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LinkedIn is not for everyone, but if you’re in the camp that loves it, listen up. If you don’t love LinkedIn, let me convince you to take a second stab at it.
Financial advisors have mixed feelings about LinkedIn. I know because I hear their opinions daily. Some love it and can’t imagine doing business without it. They embrace the connectivity with people around the globe, being able to share value with prospects and colleagues, increase their credibility and visibility and build or expand their brand. Others want nothing to do with it and find it to be a hassle and a waste of time. They can’t imagine spending time on a social platform for business, hate the issues with compliance and struggle to come up with material to share.
LinkedIn helps people connect in the business world. It allows you to crack open the door to the network of your network. Without getting into technical details, you can see the people that your people know and connect with them, too, or leverage that information in any number of ways. Of course, LinkedIn does allow people to block you from seeing their connections, but we’re talking here about all the other people in your network who do allow you to engage with their connections.
To leverage LinkedIn for prospecting, follow these simple five steps to make it easy.
Step one – Plan time in your week
Yes, networking does take a bit of time, no matter if it’s in person or online. Choose when you’re going to network using LinkedIn and make an appointment with yourself. Imagine how much time you would spend at a face-to-face networking event and cut that time in half as your benchmark for how much time to spend on LinkedIn. Remember, you might just find your next best client.
Step two – Know what you want
Decide what you’re looking for before you start. This is where having a niche is helpful. If you prefer to work with doctors, you’ll be searching for titles like doctor, physician, MD, etc. If you prefer to work with business owners, you might be searching for titles like owner, CEO, president, founder, etc. Determine who you’re looking for and create a list of terms you will use on LinkedIn while you’re searching.
Step three – Choose 3-4 people from your connections to browse their connections
Pick the people from your connections that you will network with during your LinkedIn session. These are the people whose network you will begin to explore using your pre-determined search terms.
Step four – Search their networks for prospects
Choose the first person who you wish to explore from your list. Open their profile and click to open their connections. Using the filters that the basic version of LinkedIn provides, you’ll want to search second-degree connections and then add in any filters you wish to help you narrow your search. You can choose an industry, type in your identified titles, location, specific companies, etc. Make a list of no more than five names from each person you search who you identify as being a potential good prospect for you. Some may have more than five who you can address later. Some may have fewer, too.
Step five – Talk to your connections for possible introductions
Now it’s time to act. You have a list of people that you believe could be potential prospects for you. And you know a person directly connected to them (at least on LinkedIn). Call your connections and say something like, “I was working LinkedIn this week and I found several people in your connections that I would like to discuss with you. Are you available for lunch or for a phone call?”
As you meet with your connection and discuss their connections, you’ll find out that they might not know all the people you’ve selected. Obviously, if they don’t know someone, cross them off your list. But, if they do know someone, that will open a conversation and lead you to be able to discuss how they could help you with an introduction.
This five-step process for LinkedIn prospecting works well and positions you for prospecting success. You get to select who you want to meet and by engaging your connection in the process, they learn more about you, your business and the kind of people that make great prospects for you. Most likely, they’ve never made the connection in their head between you and this person they know until now. That’s the beauty of LinkedIn prospecting. In return, encourage them to find people in your LinkedIn connections that they would like to meet and keep the dialogue running. Here’s to meeting your next big client!
And, if you still need help with your business development efforts, having productive referral conversations or getting more referrals from clients, reach out to me using my contact information below.
Michelle R. Donovan is the owner of Productivity Uncorked, LLC and helps financial advisors to fix their referral issues and build robust practices with personal coaching and Online Courses. Michelle’s books have become Wall Street Journal best-sellers, Amazon best-sellers and published in seven languages. Email Michelle at [email protected] to learn more about her free Client Referral Pipeline Calculator for Financial Advisors or connect with her on LinkedIn.
Read more articles by Michelle R. Donovan
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
