How to Get Results on LinkedIn as an Expert or Leader in October '24

Hey guys,

I get a lot of questions about what's working "right now" on LinkedIn.

And while it's mostly the same thing that's always worked...

There are some best practices I've found recently—especially for those with a leadership-, expert-, or influencer-based business.

If you have a business that's based on your niche expertise, chances are you can't reach out the way most marketers do, saying:

“I help X people get Y result. Are you interested?”

It requires a slightly different conversational strategy.

If you’re positioned as an expert, you must outreach like an expert.

Otherwise, your outreach can seem inconsistent, and that can damage trust and brand reputation.

But here’s the good news: The human brain is quite simple.

In the same way that discontinuity can "turn off" a prospect's trust without them even thinking about it,

It's actually the subtleties in your communication that lead someone to want to engage with you or not.

In this article, I will do my best to explain a few of the simpler and more powerful things you can do, as an expert-based business owner, to establish trust... get people to want to talk with you... and ultimately drive more people through your sales process.

Just don't do it the way most marketers teach.

Because they are not you.

And you are not a marketer.

Thank God....

1. Branding & Positioning

Humans are confirmation bias machines.

As soon as a first impression is formed, the mind will go to work finding information to back it up.

Research shows that first impressions are made in as little as 7 seconds, which is barely enough time to look at a profile picture, read the headline, "feel" their branding, and the impression is made...

Everything else will simply reinforce that impression,

Unless the new information is drastically out of line with the initial impression.

That means if you create a positive first impression using the elements I just mentioned,

All you have to do is not screw it up, lol

A positive "bias" in the context of LinkedIn is made up of 2 things:

1. TRUST: Do I like this person?
2. RELEVANCE: Do I believe they can help me?

Trust is usually established with stupid things like colors, fonts, and smiles.

Relevance, on the other hand, is established with a clear & concise description of who you help and how.

Which brings us to #2:

2. Clear Pain Points

Here’s a common mistake I see:

Experts overcomplicating their message.

It's not the prospect who's confused about their problems... It’s the seller trying to sound too smart, detailed, and nuanced.

Don’t be afraid to be dumb.

When you’re an expert, of course you want to honor the complexities of what you do. You want people to understand every little intricacy of your process.

But guess what?

Your clients don’t care.

They care about their stupid pain points.

Sure, they're misdiagnosing the problem....

But before you can educate someone,

You need to sound relevant to what they're actually going through.

If you can’t meet them where they're at, it doesn’t matter how brilliant your copy is.... No one will read it.

My clients who are doing the best right now are all super clear on who they help and how.

Those who are struggling?

They’re still trying to figure it out—and most are resisting the “stupidity” of what the market actually responds to.

Look, your business is not about you. It's about your customers, and them getting the results they desire.

If they’re focused on the “wrong” thing, that’s exactly why they need you.....

But the only way you can help them, is if you get them talking.

And the only way to get them talking is if your message is simple and relevant to their experience.

If it feels too dumb, that’s a good sign. Intelligence often creates problems that only simplicity can solve.

3. Opening Conversations

This is the easiest part.

Once you’ve got your branding and messaging clear, you don’t have to say too much.

Think about it—if someone walks up to you in a doctor’s scrubs, at some point, you’re going to start talk about health.

It's the same with outreach.

Open the conversation.

Be cool.

Ask a relevant question to get them talking.

Then, take leadership. Begin to step into the role of the leader.

If they let you, you can outline the next steps in your process and invite them to take the next step with you.

If they don’t, no problem. Let them go through their own process. They’ll come back when they’re ready to talk more.

A Couple of Client Stories

Let me back this up with a few stories from the field.

One shows the power of branding, and how simple tweaks can lead to dramatic improvements.

A client came to me a few months ago with branding done by another expert. It looked pretty good, so we kept it for her first campaign. She used the same messages that have worked for my other clients…

But her response rate was almost zero.

I don’t usually see response rates that low, so I knew the problem wasn’t the messages.

We made a few simple tweaks to her profile:

• Made the colors more welcoming

• Simplified her headline

• Adjusted her title to sound less “salesy”

And within 3 days, her response rate was up 250% and her connection rate by 82%…

Just by changing the “feeling” people got when they saw her message.

Another client was spending hours a day doing manual outreach—messaging new profiles with almost no responses and no real interest.

When I saw the messages she was sending, it was obvious why she wasn’t getting any responses.

She was hitting people with a brick wall of text.

No one reads that. No matter how well-written or persuasive it is...

If people tense up when they see your message, it’s game over.

We simplified her messages. Made her sound more "cool".

And that campaign has since brought in over 300 responses, filled her pipeline, and gotten her so busy that she actually asked me to turn down the outreach.

Simple tweak in style. Big results.

Remember, outreach doesn’t have to be complicated.

If you’re struggling with outreach, chances are, it's not a problem of not having the "right" things.

It’s probably that you have too much.

Too much text.

Too many things you say you do.

Too many strategies you’re trying out.

If you could simplify it down to what’s necessary and cut out the fluff…

People would trust you more.

Know what you do.

And be interested in talking with you.

They’d be the ones driving the process, instead of you having to convince them.

But all that said, if any of this brings up questions,

Or if you want more insight into anything I did (or didn’t) talk about today...

Just leave a comment or shoot me a message. I’ll either answer you directly, or include it in the next newsletter.

Happy outreaching ✌️

Alexander J Brooks