Luring Prospects on LinkedIn
Luring means (from Merriam-Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary:
to tempt with a promise of pleasure or gain : ALLURE, ATTRACT, ENTICE, INVITE *don’t let money lure you into a job you don’t like W.J.Reilly*
The above definition has absolutely nothing to do with prospecting.
Before giving you the data on this method I must advise you to use these ideas at your own risk. There is a very fine line between what will work and what will be misunderstood and get you in potential hot water with the other person. Because I cannot supervise what you are doing I take no responsibility for any failure or problems you encounter attempting this technique.
I will do my best to give you the information in a way that you can execute this strategy safely. However in this short post I cannot hope to teach you the correct philosophy of networking well enough to insure you don’t cross the fine line between networking and prospecting.
I have successfully used this in a number of different ways – here’s the method.
Requirements
Before you can execute this strategy you need a value giveaway that has a very high likelihood of being wanted and then valued by your prospects. This could be a report, whitepaper, tool, resource, or any other such item.
The value of the item must stand alone and not be dependent on you or your services. There must not be ANY selling or prospecting effort present in the value item. Any such content will potentially cause you to be seen as a prospector rather than a provider of value.
Next, you must be directly connected to the person or have the basis for contacting them that is not in any way sales or prospecting based. I will explain this further in the method.
Method
Direct Connection: If you are directly connected to a potential prospect you would send that person a note (Send a message). The message would contain the following: Items in []s are editorial comments and not part of the message.
[The excuse (don’t use this verbatim, write your own)]
I was looking through my connections and discovered your profile. I find that it is often of value to talk to my connections and see if there are ways we can help each other on LinkedIn.
[The offer]
As I looked at your profile I discovered that you are responsible for production control. I have a great little report I put together on optimizing specific areas of production control – if you’d like a copy please let me know.
I would also be interested in chatting to see if we can assist each other on LinkedIn.
Summary
As you can see from the above my purpose is clear – mutual benefit and helping the other person. My value item must stay in that framework or this approach may not work and may even anger the other person.
The purpose of this approach is to get into a conversation with someone that could be a prospect or client. IT IS NOT AN ATTEMPT TO PROSPECT THEM IN ANY WAY. The goal is to start a conversation by offering and providing value outside of the products or service you offer.
You must be absolutely clear on your objective and have all of your words and offer in total alignment with the stated purpose or you will risk much.
To the above end it is probably best if this offer is not delivered via an optin form, but directly from you. It may even be advisable to make the value item in your name without a company or product reference of any kind. And that you include only your own personal contact information.
The goal is to generate a conversation and build a relationship – that is the ONLY goal of this action. You may move to the next step ONLY after you have that relationship.
As the method for a non-connection is more involved, I will cover it in a future post.
I leave you with a final word of warning – USE THIS AT YOUR OWN RISK and make sure you have the correct objective and alignment of your message and value item as described above.
A little PS to this post — see my comment to this post to see how this can be used for other objectives you might have, such as finding a job.
From Flyn
I welcome your comments and suggestions for this blog. I would especially appreciate your help in letting others know about my blog. Your personal invitations to others or use of the social media tools below is very much appreciated.
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I would also love to hear any success stories from the use of my techniques. You may send them directly to me at Flyn@OnlineBusinessNetworker.net or post them as comments to the appropriate article.
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