Turn Calls/Inquiries into Signed Retainer
Agreements and Cash in the Bank… Remotely
Richard: Do you have any words of warning for people doing the wrong things on LinkedIn, things that will waste time or cause alienation from a group? Are there problems we have not discussed?
Lynda: I think the only thing is to trying to sell. I always make the analogy of going to a networking party. You do not go up to someone and say, “Hi. It’s nice to meet you. I have a great product. Do you want to buy it?”
There are some people that do that on LinkedIn. You see people doing it everywhere. LinkedIn is not for selling. LinkedIn is just to make a connection, start a relationship. Rather than you trying to sell your services, it is a soft way to get the client to say, “I need your services.”
Just think of it as how you would build relationships, treat people with respect and provide value to them. Then, people will start to trust you when they see you there for a while. You have to be there regularly; in groups and that kind of thing.
Richard: That makes sense if you have a regular presence in a group. People will assume you are the authority in the group because you are always there. You are always putting out interesting stuff that informs them.
Lynda: Exactly.
Richard: Have you explored any of the paid options, the professional version or upgraded version of LinkedIn? Are those options necessary?
Lynda: I think it depends. I have not. I found the free version to be very satisfactory, providing plenty of contacts. I think for certain people, such as recruiters, it might be really valuable. I have not needed it, but some people say it is wonderful. I am not saying one way or the other. Just for me, personally, I have not found that I need it.
Richard: From the people who say the paid version is wonderful, what specifically have they told you about it? Do you know of any benefits that could be important to listeners?
Lynda: Nobody personally has told me. I just read articles about it, published by social media people.
Getting back to connecting, sometimes LinkedIn will say, “This person is out of your network. You can’t connect with them.” I always find some way to connect with them. Just poke around a bit.
For example, if you put their name in the search engine, sometimes in the search box it comes up in a different way. Then, you can connect. Again, I always find a way to connect with people. I do not have a problem. You have to poke around a little bit though, just to feel familiar with the whole thing.
Richard: If you are in a group with someone, and also connected to them directly, will they preferentially see your posts? Is it just the same as anyone else in the group?
Lynda: No, I do not think they preferentially see your posts. If you are part of a discussion, everybody in that discussion gets an update every time anybody else participates. That is unless you say, “Take me out of this discussion. Do not send me updates.”
If it is an active discussion, sometimes it goes on for days or weeks. It could be a hot topic, and you keep getting emails. Sometimes it gets to be too much. Anyone in on that discussion will get an update.
Richard: I just did not know if it helps if you connect with someone in two different ways. One is through a group. Two is through a direct connection.
Lynda: No, I do not think they will get an update just if you are connected. It is only if they are part of that discussion.
Richard: Are there any other important questions about LinkedIn that you want to address?
Lynda: There is one. The question is, “Should you accept everybody who connects with you?” There are two different schools of thought.
In the beginning, LinkedIn really discouraged that. They said you should only connect with people you personally know. You can help them, and they can help you. If you do not know the person, do not do it. A lot of people are afraid to connect with anyone they do not know.
On the other side are, what is called, “lions.” L-I-O-N-S stands for LinkedIn Open Networker. Those people sometimes have thousands and thousands of connections. Obviously, they do not know them all. I do not even know all the people on my network anymore because I have over 1,000.
However, I am not a lion. Some of the lions actually ask, “Anybody want to connect with me? I will connect with anybody.”
I just read an interesting article stating the bigger your network, the more LinkedIn profiles you. We talked about that right at the beginning. Let’s say somebody types in your keywords. If you have a larger network, LinkedIn will put your profile higher than someone else with the same keywords. That is a good reason to accept the connections.
It is personal. You can decide if you want to do that. I personally have not had any problem. Nobody has spammed me that I know of. Nothing negative has happened. If someone wants to connect with me and I see no reason and nothing in common, I just accept the connection. I won’t even bother to do anything else.
If someone I want to connect with connects with me, then I send a “thank you.” I add, “Nice to connect. How can we help each other?”
You do not have to spend time on everyone. You decide. If you choose, just ignore the offer. You do not have to connect with someone.
Richard: That is kind of what I have done. I don’t know if this is bad on my profile. However, as a consultant and marketer to help attorneys, I usually only accept connections from attorneys or people very closely related.
If someone out of leftfield wants to connect with me, like a secretary at a bakery or something, I usually say no. First of all, why would this person want to connect with me? Second of all, I guess I secretly worry that I want my network to be tight and focused on what I am there for; not just for anyone with a pulse.
Lynda: That is one way to think about it. It is valid. What I found is, often people do not update their profiles. Sometimes somebody wants to connect with me. I have nothing in common with this person, but I accept it.
Sometimes I send them a message saying, “How can we help each other?” Then, they may say, “I just started this new business in your area, and I need your help with something.” Their profile doesn’t really say what they are doing because they did not bother to update it. Yet, they actually are a good connection.
In your area, maybe you just want to connect with attorneys. For the attorneys themselves, they don’t know who is going to need their help. Anybody could be a client for an attorney. It is probably a good idea to connect with everybody.