LinkedIn is a phenomenal resource for making connections, especially now that many of us are networking from the comfort of our home. There are currently more than 500 million users, which means you have an incredible opportunity to reach a bounty of current customers and potential prospects who are just a few connections away.
If you’re looking to make a cold call warm, you can use LinkedIn to send a short message and ask how your prospect is doing. Ask about their health, their family’s safety, and how their company is holding up. Those elements should be your primary concern. The discussion will also give you a read on where they are socially and economically.
Another piece of the conversation should be reaffirming your relationship with them. If you’ve worked with them before, ask if they’re still happy with the results of a past project. You might hear about some non-utility-cost financial or non-financial benefits that you can add to your Success Story Archive. You could also ask about what trade organizations they belong to and what publications they’re reading so you can gain insight into where they get their information and what their key issues and interests might be.
Here’s another way to approach things. If you’re thinking of contacting a colleague of someone you’ve worked with, ask if you could use your customer’s name. Chances are they’ll not only say yes, but also give you permission to have potential customers call them for a reference. That’s really the key to the kingdom. With that permission, you could proactively research who they’re connected to. You now have an attention-grabbing way to introduce yourself.
Lastly, doing some research on a company or a particular person can give you material to mention when you write them a message. Perhaps they recently presented on behalf of a trade organization or served on a panel that’s relevant to your offerings. Those are the people you should be making connections with. And when you do request to be connected with them on LinkedIn, do something more creative than clicking a button that populates your connection request with the usual, boring canned greeting: “I would like to connect with you.” Make a real effort to personalize your connection request. For example:
“I read your PowerPoint from the panel you co-presented last year. I found it to be very relevant and thought I should send you a connection request.”
Anybody who gets that connection request will probably accept it because you know who they are and it’s clear that you are contacting them for a reason. In short, you are making a cold call warm, and once the door is open you can start a conversation about what you do, what you sell, and the folks you have helped. If the person you’ve connected to knows someone else with similar needs, then that’s a bonus. What’s more, you can ask them to use their name and continue the referral process.
One more thought... This is not some sort of contest where you get prizes for the largest number of connections, etc. You should have a legitimate reason to connect with someone, and you should be committed to investing the time to nurture that relationship with a goal of creating a win-win situation for both you and your connection.
