When you're crafting a message and trying to get in touch with your ideal client, there are a couple of things you want to do first.
If you do not identify who your target client is, you are never going to get anywhere, because it does not provide enough value for you to get what you want out of it.
1. You have to know who you want to connect with.
Moreover, you are going to tailor each message a little differently than just spamming everybody with the same message.
This way, you will have a higher likelihood of getting that person to connect with you.
2. Figure out what time of day they are typically active.
If you're looking to get in front of somebody, instead of sending a message they happen to see when they sign in once a week, you should go through their profile and see if you see can find a pattern of when they sign in.
If you don't know how to do that, here are some steps:
- Go to their profile.
- Scroll down.
- See their activity.
You will be able to see which days then are online, based on their recorded posted actions, typically Monday through Friday, possibly even around noon.
Try to keep tabs on them, checking up on what they are doing and when there is more traffic on their page.
This also helps you learn more about your target audience. Ultimately this will give you a tremendous advantage.
It's going to let you know when you should reach out, because there are certain times of the day that are better than others to reach out.
Research who and what that person does for the company.
Don't just send that message willy-nilly, just because you know who you are.
Don't just reach out.
Make an effort to know what their roles and responsibilities are.
Take some time, visit their profile, and read what they do for the company.
If you don't do that, you are going to lose out on a potential connection.
Being a little too eager to do the smallest little bit of homework can ruin your potential connection.
You might even realize your ideal client has left the company and gone to a different company, then all your time will have been wasted after reaching out.
They may accept it , but they are not able to buy from you as you intended in the first place.
3. Craft a heartfelt message
Don't spruce it up.
But don't look like a robot.
When you are looking to send a message, state who you are and mention you would love to connect with them, to extend both of your networks.
After that, acknowledge what they have done up till now, what they have accomplished, and what they are working on now.
Once you have that connection, then you can have that dialogue of whatever you want to do, if you want to sell.
If you want to build connections, to build a network or if you want to invite them onto a LinkedIn group, whatever you want to do...
That is going to be your first step in the entire process.
Find out who you want and send them a warm, personal message.
You need to have a personal message.
Not only is it tailored to that person, you know exactly who they are, and can make it friendly and warm, especially during the holiday season.
Take some time and don't just send them something that looks like an automated message.
Send them a valuable message, whatever it might be.
If they connect with you, then follow up with, "Hey, thanks for the connection. I do appreciate it. I love this XYZ thing you do. Hey, I see you are in the company, congratulations on being with that company for ten years."
Whatever you might find interesting about their profile, make sure you let them know.
When you do , the likelihood of that person answering a future message becomes much higher, because now they have gotten to know you and probably like you at this point.
Moreover, if they have seen some of your content over time, then you can be sure that they trust you.
Knowing someone, liking someone, and trusting someone are the three core things that secure sales with people.
You have to know them, you have to like them, and you have to trust them.
When you send out that personal message to create a connection with the person beyond their web page or profile, you are going to get much further.
But more than that, it is also going to have a real, meaningful impact with that person.
More importantly, they are going to be a lot more comfortable conversing with you, and potentially opening up the door for you.
It is incredibly important, and it only takes a few minutes.
If you are going after a certain company, you could probably go to that company's website and figure out who the executives are, and who you need to get in touch with.
From there, it takes a minute or two to say, "You know what, what do they do? How long have they been there?" All that kind of stuff.
Now, you are so much further ahead than any other salesperson that's going to be doing the same thing you are.
Not only does it make the process easier, but also when you go back into your CRM, or you are doing your email blast, or anything like that, you have a better idea of who that person is, what they do, their education level, their past jobs, etc.
You may even know somebody from their past job that can make an introduction for you, and then it becomes an even better introduction.
That is why it's important to take one or two minutes to go through their profile, see who they are and what they do.
You'll get so much further ahead than just sending them a cold message as everybody teaches.
Do that little bit of homework.
It only takes three or four extra minutes, but it's going to give you a much higher percentage of success.
If they do not buy from you, then at least they like you and trust you enough to share your content, which will likely lead to a buy from someone else down the road.
Share it out with other people who could potentially buy from you.
The goal is to get people to buy from you, through understanding why they would want to buy from you.
By making that person feel good and valued, you have given them a reason to buy.
That is your sales process on LinkedIn.
