How To Get New Clients on LinkedIn

Want a steady flow of new clients and customers on LinkedIn? You've got to make the first move: it's all about the connection. 💪🏽

Too many of us have a mental block around reaching out 1:1 to get connected with the very people who'd want to buy from us, hire us for a project, or collaborate with us on a revenue-generating activity.

Are you still relying on inbound marketing to generate a predictable flow of new business? Expect that approach to takes YEARS -- not just a few months worth of posting to LinkedIn.

But the good news is that you don't even need to waste your precious time playing the content game on LinkedIn if you want to grow your business this month!

The secret is learning how to set up your LinkedIn social selling process without coming across as salesy, spammy or pitchy.

In this episode of Mondays with Mindi, I'll share my tried-and-true process for helping my clients average 5-10 new conversations with their ideal clients each and every month, and how you can get started with this same process following a simple three-part formula.

The First Movers’ Advantage on LinkedIn

Why is it that so many of us want people to come to us versus making the first move in reaching out to them?

Many of my coaching clients and group members have this really big mental block around making the first move on LinkedIn.

They often spend MONTHS (if not years) posting content and hoping that they’ll just pull in the right people into their network on LinkedIn, like they do on other channels.

Content is not the name of the game on LinkedIn.

It’s about networking. You actually need to make the first move on LinkedIn if you want to use LinkedIn to grow your business.

Unless you’re as famous as Arianna Huffington or Richard Branson, you’re not going to automatically attract followers no matter if you spend hours a day posting on LinkedIn and engaging in the news feed.

If you’ve heard that’s the way to grow your business on LinkedIn, you’re in for a sweet surprise today!

You actually do NOT have to create a lot of content on LinkedIn to be successful and get into consistent conversations with your ideal customers or clients.

But you do have to get comfortable with making the first move on LinkedIn.

What does this look like? In a nutshell, you’re going to start sending connection invitations and reaching out for that virtual handshake.

More on that in a moment!

New Clients Come From Conversations

One of the biggest mistakes I see people make on LinkedIn is that they think by posting content, they are becoming a thought leader, which will soon translate to money in the bank. 

And if they post consistently enough, they will get new clients DM’ing them asking for a discovery call.

*WOMP WOMP*

I’m not afraid to be the one to break it to you, but that’s not how it works on LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is not like other channels, where you can create a reel or TikTok that goes viral and get 1000 leads overnight. 

On a side note, does new business really happen like this anyway? I find it a bit suspect when people claim they are “getting business” using these tactics, but they equate “new business” to the number of views, followers, or emails on a list somewhere.

I’m sorry, but that’s not revenue!

In my humble opinion, new business equals the number of new clients or amount of revenue you are generating this week, this month, this quarter, this year.

The easiest way to measure your leading revenue indicators for most of the clients I work with who have a relationship-based business and sales process is how many conversations they are having with their ideal clients every week and month.

Why aren’t we tracking the number of sales-focused conversations we have each week or month? This is really the leading indicator for how much revenue we will make, and it’s not at all dependent on how popular we are on LinkedIn.

For example, I have a number of clients who rarely post on LinkedIn (some only once a month) and have multiple six- or seven-figure businesses because they prioritize their relationships with the people inside their networks over the content they post.

They would rather post less frequently on LinkedIn and have more time to spend DM’ing, reaching out to potential clients, and having conversations with potential partners and customers than wasting time on posting content and hanging out in their newsfeed.

If you’re a newer business owner without a social media marketing assistant, you should be posting a max of 2-3 times per week on LinkedIn, while the majority of your time would be better spent on identifying and reaching out to get into back-and-forths with people you can help that leads to revenue.

All conversations on LinkedIn should lead to revenue.

I’m not saying that relationships don’t matter, as I have talked about the importance of relationship-building many times on Mondays with Mindi.

But what I am saying is that the ratio of time spent on LinkedIn should lead to growing your business, getting into conversations with the people who matter, and networking with the right intention.

If you are not able to attribute ANY revenue or new opportunities from your efforts on LinkedIn, then you are doing something wrong. It’s that simple.

Let’s talk about what you can do differently to change all that.

How to Start LinkedIn Conversations

If you’re struggling with what to say to that perfect-fit client, that’s a GOOD thing! The easy way out is to just adopt the tactics of the salesy, pushy, aggressive sales types on LinkedIn.

I’ve even seen some people on the border of coming across as creepy when they come across as a stalker who dug into the alcoves of the internet to “personalize” their message.

Personalization is important, but it needs to be just the right amount of personalization.

Jumpstarting a cold conversation on LinkedIn doesn’t have to be complicated when you just act like a real human being -- and not a bot!

I believe that LinkedIn is the most powerful tool for you to connect 1:1 with your ideal clients and potential customers, and today we’ll talk about a few ways that you can start warming up people in your DMs and how these awesome conversations can actually turn into new business!

Okay, Mindi. I get it. I need to be the one to start these conversations that will lead to booking more clients, but I have no idea where to begin.

You’re going to be human first.

When you meet someone in real life, how do you start that conversation? 

Maybe you’re an introvert like me and have to see someone dozens of times before you say something, but guess what? That’s okay.

I’m one of those surfers who doesn’t say a word, especially when I am at an unfamiliar spot or see a lineup of people I don’t recognize.

First of all, I wait to say anything until I’ve surfed that same break a couple dozen times and feel like I understand my place in that lineup. Hierarchy and localism are a big deal in surfing. You never “hot dog” your way through a lineup. 

I work a lot on “reading the lineup” especially as a novice surfer.

Once I’ve seen this person probably a couple dozen times, I have an idea of their favorite spot to sit in the lineup, their surfing ability, their favorite board, what they wear, how they approach other surfers, and what types of waves they like to surf.

Then, I’ll wait till they catch a good wave and compliment them on that wave that I KNOW they were proud to catch. It’s a very simple gesture, but it opens the dialogue and also shows that I pay a lot of attention to the details and am not just handing out compliments.

Less is more.

The same applies to LinkedIn messages. You can learn a LOT about someone before you ever get into the LinkedIn messages with them. Once they respond, you’ll learn which direction they want to go with the conversation.

Here are some responses I tend to notice:

• “Thanks for connecting, no further communication necessary”

• “What do you sell? I might be looking for someone like you.”

• “How did you find me?”

• “Let’s talk shop… I love meeting new people!”

• “Can we hop on a quick Zoom call?”

• “I want to tell you all about myself…”

You use that knowledge of “reading the lineup” to craft a response that lets them know you have done your homework and belong in their network and messages.

That’s all it takes! It sounds too simple, but most people will never take the time to treat their messages in this way. 

They want a quicker approach that just brings all these people to them and requires no emotional or mental output from them to cultivate a relationship.

This approach may work on some level, but never to the degree that will consistently turn those cold conversations into new business opportunities.

3 Steps to Getting the Conversation

Let’s talk about exactly what it takes to turn cold messages into great Zoom calls using LinkedIn, what it takes to create a high-converting outreach message, and how to set up your LinkedIn outreach process to fill your sales pipeline "the mango way" 🥭(did I mention I love mangoes?)

#1 - How many conversations do you want to have?

You need to figure out exactly who your perfect client is on LinkedIn, which may be different from other social channels.

You’ll then need to do some research to figure out how many of them are on LinkedIn. If you have a very broad market, this may not be a concern. For example, if you’re targeting marketing agency owners, you’ll have years’ worth of target prospects on LinkedIn.

But if you have a narrow market where you think that your perfect-fit clients are probably less than 1,000 in total - you’ll need to be SURE that you take your time with your outreach message. For example, if you’re targeting Fortune 500 companies, your market is going to be a lot smaller.

I like to do an addressable market assessment for most of my clients and teach those inside my Accelerator programs how to easily run this assessment because this will give a more accurate sense of how many months’ worth of “target market runway” you have inside LinkedIn.

Basically, you need to know how big more audience is AND how many conversations you need to have each month to generate the necessary revenue for your business.

#2 - How do you respond to keep the conversation going?

We talked a little about this earlier, but it all comes down to really knowing your target audience and what they respond to.

If you already have existing customers, then think about the types of messages they responded to when you reached out to them all that time ago. You’re going to want to pay attention to the themes and problems you help them solve, and also how you can break the ice to start that conversation.

If people tend to come to you by referral, what does that referrer say about you in that message? I always listen for the keywords and how I am described by someone who refers business to me because there are clues I can use in my cold outreach.

Do you share any similarities with the types of organizations you’re a member of or communities you both belong to? These are GOLD when it comes to messaging because it gives you an easy way to start the conversation in a way that feels natural. If it’s meant to continue beyond the pleasantries, it will. If not, you’ve made a new business friend.

Do you have a podcast or show or blog where you interview experts, like them? If you do, it’s a very natural way to to start a conversation that does not have that salesy feel to it because you think they’d be a great guest and could contribute their insights (PLUS, get a bigger audience in return!)

It all depends on your target audience, and you have to figure out what gets their attention without feeling like a sales pitch.

#3 - How do you refine your process to get more conversations?

You test the process. You literally research 10-30 people that are perfect-fit prospects and test your messaging over the course of 30 days.

You then measure your results to see what worked.

If your sales process is typically longer than 30 days, you may need to simply pay attention to how many conversations you have during that timeframe as opposed to how many clients you closed during that time.

You then figure out a cadence that will work for you ongoing to give you the number of conversations you need to fill your sales pipeline.

I work with people inside my Accelerator programs to figure out every single step along the way and how to actually assess the results they get over a 30-60-90 day period to understand which levers they need to pull to improve their results.

Once you get into a good rhythm with your outreach, you rinse and repeat! I have worked with clients who keep the same rhythm for several months (and some for 1-2 years) before we change anything because you don’t mess with a system that’s working.

Turning cold conversations into new client on LinkedIn can be as simple as you want it to be - it’s all about responding to your messages in a way that works for you and generates the results you want.

We’re not getting into what you should actually say during that call to get the new business, but that’s a topic for another day. The goal from today is for you to start getting conversations on the regular from LinkedIn, whether you want about 5-10 a month… or more if you really enjoy social selling!

If you’re looking for that extra edge to figure out how to start networking effectively on LinkedIn to get on the radar of influencers and attract more clients for your business, join the next cohort of The LinkedIn Accelerator open till this Thursday, July 14 at 11:59pm. Here’s the link where you can find more information about this one-week experience!

What additional questions do you have about getting new business on LinkedIn? Leave them below in the comments or shoot me a private message. I’m happy to answer them👇!