One of the biggest challenges of digital sales is to achieve the right balance between automation and personalization. Your customers demand personal attention, but catering to everyone’s needs at scale is a task that requires technological assistance.
As one of the premier networking platforms for professional users, LinkedIn faces a lot of the same conundrums. Sales teams must figure out an automation workflow that helps them scale without jeopardizing customer relationships.
There are lots of tools available for LinkedIn. From lead research to connection requests to sales emails, everything can be set up to work just the way you want. With the right automation tools for the job, you can radically reduce your workload and improve time management across the board.
However, not all automation software is created equal. Drawing from poorly researched prospect lists and sending spammy sales emails is a good way to get yourself blocked by other users and even banned from the platform for good.
In this complete guide to LinkedIn automation, we want to answer all your questions about prospecting tools and sales enablement. We want to help you build an automation system that’s right for you, with just the correct amount of software application and human touch. If you’re a sales professional who wants to make their prospecting workflow more efficient, keep reading!
LinkedIn automation: What is it really?
Automation refers to the use of technology to minimize human input. While human input is especially important in an industry like sales, part of the challenge is to create a proper balance between human interaction and software applications to make your outreach campaign more efficient and functional.
LinkedIn lead generation is no different. While the social media platform is built around the concept of human connection, having access to the right software tools can radically impact your success on the platform.
Hunting for new leads is a job that needs to be done at scale — manually researching every potential customer and drafting hundreds of separate sales emails is not the most efficient way to work this situation.
The right software stack can help you improve your lead research capabilities, automatically send connection requests to prospective clients, and even use artificial intelligence to write or deliver personalized messages.
Steps for creating the perfect LinkedIn automation strategy
Ready to improve your prospecting workflow on LinkedIn? Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating your own automation system on the platform:
Craft an outreach strategy
The first step to automating your prospecting workflow is to create a communication framework or outreach strategy. You need to have a proper system for engaging with your target audience, turning them into returning customers, and providing dedicated customer support. That way, you’ll have a clear understanding of what exactly you need to automate and what requires human input.
We have developed a communication framework for engaging prospects with CoPilot AI and LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It starts with using personalized introductions to break the ice with new leads and ends with a well-crafted sales pitch that’s optimized to the needs of your client. You can use it as a starting point to develop your own prospecting strategy.
Identify key sales personnel
Next, try to identify key personnel who would be involved throughout the sales process. Do you have a clear idea of who’s responsible for each stage of your prospecting workflow? Great. Now try to get their input on how software can enable them to do their job better.
Identifying important stakeholders will enable you to decide who you want to involve in the conversation and ensure that they have access to the tools and training they need to succeed.
Build your automation workflow
Once you’ve managed to figure out your prospecting strategy and identify key stakeholders in the sales process, you’re ready to start building your automation workflow. Make a list of all the different tasks you could automate and assess the potential return on investment.
As a starting point, here are some common tasks that you can easily automate with the right software tools:
- Lead research: With over 830 million members from 200 different countries, LinkedIn does not make it easy for you to find specific leads who match your customer profile. Luckily, the right tools can help you filter prospects by demographic and occupation, making lead research much less time-consuming.
- Connection requests: Sending connection requests to hundreds of potential leads can take a lot of time and effort. With a tool like CoPilot AI, you can automate the process of adding new connections, complete with personalized introduction messages to break the ice with each new lead.
- Sales emails: When you secure new LinkedIn connections, you’ll want to follow up directly with each prospect — using nurture campaigns to bring them into the fold and shooting your sales pitch when you feel they’re ready. Prospecting tools can help you automatically write and schedule message sequences so that they always hit the mark.
CoPilot AI helps you automate every step of the lead generation process on LinkedIn. From personalized messages to automated scheduling, it gives you everything you need to reach prospects the right way at the right time.
Create a software stack
Now is the time to build a software stack to support your automation workflow. Since you know what you wish to automate, it won’t be very hard to find tools that can help you in each stage of the prospecting process, whether that’s lead research, drip campaigns, or something else.
Need help choosing the right software? Here’s a list of the best LinkedIn automation tools that we use at CoPilot AI:
- LinkedIn Sales Navigator: A flagship product created by LinkedIn, LinkedIn Sales Navigator helps sales professionals conduct better outreach through enhanced lead research and messaging capabilities. It’s an absolute must for any sales team that’s serious about enhancing their prospecting workflow.
- CoPilot AI: CoPilot AI works seamlessly with LinkedIn Sales Navigator to enhance its targeting potential. As a full-fledged LinkedIn CRM, it helps you track, monitor, and engage leads using an intuitive dashboard. Its artificial intelligence capabilities provide you with highly targeted suggestions for sending personalized messages to leads.
- Keyhole: Keyhole is an analytics tool that helps you keep track of important LinkedIn metrics, such as conversion rates, follower reports, profile views, and more. It’s a well-rounded solution with lots of advanced features to assess human behavior and facilitate social selling.
The ideal software stack takes both features and budget into account and relies on actual input from your team members on the field. As you build up your stack of sales and marketing tools, remember to closely assess the return on investment from each tool so that you’re not overpaying for things you don’t need.
Execute the automation process
Now that you’re ready to execute the automation process you’ve built, here are some do’s and don’t’s for staying safe and making the most of your lead generation campaign:
- Don’t use automation tools on a brand new LinkedIn account. As your profile ages and you gain connections, it becomes less likely that you’ll be flagged for spam.
- Do scale your account slowly. And don’t send too many connection requests on a new profile in a short period of time.
- Do use automation platforms that take special precautions to simulate human behavior. LinkedIn doesn’t look too kindly upon users who use software to grow their accounts.
- Don’t log in from multiple locations at once. Remember to close existing sessions before beginning a new one, especially if you use automation software.
- Do get a LinkedIn premium subscription. It’ll greatly enhance your prospecting capabilities on the social network.
CoPilot AI + LinkedIn Sales Navigator: The perfect toolset for LinkedIn automation
What makes CoPilot AI the best LinkedIn automation tool in the market? Combined with LinkedIn Sales Navigator, it can help you target highly precise audience segments with unbelievable precision. Send personalized connection requests, enhance your prospecting efforts with targeted messages, and take advantage of our prospecting dashboard to manage your entire campaign from one place.
CoPilot AI’s proprietary algorithm has analyzed more than 500,000 LinkedIn interactions to develop the perfect formula for personalized messaging. With a paid subscription, you also gain access to a dedicated account strategist who helps you create and execute your action plan for the platform.
Want to know more about how you can automate your prospecting efforts with CoPilot AI? Book a demo today for more information and hands-on experience.
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