Have YOU Discovered the Power of Sales Navigator Smart Links?

If YOU are like me...you are always looking for ways to up your social selling game and leverage the power of the digital buyers journey. I know not everyone has access to LinkedIn Sales Navigator but for those that do...have you tried out Smart Links?

What is Smart Links?

Smart Links allows you to easily package and share content from within your Sales Navigator workflow, track viewing behavior, and gain insights on what your prospects and customers are most interested in.

Basically, its another way to add value to your customers and network as well as giving YOU a chance to track interaction and thus another reason to touch your customers.

Here is How it Works...

Let's say you have a new company offering that you want to gage your customers interest in and open the door to a more in-depth conversations. We know that about 68% of buyers do their own research before they ever reach out to a sales rep and it would be great to know if the information they are looking at is YOURS!

Step 1: In Sales Navigator, Click on Smart Links in the main tool bar

Step 2: In the new window - Click on + New Smart Link

Step 3: When prompted, type in the title of the document you want displayed to your audience describing the content

Step 4: Upload the document

Now What?

Once the Smart Link is created you can copy it and use it in multiple ways...

1. Create a LinkedIn post (twitter etc) with your smart link pasted into the body of your message

2. Write an article with an introduction, summary or perspective on the information you are posting then provide the link to more details

3. Send a LinkedIn InMail or Message to your contacts with the link

4. Email your contacts with a copy of the link included

I Don't Get it...What is the Advantage of Doing it This Way?

I view Smart Links as YOUR personal Lead Generation Marketing Campaign which will result in the warmest leads YOU can get!

Here are a few perks from using Smart Links:

• You get an email each time someone clicks on the link which gives YOU an opportunity to follow up with your customer or contact in real time

• From the tool, you can click on the contact's name and view their LinkedIn profile giving you additional information about their role if you don't already know them

• It will track number of views of the content (which are true views not just confirming it came up in their feed)

• It tells you how long the person viewed the material and the date/time they clicked on it

In Closing...

Adding value, staying top of mind, and being that trusted advisor to our colleagues and customers is going to take a new way of thinking as we transition to more digital selling tools. Taking advantage of what is available to us and figuring out how we can make them our own is key.

I DO have to admit I haven't had WILD success with this functionality yet - even though I really don't know what success looks like or how many interactions I should expect on average from posting a link. For example; the last Smart Link I created had 7 views. What was unexpected is that most of them were from people I had just met or barely knew thus building my personal brand with my network. There were also 2 people that I knew fairly well and I have to admit I hadn't been in touch with them for a while. Out of the 7 one of them reached back to me and asked if we could follow up with a conversation and it opened the door to the possibility of me presenting to their team. If I can get those kinds of results every time....I would call that a WIN!

Leadership Questions of the Week for YOU:

• Have YOU heard of smart links or used it before?

• If YOU have used it - what results did you get? What additional lessons learned or advice do you have for others to be more effective with it?

• If YOU haven't used it - what advantages can you see over some more traditional ways you have been getting information to your colleagues or customers? Doe this prompt YOU to give it a try?

• What other functionality have YOU discovered using LinkedIn Navigator that YOU think is a hidden secret that more people should take advantage of?

Thanks for reading….and remember…YOU make a difference!

Please continue the conversation by liking…commenting or sharing this article. You can also follow me on twitter @marciedwhite.