Andrew from ORANGENOMAD is a "serial entrepreneur" who has launched and run several successful businesses. After running an MSP for ten years, he founded ORANGENOMAD to help Managed Services Providers, small businesses and entrepreneurs bridge the gap between strategy and execution.
Andrew has been using LinkedIn to obtain clients for the last few years. He was so adept at it that now nearly 90% of his clients come from LinkedIn.
How did he do this? He tells us here:
The first thing to know is that you shouldn't go all in and sell on LinkedIn. Yes, the natural tendency is to sell right away, but this isn't what you should be doing. LinkedIn is all about relationship building. It's a great tool for warming up leads for your marketing efforts.
LinkedIn is a huge prospecting tool that you should definitely be taking advantage of. Now that Microsoft owns LinkedIn you have a lot more tools and functionality at your disposal. This makes it worth getting a paid subscription for $80 a month. You can search for businesses in your location or in particular industries. LinkedIn is the largest self-updating contact database in the world.
Most of the decision makers like CEOs, COOs, and general managing partners don't use Facebook for business. They go to LinkedIn instead because it's always been built for business networking purpose. As a result, they are much more engaged and focused than on other platforms. LinkedIn affords more opportunity for B2B marketing, where Facebook is for B2C.
Once you get some engagement, set up Lunch and Learns or invite them to coffee at your local Starbucks. You must do this on a regular basis, just like you do with any of your marketing efforts. We all want that quick fix and sometimes get frustrated. This is the hard part. You must stay with it. Your contacts may not need an MSP today, but they will later. It might take three years, or even more. But if you stick with your LinkedIn marketing program, you will succeed.
Remember to differentiate yourself. Know who you are and what you can provide. This will help you define your market. For example, you're a marketing company first, and IT specialist second. Once you view yourself this way, your business will grow.
Speak at local events about an IT topic that resonates with your audience. Become the go-to IT expert in a particular area of IT. It's all about educating your audience to get and keep their attention. You can do this on LinkedIn as well. Help people use their technology the way they should, and this will happen naturally.
When you finally sit down and meet the people you've connected with on LinkedIn, they should feel like they already know you. And you should get to know them too, so you'll understand their unique needs. Don't go in to sell. Go in to get to know your prospect. You'll have a much easier time selling because they know you and you know them. It's like a referral, and close ratios on referrals are much higher.
Sales Navigator is a new feature on LinkedIn you should try. You can tag people, mark them as leads, and even mark at the account level. Set up a "Dream 25 list" that you want to do business with. You can follow them, see what they post, learn about all their employees and even the "pecking order" in the company.
The big thing about Sales Navigator is its sales and search functionality – you can drill down and find the decision makers like CEOs. You can save search preferences for types of businesses, the size of businesses, titles, and more. Sales Navigator allows you to reach a much broader customer base and allows you to be found much easier.
Plus, if you have sales teams, it allows you to keep their leads if they leave your company. The leads in LinkedIn belong to you, not to them.
If you are marketing outside the US, remember that different countries have their own "spam" laws. With LinkedIn, you can use direct messaging to build relationships once you've connected to your lead. So, you don't need to worry about these spam laws. You'll also have 100% deliverability vs. email. And you don't have to worry about your message going into their spam inbox. If you're connected with someone, you don't need to use LinkedIn InMail. You can send direct messages to them because they have accepted your connection.
Educate your clients on LinkedIn. Because Microsoft now owns LinkedIn, we're seeing a lot more integrations with Office 365. You can even educate your prospects on LinkedIn. LinkedIn now comes with the E4 and E5 levels of Office 365. These people may have questions about the best methods for using LinkedIn. When they do, you'll be there to help. After you educate your leads, you'll have your "foot in the door" and can then tell them about the other services you offer. Try uploading an educational webinar on LinkedIn, but not your run-of-the-mill topics like backups and VoIP. Teach them how they can make money using the right technologies. That's what people want to do - make money!
3 Essential Tips to Remember:
- Don't set up your profile page like your website. Your contact wants to know about you as a person. You need to connect with them in a meaningful way. Make your profile appear as a CEO. CEOs like to network with other CEOs. The summary you include is key. The people who have the most success tell their story and how they overcame their challenges. You want people to relate to you and engage with you.
- Know who you're looking for on LinkedIn. A small business owner might not be your target. Pick a niche market to go after. Those who do have greater success with LinkedIn. You can build a good "warm" list by doing this.
- Be consistent. Take 15 minutes a day to reach out to 10 -20 people. The more people you get in front of, the better the chance you can broaden your network. You can close a lot of business during coffee meetings with people. And once you've convinced one client, they'll refer others to you. Soon, you'll have business "falling into your lap"!
Connect with Andrew on LinkedIn. LinkedIn for MSPs.com teaches you everything you need to know about LinkedIn.
Check out Andrew's website, or book a one-on-one session with him via the link on his webpage. Remember, you're a marketing company that just happens to provide IT services!
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