Mining The Gold: How Do You Make The Most Of Your LinkedIn Database?

You are sitting on a gold mine. What do you do?

1. Take the traditional approach and hope for a few grains of the precious metal:
   
2. Use the available technology to increase your chances of finding more:
   
   

While a great argument can be made for enjoying the experience of panning for gold on a beautiful day out in the mountains, it’s unlikely to create much material wealth for you!

You’re in business to make money. It’s more likely if you’re serious about using the available technology.

And so it is with your LinkedIn database…

The gold mine that you’ve created

If you’ve been following our posts and applying the principles in them, then you will have rapidly grown your following within a few weeks.

If you’ve been serious about optimising your profile, engaging with your new followers, taking activity in the form of likes, comments and interactions in group discussions, and then presenting relevant and timely offers to them, you will have already started to monetise your time on LinkedIn.

By taking each of these steps, you create your gold mine of contacts that keeps on growing.

But not everybody on your list will be ready to take up your offer right now; in fact, few of them will be. That doesn’t mean they will never buy; it just means that your offer wasn’t presented at the right time for them.

So, for every YES you receive, you might receive 10 NOs – but that’s OK and we covered that in the last post.

Successful LinkedIn influencers know that they need to ‘rinse and repeat’. It’s not just about presenting a single offer and expecting miracles.

But what do you do with those who haven’t yet converted into paying customers?

Maintain contact & activity by segmenting your database

As part of a comprehensive strategy of contact and activity, understand that the individuals in your target audience have different needs, expectations, budgets, and so on; it doesn’t pay to clump them all together as one.

We can debate the ins and outs of whether you use a purpose-built customer relationship management(CRM) or the one provided by LinkedIn – but one thing is for sure:

You need a CRM and it must be segmented in order to increase the returns from future campaigns.

The larger your database, the less likely you are to use the internal LinkedIn CRM – but there are actually some great features.

Most importantly for what we’re talking about here, the ‘tag’ functionality helps with database segmentation.

You can break up your connections into like-for-like groups with shared characteristics, expectations, and requirements.

Let’s follow a simple A-B-C-D method to demonstrate how you might go about this.

The A-B-C-D method

Here’s a simple template for any business to use with any database (not just LinkedIn):

These are high value clients. Perhaps they buy from you every month or quarter. They are your ‘bread and butter’ and, as such, you need to look after them and maintain regular contact (at least once a month).

They may provide extra value through referrals. You won’t have many of these on LinkedIn but make sure those that are there get special treatment.

These are also existing clients but, instead of being regular buyers, they buy just once or twice per year, They might also provide referrals.

You need to proactively reach out to these clients at least every few months and the goal should be to nurture them into category A over time. You might have a number of these in your LinkedIn database – and they should feature heavily in any CRM you run.

Category C contacts might have expressed interest at some point but have never bought from you. They may offer good potential for moving into Category B and referring other businesses if they are nurtured correctly.

These contacts should be your main focus for presenting new offers on LinkedIn.

For now, let D stand for ‘dead’. These contacts at present offer limited current or potential value to your business. They haven’t referred any business are not likely to in the short term. However, their circumstances could change and it’s worth keeping in touch with them for now.

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Segmenting – then what?

In The Influencer Project, we focus on building a new LinkedIn community of targeted prospects.

So, while your existing customers might fall into categories A or B, the ones you’re predominantly targeting will be in category C/D now – with the potential to move them up a category.

Ultimately you want to make the most of your time by spending it on prospects with the potential to be A-class (or good B-class) clients. That means consistently engaging, taking activity, providing value, and presenting offers to them.

After you’ve segmented your database and are clear on who you’re targeting in the future and why, then start engaging with them again.

All the time, you’ll be topping up your followers by being found through search, recommended by contacts, and through activity.

Think of it as an ongoing and overlapping process of grow-engage-offer. And you can even use your database to help you measure your progress and performance on LinkedIn.

Some category D followers may fall by the wayside – and that’s fine – but if category C clients are dropping off, then you will need to revisit your strategy.

Remember: you never know when a ‘want’ becomes a ‘need’. If you play the numbers game with activity, presenting value and regular offers to an interested and engaged database, your offer is more likely to coincide with a need. And that usually results in a sale.

P.s. Whenever you’re ready… here are 4 ways we can help you grow your business with LinkedIn

1. Grab a free copy of our book: It’s the roadmap to connecting with prospects, engaging with and converting new clients, and leveling up your consulting business – Click Here

2. Join the Influencer Boardroom and connect with other advisors and consultants who are scaling too: It’s our Facebook community where smart advisors and consultants learn to generate more purpose, profit, and power. – Click Here

3. Join us inside our pitch-free private training. We’ll show you our profile optimisation secrets. You’ll learn how to connect with prospects, engage with and convert new clients, and amplify your business on LinkedIn. Click Here