Tag: cold calling

Categories
LinkedIn

Better ways to use Cold Messaging on LinkedIn

The debate about cold calling wages on.

Many feel it’s a powerful way to build a book of business.

Many feel it’s a total waste of time.

I feel cold calling is like the old-fashioned chalkboard. We can still use it, but why would you since now we have whiteboards and even better, we have smartboards.

I refuse to use a chalkboard, except if I want to show my Grandkids what they are. I like whiteboards and even have one in my office. I use it now and then when I am thinking ‘out loud’. I love smartboards and use them when I have the need. I even use a smartboard app now and then when I am in a strategic conversation with a client or even with myself. Again, I don’t have a chalkboard.

Back to cold-calling. I refuse to cold call. Now, I have done my fair share of cold calling. Way back in the day. I had long lists of names, companies, and phone numbers. Eventually, we added email addresses to these lists. I was fairly successful in cold calling and cold emailing.

Today, I have better systems, technologies, and processes that help me to be more effective in reaching out to people who did not know me.

BTW, in my opinion, and for the sake of this article, cold calling as it’s called, does not include the use of these systems, tools, or processes. The moment you touch someone and they know you touched them, it’s no longer cold-calling.

Back to my processes

I have found that using numerous digital & human touches provides the best results for contacting, connecting with, and most importantly, getting into a conversation with a prospect.

Here is the YouTube video where I discuss my touchpoints prior to cold messaging on LinkedIn.

Read the touchpoints I use to make messaging to people who did not know me on LinkedIn:

  1. I review the LinkedIn Profile of the LinkedIn Member to find relevance and any substantial relationship between the two of us.
  2. I review their LinkedIn Profile, content, and engagement to find evidence they are active enough on LinkedIn to justify any further engagement or messaging thru LinkedIn.
  3. If they are using LinkedIn regularly, I review their activity to discover any content I can engage on with them. I make my comment relevant to their post and I tag them to ensure they are notified I joined the conversation.
    If they are not active on LinkedIn, I move on to another LinkedIn Member or I continue seeking ways to engage with this LinkedIn Member outside of LinkedIn.
  4. If I want to connect, I will then send a LinkedIn Invite referencing the content, any substantial relevance between us and I will use the words, “Please join me on LinkedIn.”
    If I only want to message them on LinkedIn, I will use an InMail credit. I will start the conversation with something about the content, I’ll point out any substantial relevance and then I’ll let them know the reason I want to talk with them. It will never be an invite to a sales pitch. Typically I am seeking insights or knowledge I hope they have or know someone who does have.

LinkedIn is a human-to-human social engagement site. It is not a replacement for email for cold messaging.

BTW – I have built a Quora Space focused on getting you the answers to your LinkedIn questions faster. If you want access to me for all of your LinkedIn questions, please join my Quora Space – Master LinkedIn as a Business Tool

/Teddy

Categories
LinkedIn

How much time does it take?

Purchased Deposit Photos

I get asked often, “How much time should someone spend on LinkedIn?” I don’t want to answer this question because it’s not focused on a goal.

I would prefer to answer this question, “How much time should someone put into using LinkedIn in order to create real business results?”

Sometimes I answer the question this way, “Consider reinvesting 10-15 minutes every day using LinkedIn to build your presence, your network, and your reputation. Look at the other related tasks you’re doing today that don’t create the greatest results and invest that time into using LinkedIn instead.” (Example – extended cold calling)

This is hard for people to do because they are comfortable with those other tactics, even if they are not creating real results.

This is hard for people to do because they are not sure yet of the right way to use LinkedIn. They have not experimented enough or been taught the proper use of LinkedIn.

The best answer is this, “I strongly recommend LinkedIn Members who want to create real business value need to integrate the use of LinkedIn into other relevant business processes.” (Example – I never cold call without first doing research on LinkedIn.)

There are lots of actions you can do using LinkedIn. Which ones are right for you is directly influenced by your goals. Here are a few ideas:

  • If you are recruiter you may need to invest more time doing research on candidate Profiles and less time on 1:1 engagement and content sharing.
  • If you work a captive book of business (i.e not hunting for new clients), you’re more likely going to spend time sharing and engaging on relevant content and less time using the LinkedIn Search tools.
  • If you are an inside salesperson focused on current clients, you may spend more time on 1:1 engagement and content sharing than you would on market/industry researching.
  • If you are in marketing you’re likely going to spend more time researching companies, relevant content and influencers and less time searching for people or engaging on content.

These are just a few of the diverse ways different people in different roles could be using LinkedIn.

Look at some of the different functions available within LinkedIn:

  • Refining/updating your LinkedIn Profile.
  • Commenting on and/or Liking Content.
  • Sending new LinkedIn Invites.
  • Managing LinkedIn Invites.
  • 1:1 messaging using text, images, documents, audio, and video, etc.
  • Sharing and engaging on content in LinkedIn Groups.
  • Research of LinkedIn Companies and Content.
  • Reading relevant and useful content.
  • Researching other LinkedIn Members
  • Analyzing your LinkedIn Insights (Profile views, Content activity,
  • Managing LinkedIn Notifications
  • Prospecting through LinkedIn Search
  • Sharing content in your LinkedIn Company Page
  • etc, etc, etc

I sometimes say LinkedIn is like a swiss army knife. Knowing what all the different blades are, helps you to determine which one to use when, and/or at all.

You don’t need to do everything all the time. You use specific areas of LinkedIn based on the specific task and/or goal.

Back to how much time should you spend using LinkedIn, and doing what?

Initially, I recommend investing a minimum of 15 minutes a day reviewing the different ‘knives’ and deciding what steps within LinkedIn could create the greatest initial value for you in your role. Then once you know how to use the tools, align your use of LinkedIn with other business processes while you continue to invest 15 minutes a day learning more about the tool and how you could again, integrate another LinkedIn activity into another business process.

Fact – if you don’t find a way to integrate the use of LinkedIn into other business processes, you will never completely adopt LinkedIn as a business tool in your role.

No one is truly successful using LinkedIn as a ‘stand-alone’ business tool