It’s been a hot minute. After much-needed rest, I’m back and this time with a super useful guide:
How to Prospect on LinkedIn like a Pro
This will be Part 1 of a 2-part guide.
LinkedIn is a goldmine when it comes to prospecting and meeting people.
This guide is for you if:
✅You’re a freelancer looking for clients
✅You want to do lead gen work for clients (it pays great and what I currently do for one long-term client)
✅You’re selling a service or you have an “ask” from people on LinkedIn
Cold messaging means you’re messaging people out of nowhere. Chances are they don’t know you and you need something from them.
It’s not scary…
…especially if you know what they want and you reach out to people the right way!
Short background about me: I’ve been an online freelancer for over 12 years and I’ve been doing lead gen work on LinkedIn for almost 2 years.
Now that the blasted introduction is out of the way, let’s go and get you business or leads (or new friends!) on LinkedIn!
1️⃣Make sure your LinkedIn profile is as good as it can be.
This includes: A professional and friendly looking profile pic.
I personally took notes from the LinkedIn photo of Oprah Winfrey. In her photo, she’s looking straight at the camera and smiling confidently.
I don’t believe you have to wear corporate attire, unless your work is best suited with a more formal look. For most of us online freelancers, a business casual look works great. It makes us appear warm, friendly, professional but NOT stiff!
2️⃣Put a lot of thought into your LinkedIn bio.
If you reach out to people, they’re most likely going to visit your profile before responding to your pitch. Your LinkedIn bio is the text that appears under your profile photo.
Use this format (or something similar): “I’m (insert your position) who (solves a problem) for (insert your target audience here)”
Examples:
✅I’m a social media manager who runs effective marketing campaigns for health and wellness businesses.
✅I’m a lead gen expert who finds quality leads for real estate firms.
✅I’m an experienced writer who creates copy that sells products for small to medium-sized businesses.
✅I’m a hardworking virtual assistant who makes the day-to-day operations of businesses run smoothly.
3️⃣Know who you want to prospect, AKA who are you looking for?
You can’t appeal to everybody. Don’t say, “I want to reach all small businesses in America.”
That’s too broad. Narrow it down to a niche or a few.
What type of niches do you want to target? It could be businesses in the health and wellness industry. Or you might want to target businesses in the real estate space or life coaches.
This step is very important.
✅Questions to help you create your prospect’s avatar:
Who can make use of your services or your client’s services best?
What’s in demand now?
What type of people/businesses can make use of your skills?
4️⃣ Once you know the type of people or businesses you want to target, it’s time to connect with them.
Let’s make friends!
For this, you’ll need LinkedIn Sales Navigator. It’s a paid service owned by LinkedIn and a powerful tool.
If you’re doing LinkedIn prospecting for a client, it’s ideal they shoulder the $80/month subscription. If you’re prospecting for your own freelancing business, the $80 is well worth it since Sales Navigator will help you close deals.
Sales Navigator allows you to narrow down the people via its search tool.
You may narrow people down to:
✅Their location
✅Job position
✅How long they’ve been working at their job
✅If they’ve been active on LinkedIn the past 90 days
✅The size of the company they own or work
for ✅And you may also enter keywords such as job positions like “real estate agent” or “entrepreneur”
5️⃣Once you find the type of people you want to reach out to, it’s time to send a connection request.
When sending a connection request, always add a short note. This increases the chances of people accepting you.
By all means, use a template BUT make sure you edit the template each time. Include the person’s name and their particular work or industry.
Here’s a template you can use and I’ve included what you can edit:
Hi (NAME),
I saw your profile and I’m eager to connect with you.
We can help you (INSERT WHAT YOU CAN DO FOR THEM). Let’s connect and I’ll share insights to help you grow as a (INSERT THEIR JOB POSITION).
YOUR NAME
Now here’s a concrete example using the template above:
I saw your profile and I’m eager to connect with you.
Hi Batman,
We can help you grow your social media presence. Let’s connect. I’ll share insights to help you stand out as a superhero in a competitive online space of heroes and villains so you can land brand deals.
Kind regards,
Diana
The main idea here is you tell them what you can do for them.
Mentioning both their name and job position makes your message sound more personal. Avoid sounding like you’re sending a generic copy-paste message at all cost!
6️⃣ After you’ve sent 70-80 connection requests a day, check the next day to see who accepted your connection request.
IMPORTANT: Don’t exceed sending 80 connection requests a day if your LinkedIn account is new. The platform might flag you for seeming spammy.
❓Where to find your new connections:
✅On the top menu of LinkedIn, click on MY NETWORK. This will open a new page.
✅On the left side, you’ll see CONNECTIONS. Click that and you should see a list of people who accepted your request.
✅Reach out to them all using Message #2. 👍Message #2 should:
✅Be no longer than 1 to 2 paragraphs. You want to sound conversational.
✅Thank them for accepting your request
✅Repeat what you can do for their business but with more details this time
✅End with a question
✅NOT be a sales pitch (that will come later. Relax!)
Again, make this about them, what you can do for them, and end it with a question so you can:
✅Learn more about their pain points
✅Avoid sounding like an annoying salesperson
Example template:
Hi NAME,
I’m thrilled we’re connected on LinkedIn and appreciate your time.
I can help you since I (WHAT DO YOU DO THAT WILL HELP THEM?). My work leads to (WHAT CAN THEY EXPECT IF THEY WORK WITH YOU?).
I’ve noticed people in your industry face challenges such as (INSERT 1 to 2 CHALLENGES THEY MIGHT BE FACING).
What about you, what challenges have you experienced in your (INSERT THEIR INDUSTRY) business?
(Side Note: Make it an open-ended question, meaning not a question that can be answered by a simple Yes or No.)
Warm regards,
YOUR NAME
Here’s an example of this template in action:
Hi Batman,
I’m thrilled we’re connected on LinkedIn and appreciate your time.
I can help you since I manage social media accounts with high engagements.
My work leads to better branding and more followers and brand deals for superheroes.
I’ve noticed people in your industry face challenges–such as effective online branding and finding organizations who support the work of superheroes.
What about you–what challenges have you experienced branding yourself as a superhero?
Kind regards,
Diana
Again, mention their specific work.
Why? Being specific will make your pitch sound more personalized.
Notice I used words like “superhero” because that’s my prospect’s job and I mentioned possible pain points he might be experiencing.
❗Important: Mention the pain points that you have solutions for. If you’re a writer, it might not help to mention Batman’s war with Joker unless your writing can help him win the war.
❗ Also, Message #2 ends with a question so they’re more likely to respond. Nowhere is there a sales pitch in Message #2.
7️⃣ If you’ve done your targeting and messaging right, you should be getting responses.
Whenever you get a response, track their Name, LinkedIn URL, and additional notes in a spreadsheet file. Google Spreadsheet is free and what I use.
Also, add a column to keep track of WHEN you send your follow-up messages.
❗IMPORTANT: When it comes to sales, following up is mandatory.
You got that? Mandatory!
You must always follow up!
I follow up at least 2 times, usually giving prospects about a week before I send another message.
We’ll cover the art of follow-ups in Part 2 of this guide.
8️⃣ So now that you’ve gotten replies, it’s time for Message #4: The pitch
When sending your pitch, make sure you acknowledge the message they sent you. This means you don’t have a copy-paste pitch.
For example, if they answered your question about the challenges they’re facing, mention this in your reply. I like to do this in the first sentence.
Next, your pitch should still be all about them and what you can do for them.
This time, however, you can get into the details more since you’ve built rapport and warmed them up.
Finally, end the pitch with a call-to-action (CTA):
Do you want them to get on a call? Do you want them to see your portfolio and hire you?
This depends on what you’re trying to achieve and only you can answer this.
See you next week! Part 2 is coming up.
Good luck and happy prospecting!
Xoxo,
Dee
www.seabeedeedaily.com
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