When you're looking to build your network on LinkedIn, there are a few things you need to be doing in order for people to begin connecting with you.
This means going beyond just having an up-to-date profile, but this little bit of extra work is going to yield more than just having a well-made profile.
I know it sounds silly.
However, having a fantastic profile is crucial. It gives people the ability to reach out to you on Linkedin. From there, the connection can only flow in one direction.
Why is that important?
It's important because your profile is like a fancy car. If someone wants to see your fancy car, then they can look at it. If they want to, they could send an inquiry for a test drive.
When reaching out to your ideal client, it's a little different. I love it when people have a buyer persona.
The buyer persona is a particular set of guidelines that people want/need to meet.
When you are reading a buyer persona, or trying to figure out a buyer persona, you must know who you are looking for.
If you don't know exactly who you're looking for or what kind of people you want to meet, then you're never actually going to find them.
In addition to creating content, make sure to reach out to your ideal client to establish successful connections.
One of the first things I do is set goals.
Without knowing who you want to connect with, I could teach you everything under the sun.
But things like this don't work without having more of the bare-bones stuff.
Everybody in this world wants something and what they want changes regularly.
When you're trying to figure out what kind of bait you need to make, there are a handful of things you need to figure out.
What is going to be most appealing to your buyer persona?
It doesn't matter what you have or what you have to offer. If it isn't geared towards the people that could buy from you or the people you want to connect with... You are never going to establish the connection you want.
Some people love educational materials while other people love to have challenges.
It doesn't matter what it is or how you do it.
What does matter is making sure it's geared towards your target client. From there, you can do whatever you choose with it.
Remember, people buy for different reasons.
They buy because of:
If whatever you're providing does not fit any of those narratives, you have to go back to the drawing board.
People also buy from people they like.
Which means you need to give people a reason to like you.
Make sure what you're putting online is positive.
For example, I tell every single one of my clients that unless they are heavily involved in politics and their entire career is based around politics, to stay away from things like that.
The same goes for religion and sex.
This is purely because it can cause turmoil in your connections.
Further, the last thing you want to do is put a bomb inside something you have built. It is only going to impact you negatively.
Next, you have to figure out what kind of leverage you're going to use.
Leverage can mean anything.
I love it when I can find an ideal prospect, who I already have a connection with online. That means I can ask that person online if they are willing to stick their neck out for me and make an introduction.
Sometimes they are going to say no, and that's totally fine. I don't ever expect everyone to say yes.
On top of that, just because there is a connection between two people does not mean they know each other.
I do my best to know most, if not all, people on my LinkedIn.
Unfortunately, with the way the internet works, it's almost impossible to keep up with remembering what everyone does and how they do it.
There are certain tools, like the Sales Navigator, that can help you go through and figure out who is a good client for you, what industry they are in, and what size their companies are.
However, not everyone is going to do that, and that's totally understandable.
What you need to figure out is what kind of leverage is going to get you inside that company.
If I cannot figure out how to get ahold of my ideal client, I love going online and googling their company name.
From there, I can see what companies they have worked for, what company they currently work for, and see if there's somebody else in the company with a LinkedIn page who I can connect with.
From there, I can make content that's geared specifically towards that person, tagging them in a post, and if all goes well, they will begin to share the posts or at least like them.
The beautiful part about that is, your ideal client is then going to see it.
Moreover, if you can replicate this several times, you're going to have more and more success in the future when trying to get in front of your ideal client.
This is the best kind of leverage because it comes from the inside. And usually, that's the easiest way - to sneak in the backdoor regarding anything you are going to need to do to get into a company.
A message from somebody who has a family or friends and participates in real life every single day.
I know it sounds crazy, but most people don't take the time to make valuable connections and send a heartfelt message.
Most people just cut and paste over and over again.
Do some research on whoever you're trying to reach out to.
They may have particular interests that they made and posted on LinkedIn.
If that's the case, leverage that if you have something in the same industry, as far as common interest leverage as well.
When you do things like that, it opens up an entire world of possibilities. And if you come at it from a human perspective, you're only going to succeed more and more.
Because sending a real, custom message, displaying who you are, what you have an interest in, and how you guys can connect and add value to each other, is going to help you establish and build a connection.
You might be curious to know what defines an excellent warm message.
Simple enough, take some time out and write a real message to show that you are a human.
Show that you have common interests.
Start with a simple "Hello," and start working your way into saying, "Hey, I would love to add value to each other's networks. Would you like to connect?"
After you send a connection message, check back after a couple of days to see if they've accepted.
If they have, write them a second message, inviting them to take a quick call with you. You might ask them, "Hey, do you mind spending 15 minutes on the phone with me? I'd love to get to know you, I've heard great things about you. We have this common interest."
I think it can be a fun conversation, and more likely than not, people are going to take a few minutes out of their day to get to know you.
Now you've accomplished two things after doing just one.
They've trusted you enough to connect with you, and they're going to see everything that you produce on the internet.
And second, now you're getting them on the phone, making you one giant step closer to succeeding in a sale now or a sale down the road.
This is extremely valuable because not everybody takes the time to do these steps. And when you do them correctly, even if they don't buy from you right there, they've already had a warm conversation with you and they know you pretty well.
They're now expecting to see your content on the internet, because you've spoken to them, and you've reached out in a warm and friendly manner.
These three steps are extremely important for leverage to get your ideal sale on LinkedIn.
If you don't take the time out to do all three of these steps for each connection, you're never going to succeed far enough to begin making money on LinkedIn.
I know it sounds like a lot of work, but in theory, researching who your ideal client is, then figuring out leverage, and sending them a message shouldn't take more than five minutes.
It may sound unreasonable, but it will save you more time than sending a cold call.
It'll last longer and become more memorable simply because it's a real message.
You should keep a track record of who you're dealing with, too.
Along with that, if they do connect a long way down the road, they're still going to see your content, time and time again.
Plus, it gives them the ability to see your content in the first place.
Taking the time out of your day to do your homework on somebody may sound crazy, but it's a lot less crazy-sounding if you could do this in five minutes or less.
Ideally, every single day, you could establish a minimum of 12 solid connections a day.
All this does not account for the time needed for phone calls.
That may not sound like a lot, but if you could do that for one hour, and make 12 new connections every single day, in a matter of one week...
Sorry, in a matter of two weeks... you're going to be able to make at least 120 new connections of people that could potentially buy from you.
Now, if we take the generalist rule and say 10% of people who see your content are going to buy from you, then you have potentially 12 new sales you're going to make in as little as two weeks.
And if you have a high target customer or high-profit margin, or even a higher deal price, that could mean 10s if not hundreds of thousands of dollars in your pocket.
Reading this blog probably sounds too easy, but I highly recommend taking an hour a day, or even on the lower end... a half-hour every single day, and prospecting on LinkedIn.
If you do this correctly, your connections are going to increase your sales through the roof.
You're going to be creating ideal content aimed towards ideal customers, and all while building those deep, meaningful connections on LinkedIn that everybody wants.
To get even more out of your LinkedIn, make sure to check out this checklist to get your LinkedIn where it needs to be.