Featured Micro Influence Cory Blumenfeld

To quote Cory Blumenfeld, Cold Outreach Is Dead.

Tell that to the millions on LinkedIn. No seriously, someone please tell that to the millions on LinkedIn.

What is the cold opening and why do most conversations on LinkedIn go nowhere quickly?

Common Courtesy is The Key

The cold opening is a chilling prospect but I bet your mother and father taught you the basics of manners when you were a very small child.  I think that people might have just forgotten. 

Funeral for the cold call

I resonated with Cory's statement. A lot. That's kind of the  backdrop for why I started a series on Nano and Micro Influencers. I'm fortunate to have started a great little chat group on LinkedIn. Each person in this group has helped me advance my point of view. 

It's kind of turning into a fast track of professional development.

Small is big

The people I featured all practice good communication -- non robotic, and unerringly human. I have written about each individually but this small group consists of small-to-medium-sized company advisor Henry Ching , Podcaster Sansan Fibri , Podcaster Stephen Meadows, Podcaster Jordan Brady, Leadership development author and speaker Urs Koenig , Inclusivity Pioneer Rose Genele , LinkedIn AI Top Voice for AI Hock M. Ng . Podcaster Pat Finn , Author and Product Advisor Albert Fong, Podcaster Matt Marrs, MBA , Travel Industry Leader Jayme Gamble and Social Creator Economy Top Voice in Creator Economy Lia Haberman.  LinkedIn's Top Entrepreneurship Voice Cory Blumenfeld joins our group today!

Some of my best relationships have been made by making comments on others' posts.

That's how I met almost all of the people I have written about in my series. I acknowledged them and they acknowledged me. Simple as that.

One relationship at at time

Cory and I had an interesting conversation yesterday. He described how he has over 10,000 followers and has built them all one on one.

He built trust first. And then people seek him out.

It harkens back to the good old days of actually sitting down with someone and having a cup of coffee. It was unsaid but understood that you were both taking the time to get to know each other. You both had to feed the meter. You had to pick up your kid. Even if no business was done, it felt good to be connected.

The fall of the beloved coffee shop meeting

Covid made us all even more isolated. The human veneer started to kind of melt away and Zooms became the norm and after being saturated with the multi-screens on your computer melded with the rise of the pods, something interesting happened:

Podcast style videos became how our audiences learn information and get entertained.

There is a formula. People see you in a podcast format and you are instantly credible. You're one pair of headphones and a Blue microphone away from looking like a shaker and a mover.

Engaging with other pros

How did all engagements with the leaders I featured begin?

1. Commented on their posts

2. Started a conversation with on LinkedIn

It was that simple. No announcements, no group name, but quite a bit of exposure. This is not a paid endorsement. I am just pointing out people I see on LinkedIn doing it right.