BOOK REVIEW - Linked Inbound

linked inbound, sam rathling, book review

8 Social Selling Strategies to Generate Leads from LinkedIn

By Sam Rathling

This book was written for every individual that knows the huge potential of LinkedIn®, but with no idea how to unlock it. Well… I am about to give you the key. At the time of writing this book, my Social Selling framework has generated close to £10million in closed business, for my clients in just the last year.

Typically Sales Directors, CEO’s, Entrepreneurs, Business Owners, and Experts pick up this book because they are worried about a weak or empty sales pipeline. Despite being really good at what they do, they just don’t have enough leads coming into their business and really need more clients.

Many are overwhelmed by just how much there is to do running their business or team and cannot find the time to fit LinkedIn® to their busy schedule. Most people know they need to be on LinkedIn® but are frustrated because they don’t have the knowledge to make it work and they just can’t seem to get the new business they know they should be getting.

Our Review

I’ve just recently finished the book I’m reviewing today.I actually enjoyed reading it in the garden just recently. And I read it probably in about a full day. It’s probably two half afternoons, sat there reading it. So, quite a quick read, but don’t let that fool you in terms of the content it provides. But basically, it’s Sam Rathling, I think that’s how you pronounce her name. She’s a UK-based LinkedIn expert, and she certainly knows her stuff. Like YouTube ads, the book I just recently reviewed, LinkedIn, for me personally, and I know for a lot of my clients is one of those subjects that no one seems to know how to do it properly. There’s lots of Facebook app experts. There’s lots of Google experts. But to my mind, and certainly from the feedback I get from working with clients is, no one seems to know who’s the expert for LinkedIn.

So, this is a great starting point. Again, it’s more of a I’d say strategic-based book rather than a how-to book. But this is definitely the foundation you need to read before you actually invest any money messing around with any sort of paid advertising. So it’s a great book. Simple step-by-step stuff. A lot of it’s common sense, but there’s certainly some really, really good points in there, which will definitely help you be more successful with LinkedIn advertising and social selling in general.

Social Selling

And she breaks it down into eight different steps how to do that, which I like. I like the step-based approach. It’s easy to follow. It gives you a template of how to set things up going forward. So yeah, a great read. Definitely one recommended if you’re looking to do any sort of social selling, want to find out more about LinkedIn and how that could work for your business.

Prospecting, lead generation and pipeline building via traditional methods are failing. Social selling gives you a competitive edge that gets you seen by your target market. According to LinkedIn®, social selling leaders create 45% more opportunities than peers, are 51% more likely to reach quota and 78% of social sellers outsell peers who don’t use LinkedIn®.

You will really like this book and benefit hugely from it if:
• You have no profile at all on LinkedIn® and are starting from scratch
• You have a profile on LinkedIn® but can’t remember the last time you looked at it!
• You are using LinkedIn® already but currently, do not get any business from it
• You have limited time to spend on LinkedIn® and need to know what to do day to day
• You are ready to take your online reputation and your business to the next level – You want to position yourself as the ‘go-to’ expert in your field
• You know your target market is on LinkedIn® but you have no clue how to gain access to them – You have employees that you could replicate this advice to
• You have heard of ‘Social Selling’ but don’t really know what it is
• You want to know how to turn LinkedIn® into real leads and sales opportunities
• You work in an organisation that has invested in LinkedIn® Sales Navigator for your sales team

8 Key Areas To Focus On

The book covers some key areas including the core principles of social selling; how to build a powerful LinkedIn® profile; sales prospecting to build your pipeline; how to gain competitive edge on LinkedIn®, content marketing on Linkedin® including 12 types of LinkedIn® posts, positioning yourself as a ‘go-to’ expert; LinkedIn® company pages and how to build your company brand, LinkedIn® groups; LinkedIn® Premium vs. Sales Navigator; social selling habits, your system for LinkedIn® success, plus additional LinkedIn® learning resources and tools. Linkedin® is a phenomenal tool for sales and marketing, this book is everything I know about how to generate sales from Linkedin®.