Paul M. Caffrey (00:00)
I'm delighted to be joined by Perry Van Beek, the best selling author of LinkedIn Sales Navigator for Dummies. And it's no surprise this man comes highly recommended with no less than 158 LinkedIn recommendations calling out his expertise. On top of that, 30 years sales experience, 20 years LinkedIn experience and 10 years sales navigator experience. But today we're going to rapid fire through five questions and focus on how we can get you to be better at selling.
Perry, how's it going?
Perry van Beek (00:31)
It's going great, Paul, it's going great. Thank you for having me on this show.
Paul M. Caffrey (00:34)
I'm delighted that you're here and we're going to jump straight into it. So what's your number one prospect in tip Perry?
Perry van Beek (00:39)
Number one prospecting tip is, and it's tied in basically to, you know, to sales as well. When I started my own business, what I was doing, you know, I'd been in sales for 15 years, I thought, yeah, this is easy, I can do this. So what I started doing is I was starting to, I was an export consultant and I was like, okay, I can do this. So I started sending pictures to everybody. I was like, hey, you know, I think we can do this. And I was, you know, and I got no.
clients. And it took me for the first six months, I was completely certain I had a website, I had an office, I had everything. But I have no clients. And it's kind of important when you when you're so so I changed my prospecting around instead of sending pictures, I started helping people. So I noticed that, you know, I was trying to connect and I was using LinkedIn. This was in 2007. So I was quite early on but
So I started finding people on LinkedIn, I started having conversations with them. And then I started helping them, you know, giving them advice on their distribution, building out their distribution networks, their distribution networks, like saying, you know, giving them specific tips on what I would do and everything. And they loved it. And within six weeks, I had three paying clients, I was like, Whoa, so this is great. And this is actually how I would all started with my LinkedIn because
I was sharing this on my LinkedIn. So I was changing something and I did this through LinkedIn and one thing led to another. Now I have to be playing client's host. How do you do that on LinkedIn? Because LinkedIn is for finding a job, isn't it? Well, yeah, but my decision makers are on there as well. So that's the number one prospecting tip. Don't be afraid to give out your knowledge, to share your knowledge freely. Really, I mean, really. People don't pay you for your knowledge. They pay you.
to go for the implementation. They pay you to help them.
Paul M. Caffrey (02:33)
Great, really, really like that Perry. And keeping in the theme of sales, what's your number one sales tip Perry?
Perry van Beek (02:40)
The number one sales tab is basically, it ties into that, you know, it's helping people make sure that you go mile, there's a great quote and I forgot by whom it is. There's no traffic jam in the extra mile. So if you are helping your clients, you know, go that little bit extra. Because what I've noticed is that if you go that extra mile,
You will never ever have to prospect again. I mean, I use LinkedIn sales that we get to prospect, of course, because I have to stay in sort of in practice. But I don't have to. Because most of my clients come through my clients. Because I try to go that extra mile all the time. I've got to just a little bit further than anybody, anyone else would go. Go that little bit extra, do that little bit more, and just make that difference that they're not expecting. And most of those clients, you know, they...
Whenever they're at a network event, they're at a birthday party or something and somebody mentions Sales Navigator, boom, they'll think you need to talk to Perry Van Beek. okay. I mean, I just had two this morning, you know, saying, I introduced you to this. All you need to do is discuss the price. I was like, so what did you offer them? Well, you know, okay, so I still have to wait and see. But so I'm in touch with it. And it just, that's, that's my number one sales tip, really just, you know, invest a little bit more time in those clients.
You know, your general sales, your general revenue will go way up as well, because they will keep coming back. And it's so much easier to sell to an existing client than it is to get a new client, to land a new client.
Paul M. Caffrey (04:20)
Excellent, so there you have it folks, a lot of things that we can take away and look to do right now. If you are in the position of looking to get promoted, what tips or advice would you give someone who is looking to get onto that next step?
Perry van Beek (04:35)
I haven't had a job in so long. I've kind of forgotten. To get promoted. So I've been an entrepreneur for what is it? 17, 18 years almost. To get a promotion. Yeah, what do you need to get a promotion? It'd probably be the same, you know. No, no, it's not. I think it's also learning to say no.
My dude, that's the same for sales as well. So, you know, don't be afraid to say no. I used to be the guy in sales, in my sales team, who said yes to everything. You know, and I saw these colleagues, I was in an export team at one point and there was four of us. And every single time when there was something new, my boss came to me and he gave it to me because he knew I was going to say yes and he knew it would get done on time.
Whereas with the other guys, they wouldn't get done on time. So learn to say no and respect your boundaries because you're going to go crazy. I was working 60, 70. There were times when I was working harder as an AE than as an entrepreneur, which is nuts. So if you want to get a promotion, make sure that you're respected. And if you say no, say...
If your boss comes to me and says, I need you to do this, that's great, I can definitely do that. Do you want me to prioritize this over the other project you gave me? And your boss will respect you for that. And that just works. So I would say that's a good tip to get some promotion there. I don't know. But that's not my line of work to be, I'm not in that position.
Paul M. Caffrey (06:20)
Not nearby anymore. Well, not to worry. I
mean, if you do say yes to everything, you're perhaps saying no to getting promoted because you may not be able to put the time into networking, improve, build the skills that are needed for the next role as opposed to just keeping things going. If someone's looking to get better at selling, what books do you recommend they check out, Perry?
Perry van Beek (06:33)
Correct.
was one of the one book that inspired me to start my business that's this one it's a screw it let's do it from richard branson when i was reading this and we you read in an hour it's it's it's i started when i read this book i i i called up my boss and i quit my job but there's another one just checking if i don't have it here it's called the one thing it's came out last year i think the one thing have you read it it's it's just
Paul M. Caffrey (07:02)
Greg McKeown,
I believe. Yeah. I think I read this one a very long time ago, though. So it's a book I'm thinking of. I may have read it 10 years ago. Maybe it's a non -coupling book. Maybe it's a release. Yeah. What was the takeaway from New Perry? What made you mention it?
Perry van Beek (07:05)
Yes, I think so.
really? I think it's so powerful. Yes. Yeah. So I thought it was basically
the the the takeaways that I was also focusing on way too much. So I was reading it last year and I was doing LinkedIn profile trainings. I was LinkedIn, you know, social selling LinkedIn, sharing and caring LinkedIn content marketing. And you know, and I realized, I'm a
that, you know, what's my expertise, my expertise is sales navigator. And I love helping people with sales navigator. So that was my one thing I was like, okay, let's, let's, let's just flip that. And my content guys, he's still a bit, he was a bit upset with me. He said, no, we got all this great ideas for LinkedIn marketing content. No, let's stop this. Let's focus on every, every now and then he sort of still transitions back into
getting content on on on social selling and even on job marketing is no, we stay away from that. So, so I love that book. And, and there's also realization that I made it's like, you know, when people, people have sales navigator, they, they realize that is this is an important tool. So, and we're willing to invest in this tool. So,
Now, if you're willing to invest in a tool, it makes sense that you also invest in some professional training. LinkedIn gives you some training, which is actually pretty good. But there's a catch. LinkedIn won't tell you what doesn't work. And I will. I will tell you what works and also share some hacks with you. And LinkedIn doesn't share those.
Paul M. Caffrey (08:57)
I'm sure
people's ears have perked up there when they hear that. And we all know there are certain things in LinkedIn that don't work for sure. When it comes to sales preparation and getting ready to be successful, what does doing the work before work look like in your world, Perry?
Perry van Beek (09:06)
Mmm.
Get your network clear. Get clear on first of all, start getting clear on who is it that I want to serve. So make sure that you have your ideal client profile, that you have that optimized. And that's going to be, you have all these sort of avatars and things like that, how old they are. You can't use any of that on Sales Navigator, unfortunately. So well, maybe fortunately.
You can't search for gender, you can't search for those kinds of things. And that's okay. Use what you have to really identify your ideal customer profile and do searches on that. So really be clear on that. That's the foundation. If you don't have that, then it's not going to work. Another one that's really, really crucial is your LinkedIn profile. People just completely overlook that. They think, I've got sales now, we're getting some now. And then they...
you know, if I open that profile, I just don't get what it is that they do. Somebody reached out to me this morning and said, you know, I have this company and this company and I open this profile. I have no idea what the company does. I mean, I read all the way to his profile, which wasn't that expensive, but I still don't know. So it means that I have to go and open the company page and there was sort of a little bit better, but not that much better. So.
Why would you put up that moment that many thresholds for me? See, if you're in sales, you want to make it easy for customers to reach out to you. So make your make your profile really sort of customer centric. Most profiles are very much egocentric. They're about look how good I am. Look how fantastic I am. But I feel if I open your profile, I don't want to read about you. I want to read about how you can help me. I don't know you. I want to know how you can help me. That's all I'm interested in because I don't know you.
So really make it customer -centric. That starts with your headline. Yeah, so let's start.
Paul M. Caffrey (11:13)
And what's a good
customer centric headline, Perry?
Perry van Beek (11:16)
Basically, exactly that. That's about me. Show them what it is that you're actually giving. Share what you're giving. Don't say, I'm a sales executive, I'm a salesman. Because people don't like salespeople, which is stupid, but it's true. HubSpot did some research on it and they found out that 97 % of people don't like salespeople, which is completely stupid because salespeople actually add so much value to your lives. But you know.
people don't trust them. And that's, you know, that's comes from the past, you know, movies like, you know, Glenn Gary, Dan Ross, I'm sure you've seen it, you know, with the always be closing. It doesn't work like like that anymore. You know, especially since social media since LinkedIn is around, you know, it doesn't work like that. Because people have so much information that they didn't have that they didn't have 30 years ago, you know, so so stop with always be closing. And there's a new ABC now. It's always be
contributing to the buying journey. So, and people, I also have.
Paul M. Caffrey (12:18)
I thought connecting
was going to come out there. I like that. That's good.
Perry van Beek (12:22)
No, no,
no, no. That's because you don't want to be connecting with everybody. You don't.
Paul M. Caffrey (12:27)
Very true. Otherwise you'll hit that 30k limit and what will you do then? Okay, so a lot of great advice there. You've been so generous with the information you shared. So I really appreciate that, Perry. If somebody wants to find out a bit more about what you do and how you can bring sales navigators to life for them and their business, how can they find you?
Perry van Beek (12:31)
Yeah.
The easiest one is of course LinkedIn that makes kind of sense. So find me on LinkedIn, Perry van Beek, LinkedIn .com slash in slash Perry van Beek. That's of course the link, the direct link. And you know, if you want to have a conversation about your sales navigator strategy, I offer a free consultation. It's a 10 minute call. So you know, I don't look at the watch, but you know, sometimes they grow 15, 20 minutes, that's fine. And so we analyze your sales, your sales navigator strategy. Where do you stand now?
Use my use my free resources, plenty of free resources that are available. You just go to my feature section on my LinkedIn profile, you see plenty of free resources that you can start with, you know, you don't have to connect with me yet. You can. I'm open to connecting. If you do, please include a personal message because you know, it's a refer to this call that we had the poll and I had so this conversation that I know is like, hey, this is great. So I know you watch the show. So which is cool.
Paul M. Caffrey (13:44)
And if you want to book that call even easier, take out your phone, hit the show notes, and it'll be the top link there. Perry, thanks so much for coming on and look forward to the next time we speak.
Perry van Beek (13:55)
Thank you so much, Paul. It was a lot of fun being on your show.
Paul M. Caffrey (13:58)
Thank you.
