With extra time on your hands during quarantine, now is the time to implement a strategy – there are prospects out there!
The pandemic has us all working from home. An often-quoted statistic is the average LinkedIn user visits 17 minutes per month. Alexa is more generous, citing about 10 minutes per day. I’m off the charts in the other direction. Why? It’s a great use of “work from home” time yet I’ve been doing it for months.
Instead of laying out the logic, lets approach it on a task-by-task basis. I have 1,800+ first level connections. I write lots as articles, as you already know. You are reading one now.
Review messages. My first task. About 15 a day arrive. I check once a day, responding to each. I find more business-oriented messages arrive in this channel vs. E-mail. LinkedIn messaging still has a “novelty value”. I list everyone’s name on a sheet of paper.
Review notifications. It’s the birthday, work anniversaries, job changes and who commented on your posts section. I follow the prompts, but compose my own messages.
My 12 a day. Remember those 1,800+ first level connections? Some I know better than others. I have an alphabetical list on Word. Every weekday morning I send 12 personal messages, with the intent of getting to know people better.
Tallying. If I sent a message, I note “sent” by their name on my alphabetical list. If I heard back from someone, I note it under their name. It helps me track how many people are engaging.
Posting. I write lots of articles. Three times a week I post a new article link to the daily feed. I’m also looking through the feed at other’s posts. Sometimes I “like” or add a comment.
Groups. There are about 20, primarily where I expect I might get business. Once a week I post an article to every group. n another day, I review each group, reading posts and commenting on articles. People often reply, which turn up in notifications.
Invite new connections. I target certain professions. I do searches, looking for 2nd level connections. This means we know people in common. Every few days I send out more invites. They are personalized, use the person’s name and reference the specific number of connections we share. (I can’t believe we know 102 of the same people!) When someone accepts, I send a personalized ‘thanks for connecting” message.
Market to connections. I have three major lists. Once a month, I send each person a link to a published article via a link. I try to personalize each message, which means I do a few a day, most days. The article relates to their job or the people they manage.
Withdraw invitations. It’s not an everyday activity, but from time to time I look at the invites I’ve extended and pull back those a month old or longer.
Accept invitations. Some people accept my invitation to connect. Other people find me through groups where I’ve posted or commented. Maybe someone likes my post in the daily feed. Many I accept. Some seem dubious. They come from an unsettled part of the world. They have no shared connections. They have no profile information. Those I ignore.
The bottom line
This project costs nothing except time. It’s done via the basic, LinkedIn free membership. It can be done any time of the day. Early AM, late PM or weekends. It doesn’t require concentrated time. You can do a bit here and there.
I’m raising my visibility. Connecting with people with the potential to do business. Making an effort to get a dialog started. Leading with a social connection, that personal message. You might counter: “LinkedIn is a business site.” Good point. When you meet someone at a conference or party, you start by making small talk. Doesn’t everyone ask: “Where do you live?
Looking at my “12 a day” contact strategy and all those birthday and work anniversary prompts, I’m sending out lots of messages. I think the reply rate is 25-50%. Some surprisingly high up people answer messages too! If you thought about it in “prospecting” terms, what strategy gets a response rate that high? Let’s talk numbers. If I have 1,800+ first level connections, that means 450 – 900 people are responding. There must be some prospects in there somewhere!
Did I mention you aren’t spending any money?
You are working from home. You have extra time on your hands. Wouldn’t this be a great project to start? Your firm likely has rules on using social media, yet it seems LinkedIn activity is being actively encouraged.
Bryce Sanders is president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc. He provides HNW client acquisition training for the financial services industry. His book, “Captivating the Wealthy Investor” can be found on Amazon.
