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Three-steps-to-attract-opportunities-on-linkedin
Do you feel like you're spinning your wheels on LinkedIn? Are you struggling to find and cultivate those who hold the keys to your next professional opportunity? Do you wish you knew an easy way to take LinkedIn conversations to the next step?
If you answered yes, then trust me, you're not alone. I hear this all the time when I'm working with private coaching clients and speaking around the world. Not to worry, help is here.
With these three simple, proven, time-tested steps, you'll be off to the LinkedIn races as soon as today. I call them my Three C's for LinkedIn opportunities: connect, cultivate, close.
Here's exactly how you implement them, step-by-step:
Step 1: Connect
Ask yourself who, exactly, has what you're looking for — whether you're searching for a job or a public speaking opportunity — and think about why you want to connect with them. Do you want to connect with VPs of sales? Directors or managers? If so, at which company? If you want a specific company, who would the decision makers and influencers be? Use Search to find them. (Keep in mind you may have to upgrade your account.)
Secret Hack: Send invitations only to 2nd connections to stay out of "LinkedIn jail." For the uninitiated, LinkedIn jail is when five people you send invitations to say they don't know you. You know you're in LinkedIn jail when you need an email to send an invitation to anyone, not just those who designate it in their settings.
Your LinkedIn profile must be attractive enough for others to accept your invitation. An attractive profile is one that's compelling to your ideal client, employer or opportunity. Use the words, phrases and even emojis that will get their attention and make them feel like you understand what they're looking for. Remember, the key to getting anything in life is to make it all about them!
Send these potential connections a personalized invitation. Use a template to make it easy, fast and to set the tone of your relationship. After they connect, send a strategic welcome message to start the conversation. There are a couple reasons for this. First, you have to be in a conversation for anything to happen. Second, this will serve to differentiate you from 99.9% of their other LinkedIn contacts, making you stand out. Finally, it will start moving the conversation in your desired direction.
This is an example of what I send:
"Hi, [first name],
Thanks so much for trusting me to connect.
Christine"
Step 2: Cultivate
This is where you keep building trust and nurturing the relationship. How? By always leading to the next step.
I'll explain.
Your goal in this step is to discover if your shiny new contact is the keeper of the keys to the fabulous new opportunity you want.
Here's the formula I use:
Acknowledge their reply. Then ask an open-ended question that relates to the opportunity you want. For example, I currently ask, "I'm curious, how are you using LinkedIn?"
Obviously, you would send what is most effective for your brand and the opportunity you want to attract.
If they don't respond to your message, start being "pleasantly persistent," as Sheryl Sandberg wrote in her book, Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. Others say, "elegantly stalk." How do you do that?
Depending on how much you want to engage them, start becoming very visible. Do whatever it takes to get their attention. This means engaging with their profile, specifically their articles and posts and endorsing their skills. Obviously, you would do it in a professional, value-rich way.
Secret Hack: Share their articles with your contacts with an insightful comment, @mention them and use relevant hashtags to increase their article's reach.
Step 3: Close
Up until this point, you've established from your questions that this person has or doesn't have access to the opportunity you want.
Here are the three ways you can close your LinkedIn connection:
The first and most preferable is to ask for a call. This can be as simple as, "Would you like to schedule a quick call to explore ... ?"
Alternatively, they might know who you're looking for, in which case you can ask for a referral: "Whom do you know who ... ?"
Or, ask if you can add them to your list (Everyone should have one — it's your most valuable professional asset!): "Would you like to be notified ... ?"
And that's how simple it is to attract opportunities on LinkedIn!
