Founder of Selling Made Social: Coaching entrepreneurs on how to turn LinkedIn™ into a non-stop, lead generating sales funnel!
getty
Microsoft indicated that LinkedIn sessions grew in 2022, with more than 830 million professionals using the platform to "connect, learn, grow, and get hired." This is great news for small business owners that are attempting to use LinkedIn as a B2B client acquisition tool. The more users and the more time they spend on the platform, the more chance you have of securing a client. But there is one small problem: Everyone else is trying to do the same thing.
I’ve coached hundreds of small-business owners across the globe, and they all are concerned about “sounding like everyone else.” They talk about they struggle with putting out content posts—whether it be images, text or videos. They want to be seen as likable, authentic and approachable. In my experience, they are putting their energy into the wrong activities on LinkedIn.
Sure, content helps, but it is only one way to be seen on LinkedIn. The reality is people really don’t care about your business until they care about you! Just look at the last referral you received to your business—it came from someone that truly thought highly of you, right? And the reason was likely not that you are a really likable person, but rather that you made that person feel like you liked them. Likability is about the other person, and it's such a powerful principle of persuasion.
So how do you achieve it? How do you stand out in the crowd and cut through the noise? It’s really quite basic: Give your prospects your time.
How does that translate on LinkedIn? It looks like this.
1. When a key prospect posts, you comment and engage. Ask a question, provide insight or offer a favor. Make it so the person becomes aware of you. Do it every time they post. And never fear that you will be seen as being too “extra.” No one ever posts on LinkedIn and thinks to themselves, “Oh, I hope no one likes or comments on this post!” People want genuine reactions and engagements.
2. Once there is that clear awareness, you’ll want to send the prospect a connection request. Don't sell to them in your opening message. Instead, find something about them online—a YouTube interview, news report, blog, Facebook or Instagram post, etc. Screenshot that and paste it right into messenger alongside an irresistible question about themself. It could be as easy as a screenshot of them during a news interview, and you ask, “Great point you made here! Have you always been this comfortable on camera?” The reason why most deals never happen on LinkedIn is that conversations never start. The key is making it all about them.
3. When you have their awareness, you’ve connected and have had several conversations with them, mention them in one of your own content posts that relates back to a conversation you had or a topic of interest you share. Literally tag them in your posts with the @ mark and their name. Imagine if you have five to 10 of these key prospects and leaders in the market with large networks of followers commenting on your posts—it’s super powerful and, in my experience, can greatly increase the visibility of your posts.
Following these three tips can help increase your chances of falling into a very natural conversation about your services, but more importantly, it can lead to people from their networks reaching out to you as the credibility of these key prospects rubs off on you. It takes a little forward planning and relationship building, but the payoff of getting into warm conversations with people that have high intent on needing your services is invaluable. And it all comes down to one thing: making the other person feel liked by you! Give your time to others and watch what comes back to you.
Forbes Coaches Council is an invitation-only community for leading business and career coaches. Do I qualify?
