CX series, Ethan Beute, Chief Evangelist at BombBomb, shares what he learned from the LinkedIn community about how people react and respond to unsolicited pitches in LinkedIn messages.

Check out more episodes of Ethan's podcast, The Customer Experience Podcast! Use the following links to subscribe in your favorite podcast player:

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Transcript
WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.160 --> 00:00:04.200 A relationship with the right referral partner could be a game changer for any be 2 00:00:04.360 --> 00:00:08.509 to be company. So what if you could reverse engineer these relationships at a 3 00:00:08.589 --> 00:00:14.230 moment's notice, start a podcast, invite potential referral partners to be guests on 4 00:00:14.349 --> 00:00:19.510 your show and grow your referral network faster than ever? Learn more. At 5 00:00:19.589 --> 00:00:29.300 Sweet Fish Mediacom you're listening to be tob growth, a daily podcast for B 6 00:00:29.420 --> 00:00:33.700 TOB leaders. We've interviewed names you've probably heard before, like Gary Vander truck 7 00:00:33.780 --> 00:00:37.609 and Simon Senek, but you've probably never heard from the majority of our guests. 8 00:00:38.289 --> 00:00:42.250 That's because the bulk of our interviews aren't with professional speakers and authors. 9 00:00:42.850 --> 00:00:46.689 Most of our guests are in the trenches leading sales and marketing teams. They're 10 00:00:46.689 --> 00:00:51.640 implementing strategy, they're experimenting with tactics, they're building the fastest growing be tob 11 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:55.119 companies in the world. My name is James Carberry on, the founder of 12 00:00:55.119 --> 00:00:59.000 sweet fish media, a podcast agency for bb brands, and I'm also one 13 00:00:59.039 --> 00:01:02.640 of the CO hosts of this show. When we're not interviewing sales and marketing 14 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:06.549 leaders, you'll hear stories from behind the scenes of our own business, will 15 00:01:06.549 --> 00:01:08.870 share the ups and downs of our journey as we attempt to take over the 16 00:01:08.909 --> 00:01:19.500 world. Just getting well? Maybe let's get into the show. This episode 17 00:01:19.540 --> 00:01:23.420 is about some thing that I got tired of, so I went and got 18 00:01:23.540 --> 00:01:26.500 some feedback. I think you're probably tired of the same thing. My name 19 00:01:26.540 --> 00:01:30.540 is Ethan Butte and the host of the customer experience podcast and cohost of the 20 00:01:30.620 --> 00:01:34.650 CX series on BB growth. And here was my issue. This is a 21 00:01:34.810 --> 00:01:40.209 Linkedin Post that I'm going to read to you that I published and Got Sixteenzero 22 00:01:40.569 --> 00:01:45.329 views and counting, hundred and twenty plus comments and counting, and forty plus 23 00:01:45.569 --> 00:01:51.120 reactions and counting. Honest question, when you accept a linkedin connection request in 24 00:01:51.120 --> 00:01:55.760 the person immediately hits you up with an unsolicited and irrelevant sales pitch in a 25 00:01:55.799 --> 00:01:59.840 direct message. What do you do? And I got a lot of answers, 26 00:01:59.879 --> 00:02:01.709 again, more than a hundred and twenty comments and counting, before I 27 00:02:01.829 --> 00:02:06.349 share several things that I learned. Here's the set up here. I believe 28 00:02:06.430 --> 00:02:09.030 that customer experience is the single most important thing that you can do today, 29 00:02:09.469 --> 00:02:14.310 working on creating and delivering a better experience for your customers. It is the 30 00:02:14.389 --> 00:02:19.860 differentiator of Your Business and it's comprised of every single touch point. So when 31 00:02:19.900 --> 00:02:23.219 you think about the sales people in your organization and some of those touches that 32 00:02:23.259 --> 00:02:28.740 your Bizdev people and your salespeople are making, probably and linkedin probably with connection 33 00:02:28.900 --> 00:02:34.449 requests, probably with direct messages, this is very often the first touch that 34 00:02:34.689 --> 00:02:38.610 one of your future customers is getting. It has a slightly outsized impact on 35 00:02:38.729 --> 00:02:44.759 the reputation of you and your company and the expectations you're setting for your customers, 36 00:02:44.840 --> 00:02:46.960 in your future customers, about who you are, what you're about and 37 00:02:47.120 --> 00:02:52.080 how you operate. And so if your sales team is doing this, I've 38 00:02:52.120 --> 00:02:54.639 got some bad news for you. I went in and soft scored all those 39 00:02:54.759 --> 00:02:59.830 comments again, a hundred and twenty plus and counting, and the number one 40 00:02:59.949 --> 00:03:04.710 response was I immediately disconnect from the person. I kill the connection I just 41 00:03:04.830 --> 00:03:07.949 accepted. That's twenty eight percent of the responses, twenty seven point six to 42 00:03:08.030 --> 00:03:12.900 be exact. Twenty three point seven percent of people simply ignore the message. 43 00:03:12.939 --> 00:03:16.259 So here we are already at more than fifty percent of the responses ignoring the 44 00:03:16.340 --> 00:03:22.620 message or, worse, ignoring the message and actively disconnecting from the connection they 45 00:03:22.699 --> 00:03:25.900 just made with you or your salesperson. Some people do choose to engage, 46 00:03:25.939 --> 00:03:30.569 so I scored the engagements as positive, negative or neutral. The third most 47 00:03:30.650 --> 00:03:36.689 popular response from people who commented on this post. Seventeen point one percent engaged 48 00:03:36.770 --> 00:03:38.889 in a neutral way with the message. This was a thanks, but no 49 00:03:39.090 --> 00:03:43.520 thanks type of thing right. Neutral it's not I want to learn more. 50 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:46.240 It's not negative, which will get into shortly. It's just a neutral, 51 00:03:46.599 --> 00:03:52.240 courteous response, but with no real potential to move forward. Next, in 52 00:03:52.439 --> 00:03:55.469 fourth place, ten and a half percent of people deleted the message or archive 53 00:03:55.629 --> 00:03:59.389 the message, so a further step from ignoring it. And, by the 54 00:03:59.469 --> 00:04:01.550 way, I tend to just ignore these messages. If I rule through all 55 00:04:01.550 --> 00:04:04.669 of my linkedin message wages, there are a bunch of these messages in there. 56 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:09.830 I don't actively delete them, although these responses in the conversations on this 57 00:04:10.020 --> 00:04:13.780 post made me think that I should probably go that extra step of deleting them. 58 00:04:14.539 --> 00:04:16.899 Next, and this was one of the more interesting findings, people were 59 00:04:17.139 --> 00:04:20.620 equally likely, if they were to engage, they were equally likely to engage 60 00:04:20.620 --> 00:04:25.250 in a positive way and a negative way. About eight percent of people said 61 00:04:25.250 --> 00:04:29.649 each positive responses. Thanks for reaching out. I'd like to learn more or 62 00:04:29.970 --> 00:04:33.569 thanks for reaching out. I would advise you that this maybe isn't the best 63 00:04:33.569 --> 00:04:36.449 approach, but I'm interested in what you're sharing, right. So some level 64 00:04:36.810 --> 00:04:43.160 of active engagement that would produce a conversation, but there was also an equal 65 00:04:43.199 --> 00:04:46.079 amount of negative engagement, which is who do you think you are? Do 66 00:04:46.160 --> 00:04:50.199 you actually get business this way? This is an immediate turnoff. I would 67 00:04:50.240 --> 00:04:55.110 never do business with someone that open the conversation this way. So the caution 68 00:04:55.269 --> 00:04:58.310 here, of course, is that while you may get some engagement, it's 69 00:04:58.629 --> 00:05:01.629 more than twice as likely to be neutral as is to be positive or negative, 70 00:05:01.750 --> 00:05:05.389 and it's equally likely to be negative as it is positive. And then, 71 00:05:05.430 --> 00:05:10.100 finally, the most aggressive thing, block the person and mark the message 72 00:05:10.139 --> 00:05:14.500 as spam. So a few things we can learn here. First, people 73 00:05:14.660 --> 00:05:17.379 tend to be able to read these from a mile away. One quote from 74 00:05:17.379 --> 00:05:20.139 one of the comments, you can tell in the first few words, dot 75 00:05:20.220 --> 00:05:25.329 dot, dot right. So if you're using this style of communication in your 76 00:05:25.370 --> 00:05:29.290 direct messages after connecting with somebody, we can all kind of see it, 77 00:05:29.410 --> 00:05:31.490 smell it, feel it. It's popular enough now, it's common enough now 78 00:05:31.850 --> 00:05:36.319 and it's in such volume that we see it right away. So even if 79 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:41.920 you are a sincere person, even if you do have an actual valuable message, 80 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.759 you need to make sure it doesn't look or smell like all the other 81 00:05:45.879 --> 00:05:49.110 messages. So take a look at the unsolicited messages you're getting and do something 82 00:05:49.310 --> 00:05:55.670 different. Second, these are generally not welcome. People are much more likely 83 00:05:55.750 --> 00:05:59.550 to ignore or disconnect from you as they are to engage with you, even 84 00:05:59.550 --> 00:06:02.949 in a neutral way. So this probably isn't the best way to go forward. 85 00:06:03.029 --> 00:06:05.699 Something that I read in a lot of the comments that they prefer that 86 00:06:05.819 --> 00:06:13.379 people engage with them on their posts and actually produce some level of reciprocity, 87 00:06:13.420 --> 00:06:16.100 a basic level of connection, before showing up in the direct message box and 88 00:06:16.339 --> 00:06:20.810 communicating there, especially with a direct and hardcore sales pitch. Third, you're 89 00:06:20.889 --> 00:06:25.970 equally likely to get a positive response as you are a negative response, and 90 00:06:26.089 --> 00:06:30.290 some of the negative responses were quite funny, in the kind of passive aggressive 91 00:06:30.329 --> 00:06:33.120 category right. Some people even offered to subscribe them to things that they didn't 92 00:06:33.120 --> 00:06:38.079 ask to be subscribed to by going to their profile grabbing the email address. 93 00:06:38.399 --> 00:06:42.279 So some of it was like super aggressive negative engagement, which doesn't do anyone 94 00:06:42.279 --> 00:06:46.230 any good? Fourth, mutual engagement is double the rate of positive or negative 95 00:06:46.389 --> 00:06:49.629 kind of that. Thanks, but no thanks. And I will say fifth, 96 00:06:50.069 --> 00:06:54.629 some people do read and evaluate the message. Some of these fell into 97 00:06:54.629 --> 00:06:58.750 that neutral category. They might actually judge this. So even if it does 98 00:06:58.829 --> 00:07:01.740 get ignored and they don't reply, that doesn't mean people aren't reading the message, 99 00:07:01.860 --> 00:07:05.420 and this shouldn't come as any surprise to anyone listening. What they're looking 100 00:07:05.459 --> 00:07:10.620 for is personalization. You know who I am, you know who I work 101 00:07:10.699 --> 00:07:13.579 for, and not just in a slug my name in kind of way you 102 00:07:13.620 --> 00:07:17.129 can imagine. Or you actually identified specific problems or pain points that I might 103 00:07:17.250 --> 00:07:23.410 have and you have an actual solution that can specifically address these things. And 104 00:07:23.529 --> 00:07:27.129 the more you can communicate that in a unique way, the better off you 105 00:07:27.170 --> 00:07:31.639 are at getting those people who are actively ignoring the message but evaluated it prior 106 00:07:31.800 --> 00:07:36.519 to ignoring it to engage with you in a positive way. Sixth, and 107 00:07:36.639 --> 00:07:42.800 finally, hear the last lesson, there's a clear escalation trend in scoring these. 108 00:07:43.000 --> 00:07:46.990 Some people got scored in three categories. So they say, you know, 109 00:07:46.110 --> 00:07:50.430 initially I'll read the message, then I will ignore it. If they 110 00:07:50.550 --> 00:07:55.269 persist, I will disconnect or if they persist, I will mark them as 111 00:07:55.310 --> 00:07:59.259 spam or if they persist, I'll get very aggressive with them. So the 112 00:07:59.420 --> 00:08:03.220 more you persist in something that is not responded to in a favorable way, 113 00:08:03.540 --> 00:08:07.420 the more likely you are a to make someone angry and be get an escalated 114 00:08:07.420 --> 00:08:13.730 level of response from ignore to disconnect to block. So just because other people 115 00:08:13.730 --> 00:08:18.410 are doing something doesn't mean you should do it. Just because a lot of 116 00:08:18.490 --> 00:08:22.209 people don't like it doesn't mean that it can't be done successfully. The goal, 117 00:08:22.290 --> 00:08:24.689 of course, is to reach out, understand people, let them know 118 00:08:24.810 --> 00:08:28.079 that you see them, hear them and understand them and work to create a 119 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:33.759 real relationship based around a real problem in a real opportunity. I hope you 120 00:08:33.840 --> 00:08:35.799 found that valuable. If you want to check the post out again, my 121 00:08:35.879 --> 00:08:39.320 name is Ethan Butt. I host the customer experience podcast. If we can 122 00:08:39.360 --> 00:08:45.230 find me on Linkedin, etch an last name is beute. I welcome that 123 00:08:45.389 --> 00:08:48.230 connection, especial if you add a personal note to it, and I look 124 00:08:48.269 --> 00:08:52.389 forward to any feedback you want to add on that post or on anything that 125 00:08:52.470 --> 00:08:54.470 I have to share their I look forward to connecting with you on Linkedin. 126 00:08:54.899 --> 00:09:03.740 Happy Prospecting. We totally get it. We publish a ton of content on 127 00:09:03.899 --> 00:09:07.100 this podcast and it can be a lot to keep up with. That's why 128 00:09:07.179 --> 00:09:11.769 we've started the BOB growth big three, a no fluff email that boils down 129 00:09:11.889 --> 00:09:16.490 our three biggest takeaways from an entire week of episodes. Sign up today at 130 00:09:16.529 --> 00:09:22.889 Sweet Phish Mediacom Big Three. That sweet PHISH MEDIACOM Big Three