Finding Customers on LinkedIn

by Joshua Botello

A question we get from many B2B small businesses is “how do I get customers?” We typically refer them to LinkedIn because it's the biggest professional social network for engineers, buyers, and manufacturers. Our clients might be on the platform and don't know how to find the right people to interact with. So in this video, I’ll show you a simple 3 step process to finding prospects and customers on Linkedin. 

Step 1: Know Your Customer

Step 1 is to know your customer. You’ll ultimately need to create a list of people to contact and send them messages but you need to know who to target. Here is the information you need.

Industry

You first need to know what industry your prospects are in. If you are an IT consultant you need to know what kinds of businesses you work with. This could be financial services or the hospitality space, whatever your niche or industries are you need to identify those. 

Company

Now that you have your industries down it's time to narrow them down to individual companies. This is a two-part step, not only will you need to find the biggest players in your industry you think you can work with you will also need to understand the geography. Can you work with these businesses nationally or regionally or locally? You need to be honest with how you can serve these customers if you start working with them. 

Position

Once you have your companies, it's time to identify the individuals you will need to connect with. This may get a little complicated because you want to go for the top decision maker like a CEO, however, this may result in no response because they don’t deal with those decisions. For example, if you are a manufacturer, you will want to work with a buyer who you will mainly deal with if you get the contract. If you do more technical manufacturing then a product engineer or someone who evaluates new products might be the target. 

Step 2: Find Your Contacts 

Now that you have identified the industry, some companies, and the positions you want to target, it's time to find them. 

Current Connections

If you work in this space already, you may want to leverage connections you already have on LinkedIn. Some of your contacts may already know these people and they could make the introduction for you. If this isn’t the case then we will need to do some digging. 

Search 

If you don't already have current connections to your targets, we will need to search for them. Go to linkedin.com and in your profile go up to the search bar in the upper left-hand corner. Using your targeting information type in your industry and when the results come up we want to find as many companies to target, click companies. You can narrow the list by industry filters, location, and company size. Make a list of these companies you want to target then clear out the search and type in your position. Grab a company name on your list and add it to the company filter. You will get a list of people who are available and if they have a connect button you can then send them a message. But what happens if you can’t connect at all?

Other ways

Linkedin only allows limited access to connections. Normally you would just use Linkedin’s Sales Navigator to get access and be done with it, but it might be too expensive for your business. So here are a few workarounds. If you found a target you can’t connect with, try using “People Also Viewed” to make similar connections to expand your network. 

Groups are another way to get connected with people. If you found some that you may be able to connect with but not message then finding a group they belong to could yield more contacts. Just go to the bottom of the profile and look at the group they're interested in. Join that industry group and you can interact once you are accepted. You can also join other industry groups to build your network and once you get added to the group you will get access to the members. 

Step 3: Make Connections

Linkedin’s claim to fame is connecting users to grow professional networks and build businesses. 

Engagement

Before start making connections with these linked contacts, it is a good practice to engage with any content they post on their profile or in a group they participate in. This content should be recent posts so they get the idea that you are genuinely interested in their content. You should also make these meaningful comments so that when you connect with this person you have something to talk about in your message and come across as authentic. 

Messages

Once you have laid the groundwork for engagement and the prospect has gotten familiar with your comments and name it's time to connect and send a personal message to get them to accept and hear your offer. Remember, if you engaged with their content

Hey <prospect first name>,
I noticed that <call out something from their LinkedIn profile, content, or persona>.
I made you this 30-second video because < of the notable work they do>. Check out how companies like <reference similar company> <way you helped past customers achieve their goals>
<<INSERT VIDEO>>
Do you have 10 minutes in your calendar this week to chat and see how video could fit into your sales process?
<“Talk soon,” or “Thanks,” etc.>
<your name> 

These messages could be sent as Linkedin Messages, email if you have it, or even as a video message to connect with prospects even more personally. You can do this directly in the mobile app or use a 3rd party app to upload it into the desktop messenger and track if they have viewed it. Here’s a sample video message:

<Insert Video Message>

Follow up

While this kind of connection can help you stand out from 90% of all the requests this person gets. It may not be the right time for them to connect just yet. You may need to follow up with them and you can use a message similar to the one below:

Hey <prospect first name>,
I noticed you didn’t get a chance to check out the video I sent over and I was hoping you can find 45 seconds to watch it below. 

Reps can create, send, and track videos to understand which prospects are the most engaged, target the best deals, and prioritize their follow-ups.

Do you have time to connect in the next few weeks?

Best regards,
<your name>

Conclusion

While LinkedIn is the largest professional networking site, it is like any other social network. This means you shouldn’t spam people or be overly pushy when it comes to making connections. People like to do business with people they like, so, when you connect with users on Linkedin you need to come across a genuine and offering value to grow your network and your business. 

Do you use Linkedin to grow your business? Let me know in the comments below.

Funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration. All opinions, conclusions, and/or recommendations expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the SBA.