The BDR's Guide to Social Selling

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Why Your BDRs Need to Become Social Sellers

Today, it takes an average of 1,000-1,400 touches per opportunity sourced from cold outbound (across many possible accounts and contacts).

Markets aren't what they were in 2021. Hiring more SDRs only to have 1/3rd of opps show up simply isn't feasible anymore.

"It's completely unethical to say, 'let's hire 20 BDRs' only to lay them off three months later because you didn't plan ahead.

Connect rates are lower. If they don't two or three X the value of their salary — the ROI isn't there.

You can't capture demand at scale without creating the demand first." — James Hanzimanolis, Erudite

That's why BDRs and SDRs should consider social selling.

Our founding BDR, Ryan Patel, increased his LinkedIn reply rate from 5 to 21.6% in 3 months, which was quickly followed by a record week of 8 demos booked from outbound.

He works smarter. Not harder. These are his results from our study on the impact of social selling on pipeline.

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This playbook is designed for BDRs looking to build their credibility and book more meetings through LinkedIn like Ryan.

More Social Selling Stats to Convince You

Here's some more social proof for social selling.

• 64% of Letterdrop's inbound is driven from social selling efforts on LinkedIn
• Deals sourced from community engagement are 2x larger by dollar value
• Oliver Johnson, BDR at ServiceBell, increased his LinkedIn reply rate from 10% to 64% in under a month after consistent posting
• 90% of B2B buyers are more likely to engage with sales reps sharing thought leadership
• 75% of B2B buyers use social media to make purchase decisions
• Multithreading with ICs and Decision Makers in LinkedIn DMs increases reply rates by 20% compared to email

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7 Step Guide to Successful Social Selling on LinkedIn

Step 1: Make Your Profile Worth Connecting With

You want to turn your profile into a sales page that prospects actually want to connect with.

Here's what our CEO's LinkedIn profile looks like as an example.

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Here's what to include to set up an effective LinkedIn profile, with insights from our interview with Mark Jung, founder of Authority:

• Benefit-Focused Headline: Clearly state the main benefit you offer.
• Emotional Hook: Address the primary problem you solve right at the beginning.
• Spotlight Expertise: Mention 1-2 key offerings without overloading the reader.
• Value Proposition: Use bullet points and stats to convey your value.
• Simple Language and Layout: Avoid jargon and clichés; keep your tone conversational. Use spacing and bullets to make it an easy read.
• Social Proof: Include endorsements and testimonials.
• Creator Mode: Connections automatically follow you if you turn this on.
• Professional Picture: Use a high-quality, professional headshot.
• Effective Tagline: Include your role and how you help others.
• CTA in Banner: Add a call-to-action in your profile banner.
• Website Link: Direct visitors to your website.
• Helpful "About" Section: Make this section valuable to prospects by helping them understand how you can solve their problems.

Step 2: Generate Content Ideas on Topics Buyers Will Care About

Most sellers get stuck at this first step. It's difficult to figure out what to post.

Here's what Ryan and Oliver suggest:

• Pull ideas from your discovery calls — You're on a disco call and a buyer asks you a question or maybe they have an objection. Chances are, there are hundreds of other potential buyers in your LinkedIn network that you're already connected with (past deal cycles, new prospects) that have the exact same questions. Instead of just answering them one on one, answer them one-to-many on LinkedIn publicly so that you can engage other buyers and book more meetings

• Remix ideas from your network — make it a priority to connect with experienced influencers within your industry, and remix some of their post ideas with your own unique takes and insights

• Share professional insights and experiences that will be valuable to your ICP and help them do better at their job. For example, Oliver is connected to salespeople, so he shares insights valuable to them

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Step 3: Start Posting on LinkedIn Consistently

Start experimenting with posting for at least a month. You don't need to spend more than five minutes a day on a post.

• Post at least 3x a week and extend this into 5x if this proves successful for you
• Use different types of content to see what resonates best with your audience, tracking your engagement rates

As we've already mentioned, Oliver saw incredible success from just one week of what he calls "A/B testing" posting on LinkedIn — and within a month, he was able to close a call because someone recognized him from his efforts.

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3.1 Use Hooks to Engage Your Audience

Study how the folks in your network with the most success with LinkedIn engagement write their posts. Apply those hooks and frameworks to your own.

Ryan and Zach Francisco, our AE, use this LinkedIn hook library (as well as our own templates) for ideas.

Some examples to use are:

• opening with a quantifier ("Only [quantifier] of [content type] use a [useful thing that not many people think of]")
• opening with social proof ("In [timeframe], I’ve [quantifiable social proof]") 
• opening with a contrarian but justifiable opinion ("[something that many people say] This is [observation]. And it's [strong response]")

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Step 4: Find Warm Opportunities Through Genuine Network Engagement

First-party intent signaled by someone engaging directly with what you post or comment is far more meaningful than someone simply visiting your website.

Content is a great sales trigger in general, showing you the 3-5% of people who are actually in market.

There's a trust element to it — you build trust when prospects see the content from you, and are now more likely to engage with you or open an email.

"If a key persona from an account has interacted with your content multiple times, that's a clear sign they're warming up to your solutions.

In sales, it's the golden indicator that you're pursuing the right opportunities. Never waste time on cold accounts." — Alon Waks, fractional CMO

Recently, Ryan booked 3 meetings in thirty minutes after reaching out to folks who engaged with a post.

You need to engage meaningfully with people who are engaging with your posts — make sure you're connected and comment thoughtfully on their posts or threads. From this, you can build a highly targeted list of warm accounts.

Step 5: Personalize Your Cold Outreach to Warm Accounts

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Both Ryan and Oliver have warmer cold calls because of their presence on LinkedIn.

This is because they send contextually relevant messages based on the activity they've observed on LinkedIn. When a prospect engages with content, it gives you clues on what problems they might have.

Here's how folks typically respond to Ryan's outbound.

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Here's how Ryan structures his outbound sequence.

Day 1: Blank Connection Request

Ryan starts with a simple and non-intrusive step — a blank connection request on LinkedIn.

Day 3: Engage with Their LinkedIn Content

On the third day, Ryan engages with the prospect’s LinkedIn content.

This involves reacting (liking) to a recent post and leaving a thoughtful comment. This demonstrates genuine interest and subtly brings Ryan into the prospect’s sphere of awareness.

Day 5: Voice Note with Picture

By the fifth day, Ryan sends a personalized voice note along with a picture.

In the voice note, Ryan is sure to highlight specific triggers and offers a solution along with social proof.

This kind of communication stands out in a world where long-form spam is the norm.

Template for the Voice Note:

"Hey {name}, shooting you this note because I noticed XYZ (I try to mention a couple of triggers here).

I talk to {role} all the time and they share PROBLEM.

Not sure if this is something you’ve considered but we helped CUSTOMER see RESULT by SOLUTION/ACTION.

Would you be open to learning more about how it works?

Let me know. Thanks"

Example 1:

"Hey Tarana, shooting you this note because I noticed you recently joined the team at Rokt and hired Pearl to lead content.

I talk to VPs of Marketing all the time and they share new content hires create more content, but it's tough to understand what’s driving pipeline & what isn't.

Not sure if this is something you’ve considered but we helped Close’s new content leader drive more pipeline from organic by seeing a trail of account level content touch points from first interaction to closed-won so she could focus on creating more of what was actually working.

Would you be open to learning more about how it works?

Let me know. Thanks"

Example 2:

"Hey [Name], I noticed your recent announcement on [specific update or achievement].

As I frequently speak with [prospect's role], one challenge they often mention is [related problem].

We recently helped [another customer] achieve [specific result] by [specific action or solution].

I'd love to share more on how we could potentially help you achieve similar outcomes. Interested in a quick chat?

Best, [Your Name]"

Day 7: Text Follow-Up

If there’s no response by the seventh day, Ryan sends a brief follow-up message.

He offers the opportunity to reconnect at another time.

Template for the Follow-Up Message:

"{name} - any feedback on my voice note?

Or let me know if it’s better to reach out to {direct report}. Saw he/she handles {function}."

Step 6: Encourage Your Whole Team to Participate

Share your successes with your team to encourage them to help compound and amplify your social selling motion.

• Oliver's team uses internal channels to promote each other's posts
• Build a collective presence by supporting and engaging with team content
• Share templates and other resources you've created or found to help them get started

Step 7: Get Your BDR Manager's Buy-In

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Once you and your team have seen success, present results to your manager to drive wider company adoption.

• Explain that it's more important than ever to cut through the noise to make any impact today
• Showcase initial results, such as increased reply rates and even positive responses from prospects
• Highlight both tangible and intangible benefits, like improved brand recognition and personal branding

Consistency is Key to Social Selling Success

You may not get a lot of engagement initially. This is normal.

The key is to persevere, according to both Ryan and Oliver. Their success is proof that a consistent and reliable presence will eventually drive you the inbound and warm outbound you need to close more deals.

We can help you automate social selling best practices. Reach out to us.