Leads from LinkedIn
In an exchange with Alan Weiss last year, I argued that LinkedIn had become so large and multifaceted that some smart professionals were bound to find ways to generate leads from it. Having only one example, my case wasn’t strong. Our firm is supposed to know about these things, and, being research-based, this posed a natural challenge for us.
Gary Pines, Harding & Company’s leading advocate for LinkedIn, took up the challenge and has identified a number of people who have found ways to generate leads through the social network. Here are a few of the things you need to do use LinkedIn as a lead generator:
- Be a Joiner: LinkedIn has many special interest groups. “Join where your clients gather,” Lisa Nirell, who describes herself as Author, Strategic Marketing “Pied Piper,” and Growth Advisor - Chief Energy Officer - EnergizeGrowth LLC, told Gary, a sentiment echoed by others. Also, join where you will find others likely to want to help you, such as alumni groups. Gary received an email from a previous Towers Perrin colleague who found him through the Towers Perrin alumni group. They had not spoken since 1990, but now are helping each other gain leads.
- Reconnect: Connect with previous colleagues, clients, prospects, classmates, friends by searching for their names. Then ask them to be in your LinkedIn network. Because these people already know you, they aren’t inhibited by the Ethernet trust gap. They often want to help you as you want to help them. LinkedIn makes this process efficient. Many people have gotten leads from old contacts revived through LinkedIn.
- Answer Questions: The members of special interest groups often post questions on LinkedIn. Many of those Gary heard from recommended answering questions from people they might want to do business with. This is the social network expression of the old networking rule that you have to give to get. For example, rainmaker Toby Younis, Principal Consultant at B2B Marketing Pro, LLC, starts every day—every day—with a quick review of the requests for advice and information from members of the LinkedIn special interest group focused on the industry he consults to. When he finds a question he can answer well from someone sufficiently senior in a company he would like to do business with, he writes a detailed, high-value response. Some of those he helps this way contact him for more information and some of them eventually hire him.
- Make clear what you offer: Before contacting you, another LinkedIn member is likely to review your profile. Spend sufficient time on your profile to make it clear what you do and why you are good at it. Make sure it is compelling.
- Ask for access: Several people reported to Gary that they used LinkedIn to gain access to companies they had a specific interest in. One did a search for people with the job title of his typical client. Ten names came up within commuting distance. He sent emails to all and three agreed to meet. Another person wrote LinkedIn members who worked at a company he wanted to do business with to describe the value of his services and ask if there would be any interest in them. One referred him to two others in the company responsible for buying his kind of service. He sought and got meetings with the people.
Gary cautions that those who got leads from LinkedIn worked at this channel as relentlessly as those who get leads by giving speeches, working a professional association, making cold calls or any other method. If you are looking for an easy lead source, you won’t find it here. But the evidence is in: LinkedIn can be a good place to get leads. It is still a young service. As it matures and improves and more smart people use it, more ways to will be found to get leads from LinkedIn.
(We welcome any additional ideas and examples on this subject.)
February 23rd, 2009 at 3:16 pm
Another way you can make LinkedIn work for you is to take advantage of the three links it allows in your profile. Instead of using the default “my company,” change it to your actual company name. And for the other two choices you could use keyphrases for which you want to rank in Google. A link with keyphrases pointing to your website will be beneficial for your SEO.
February 23rd, 2009 at 4:11 pm
I really appreciate your frankness, with your comment “Our firm is supposed to know about these things,…..” My companies clients are I often kid the business associates who are members of the “many” generations earlier than my own (BA, Class of 77), that they have no idea how less natural it is for we, who are members of later generations than their own, to adopt and adapt to the many virtual means and methods of doing business, such as with a valuable tool like LinkedIn.
Thanks for Gary’s suggestions, I have started the reconnecting process, and have started a group for an association I am a member of, but will pursue the idea of joining groups where my potential clients would be and looking for opportunities to answer questions.
One value of LinkedIn that I have found is the ability to review the LinkedIn profile of potential prospective clients to find some type link to the contact, if not via a network connection, at least in the form of a common connection, (Eg: Fellow Harvard grad, member of some type of mutually beneficial group, even common hobby/prioe employer Etc.) this can help turn a cold phone call into at least a warmer call. PS: Thanks to Andrea for her reply/suggestion, my next step is to make the changes she suggests!
February 23rd, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Andrea:
How do you know all these things? They all seem to come from some secret den of knowledge which I only can access to through cognescenti like you. As always, thanks.
Dominic
I am not part of the later generation, but of the later generation, plus one. You idea of looking for a common interest or affiliation is a good one. Thanks.
Ford Harding
February 24th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I agree with Andrea.
Actually there is a huge community around Linkedin and how to make it work for you. Tonnes of blogs about it too
As a consultant I find it useful to use the status updates on Linkedin to let my network know what I may be working on, travelling to etc.
Now with apps on Linkedin - you can track what news and information is being shared by people.
in fact Linkedin themselves have a good resource on how consultants can use Linkedin
http://learn.linkedin.com/consultants/
regards
Gautam
February 24th, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Gautam:
Thanks for this. We were getting a lot of questions on the value of LinkedIn at generating leads, so word has not gotten out to our market. It may be less network sophisticated than yours. Also, we were looking for examples of professionals (lawyers, management consultants, accountants, architects, engineers, recruiters, etc.) actually getting leads from LinkedIn, and had not been able to get much information on that, though there is a lot of advice on using it for broader benefit.
Word and use and subsequent information is spreading fast, though, and we may not have caught it all. A quick search following up on your comment turned up this useful post:
http://www.captureprofits.com/blog/?p=148
This review turned up many articles that made one or more of the points in my post, but did not provide examples of lead generation for professionals. My post, rather than having a lot of original ideas, cuts to the chase for professionals, which I hope is helpful.
Thanks for the suggestion on using status updates and apps. I had not seen these suggestions elsewhere.
And it is always good to hear from you.
Ford Harding
February 26th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
[...] 6. Respond to three questions on LinkedIN. Never heard of questions on LinkedIN or getting leads from LinkedIN? Check out this link. [...]
February 26th, 2009 at 8:25 pm
The above link has some good tips.
March 1st, 2009 at 10:00 am
[...] Click here to read the full post and advice. [...]
March 2nd, 2009 at 9:56 pm
Hi Ford and Gary, Thank you for the positive mention in your LinkedIn article. I have found this network invaluable for 2 things: 1) uncovering leads for my research and articles and 2) re-connecting with old business associates.
In my upcoming book, I dedicate a chapter on the pros and cons of social media for B2B firms. I have 16 tips for maximizing your social media reach.
In summary, my recommendation is to proceed pragmatically. Social media do NOT (yet) replace the power of person to person networking, speaking, commercially published books, and other marketing strategies. Buy an egg timer and limit your online networking to 10-15 minutes a day. That goes for Facebook, Ning, Twitter, LinkedIn, and others.
– Lisa Nirell
http://blog.energizegrowth.com
March 3rd, 2009 at 2:33 am
Lisa
Thanks for this very appropriate caution. Does my writing this at 2:30 AM indicate I might have an issue, here. Can I have an extra 15 minutes, please . . . please!
I look forward to seeing the book.
Ford Harding
March 3rd, 2009 at 8:03 pm
Ford, I would be happy to autograph a copy of my book for you.
If you order it, let me know. Here is the link:
http://www.energizegrowth.com/store_energizegrowthnow.shtml
Warm wishes, Lisa
P.S. You win the official Nite Owl award!
April 21st, 2009 at 6:58 pm
Ford, great post and comments - a friend of mine forwarded the post to me. I agree with what you have said, and most of the comments… one thing I’d like to bring out is to create an intentional LinkedIn strategy… you can’t merely sign up and then wonder why you aren’t getting any value out of it! That’s like going to a networking function and wondering why no one is talking to you … and then saying it was useless…
Jason Alba
Author - I’m on LinkedIn — Now What???
April 23rd, 2009 at 7:40 am
[...] Ford Harding’s blog: Leads from LinkedIn [...]
December 8th, 2009 at 3:21 pm
If you want one extra trick to find new leads : Look at who viewed you competitors profile.
The Easiest, Cheapest and Fastest Way to Get New B2B Leads Using LinkedIn
http://philgo20.com/2009/12/the-easiest-and-fastest-way-to-get-new-b2b-leads-using-linkedin/