Master the Relationship Element of Prospecting with Help from LinkedIn Sales Academy

Here at LinkedIn, we’re celebrating the holidays by bringing you 12 days of awesome sales content. Today, we invite you to unwrap our fresh sales development guide, which zeroes in on the best relationship-building practices for B2B prospecting.

Spruce up your sales with 12 days of content, beginning with Day 1:

Ninety percent of decision makers say they never respond to cold outreach. The modern buyer expects sales development reps to add value to their purchasing process, but many salespeople are ill-equipped to make it happen. With so much competition in the market and so many vendors offering similar products and services, value differentiation can be difficult to prove.

Modern buyers are awash with information and content. Even if you’ve got fantastic persuasive materials to share, prospects may not give them the time of day if you can’t first create a strong rapport and establish key relationships in the buying committee. Our new Sales Academy guide, Mastering the Relationship Element of Prospecting, will provide you with a framework for succeeding with this foundational imperative.

Sales Development Hinges on Relationships

The job of a B2B salesperson is never complete. Modern reps need to target the full buying committee from start to finish, complete research to truly understand they buyer’s situation, and engage effectively from the first point of contact to the final sale. This isn’t new. In fact, over the years, the core fundamentals of sales haven’t changed much at all. What has changed is how we leverage information and connect with prospects.

Now more than ever, your success hinges on relationships.

The closer you can get to your prospects, the better you can understand their business, challenges, and goals — and guide them down the path to purchase.

Within our latest guide, you’ll find a modern prospecting framework, ways to find an engagement path, best practices for structuring your first call, and much more.

Embrace the Modern Prospecting Framework

For sales development representatives, relationship-building is the one area over which you have the most control. You can dictate how prepared you are going into a sale and how comfortable you are with your prospect’s business. Use this to your advantage.

As outlined in our new Sales Academy resource, the Modern Prospecting Framework consists of four steps:

1. Target
2. Research
3. Identify
4. Build Relationships

We’ll break down each to help you make the most of the prospecting process.

Understand the Psychology of Sales

Your ultimate goal as a sales professional is to connect. But if you can’t find a way to connect with a prospect’s emotional side, there’s a good chance they won’t hear you out.

You can learn more about what makes your prospect tick just by looking at their LinkedIn profile. Appeal to their emotions by starting a conversation around personal interests, school pride, or current events. Then, engage the logical side of their brain with insights, data, and rankings.

Mastering the relationship element of prospecting begins with meaningful connections. Within the guide, we break down ways to help you become more genuine in your interactions, while determining just how personalized you should get and how to tailor your approach with executives.

Structure Your First Call for Success

Like any first impression, your first call with a prospect is of the utmost importance. Before diving in, conduct research on the buyer, their company, their industry, and the market conditions.

We recommend following an effective call framework, listening intently to unearth your prospect’s true need, and keeping your discovery goals in mind. You’ll find it all laid out in the guide.

Make Lasting Relationships the Secret to Your Success

In today’s increasingly connected world, prospects don’t just want to be sold to; they want to get to know you and develop confidence in you. When modern decision makers know, like, and trust you, they’ll feel more comfortable building a long-term relationship with your brand.

Salespeople have the most control over the relationships they build. Take advantage of resources like LinkedIn Sales Navigator or LinkedIn Sales Academy workshops to make the most of every prospecting engagement.

To learn more about engaging with your prospects in a meaningful and masterful way, download our guide, Mastering the Relationship Element of Prospecting.