Ep. 29: Quality Leads with Linkedin

The Selling Essentials Minute

One good idea in about 60 seconds.

You’ve done a great job for your customer and he’s very pleased. so what better time to ask for a referral. “Sure,” says the Happy Customer. But then you hear this sound, “Um. . . uh. . . maybe Jack. . . maybe Jill . . . maybe Jack. . . ” That’s the sound of a client trying to come up with a referral on the spot. “Let me think about it,” he says. “I’ll get back to you.” But he gets busy, he doesn’t think about it, and he doesn’t get back to you.

The solution? Don’t make your customers think so hard. After all, it’s not their job to magically produce great leads for you. Instead, make it easy for them to help you find business using LinkedIn. Here’s how:

Step One: Invite that Happy Customer to connect with you, if he or she hasn’t already.

Step Two: Once you are connected, you are able to poke around in the Happy Customer’s LinkedIn connections, check them out and see which ones might be good prospects for you. Pick out the best four or five. You can always go back for more, later.

Step Three: Contact Happy Customer, and ask only about those specific contacts. If he thinks they might be right for you, ask for an introduction.

You just made it easier for your customer to help you, because you did the hard work yourself. Is it worth the effort? You bet! Because instead of “Uh. . . uh. . . maybe Bill. . . . ” you’ll get a much better chance of landing a real lead and instead of hearing maybe, you could be hearing money.