Having collaborated with diverse businesses, ranging from Fortune 500 giants to local enterprises, to boost their online sales and leads, I’ve consistently wondered, “Why isn’t LinkedIn a goldmine for acquiring new clients?” Is it because:
- LinkedIn’s ad offerings are subpar? Perhaps.
- People aren’t regularly active on LinkedIn? Maybe.
- Key decision-makers and buyers aren’t present on LinkedIn? Certainly not. Despite my uncertainty, I believed a better approach existed and resolved to uncover how to generate leads for our company through my LinkedIn network.
Does LinkedIn Offer Business Generation Potential?
Firstly, let’s pause and assess if pursuing this is worthwhile. It’s widely known that LinkedIn hosts the world’s largest network of professionals. However, the magnitude of this opportunity becomes even clearer when we analyze the actual figures.
As per LinkedIn:
- Currently, there are 500 million professionals on their platform
- 100 million users engage daily
- 40 million users hold decision-making positions This translates to 40 million potential prospects on LinkedIn who can influence business and purchasing decisions. This undoubtedly highlights the existence of a vast audience, presenting a significant opportunity to generate new business through the platform with a well-defined strategy.
Defining Strategy Parameters
Having established the potential, it was time to identify the right approach. For me, the ideal strategy needed to fulfill these criteria:
- Consistent lead generation
- Replicability and minimal time investment
- Zero advertising expenditure
- Absence of mass spamming
The Methodology
Here’s the straightforward three-step process I devised, yielding excellent results without demanding excessive time or LinkedIn advertising costs. I’ve been implementing this 2-4 times a week, depending on my workload.
Step 1: Profile Viewing
Initially, we view target profiles. This entails identifying your perfect customer. Using LinkedIn’s Sales Navigator tool, you have 22 filter options to refine the database into your ideal target list. These include: Geography, Keywords, Relationship, Industry, Postal Code, Job Function, Job Title, Seniority, Years in Position, Years at Company, Years of Experience, Company, Company Headcount, and more.
Crucially, for our process, we only target individuals who are 2nd-degree connections. This serves two purposes:
- It establishes common ground, which is psychologically significant. A study cited by LinkedIn reveals that 87% of B2B buyers favored salespeople connected through their network, compared to 4% for unconnected individuals.
- It avoids mass solicitation of unrelated individuals on LinkedIn. Once the list is ready, we simply browse their profiles one by one. That’s all. This aims to place us in their “Recently Viewed” list. After viewing a profile, we observe if they reciprocate, leading to step 2. Related: 10 Must-Use LinkedIn Company Page Features
Step 2: Connection Request
After viewing target profiles, we observe who returns the view. We perceive this as initial interest or a preliminary opt-in. Once they view your profile, we send a connection request.
This request must always be personalized, avoiding the generic “I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.” Such requests are dull and lack context for connection. Address them individually to stand out and provide a reason for connecting. Personalized requests significantly increase acceptance rates. You can find more tips on crafting the perfect LinkedIn connection request elsewhere.
Step 3: Messaging
Similar to Step 1, after sending a connection request, we wait for acceptances. Allowing our targets to initiate avoids spamming uninterested individuals. Once they accept, Step 3 involves sending a message. This message should express gratitude for connecting and propose scheduling a call. While not overly sales-oriented, it aims to initiate dialogue and foster relationships with your target. If there’s no response after a few days, a follow-up message might be suitable, but avoid being pushy. No response likely indicates disinterest.
My Outcomes
Finally, let me illustrate the results achieved by implementing this process over a month. Entering with minimal expectations, I was thrilled by the outcomes:
- My profile views surged by 1200%, reaching almost 1000 views.
- I added nearly 350 new connections to my network.
- My messages to new connections had a 20% response rate.
- I scheduled 30 meetings with potential sales prospects.
Although I utilized internal software for scaling, this yielded the best results I’ve achieved from any lead generation channel for my business. This process is simple, repeatable, and applicable to anyone in B2B sales. If you’re seeking to generate more leads for your business through LinkedIn, give it a try!