How to Find Your Next Super Customer With a LinkedIn Search
Let's face it, lead lists are irritating, frustrating and downright bad. There isn't much difference, if any, from cold calling. Learning to use LinkedIn search to find potential customers will make finding leads so much easier.
If you're not already doing so you're missing out on a lot of potential sales. Nowadays our phones do more than just call and text, they connect us to a world of untapped potential.
LinkedIn has over 161 million members - What are you waiting for?
1. First Things First - Your Profile
The first thing you need to do is make sure your profile is set up the right way. When people go to your LinkedIn they need to easily be able to see what your company does and why you are qualified to help them with what is it that they need.
Start your summary with a quick and easy statement about what you do, then continue with explaining your experience. It's best if you keep everything clean, short and sweet.
If your company does marketing, you don't need to mention the years that you spent as a server. Stick to what is relevant.
Quite possibly the most important part of your profile is your call to action. Let them know where to get ahold of you. This could be a phone number, email, or landing page.
2. Check out the "People Also Viewed" Section
We all have an idea of our ideal customer, in fact, someone might even pop into your head when you think about it. Using the "people also viewed" section can help you in your LinkedIn search for potential sales.
Doing this can be quite simple. Go to the profile of the customer that you would love them to be like and look off to the right side. There you will find your gold mine, these will all be people who are similar to this person.
Now, just like an actual gold mine, you will have to sift through. Not everything that glitters is gold, but it will give you a great starting point.
3. Pay Attention to Second Degree Contacts
As you most likely know, LinkedIn is all about making connections. It's important to keep your first-degree connections warm, so make sure to congratulate them and comment on posts every now and then.
This will keep you familiar to them and open up more pathways to making their connections, second degree contacts, your connections. This won't happen overnight so keep some realistic expectations and give it some time.
4. Use Your Newsfeed to Create Warm Leads
The LinkedIn newsfeed is a great resource that many people tend to ignore when looking for potential sales. Every time you post something, whether it's your content or not, it will pop up for all of your contacts to see. This is an easy way to keep your network full of warm leads and show them that you are an expert in your field.
If you are sharing someone else's content you need to also include what your thoughts are on the subject, that was your connections can see your knowledge as well.
You can also filter your newsfeed to only show your new connections. This gives you the opportunity to show them some love and turn your new connections into warm leads.
Paying attention to your connections will also give you plenty of information about then, you'll be able to know when they change jobs, get a promotion, or become unemployed. This will give you more of an edge and you can be ready to pitch to them when they will be the most receptive.
5. Look at Skills & Skill Endorsements
Another hidden gem is the skill & skill endorsements. LinkedIn users can get creative with their job titles, but skills can give great insights into their capabilities.
Depending on what your company does, this can give you a whole new set of prospects based on their skillset. Need to find Sales Managers, look for skills like management, leadership, negotiations. People tend to endorse skills that they themselves are also skilled at, so you can use this very similarly to the people also viewed section.
6. Don't Ignore LinkedIn Groups and Answers
You also want to pay attention to the LinkedIn groups and answers both of these can give you plenty of your prospects.
There isn't a better way to show people that you have something that they need then answering a question that they have. People go to that section because they are looking for something, if you can help them with it you are on your way to helping them down their buyer's journey.
Not to mention it's a great way to turn cold leads into warm ones.
When it comes to groups, start or join a conversation. Make sure that you are keeping what you're saying informational and that it's not too much like a sales pitch. Mentioning what your company does is fine, but focus on helping give information to the people who are looking for it. Take note of the other people we join in the conversation, they most likely are looking for a similar solution.
7. Dig Into Your Competitors' Connections
There's no better way to find more prospects than to look at who your competitors are talking too. This can be a lot easier than finding people all on your own. These are people that your competitor has already determined are good prospects, now all you have to do is have a better pitch than they do.
LinkedIn has plenty of people with problems that you can solve. Regardless of what you have to sell, they are waiting on your help.
Follow the few things mentioned above and you should have no problem finding potential customers.