Use Twitter for Prospecting: Awesome Tactics for Sales

For business-to-business connections, LinkedIn is your best channel.  But when your InMails are credited back with no new connections or messages to speak of, it's time to try other avenues.

Head back to that prospect and click on their Contact tab for their Twitter contact.  A Twitter handle is just as good as an email address or even a phone number these days.  Engaging on Twitter might make you have to share your favorite yogurt flavor of coffee creation, but if it gains you a warm prospect... how do you like your latte?

If you're game to try Twitter to get familiar and ultimately connect with a prospect, here are some helpful Twitter Tactics to try:

1. Make sure your Twitter profile is optimized and ready to engage.  If you need some tips on this, watch the recording of our free webinar, Be An Effective Follower on Twitter.
2. Follow your prospect.  Copy the prospect's Twitter handle from their LinkedIn profile (or wherever else they've listed it publicly), paste it into the Search field on Twitter, find them and click on Follow.
3. Favorite your prospect's tweets (appropriately).  This is just like clicking "like" on Facebook or LinkedIn.
4. Retweet them (RT).  If they tweet something you agree with and would like to share to your own Twitter audience, click the Retweet button OR (even better!) copy their handle and tweet content, paste it into a new Tweet, then add your own brief thought at the front.  What does this do?  It gives them more visibility, thus you're doing them a service by adding to their branding tactics.
5. Mention them in your own tweet (@).  You can type up your own original thought, and mention the prospect via Twitter handle.  This communicates that you take enough interest in their Twitter timeline to tie them to one of your tweets.

If your prospect follows you back after any of these tactics, you're in!  You can now send a Direct Message (D) to your Twitter prospect, using your stellar sales tactics within the 140 character limit Twitter provides.

If you haven't been followed back after trying 1-5, keep at it.  You can also try a more targeted tweet where you mention your prospect with a specific message, such as

“@UserABC, seems like you’re doing great in BusinessXYZ. Pretty tough in this economy; great job!"

Also, share! What tactics have you tried when one social media avenue doesn't work?