Episode 715: How to generate leads for your business, with Stephen
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Good Morning Onward Nation \u2013 I\u2019m Stephen Woessner and welcome to Episode 715 \u2013 this week\u2019s solocast.
I am excited about you and I will cover today because it addresses a gaping hole that exists inside most businesses.
And that hole is the lack of qualified leads flowing into a the sales pipeline -- or -- potentially the lack of a sales pipeline altogether.
Here\u2019s the most recent data\u2026of the 28 million small business owners in this country \u2013 over 43 percent of them cite \u201cgrowing revenue\u201d as being their top challenge in their company.
That is over 12 million business owners in this country, Onward Nation.
And yes, the challenge to grow revenue can be complex \u2013 there can be a myriad of factors or obstacles in the way.
But, in my over 20+ years of experience in owning five different companies \u2013 and having interviewed over 700 of today\u2019s top business owners \u2013 I will say that the inability to generate leads \u2013 or to generate high quality leads that consistently flow into a well-defined sales pipeline represents the most significant challenge to building a scaling a business.
So that is going to be where we spend our time together today.
We will focus on how to effectively use LinkedIn to fill your sales pipeline like a pro. Today\u2019s lesson will provide you with the tools, resources, and the step-by-step you and your team can take and apply right away to begin building momentum with your lead gen.
Before we dig into the tactical step-by-step\u2026I want to first make ensure that we level set around mindset.
Here\u2019s what I mean.
Generating leads is not hard work. In fact\u2026it is straightforward and very little tech\u2026especially when you have the right recipe to follow.
But\u2026just because the work is simple does not mean it is easy.
In fact, I can almost guarantee that you will be frustrated at the beginning, you may even pound your fist on your desk and wonder why the results are not better, and you may get upset at your sales team for their lack of productivity.
I am sharing this with you so that when it does happen \u2013 instead of getting frustrated and thinking that success will always elude you \u2013 I want to you to say to yourself, \u201cAh, Stephen said that I would think this right.\u201d And then push forward.
Because pushing forward, whether we are talking about generating leads, or pursuing your life\u2019s passion, is what it takes to be successful. As Vince Lombardi once famously said, \u201cThe man at the top of the mountain didn\u2019t fall there.\u201d
But, if you remain focused on continuous improvement \u2013 refining your recipe \u2014\xa0you will be successful.
This is a long haul \u2013 it requires data collection \u2013 testing \u2013 adjusting \u2013 testing again \u2013 scaling \u2013 making mistakes \u2013 testing again.
So let\u2019s dig into the recipe and all of the ingredients.
First\u2026some quick words as to why I love LinkedIn as much as I do, and why in my opinion, it should be the cornerstone of your lead gen strategy.
There are approximately 500 million LinkedIn members \u2014 yes, 500 million. Hugely valuable community.
Next\u2026want to guess the average number of LinkedIn connections for a CEO?
- Interesting.
Why?
Because if 933 is the average \u2014 some are higher \u2014 some are lower \u2014 but you tend not to get 933 connections by accident \u2014 you work at it \u2014 so if someone has 933 connections \u2014 it is likely intentional.
Meaning, LinkedIn is a platform that he or she values \u2014 and a place where they spend time \u2014 that that is great news for you.
And yes, you should be reaching out to the CEO \u2014 the top decision maker at your prospect client \u2014 but that can be a topic for a completely different solocast.
Okay, next\u2026some additional insight into why you should care about LinkedIn\u202627 percent of all members are between the ages of 30 and 49\u2026and another 24 percent are 50 to 64 years old\u2026and 13 percent are over the age of 65.
So to say that another way\u2026over 64 percent of LinkedIn members are over the age of 30\u2026and 38 percent of total members earn $75,000 or more per year.
Bottom line\u2026there are 433 million people on LinkedIn\u202664 percent of them are over the age of 30\u2026and 38 percent earn more than $75,000 per year\u2026with the average CEO having 933 connections on the platform.
All of that speaks well to your opportunity of finding and connecting with the prospects who can accelerate you biz dev, Onward Nation.
So let\u2019s press forward by reviewing the seven ingredients within our recipe.
Our recipe for how to effectively use LinkedIn to fill your sales pipeline consists of seven core ingredients, and they are:
Ingredient #1: Improve your LinkedIn profile by adding video / audio clips, value proposition, etc. to the Summary.
Again \u2014 we will get tactical here in just a minute \u2014 and I will give you tangible visual examples within today\u2019s Show Notes for each ingredient.
Ingredient #2: Import your existing email list in LinkedIn and send connection requests.
Ingredient #3: Export your LinkedIn connection list and import into your client\u2019s email list.
Ingredient #4: Personalized thank you message sent to each new connection
Ingredient #5: Build your prospect list using LinkedIn\u2019s Advanced People Search tool.
Ingredient #6: Send InMail messages to your top prospects \u2014 and be sure to speak the language of your \u201cclient avatar.\u201d
Ingredient #7: Create and send consistent nurturing email campaigns with exclusive content just for your LNKD connections so they feel valued to be part of your growing community.
Okay, now that the high-level view of the forest is complete \u2014 let\u2019s dive in and go tree-by-tree so you can see all of the tactical ingredients of this recipe.
Ingredient #1 is all about getting ensuring that your LinkedIn profile is not just good \u2014 but that it is excellent. Why does this matter?
Because when you send InMail messages as part of Ingredient #6\u2026the very first place your recipients \u2014 your prospective clients will go to learn more about you \u2014 is your LinkedIn profile.
And if it is sparsely populated with value propositions, your connections count is low, you haven\u2019t taken the time to include a quality profile picture, you have zero recommendations, etc. \u2014 then it looks like you don\u2019t care \u2014 and they won\u2019t respond to you. Maybe your InMail was just spam \u2014 you are ignored \u2014 and they move on.
Or, if you have taken the time to include audio and video clips, Slide Shares of recent presentations you delivered, links to articles you have written recently, blog posts, recommendations from current clients \u2014 it not only takes advantage of all the profile building tools that LinkedIn provides you \u2014 but \u2014 you also visually demonstrate your thought leaderships and expertise to your prospective clients \u2014 and that is a very good thing.
Now when they receive your InMail message as part of Ingredient #6 \u2014 they move from skeptical questions like \u201cWhy did she send me this?\u201d to \u201cOh, interesting\u2026they would like to talk with me? Awesome.\u201d
Think of your LinkedIn profile as your personal landing page and it needs to be excellent \u2014 just like everything else in your business.
If you would like a tangible example \u2014 check out what my team has built for me on LinkedIn\u2026look me up\u2026send me a connection request\u2026and you will see illustrations of each step I just shared with you.
Let\u2019s move on to Ingredient #2 \u2014 import your existing email list into LinkedIn and send connection requests.
To make sure we are on the same page here \u2014 I am talking about taking your email list \u2014 the list you communicate with often \u2014 consisting of customers, prospects, maybe even vendors \u2014 people with whom you have a relationship \u2014 and then uploading that list into your LinkedIn account and inviting them to connect with you on LinkedIn.
But why?
First\u2026when you increase your number of LinkedIn connections \u2014 your network and credibility grows. Instead of having several hundred connections \u2014 you move to several thousand. And the next time a prospective client checks out your LinkedIn profile \u2014 they may see the number \u2014 and be impressed.
Second\u2026your number of 1st-degree connections in LinkedIn impacts the number of prospects you will be able to see during Ingredient #5 of this process \u2014 when you use LinkedIn\u2019s Advanced People Search. To cement this into place \u2014 let\u2019s quickly review what LinkedIn defines as 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections.
A 1st-degree connection on LinkedIn is \u2014 let\u2019s say you are listening to this solocast \u2014 you like what you hear \u2014 and decide to send me a connection request on LinkedIn \u2014 and by the way \u2014 you should totally do that \u2014 anyway \u2014 when I receive the request \u2014 I personally accept it.
And so you and I become 1st-degree connections.
Now, here\u2019s what\u2019s interesting. My nearly 24,000 1st degree connections instantly become your 2nd-degree connections. And all of my 2nd-degree connections become your 3rd-degree connections.
Again, why is that important?
Well, back to my connections\u2026my nearly 24,000 1st connections extrapolates out to a total network of over 20 million people when considering 1st degree, 2nd degree, and 3rd-degree connections.
That means\u2026I can search through a huge number of people during Ingredient #5 in finding our ideal prospects we might want to reach out to.
So, Onward Nation, building your number of 1st-degree connections is essential to your success on LinkedIn \u2014 and uploading your email list and sending out connection requests is a quick and easy way to boost your connection count \u2014 and the size of your network \u2014 with a couple mouse clicks.
Very powerful.
Here\u2019s how you complete the step. Click your \u201cMy Network\u201d on the left side of the menu and then you should see an option on the right side of the screen to import your contacts.
Then click \u201cAdd Contacts\u201d and you will see a screen with options to connect LinkedIn with your email service
Definitely do that \u2014 as well as the option to upload your email list and send out a massive number of connection requests all at one a couple of clicks.
In the testing that we have done here at Predictive ROI over the years -- is that about 30% of your recipients will accept your mass connection request within the first 72-hours. So this is an efficient way for you to boost your number of 1st degree connections -- nearly immediately.
Moving on to Ingredient #3: You should export your LinkedIn connection list and import into client\u2019s email list.
This might seem a bit backwards after you just uploaded your email list into LinkedIn \u2014 why am I now recommending that you reverse the process and export the list back out and import it into your email list?
A couple of reasons:
First\u2026LinkedIn is the only social media platform that gives you the ability to export the contact and profile details of your connections \u2014 and that is just plain awesome!
Second\u2026the email address someone used when getting onto your email address may be different than the email address they use within a professional community like LinkedIn \u2014 so you should have both inside your email list.
This gives you the ability to cross-pollinate \u2014 ensure your high-quality email content that you will be sending (ahem \u2014 only high-quality content here, Onward Nation) \u2014 will be able to reach them via LinkedIn posts \u2014 as well as via email.
And third\u2026there may be some hundreds of people who connect with you via LinkedIn \u2014 and not know how to signup for your email list.
No problem\u2026if you are importing and exporting on a consistent basis\u2026you will solve that problem to ensure you are fully covered.
Okay, onto Ingredient #4. Do you feel the momentum starting to build, Onward Nation?
You just beefed up your profile so it is ready to be checked out by the highly targeted prospects who will soon be coming your way. And then you expanded the size of your network so you have tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, or maybe even millions of people you can sort through to find the right prospects.
Rock solid awesome!
With ingredient #4\u2026I recommend that you send a personalized thank you message to each new connection \u2014 and \u2014 that the message includes something of value \u2014 and \u2014 it is a personal message. Not one of those automated messages that feels like a heavy-handed sales pitch as soon as you connected with someone.
Ugh \u2014 those are awful and I tend to remove someone as a connection as soon as I receive one because I feel as though I got duped into a sales pitch.
Yack. We will not be doing that with Ingredient #4.
No...instead I recommend you send something personal \u2014 a warm hello and thank you \u2014 some personalized context so he or she knew that the message was just for them and then a link to the video.
Now, here is a little scaling secret, Onward Nation \u2014 you \u2014 you personally \u2014 do not need to be the one who sends each of these messages.
You can and should delegate this to a member of your team \u2014 maybe even an unpaid intern on your team \u2014 and my team at Predictive ROI has been blessed to have worked with 24 rock star interns who were assigned this project as well as other front line \u2014 forward facing activities.
And if you\u2019re thinking \u201cunpaid interns \u2014 he is out of his mind \u2014 there\u2019s no way we could recruit unpaid interns in this market.\u201d Let me just say\u2026we have worked with interns who were students at Duke University, Ohio State, Purdue University, University of Northern Iowa\u2026and many other schools around the country \u2014 all unpaid.
If you want our recruiting recipe \u2014 go take a listen to Episode 137 \u2014 because I share all of the step-by-step of how we do it in full transparency.
Okay, back to lead gen and Ingredient #5: How to build your prospect list using LinkedIn\u2019s advanced search tools.
With these tools, you will be able to search through your entire network of connections using several powerful filters, such as:
- Keywords
- First Name
- Last Name
- Title
- Company Name
- Location \u2014 or mile radius from your office or location
And then you can take it deeper and make your searches more refined by including your prospect\u2019s years of experience, their function within their particular company, seniority level, what they are interested in, company size, and so forth.
And if you are looking to upgrade to a premium membership -- I am a big fan of LinkedIn\u2019s Sales Navigator because of the additional granularity in data that can be pulled as well as how leads can be categorized and some of the reporting actions or reminders you can put into place. Sales Navigator is not a CRM but it is definitely getting closer to that.
Okay, by taking the time to get specific about your prospect \u2014 you leverage LinkedIn\u2019s database \u2014 to deliver back to you a list of prospects who match your criteria and you eliminate the time wasting of sending direct mail to a purchased list and hoping for a better result outcome than the last campaign.
So let\u2019s say that in your first attempt \u2014 LinkedIn returns a list of 100 people. You can then click on the profiles of each person (see \u2014 Ingredient #1 is really important) and from their profile \u2014 you can better determine if he or she is a good fit for your lead gen efforts.
If yes, add the person and their details to an Excel or Google Sheet so you can keep a running list of who you have reached out to.
I get it -- this is tedious work \u2014 I completely understand \u2014 but \u2014 it is also where the rubber meets the road in the success of your business and it will fill your sales pipeline.
Okay, so if you have worked you way through all of the ingredients, you will have built a solid profile \u2014 you expanded your LinkedIn network by leveraging your email list \u2014 and being smart \u2014 to also reverse the process and cross-pollinate your connections back into your email list\u2026and now\u2026you have mastered LinkedIn\u2019s search tools with the resulting outcome being \u2014 a highly targeted prospect list \u2014 perhaps the most targeted list you and your sales team have ever had.
Now what?
Ingredient #6 is next.
Crafting your InMail message and sending it to each of the people on the list you just created. There are seven sub-ingredients, if you will, that make up the InMail message\u2026and they are:
- Include the first name of the recipient in subject line
- Your first 255 critical characters need to be awesome
- Speak to your \u201cAvatar\u201d
- Include credibility indicator(s)
- Include a client testimonial
- Include a call-to-action \u2013 reason for your prospect to reply to your message
- Include your email signature
- Here is an actual InMail message \u2014 a template \u2014 you can use to create your own.
Please use it.
My team at Predictive ROI has sent thousands and thousands and thousands of InMail messages on behalf of our client\u2019s lead gen efforts \u2014 as well as for our biz dev \u2014 and the template we included in today\u2019s Show Notes is the resulting outcome of all that testing and hard work.
You will dramatically shorten your learning curve by using the template.
One last point about the InMail and the template you will see in the Show Notes \u2014 there is a reference to \u201cspeaking to your client avatar.\u201d And yes, we have a recipe for that, too.
If you go to Episode 208, I explain in full detail how to identify your client avatar \u2014 how to speak directly to him or her \u2014 and how to deliver value in the process.
Having and mastering this knowledge is a must in writing effective InMails.
And now we have arrived at our final ingredient\u2026Ingredient #7\u2026creating and sending consistent lead nurturing content to LinkedIn connections.
When you export your LinkedIn connection data \u2014 and then import into your CRM like InfusionSoft, etc. be sure to add the emails to a special list tagged as \u201cLinkedIn Connections\u201d or something else that lets you know these email addresses are super special.
This list represents your MVPs and your goal should be to create content just for them \u2014 exclusive \u2014 and then share it with them \u2014 letting them know it was created just for them \u2014 and that your connection means something to you \u2014 your connection is important \u2014 that you value their opinions \u2014 that you want to hear from them and how you can do better \u2014 and that you share your insights and expertise along the way in such a context that you are providing value that can be incorporated into their business straight away.
So that when you do reach out to them to explore the potential of a business relationship \u2014 you are not reaching out to a stranger with a cold call \u2014 you are reaching out to someone who already knows you, already likes you, and may already trust you because you offered tremendous value first \u2014 and that is an awesome way to begin a business relationship.
Before we close out for today\u2026I\u2019d like to leave you with a couple of important thoughts.
Now that you have learned the recipe \u2013 and have seen the typical result outcomes \u2013 there are two questions you and your team need to answer.
First\u2026how will we take immediate action based on what you learned here today?
How will you apply it right away to fill your pipeline?
And that leads to the ultimate question.
Are you committed\u2026or are you just interested in having a steady stream of well-prepared prospects flowing into your sales pipeline?
Being committed means knowing exactly how much new business you are seeking, from what sources, and having a strategy in place to fill the pipeline to get it.
Let me share a quick story about Coach Nick Saban from the University of Alabama \u2013 who, in my opinion, represents the epitome of being committed.
Alabama is consistently one of the top-ranked teams in college football each year. They were the 2015 National Champions and won the title again at the close of the 2017 season.
Coach Saban\u2019s reputation is one of precise detail and process.
And once he uncovers a \u201crecipe\u201d for success\u2026he uses it over and over again.
But he also freely shares his secrets without fear that his competitors will be able to duplicate his results.
How is this possible?
Case in point\u2026my good friend, mentor, and three-time guest on Onward Nation, Don Yaeger, interviewed Coach Saban as they considered writing a book together.
During one of Don\u2019s visits with Coach, he asked if there was a secret formula or recipe that gave Saban an edge to recruiting the best talent out of high school year-after-year.
Coach told Don that his recipe is simple. He committed himself to watching every single play that any of their 85 scholarship athletes every played while in high school.
Every play\u2026so he could evaluate talent, effort, and other qualities.
Let\u2019s just think about the magnitude of that for a minute.
Alabama has 85 scholarship athletes\u2026who likely played at least 2-years of high school football\u2026at 10 games per year in high school\u2026and many high school players play both offense and defense during a game, so let\u2019s call it 100 plays per game.
All totaled, Coach Saban watches film on 170,000 plays to make his recruiting decisions.
It is an overwhelming number, right?
How could anyone do that? But Coach Saban does.
And the resulting outcome is that Alabama is consistently the best on the field each year.
So Don asked him, \u201cCoach\u2026aren\u2019t you worried that if we put your secret recipe into this book that people will steal it from you?\u201d
And Saban looked at Don and said, \u201cNope\u2026not worried at all. Because no one is going to be willing to put in the same amount of effort that I am willing to commit to our success.\u201d
So my hope is that you don\u2019t leave this solocast thinking \u2013 yeah, I knew LinkedIn could do that. My challenge to you is\u2026but is your business doing it?
And as Tony Robbins says\u2026\u201cA real decision is measured by the fact that you\u2019ve taken a new action. If there\u2019s no action, you haven\u2019t truly decided.\u201d
So I hope you will decide to put this sales pipeline-building recipe into action and then please drop me a line and let me know about your success.
So with that said, Onward Nation\u2026
I want to say again, thank you for taking the time to be here with me today.
It is an honor to have you here \u2014 thank you for tuning in \u2014 your time is sacred and I am delighted you chose this episode to be what you listen to, study, and take with you on your morning run, or maybe Onward Nation has become part of your daily commute, or in some other way has become part of your morning routine.
However our daily podcast fits into your daily routine \u2014 I want you to know how much I appreciate you sharing some of your invaluable 86,400 seconds you have in your day with me and the strategies we learn and share each day from today\u2019s top business owners.
I look forward to being back with you again tomorrow as we spend time learning from another one of today\u2019s top business owners.
But until then -- onward with gusto!\\
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