LI training must be complemented by process training. This concise guide provides an overview of the training provided by LinkedIn, and then compares it to the process training that SBI provides to transform the organization into a true Social Sales Force.
 LinkedIn’s Sales Solutions Customer Blue Print for Success has three phases: o Phase 1- this phase takes place in week one and is focused on the following 4 things:
 Pre-launch- this includes activating users with software licenses and assigning a systems administrator.
 Preparation- administrator uploads users to a console.
 Week 1- 100% users activated, admin monitors for usage, kickoff message goes out form both admin and exec sponsor to drive usage. o Phase 2 takes place from weeks 2-4 and is focused on users attending 3 live webinars that teach the following:
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#1 Lead list building, how to send an Inmail, and how to request a connection.
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#2 Advanced Search- how to search by keyword, title, groups, or alumni
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#3- Profile writing, customize a URL, write a headline, posting updates o Phase 3- this phase takes place from weeks 5-12 is focused on:
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Recorded webinars
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Reading tip sheets
 eLearning modules
 on demand learning videos
The best way to think about LinkedIn’s offering is that it trains your team to use the LinkedIn software.
 SBI’s Social Prospecting Implementation Plan also has 3 phases. o
This takes place during the first quarter of the implementation.
Writing an effective LI profile is more than filling out the LinkedIn template. The sales team needs to know what to say in each section. Therefore, we begin by creating buyer personas and buying process maps. These tools provide the sales teams with the Ideal

Customer’s business objectives, problems, fears, and describes how they make a purchase decision. In this way, profiles become buyer centric and attract prospects. If buyer personas and buying process maps are not built, profiles are mere online resumes and attract recruiters, not prospects.
In addition, SBI performs an audit of every team members LinkedIn Profile. This documents the “before” part of the “before and after”. We use this audit during the change management process. During this phase, SBI compares and contrasts each person’s profile to a best-in-class template and provides a personalized get well plan for each person. This is needed to get adoption. o
This phase takes place during the second quarter of implementation.
The purpose of SBI’s Social Selling Program is to get meetings with decision makers inside of target accounts. We do this by generating warm introductions, or referrals, via
LinkedIn. This means that the quantity and quality of a sales person’s network directly dictates how many referrals they can generate. SBI believes that building out a high quality network of buyers takes more than learning how Inmail works and how to mechanically send a connection request.
During this phase SBI builds into the LinkedIn tagging feature the buyer personas created during phase one. We audit each person’s network for quantity and quality.
This produces two things. First, it rolls up the stats of a sales organizations collective reach. This tells a sales leader if his ability to get access to accounts is increasing or decreasing every month in a dashboard. Second, it produces a stack ranking. This tells sales management who is, and who is not, expanding their networks, which is the key leading indicator of future referral generation. But not just any network expansion- only network expansion for the key buyer personas. This is what we mean by quality.
Lastly, during this stage we help your organization become world class networkers. We do this by creating 3 things for you:
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A reach expansion playbook. This presents a mobile app to a sales person, accessed from a phone or tablet, which has all the best practices to get more buyers to join his network.
Training Courseware- the sales team is going to need 101/201/301 courseware for new and existing sales reps to become masters at expanding their reach.
Train the Trainer Sessions - Sales people do not learn well by attending webinars about software features. Social Prospecting requires sales training, to be conducted by real sales managers. We teach your sales managers how to teach the training courseware.

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This happens during the third quarter of implementation. The objective of the Social Selling Program is to generate referrals. During this phase SBI delivers the following:
 Segmented lists of referral sources- we do the “grinding” for you by mining the connections of your connections. This builds a list of targets your team wants an introduction to and who can provide this introduction. If you leave this up to the reps it may not get done. We get it done for you.
 Referral Source Database- LinkedIn and Salesforce.com/Microsoft Dynamics have not integrated at the referral source level. SBI does this for you. This allows you to run CRM reports and report on the revenue you have generated from Social Selling. Revenue generation reporting does not exist inside the
LinkedIn application. We build it custom for you in your CRM system.
 Social Debt Methodology- if a rep asks someone he barely knows for a referral he will not get one. SBI’s process of “Earning the Right,” based on its proprietary Social Debt concept will dramatically improve the referral generation success rate.
 Referral Generation Playbook- a mobile app, accessed through a phone or a tablet, which contains the best practices on how to generate referrals.
 Referral Generation Courseware- reps need to be trained on how to generate referrals. SBI, in this phase, builds custom courseware, specific to your business, industry, products, and customers that teaches reps how to generate referrals through LinkedIn.
 Train the Trainer Sessions- in this phase, we teach your sales managers how to teach the Referral Generation Courseware so it sticks and people use it.
Bottom line: SBI implements Social Selling vs. implementing the LinkedIn software tool. The goal is a business goal - to generate appointments with decision makers inside of targeted accounts.
Successful companies know that both are needed: Software and Process. One without the other will not produce the results. SBI’s Social Selling Program + LinkedIn = Making the Number.