Why You're Not Getting Enough LinkedIn Leads
Your profile rocks. Your content resonates. Your network engages. So why are you *still* not getting the leads you expected?
With so many gurus emphasizing the importance of your personal brand and inbound activity levels, it's easy to expect the doors to open wide on LinkedIn when you just follow the steps.
Who doesn't love getting a message from a highly qualified lead inquiring about your services or programs?
But, inbound alone is not enough for most of us.
Without a solid outbound strategy, you're relying on the luck of the draw and people "magically" discovering you on their own terms.
In this Mondays with Mindi episode, we discuss how you can stop betting on popularity or influence on LinkedIn and instead create your predictable pipeline of highly-qualified leads by implementing this one simple outbound strategy.
The Unpredictable LinkedIn Leads Pipeline
If you’re like many people who come to me to grow their business using LinkedIn, they feel like they DO get some inbound leads that are good but for some reason it’s not consistent or predictable.
One mistake that many people make when starting on LinkedIn with the intention to grow their business is that they get sucked into believing that personal branding and content marketing are the ONLY things needed to grow their business on LinkedIn.
There’s this misconception that creating an irresistible LinkedIn profile and sharing content that speaks directly to their target audience is THE missing piece to get people into conversations with them and reach out to inquire about their service.
Now I totally get it because I DO teach how to create an epic LinkedIn profile that gets the right people’s attention - I have an entire process I teach for every single section of the profile inside my program called The LinkedIn Accelerator.
But unlike your careerist counterparts who just need to “look good” and the headhunters and HR teams start beating their down their door with opportunities once they have the right keywords and messaging -- you as a business leader or entrepreneur CANNOT stop with just a LinkedIn profile if you’re trying to get more leads.
But why does “so and so” in my space claim they are getting a ton of business from LinkedIn, and they never once mention the messaging they’re doing?
First of all, we are often comparing ourselves to people who are often a LOT more experienced on LinkedIn than we are and have a MASSIVE network of thousands of engaged followers.
They actually may be getting enough inbound traffic because their following is established, they’ve been around a while, and they have already built the foundation necessary.
Think about the personality brands like Brene Brown, Amy Porterfield, Glennon Doyle, James Wedmore… these people have been around for well over a decade. They likely aren’t checking their LinkedIn messages - and a bulk of their business is coming from inbound. With list sizes in the tens and hundreds of thousands, you don’t have to do as much outbound.
On the other hand, you may be comparing yourself to people who do seem a bit closer in network size and experience - but have you considered that they may be doing a LOT more messaging on LinkedIn than you think, and you’ll never know because you don’t live in their LinkedIn inbox.
If you’re not getting enough business on LinkedIn - it’s time to let go of this misconception that all you need is an irresistible personal brand and regularly post great content.
You’ve got to find another way.
The Predictable LinkedIn Pipeline is NOT a Myth
I recently brought on a new client who is literally the best at what he does in his niche as an attorney.
If you want the most aggressive, tenacious attorney who will fight for you - he’s your person. On the flip side, he cares more than you might expect about the wellbeing of his clients and their future.
We started working together because there was something missing when it came to building predictability into his LinkedIn pipeline.
He’s had LinkedIn connections that led to a conversation over coffee that resulted in bookoo dollars of referrals and new business for him.
He’s also wasted a TON of time accepting connections from people who were not the best fit and just tried to sell him something.
What was the problem here? He relied purely on an inbound approach.
He expected his reputation in the industry to proceed him, his well-written LinkedIn content and other referrals to simply come his way because of who he is and the message he’s putting out there.
When he realized it wasn’t happening at the level he wanted, he needed to figure out a different approach because his time is too valuable to be trying a bunch of different tactics and not getting a predictable return on his investment into LinkedIn.
So what do YOU think was missing from his approach?
In context of what we’ve been talking about today, you likely guessed the problem that needs solving in his situation.
He’s ONLY doing inbound and needs a balance of outbound to get the results he wants in that range of having a few (or more) calls every month with his ideal referral partners.
If calls is what you want, you better be spending some time in your LinkedIn message (like what we talked about last week on Mondays with Mindi!)
LinkedIn Outbound Strategy the Mango Way
If you’ve followed me for any length of time, you might have heard me reference doing something “the mango way” on LinkedIn - that’s because I believe that there’s a better way to do LinkedIn than what we typically see most other people doing. If they’re zigging, we’re zagging.
Let’s talk about the most important things to consider as you’re mapping your LinkedIn outbound strategy to start getting more leads on LinkedIn.
#1 - Know who your target audience(s) are
Sometimes we assume we know who our target audiences are until we actually decide to go outbound. At this point, we have to get granular with figuring out how they self-identify on LinkedIn and telltale signs that they are a fit for us.
If you are doing any type of content marketing on LinkedIn at the moment and getting some responses or engagement, you might want to start there to figure this out.
If you are not a brand new business or pivoting your offerings, then the simple way is to reverse engineer your customer base. Who’s already doing business with you? If you’re happy with them, these are your target customers.
#2 - Find your target audiences on LinkedIn
This is where it gets a bit trickier when you have NEVER done prospecting before. Most of us don’t have that sales background, so searching for our people as individuals on LinkedIn (rather than waiting for them to appear as they do with content marketing and inbound) can be uncomfortable.
If you’re looking for a simple way to get started - I would recommend looking inside some of the groups you’re a part of if they also have a number of people you’d want to do business with or who could refer you to people who’d make for good customers for you.
A good example of this would be that I’m in a number of entrepreneurial and go-getter business groups, where the people inside these groups are comprised of some great referral partners or people I might want to hire or do business with in the future. I get connected with them on LinkedIn and strike up a conversation.
#3 - Think through your approach
Depending on your target audience, you MUST know what they would most likely respond best to if they don’t know you yet.
This is where a lot of people get tripped up because they want a shortcut and snag someone’s “best LinkedIn connection template” and copy it for their target audience.
You have to KNOW your target audience before you can craft a message that actually works, and you must be able to get into their head to understand how they process your words.
That first message matters more than you think and sets the precedent for all of the communication after that point leading up to the sale or collaboration.
#4 - Track your performance in # of leads
You cannot improve what you are not measuring. We’ve all heard this, but it does take some setting up in a performance dashboard (my preference being a good ol’ fashioned Google Sheet) to ensure you are getting the results you want.
Some important things to track would be:
# of connection invitations sent
# of InMails sent
# of connection invitations accepted
% of connection invitations accepted
# of calls booked
# of calls that converted to a lead
# of leads converted to a sale
You’ll need to track your performance for at least a couple of months before you can see the patterns to determine if the outreach is performing to your expectations.
Then, you’ll need to adjust based on where you’re falling short of your baselines.
Keep in mind that there is ALWAYS a solution and a way to improve each and every metric you’re tracking.
Over months, you will create a predictable pipeline on LinkedIn because you’ll know exactly which metrics move the needle for you and adjust those metrics to give you the right flow of leads.
And can you have too many leads? You definitely can! I nearly killed one of my clients with 37 booked calls in a month -- so start small and work your way up from there.
Getting more leads on LinkedIn can be as predictable as you want it to be - it’s all about creating a process that works for you and generates the results you want.
If you’re looking for that extra edge to get you started on the right path with LinkedIn to start getting more leads, get on the waitlist for the next cohort of The LinkedIn Accelerator kicking off at the beginning of 2022, which is tailored to take you through ALL of the sections on your LinkedIn profile in just five days flat - - one week, and you’re off to the LinkedIn races. If you’re interested, here’s the link to get on the waitlist and find out a few more details.
What additional questions do you have about getting leads on LinkedIn? Leave them below in the comments or shoot me a private message. I’m happy to answer them!👇
