“Don’t Use LinkedIn for Sales” – #6 on How to Blow a Marketing Pitch

In an earlier post, I highlighted 5 ways to blow a marketing pitch. I had to save #6 for a separate post. It was that bad.

“I don’t recommend encouraging your Sales team to use LinkedIn. It will only help them to find another job”. This gem was from a Marketing Agency exec, while pitching to redesign a B2B website.

I thought maybe I’d misheard;  I asked him to repeat the comment; And sadly, he did.

So I threw him a lifeline. “I’ve spent the last 18 months with my Sales team bringing them onto LinkedIn. It’s a great prospecting tool, and gives them invaluable information before sales calls” I told him.

He took the lifeline and proceeded to hang himself with it. “I’m very conservative with social media. It’s not clear how useful it can be with B2B marketing”. (I’m paraphrasing, because I was too stunned to take proper notes!)

So before you interview an agency next time, maybe ask them how they use LinkedIn. It may save you an hour or two of your time!