LinkedIn Lead Generation: Making Connections That Count

 Today we’re going to look at ARGUABLY the most important part of the whole LinkedIn lead generation process – how do you nurture and follow up your connections, and begin to steer the conversation towards an appointment off of LinkedIn?

There’s an old saying that your network = your net worth

The more connections you have, the more of an Influencer you become, the more widely known you are and therefore the more likely you are to make money from your services.  The more people who know, like and trust you, the more likely you are to get referrals and recommendations to people. 

But you need to actively build those relationships, by being proactive.  Like any relationship, it takes energy and effort, and time to nurture it.

So you’ve been building all these new connections - now what?  What do you say next to turn your contacts into contracts?

You want to have a pool of ideal prospects who know who you are, like what you do, and trust you enough to either recommend you to their contacts or do business with you themselves.

Imagine if there were 5 hot customers hiding in your LinkedIn contacts right now…

Because there are.  At least!  You just need to reveal them.  And the way you’ll do that is what in sales is called “Qualify the prospect” by asking the right questions to elicit a need.

Someone out there in LinkedIn land needs what you sell RIGHT NOW – you just have to find them

AND they will buy from someone within the next 12 months. Question is, will they be buying from you?

So it’s not connect then pitch.  You don’t send them a brochure, you don’t jump on them and say” You don’t need some LinkedIn training, do you?”  You don’t tell them all about you and then try and get them to agree to a phone call in the first message.

I’m sure you know the sort of thing I’m talking about?  

Your new connections want to be

• ·      Heard
• ·      Understood
• ·      Remembered
• ·      Respected

·      They want you to “get them” Only then will they be happy to do business with you.  Or recommend you to their friends, family, and colleagues.

So your initial conversations are all about THEM.  Go into your inbox each day and sort by UNREAD. 

Try and reply to every message within 48 hours, otherwise they start to go cold.

Be yourself, but always remember to talk about their issues, their headaches, things they will resonate with.  

If you uncover a need – they have a problem that you can help them with, you ask them the magic question:

“Would you like some help with that?”

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LinkedIn Lead Generation In 6 Easy Steps

 The L.I.N.K.E.D. Daily Process

So this is your daily checklist on LinkedIn, and it’s easy to remember cos it’s an acronym

Look For Prospects - accept new connection requests ONLY if they are in your target market.  STOP accepting connection requests from any old contact – only let them into your pool if they meet your ideal client criteria, OR you think they will be a good fit.

Look at the connections of your connections [your 2nd level]  So that means click on someone’s profile, then go to their contacts – look at all the ones who are in your 2^nd level, so they know someone who knows you.  Then go down and connect with the ones that fit your IDEAL client criteria.  Your contact has already found all of these ideal clients and brings them to your door! 

Invite 10 to connect – do a search and find a batch of ideal clients, then connect with 10 sending a personalised approach 

Always send a personalised note and use their first name.

Here’s an interesting fact – when you get a new connection, you don’t get just ONE person – you are adding all of their 1^st and level connections into your pool.  Think about that.

So if you weren’t already connected to me, once you do, you get my 4195 connections

Nurture The Relationship - have a non-salesey conversation and build trust and rapport the way you would in person

Make it all about them.  Imagine you’re at a live networking event, what would you talk about?  As simple as “How’s business?”  Another one I’ve had success with is “So do you get much business from LinkedIn?

No selling.  No sales close.  In fact, you’ll actually stand out because you didn’t attempt to sell them, I actually got a message the other day saying “And thanks for not hitting me with a sales pitch!”

DO WHAT YOU’D DO AT A LIVE NETWORKING EVENT

ONLY move into the next step when you feel like there’s a good rapport and connection between you.  Would you want to have this person as a client based on the past interaction?

Probably 4-6 messages by the time you get to this stage.

Key Questions To Find A Need – Now every product/service/treatment business has certain questions that the provider will ask a prospect to establish if there’s a need for your p/s/t, right?  Think about what you ask a prospect in the initial conversation?  Ask whatever questions you would normally ask to see if there's a need for your product/service.

YES you’re a problem solver, but you FIRST have to be a problem FINDER!

THINK OF IT THIS WAY – who does a Doctor want to see?  Healthy patients?  Or Sick patients?

So as I’m in marketing I might ask How’s business?  Are you getting plenty of new leads coming in?  Could you handle any more right now?  Are you happy with your social media?

A great question is What’s your biggest challenge right now?

Do you have any problems with your sales and marketing?

If they say no, they probably don’t need me.  I’m looking for a need.  No need = move on.

I call these Key questions – mainly cos I needed a word that started with a K J

Once you find a need, you ask simply: WOULD YOU LIKE SOME HELP WITH THAT?

Explain How You Can Help - if you uncover a need and your connection wants help, take it offline.  In other words, suggest that they have a phone call or Zoom call or a 121 with you to discuss it further.

DO NOT try and close deals on LinkedIn. The LINKED process is a marketing process.  Now you take them into your SALES process.

Diary The Appointment - schedule a meeting/call and invite them to become a client

This what really counts.  This is the ONLY thing that counts. 

Involve yourself - by Liking, commenting, and sharing.  Also known as engagement, but another E would have ruined my acronym J

I’d recommend you LIKE at least 3 posts

Comment on those posts – the algorithm likes more than 7 words, and use their first name

Share at least 1 post you like.

This not only tells the LinkedIn algorithm that you’re a serious player, it also helps your connections get more visibility, so you’re helping them too.

New post – valuable, informative, that will attract your target market

EDUCATE – INSPIRE – ENGAGE THEM

Posts make you VISIBLE

This is where you put something up that will resonate with your target market. 

LET ME EXPLAIN MY THINKING AROUND THIS

So you’ll see that contrary to most people’s approach to LinkedIn which is like a few things, comment a couple of times, and fling up a post that I hope is relevant, the emphasis here is we do that stuff LAST.  The emphasis here is making the connections with the right people, building the relationships of know, like, and trust, separating the high probability prospects from the low or no probability prospects, and then we do the engagement stuff.

I was asked recently by a prospect  “How many views will my LinkedIn posts get?”  I told him that’s not the key performance Indicator to watch.  That’s vanity.  What matters is how many appointments are in your diary, and how many of them turn into paying clients.  If my diary is full, I don’t really care how many views my post gets.

You want the right people seeing your posts and engaging with you, so that’s why we find them first and fill your LinkedIn pool with the IDEAL prospects, who then see your posts and comment.

Is that making sense?

Different mindset = different results.

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How Coaches, Consultants & Speakers Should Really Use LinkedIn For Lead Generation

 One of the questions I get asked all the time by my Coaching, Consulting or Speaker clients is: What are the best ways to generate leads?

 In the old days we would get a list of Companies, or pick up the phone book, cold call them, find out from the gatekeeper who the decision-maker was, then write them a letter, then follow up with a phone call, get rejected by said gatekeeper several times, and maybe [if you were persistent] get a phone call with them to pitch your business to them.

 Thank God for LinkedIn – now I can set up a free account, do a search for my ideal clients, pull up a list of thousands of them, send them a connection request, at least half will say yes and then I can message them to start a conversation.  From my sofa.

 
Here are some fascinating statistics for you…
 
According to a 2020 global survey by the International Coaching Federation, the average life Coach earns around £42,000 per year.  The average income for a UK Business Consultant is around the same.
 
A lot of Coaches and Consultants TRY and use Social media to generate leads.  In fact, 80% of all business to business leads generated through Social Media come from LinkedIn.
 
On Facebook, the average age of a user is between 20 and 29 years old.  The average income of a Facebook user has been measured as between £15 - £25 k per year.
 
On LinkedIn, the average age of a user is between 35 and 55 years old.  The average income of a LinkedIn user has been measured as between £40 - £50 k per year.
 
So assuming you know who your ideal target market is, the older audience with more disposable income is on LinkedIn.
 
You know yourself, generating new prospects for your Coaching or Consulting business is an endless task.  If people can’t find you, they can’t buy from you, so marketing is a daily requirement.  You’ve probably burned money on expensive ads that didn’t work.  This is a free alternative that’s tried and tested in the real world.
Break out of the feast or famine cycle.  Stop worrying about the future and all of the uncertainty.  If you hate sales and trying to be pushy, let me show you how to make the most of your time and use a clear and easy path to generate new leads from the comfort of your own home.  And it costs you NOTHING.
 
Here's all it takes:

1. Describe exactly who your IDEAL client is – their job title, their location, which industry

1. Do a search on LinkedIn in just your home city and see how many show up.  Connect with 10 a day.

1. Save that search on LinkedIn so they send you an email every week with new leads that match your criteria.  

Simples.

If any of this resonates then  I’d recommend you book a call with me – let’s have a free chat and let me help you build a solid LinkedIn lead generation plan – let me walk you through the exact steps I’m talking about on a Zoom call.   You leave with a step by step plan to get leads from LinkedIn every day – in the comfort of your own home – at no charge.

Sound good? Book a call at 

https://calendly.com/instantedge/fic

Linked55 - How To Generate Leads On LinkedIn

Attract A Steady Stream Of Qualified Leads On LinkedIn Who Are EAGER To Talk To You... 

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