Re-Engage Cold LinkedIn Prospects With These Quick Tips

How many touch-points does it take to get a LinkedIn prospect on the phone?

Before we get started, let’s briefly review how you should be engaging with your network on LinkedIn.

First, you’ll need to reach out and ask for a connection. After that they will see you posting valuable content at least 2-3 times a week.

Then, you might invite them to join a group you’ve created.

Next, you’re sending them pieces of content and/or asking for their insights in 1-1 messaging (meanwhile they are still seeing you post in the newsfeed and group.)

All of this culminates in asking them if they’d like to hop on a call to chat more about their business.

Some people will agree to have a call right away, others will politely decline, while others will read it, but don’t respond. This is too often mistaken as a “no.”

But, the real situation is often much different:

• They could see it and get pulled back to work where your message then becomes out of sight and out of mind.
• They could want to think about it a bit, and then maybe it slips their mind.
• They could have typed out a response but forgot to hit send.
• Their phone could have burst into flames.

You get the point. But, silence is only a “no” if you tell yourself it is.

I know it can seem like the end of the line once you’ve messaged someone a handful of times and asked them for a phone call only to get radio-silence. You may be tempted to assume all that’s left for you to do is keep following up about that phone call. But, there are actually many more options than that.

Chet Holmes explains the market for your services as the Demand Gen Pyramid in his book Ultimate Sales Machine. Chet’s experience finds that only 3% of your market is in the “buying now” mode.

An additional 6-7% of prospects are “open to it.” We’re talking about 10% of your market –which are likely the prospects who said ‘Yes’ to your initial request for a phone call.

But, there's another 60% who are either “not thinking about it” or “don’t believe they are interested” (just don’t know it yet). These are the ones you want to think about after you’ve attempted to get them into a conversation.

These are the ones that, over time and through learning more, will eventually move into that top 10%. Your goal is to stay top-of-mind and be the “informer,” so that when they’re ready to buy, it’s you they think of.

So, what can you do to stay top-of-mind and keep a warm, open relationship until the time is right? 

Here are some suggestions we’ve utilized in client campaigns:

Send more curated content.

Keep yourself positioned as a resource rather than just a vendor. Be someone who is of value to your connections. So, they didn’t respond to your request for phone call, but you can continue to build value in the relationship.

Invite them to a webinar (or your content).

If you’re hosting a webinar send them a personal invite, say something like “Hey, I’m teaching some of my clients about this >>ENTER DETAILS ON THE AWESOME NEW THING THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND<< and based on what you do, I thought you might like to check it out, too.”

Inviting them to join a webinar is a great tactic; it’s premium content that is specific to the problem your prospects are trying to solve AND positions you as the unique expert able to help them solve the problem themselves. It shows that your finger is on the pulse of what’s important to people just like them.

If you have a 3rd-party webinar you can invite them to then you can really show how you’re invested in their success and not just your own.

Maybe you are going to attend a webinar on how to get yourself booked on a podcast and your prospect could also benefit from this. You can reach out and say “Hey, I’m going to this webinar about how to get booked on a podcast, thought you might have interest in this as well. Let me know if you’re going!”

Ask if they’re going to a convention/trade show.

This is a lot like inviting them to a 3rd-party webinar, but one that could lead to meeting in person –cha-ching! However, you don’t have to be going to it to ask them if they are going. If they respond back and say, yes, then you can say, “aw, so jealous. Can you live stream it!? ;)” Maybe check out what’s going on at that event and suggest a booth that you’d been to before or that you think would be worth checking out.

The Pop-In.

Literally, just a check-in.

This can look something like, “Hey, how are things going at Nina’s Natural Nuggets? I haven’t seen you post in awhile. We just launched a product very similar to yours with our client Bridging Bird Seed.” This approach takes a little more attention and effort since it’s highly-personalized. It can work very well to build rapport and keep yourself top-of-mind. This could be one that you use for those “Dream Leads” that you don’t want to get away. And it can vary as far as what it’s about.

The Run-In.

Think about when you see someone in the grocery aisle that you kind of know because you talked once at that party and you kind of liked them.

You can either say “hi” or just continue to fade into the depths of their mind along with the other things they’ve forgotten. This is closely related to the Pop-In in action, the difference is that it is initiated by something they posted online. Note: This should go beyond a “Like.”

I’d suggest a direct message that engages on the topic they posted about or the comment they made. This may look like, “Sally, that article you shared on the influx of Instagram Bot Accounts hit right at home with me. You always have great content to share! Hope all is well.”

Potent Notables.

Birthday, anniversary, promotion, new job, you know the occasions LinkedIn alerts you to about your network. Instead of just clicking the button LinkedIn supplies, send a sincere note. “Hey, hope you're not working too hard on your birthday! Cheers!” or “Way to go on getting a foot on the next rung at IBM!”

It’s important to note that none of this is suggesting you “put-on” a presence, it is more about undertaking a mindset of being a networker, a member of a community, and a belief that your success is others’ success and vice-versa.

Sincerity sells, if you become genuinely interested in your prospects’ success they will do the same for you. We’re all in this together –I mean, “linked” is right there in the name of the platform we’re using here.

You can certainly generate leads quickly through a solid LinkedIn approach, but not every connection or prospect will be ready to buy today.

And that’s okay, because if you are approaching high-value prospects and leads you don’t want to forget about the long-term approach as well. Demonstrate your value and build rapport with these high-level prospects so that when that day comes and they’re in need of your service or product, it’ll be your phone that rings.

To learn more about using LinkedIn to get more appointments with your prospects, join us for our next free LinkedIn workshop here where we’ll share the exact the 6-Figure LinkedIn Formula we used and our clients use that will add $100k+ to your revenue in the next 12 months…without spending a dime on ads. Click below for more information…