Recently, we’ve seen financial brands use social media more than ever before to communicate with prospects and clients. As conferences and forums have been canceled or postponed and in-person meetings are few and far between, networking and relationship building have shifted online.  

Even after the pandemic, the increased demand for digital engagement, including social selling, will continue. It offers a slew of potential benefits, including a shortened sales cycle, access to more and higher-value deals, insight into prospect pain points and stronger relationships. Forward-looking firms will create and execute a robust social selling strategy.

Social selling, which is distinct from (but related to) social marketing, uses social media to find, connect with, understand, and nurture prospective clients. Done right, it can be a much warmer and more successful approach than cold calls or even replace them altogether.

Businesses that prioritize social selling are 51% more likely to reach their sales quotas, and 78% of businesses that use social selling outsell businesses that don’t use social media. The good news is if you’re using social media for prospecting or sales intelligence, your firm has already engaged in social selling.

Though many sales professionals take advantage of free tools to engage prospects online, LinkedIn Sales Navigator is one of the most popular paid solutions for social selling in financial services. The professional networking solution’s “Core” plan offers access to subscriptions like Job seeker and LinkedIn learning access, in addition to the following benefits:

• Extended network access: unlimited search, saved searches and insight into who has viewed your profile in the past 90 days

• 50 InMail messages

• Advanced searches and sales spotlights to target the right prospects

• Lead and account recommendations

• Integrations with other tools like Hubspot, Salesforce and Outlook

• Custom lists and notes to keep track of people and companies

• Engagement with prospects and customers using your team’s network

These enhanced features are attractive, but there are a few items for financial services firms to consider before committing to a Sales Navigator subscription.

Are your prospects on LinkedIn?

LinkedIn has more than 750+ million members worldwide, and 65+ million of those users are decision makers. Chances are you already have a LinkedIn account, and you know that your prospects are active on the platform. You might even be connected to some of them already. Sales Navigator can help you reach prospects beyond your immediate network.

Financial advisors have long used the platform to reach high-net-worth individuals. Why? First, LinkedIn members are more likely to own investments or insurance than the average American.  Second, high net worth individuals are also more highly engaged than average LinkedIn members. In fact, they have twice as many connections, are 102% more likely to share information, and are 84% more reachable via InMail messages. Yet, there is still a lot of green pasture, as more than two-thirds of high net worth individuals on LinkedIn are still not connected to a financial advisor or wealth manager.

Fund administrators and other service providers to alternative funds can also access qualified prospects with Sales Navigator. According to LinkedIn ad campaign manager, 220,000+ members are in venture capital and private equity, and 83% are decision makers. The platform boasts 680,000+ members in the hedge fund industry, and roughly two-thirds of these are decision makers.

Though Sales Navigator can help you find the right buyers, it can’t predict how prospects respond. Prospecting norms vary across industries, and the success of Sales Navigator programs for financial services firms has been met with varying degrees of success.

How would your prospects respond to a cold LinkedIn message?

The primary way to reach prospects outside of your network with Sales Navigator is through InMail. The private messaging tool has made headlines for its B2B performance, as it generates a response rate of 10-25%, which is three times as high as email. However, as more financial services firms use Sales Navigator and, in turn, prospects receive more InMail messages, they can become less responsive. To avoid unanswered InMails, your message must be carefully tailored.

As with outreach on any platform, highly targeted, personalized messages are most likely to get a response. Prospects are wary of bland, sales-forward messages. Approaches that might be more successful include:

• Showing an interest in a fund’s strategy

• Mentioning a recent company or individual milestone

• Sending an invitation to an event

• Offering valuable resources   

Does it fit into your strategy?

Outbound sales efforts via LinkedIn will be most effective if they are synchronous with other sales and marketing activities. For example, if the same prospects will be targeted via email and on Linkedin, the timing and content of the messages should work together to elicit a response. It probably does not make sense to reach out via both platforms on the same day, but an email followed by a LinkedIn message 1-2 days later is a sound tactic. To build trust, the messaging across these communications should be consistent.

LinkedIn outreach can be leveraged to strengthen other efforts, too. For example, if the sales team is traveling to a conference, InMail messages can be sent to prospects in the area to ask for a meeting. Firms can use InMail to send invitations to events, including webinars and other virtual events. If your firm regularly publishes original content, a new blog post or downloadable resource can be shared via InMail. These touchpoints use Sales Navigator in tandem with other initiatives to nurture prospects.

Does it work with the tools you already use?

Sales Navigator can be even more powerful when it connects to the tools your team already uses. The sales solution integrates with CRMs like Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics, Oracle CX Sales, and HubSpot.

The HubSpot integration offers access to Sales Navigator tools and information directly from HubSpot contact records. Users can send InMail messages and connection requests, view shared connections, experiences and interests, and find related leads. It makes follow-up via LinkedIn easy, as tasks to remind sales team members to send connection requests or InMail messages can be built into automated email campaigns or other workflows.

Final thoughts

Technology like LinkedIn has fundamentally changed the way people communicate and how they buy and sell. Especially since COVID-19, the financial services industry has turned to digital tools to get in touch with buyers, and this trend is expected to continue well into the future.

LinkedIn Sales Navigator can be a powerful prospecting and outreach tool for financial services firms when coordinated with other sales and marketing activities and the resources your team already uses. With a thoughtful social selling strategy, your firm could gain access to more and higher-value deals, insight into prospect pain points and produce stronger relationships.

Reach out to a member of the LaunchPad Creative team to learn more about how we work with clients to activate business development, generate and nurture leads, and execute a social media strategy.