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bjbjLULU R: All right, Point Number 5. What's the next thing somebody should do if they're
going to work LinkedIn? A: This is, in my opinion, is the most important thing and the
piece that's most often lost on LinkedIn. LinkedIn to me is a business networking site.
It s a way for business people, business owners, etc to get together, network, and hopefully
help grow each other's business. R: Okay. A: But all too often, again, LinkedIn is used
passively. You'll have your profile on there. Maybe you send out occasional updates but
you don't really use it to either strengthen your existing relationships or leverage new
relationships. R: Okay. A: I would say the most important thing you can do is use your
existing relationships to leverage new relationships. R: Would you want to tell how you and I met?
It is a very compelling story. A: Sure R: Let me set this up. A mutual acquaintance
of ours is a past coaching client of mine. I see her periodically, but we're not best
buds. She's on LinkedIn and I'm on LinkedIn. I got a phone call one day from this guy named
Andrew who I did not know. Andrew, how did you come about to make that phone call? A:
Essentially, I met with the individual that Reg is talking about and we went through some
of the things that I did with my business. And as we were getting to know each other
a little bit better I realized that she was a good person and I would be interesting in
meeting some of the people that she had relationships with. R: Okay. A: I then took a look at some
of the connections she had on LinkedIn and identified some people that I would like to
meet. I created a list and I brought it to her during our next meeting and said "Hey,
you know what, I really appreciated your time and I really am looking to grow my business
and meet other good people, people who you have a lot of respect for and you think might
be open to sitting down and having a cup of coffee with me. When she took a look at the
list of people, she marked off quite a few who she thought would be good people for me
to reach out too. Reg was one of them. So I gave Reg a call one day and asked if he'd
like to get together and meet for coffee and that's how this relationship formed. R: On
the call, he identified who he was and what he did. I told him I've been in Boulder, Colorado
since the mid 70s and I probably know 1000 people or more here. Lots of them do exactly
what Andrew does. I said to him right off the bat: "Andrew, the chances of me doing
business with you are slim and none because I know insurance people, one of whom is one
of my best fishing buddies. I know CFP people, I know bankers. The odds of you and I doing
business are slim and none." And you said: A: I said "That's fine. That's not a problem.
I'm just looking to meet as many good people as I can. What I am after is to build relationships.
We'll see where it leads. Maybe it just leads to what we're doing right now. R: Yeah, exactly
right. A: We've been helping each other grow each other's business in this capacity or
maybe it leads in other ways, but you don't know. And that's the thing. You don't want
to use LinkedIn strictly as a way to reach out to people to sell aggressively to them.
You want to use LinkedIn the way it's developed, which is to network with other individuals.
R: I tell my coaching clients all the time, the issue is not about selling something.
It's about building trusting relationships. Folks if you haven't read the book by Bob
Berg called "Endless Referrals, I can't recommend it highly enough. It is a fabulous book as
it talks about how we make major purchase decisions. Not gum and not gasoline, but major
purchases. We do it very often with people we know, like, and trust. The issue is: how
do you get a larger network of people to know, like and trust you. Andrew is kind enough
today to help us understand how to do more of that using LinkedIn. A: That is correct.
R: During our second or third meeting, he shows up with a list of people off of my LinkedIn
page and said: A: I said "Reg, it was great getting to know you. I use LinkedIn a lot
as a networking tool and a way to help expand my network. I've identified some people that
I would love to reach out and introduce myself to. I wanted to get your feedback and have
you take a look at this list to determine if you think these people might be a good
fit to reach out to, not necessarily to do business with directly, but just to introduce
myself and kind of see where that relationship leads." And I let him take a look at the list
and he marked a few people off and said "Hey I wouldn't reach out to these people for one
reason or another. With these people go ahead and give them a call and reach out to them"
and that's what I intend on doing. R: I gave it to him actually today before we started
recording this session. A: Yes, you did. Chapter 5- Leverage Existing Relationships Kailu McQueen
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