LinkedIn

Welcome to this training on prospecting through LinkedIn. The very first thing you need to do when you start using LinkedIn as a prospecting tool is to change your tagline to a benefit-driven statement that targets your ideal prospects. So what do I mean by that? Let me show you.

On my personal profile, you can see that my benefit statement is: "I help architects build a highly profitable and impactful practice."

Ultimately, you want something here that signifies and lets your prospects know that you help them solve one of their primary concerns. Let me show you why this is important.

If someone does a people search on LinkedIn, let's say they're looking for people involved in the nursing home industry. We'll click this and make sure we're looking at the "People" tab. You can see their taglines, but it only gives their job titles: nursing home administrator, nursing home administrator, nursing home administrator. They all look the same and none of them stand out.

The same thing happens if we search for architects. When we look at people, we see "architect," "architect," "architect." So, to set the stage for everything we're going to do later, we need to update this to a benefit statement.

Basically, it's very simple. The format you are going to use is: "I help [blank] do [blank]." Here are a couple of examples:

- If you help universities design and build beautiful laboratory facilities, that would be your tagline.
- If you help developers and nonprofits design and build affordable housing, that would be your tagline.

This is the framework: "I help [target audience] [achieve a specific result]."

As of the recording of this video, here’s how you update your headline. Click on your profile, then click the edit button. Here, you can change your headline to reflect your benefit statement. After updating it, click the Save button.

Once you've done that, you are ready to move on to the next step.

Alright, the next step of our LinkedIn prospecting process is to identify your prospects. This is one of the most important parts of the process, and there are two basic ways you can connect with people on LinkedIn. The first way is through a simple people search.

Let's say you're looking for university administrators. Type the job title of whoever you're looking for in the search bar, then browse through the results to find the kind of people you are targeting. For example, let's use the nursing home industry. If we search for "nursing home," we'll see a list of nursing home administrators. Open these profiles in new tabs.

We want people to know we've looked at their profiles because they'll receive a notification, which helps expand our reach. Copy the person's name and paste it into your prospect tracking spreadsheet. You can find a link to the spreadsheet below this video.

To make a copy of the spreadsheet, go to "File" and click "Make a Copy" or download it as a Microsoft Excel file. Enter the person's first and last name in separate columns to facilitate importing into a CRM program later. For example, if the person is a nursing home administrator, type that as their title. Add the company name and other relevant details.

For instance, if Tamika works for 360 Healthcare Staffing, note that even though she might not be the best contact for a project directly, she could be a valuable networking contact because she knows the staffing industry. LinkedIn is an exercise in networking, so we need to become good networkers. After connecting with them, we can get their email address and track our messaging in another video.

Start by creating a list of 50 to 100 people, depending on your niche. Copy their LinkedIn profile address into your spreadsheet for easy reference. Keep track of whether you’ve connected with them or not.

When sending a connection request, customize it. For example, if Luke Connolly is a connection of a mutual contact, mention that in your note: "Hey Luke, I'm expanding my personal network and noticed we both know Matthew Stanfield. I look forward to connecting."

Always come from a place of service and let them know how you can help. If possible, verify mutual connections to avoid mentioning someone they might not remember. If you don’t have a mutual connection, mention something relevant from their profile to personalize your request.

Another way to find people is through groups. When you're a member of a group, you can message other members. For example, search for "nursing home" groups and request to join them. Once you're in a group, you can message members directly. For instance, if you see Milton Curry, the Dean of USC School of Architecture, you can send him a direct message.

When messaging through groups, note that you're limited to 15 messages per month. If you have a premium LinkedIn account, you have more powerful search options and can filter by location, connections, companies, and other criteria. LinkedIn offers a 30-day free trial for premium accounts, which cost about $70 per month. Use this trial period to maximize your networking.

In summary, to build your prospect list, start by conducting a people search, join relevant groups, and use your premium account features if available. Keep track of all your prospects in a spreadsheet and personalize your connection requests.

Now let's move on to the next step.

Alright, welcome to this training video on prospecting through LinkedIn. When we're prospecting, or networking, we always want to come from a place of giving value to the people we are trying to connect with. To build a relationship of trust with those we are reaching out to, one of the best ways to do this is with content.

In this step, you need to collect three pieces of very interesting and original content. They don't need to be your own content. One of them could be an article you’ve written, but preferably, it should be content that isn’t yours. It just needs to be an interesting article that you can share with someone.

Let’s go back to my nursing home example. You can find these articles on Google or any other sources that you are aware of. It is important that these pieces of content are something the person you’re going to send it to actually wants to read. It needs to be intriguing to them and provide a lot of value. For example, if I am targeting people who design or build nursing homes, I might search for "nursing home trends."

I found a nice article here titled "Top Skilled Nursing Trends of 2018." I’ll open it in a new tab to check it out. It discusses various trends, such as the rise of regionalism and small house adaptations. These trends are likely to be interesting to someone in the skilled nursing niche. This is a great article to use.

Copy the URL of the article and go back to your LinkedIn contact tracking spreadsheet. After you connect with someone on LinkedIn, I recommend sending them a message with your content in it. Here's an example of what you might say:

"Hi John/Sally/Ralph/Rodrigo, I came across this article about skilled nursing facility trends for 2018. What do you think? I think the small house trend is very interesting. Just thought you might like to see this."

In these initial messages, we are establishing a foundation of trust by sharing useful content that adds value. This shows that we are not just trying to sell them something but genuinely want to help.

Find two or three pieces of content, and you can keep track of them in the messages tab of your spreadsheet. For example:

- Content piece number 1
- Content piece number 2

Put the link to each article in the corresponding section. If you have a third article, add it as content piece number 3. This way, you can keep track of the content you’ve shared.

That’s all for this video. You’re ready for the next step.

Alright, so I touched on this in the last video, but the next step is to message our LinkedIn contacts and build a relationship over the course of a week or two. First, after they connect, send them your first message. For example:

"Hi John, thanks for connecting."

Then, you can send your first piece of content. Generally, about a week later, send your second piece of content. The goal is to engage them in a dialogue and eventually turn that dialogue into a phone call.

For the third message, you can say:

"Hi John, we've been connected for a while now. I'd like to get to know you better and see how we might collaborate. Are you available for a quick phone chat?"

You can send three reminders about the phone call. Once you're connected to someone on LinkedIn, you can get their email address. So, we not only want to message them on LinkedIn, but also send them an email. Here's how to do that:

Go to your LinkedIn home screen. Click on your profile picture, then go to "My Network" under your connections and click "See all." Under this, click on "Manage synced and imported contacts," then "Export contacts." This allows you to get their email addresses.

Once you have their email address, send the messages through LinkedIn and email to ensure they see them. Spread these messages over the course of about two to three weeks. If it's content, send one message a week. For phone call requests, you can do one every other day.

Here's a breakdown of the messages:

1. First message: Introduction and first piece of content.
2. Second message: Another piece of content.
3. Third message: Request for a phone call.
4. Fourth message: Follow-up request for a phone call.
5. Fifth message: Final reminder for a phone call.

The goal is to get them on the phone. Once you have them on the phone, ask about their challenges, what they're dealing with, and their expected needs in terms of facilities.

If the contact is a referral partner, like someone in real estate, find out what they need and how you can help them. Add value to their network and make sure they know about your services. They'll usually ask about your business, giving you a chance to explain what you do.

Approach the phone call as someone who wants to give value, explore their business, and see if you can help. For potential clients, understand their process for hiring an architect and express your interest in being on their shortlist for projects.

For referral partners, ask if they ever refer people to architects and explain what kind of clients you're looking for. Ensure you provide value before asking for referrals.

After the phone call, maintain the relationship by staying in touch. Some relationships may take a year or more to turn into project opportunities, but this is how you build a stable and secure network for the future.

Congratulations, you're almost done with this LinkedIn training. You've established your contacts and started building your network. The next step is to follow up consistently. So, follow up, follow up, follow up, and move on to the next step.