Is LinkedIn a Lead Generation tool?

Using LinkedIn For Lead generation

I was coaching yesterday and coincidently both of the delegates had 61 connections. What began as a coaching program for improving their profiles they quickly appreciated the importance of growing their network as a source of leads and booked an additional hour on how to do this.

I have a couple of thoughts on growing your network for lead generation and although I appreciate LinkedIn is a social media site and it is important to remember the keyword “social” when using LinkedIn, I do exercise caution. My first thought is that accepting invitations without a second thought may seem a great way to build your network but then again ask yourself  “Am I building the right network?”

Building the right network on LinkedIn

What do I mean by building the right network? Well, I see LinkedIn as a real-time database of 277 million potential leads. In business I do help a variety of people working in a variety of industries, but ask yourself “who can I help in business and who can help me?”

Lets take yesterday’s example, my client was a book illustrator with 61 connections. Looking at her network I quickly noticed that the majority of her connections were other illustrators and I asked if it was because they pass work between each other, (joint venture partners) the answer was no.

My next question was “who can you help in business?” to which the reply was children’s book authors, (her target market) to then the answer to my next question who can help you in business was publishers. (Introduce her to her target market). Authors and publishers are the people she wants to be connecting with. I am not saying don’t connect with Illustrators or friends etc. but consider your target market. It is also quite common, taking authors as an example, that they will know other authors and will extend her reach. Doctors know other Doctors, Sales Directors know other people involved in sales and so on and so on. You can find any number of professionals working in a particular area on LinkedIn, which makes this such a powerful database.

The real value of LinkedIn

The great thing about LinkedIn is that your second line network is where the value is because your first line network should already know what you do and how you do it and will provide you with repeat business. Your second line network is where you will find your next potential client. I have got just over 400 connections, (there is a story to why that is which I will share with you on another time), my 2nd line network extends to just over 165,000 people.

I have no idea how much a cold call list of 165,000 of potential leads would cost me and whether the data would actually be up to date or even how long it would take to contact them all. More to the point, they don’t know who I am and to be honest, they just don’t care. Even if I managed to get past the receptionist or the “gate keeper” and can actually speak to the decision maker… they are likely to say “Stuart Carpenter who?”, “LinkedIn what?”, “No thank you.” As a sales person, before LinkedIn, I had invested in cold call lists and I know how demoralising it can be to get a “No” 100 times a day. I have a lot of respect for teams specialising in cold calling because I hate it, I am no good at it and I find I lose motivation with each rejection.

Get Introduced

As I said before your 1st line network should know what you do and how well you can do it, so lets look at this example. From the 165,000 leads I have, I’ve found a potential lead I can genuinely help in business. (I narrowed the search down to “Sales Manager” as these are the people I help most)

The great thing with this connection is that I know Andrew (the one in my 1st line) well and have already helped him. I am very confident that he will speak very highly of me and will make the introduction. So I will send him a personal message.

How easy was that? If Andrew (2nd line) asks Andrew (1st Line), in hindsight this probably wasn’t the best example having 2 Andrews, how he knows me he will will respond by singing my praises which will make my approach so much easier when I engage.

So at least now when I speak to Andrew it will no longer be a cold call but essentially already warmed up. Now, I am not saying that the potential lead will look at buying my coaching services immediately, but I can put him in a “Tag” group to remind me to follow up in the future. (For more info on “Tag” groups read How To Manage Relationships)

If you do this just 5 times a day, that is 25 introductions a week, 100 warm calls that can be made a month. How good you are at converting is down to you.

When I use LinkedIn For Business, I use LinkedIn to start the relationship and sell the phone call. I use the call to sell an on or offline meeting and the meeting to demonstrate what I can do for the new lead. I never sell directly on LinkedIn, the relationship is nurtured on LinkedIn and then I look to take it offline to begin building the trust.

Why is 80% of my business now coming from LinkedIn, well quite simply because I love using it, it is such a powerful platform. It is more sustainable and more enjoyable than cold calling and for me has a much better return on investment than any other marketing activity. It also enables me to do the things I love, meeting new people and helping new people.

I have found this to be a really powerful method of growing my network with the right people I can start to have meaningful conversations with. Even while I was writing this article I made a call to someone I got introduced to on Friday and I am now meeting him next Wednesday. Which reminds me that I must thank the contact for introducing us, a personal thank you goes a long way, it strengthens the existing relationship and will give me the opportunity to ask if I can return the favour.

For all those sales people out there who have ever said, “I am really good at selling once I get in front of the client!”, I know that I have, try this method, what have you got to lose? It only takes 5 minutes out of your day and I am sure your sales manager won’t complain about those 5 minutes if you have just set up a meeting with a potential client?

I hope this article was of interest to you and that you enjoyed reading it. If you found it of some value please share it with others who you feel could genuinely benefit. I can’t thank people enough for their input, questions and feedback as you are the ones who are inspiring me to write these articles.

If you would like a question answered, or a complimentary assessment on using LinkedIn, please drop me a line through my Contact Page or a message below.

Have a very successful Q2! – Stuart Carpenter