Converting Connections To Clients On LinkedIn

In case you have not heard, Hyperchat Social has been acquiring leads for our clients from the very beginning. In fact, it is one of the things we are best at! One of our most popular services is our LinkedIn Lead Generation service. In a nutshell, we go into your LinkedIn profile, create a custom connection message based on your target audience and fire that connection message to 200 people in your target market per week. From there, we watch the magic happen and the connections are made!

Now, thanks to LinkedIn Lead Generation, you have all of these connections that are all potential revenue for your business. So, how do you turn these online connections on LinkedIn to actual IRL conversations and business?

Well, you have come to the right place! We have put together our best practices to converting those leads into a valuable client.

Offer Something of Value And Actually Deliver

Everyone automatically likes someone that offers them a stick of gum and most people can be tempted with free things. So, our first tip to turning a connection into a relationship would be to offer something of value to your connections. But here's the trick, offer something that comes free to you. We like to offer an E-book that provides the prospect with valuable information that they want to know. This gives them an incentive to connect and once that connection is made, you can start to form a relationship.

Pro-tip: You can change what you are offering based on the industry and customize it to be as appealing as possible!

Follow Up With Connections In A Timely Manor

Do you remember an ad or offer you saw last week on social media? If you are anything like the regular social media user, the answer is no.

In social media, time moves quick! What is there displayed on your timeline in one second is easily forgotten with a refresh of the page. The same is true with your connections on LinkedIn. Odds are, if the person that you are now connected to is in your target demographic, then they are likely in your competitor's as well.

The key to conversion is continuing the conversation!

Let's say that you offered your connection an E-book in your original connection message, you deliver the E-book and the prospect goes on their merry way. What do you get out of that? Exactly. Nothing.

One thing that we suggest doing is sending a follow-up message after sending that incentive. For example, you could send:

"I'm glad you'll be enjoying the eBook I recently sent you, but do you have a good email or a good phone number? I've got a second guide that will knock your socks off. I would welcome hooking up for a phone call, cup of coffee, or a meeting to see how we may be able to help each other do better."

Remember, the goal of all of this is so that that connection sees you as a resource they want on their side.

Stay In Their Line Of Vision

Are you having trouble converting connections into leads? How many times have you reached back out to the prospect? If it is less than seven, it is too few of times.

There is an old adage in marketing called the 'Rule of 7'. It says that a prospect needs to see or hear your marketing message at least seven times before they take action and do business with you.

This does not mean that you have to message them seven times on LinkedIn without response. This means that you need to put your marketing efforts in their line of vision. One way we have found success helping our clients stay in front of their prospects would be though some kind of drip email marketing campaign. Once the prospect has connected with you, you can easily find their email address on their LinkedIn profile! Plug that email address in that drip campaign and your CRM system and nurture the lead until it comes to fruition!

Think of how many emails you see a day. But I bet you can name some of the companies that you see pop-up consistently in your inbox.

Consistent Calling

Now, just because you have added the connection to your nurture campaign, does not mean the lead will come crawling to you! Quite the contrary, actually.

In addition to staying in your prospect's email inbox and LinkedIn messages, we also recommend picking up the old telephone and calling. The first call should be made within the first 24 hours.

We recommend calling your prospects on the following schedule:

• Call every other day for the first two weeks
• Then 1x a week for the next three months
• Then 1x a month until a meeting is set

You need to make it hard for your prospect to ignore you.

When speaking on the phone to potential customers, you want to make sure you are upbeat and excited to be on the phone with them. You also will want to speak clearly and be confident in what you are saying. Make sure you are guiding the conversation always back to why they NEED to do business with you and what value you can bring to them. Always ask questions that set yourself up to talk about those things.

Pro-tip: Try coming up with a value statement that is basically an elevator pitch of what you do, why it is important, and what sets you apart from your competitors. Practice this until it is perfect and preach it as much as you can.

ABC: Always Be Closing

The way you end a conversation with your prospect is probably the most important part of the conversation. When ending the conversation, you should always ask for a meeting in a way where they cannot say 'no'.

For example, you can use the following types of questions:

Choice close Time: Would a 10:00 am or 3:00 pm be better for you

Choice close Day: Are Tuesday's or Thursday's better for you (and your spouse)? Great! (Now set the day and time based on your availability, don't be afraid to double book)

Pro-tip: Always set the appointment within 2 weeks of the call and do not be afraid to double book! Also, always try to set up day appointment, nighttime should be a last resort. Take a Saturday morning if necessary.

In some cases, the prospect will agree to meet with you for a cup of coffee or even an initial consultation, but not everyone is that easy. So, let's say you have a person really trying to get off the phone with you. What you are going to want to do is ask a question where you know it will prompt a conversation leading back to your services and your value statement we talked about earlier.

For example, you could say:

Before we get off the phone, may I ask you one last question? Do you have an IRA or Roth IRA?
a. If no (would you like to see how I have helped others use an IRA/ROTH IRA to reduce their tax burden?
b. If yes . . . May I ask you what your IRA earned (rate of return) over the past year/three years? Would you like to see how I could help you diversify your IRA and do better? Would you like to see how I could protect your IRA from another stock market crash?

Keep the conversation going until you CLOSE that CLIENT!

If you are interested in ourLinkedIn Lead Generation service of you want to start Turning Social Into Sales, go ahead and click here to schedule a demo!