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When bundled with a trust-building formula and nurtured with daily activities that continually add value for a specialized audience, Solopreneurs have at their disposal the single most effective lead generating platform in the universe and it’s free!
As an early adopter of LinkedIn, I have seen the power of being able to connect with virtually anyone you’d like to without any gatekeeper, telephone book or hesitation in my way. It removes call reluctance 100%, is more efficient and builds trust immediately when everything is optimized properly.
To Catch a Fish
My observation of professionals using LinkedIn reminds me of fishing. I call it the Lure Factor. Without the proper lure, an angler will be pathetically lost in trying to catch anything. However, with the right gear, cast and lure he will most certainly fill his basket. LinkedIn is the same. Many just hop on the platform and start casting and trying to real in prospects immediately. What they don’t know is that they are actually skipping stones that sink and leave a ripple of non-interest.
When these three secrets are applied, the LinkedIn user can transform their business and turn those sinking stones into consistent catches.
Secret #1: Trust is Formulaic
In his book Trusted Advisor, Charles Green presents a powerful model to how trust is built. All emotions and moods are fuelled by different neurotransmitters. If you remember your basic Chem 11 class, you’ll remind yourself that neurotransmitters are chemical responses. Chemical responses are based on math and math is based on formulas. Therefore, simply put if trust is a response to a myriad of neurotransmitters then trust is created by a sequence that we have control over.
If marketing is the process (formula) and the sale is the event, then to a large degree if we control the process (formula) then we can control the outcome. Trust is no different. When the trust-building model is interwoven into your LinkedIn activities, messaging and content then you can control the outcome much more than the person hopping on and naively casting out connection requests.
Secret #2: Exclusivity Wins
Ray, a former colleague of mine from my MiLB Umpire days loves to golf. When he left professional baseball and entered the financial services arena he eventually made a brilliant move to build a wealth and tax advisory practice around his love of the sport. Today, with his brother they serve Golf Course Owners all across the South West. Because he is immersed in the business of golf, Ray understands their frustrations, pain points, has deep knowledge of the industry trends and can easily stand out because his marketing is centralised on a core set of values and messaging.
Applying this niche market approach on the LinkedIn platform is essential if one wants to immediately align with their chosen market, stand out and be seen as the trusted advisor who can serve their needs. The nuance between Financial Planner and Golf Business Advisor are substantial. How do you differentiate from your industry?
Related: 5 Marketing Tools to Get Your Message Heard Everyday
Secret #3: The Head is Closer to The Heart
During college, I used to work a high-end marina in Schooner Cove, near Nanoose on Vancouver Island. During summer we would always have recreational boaters come and gear up. They would most often buy the least expensive lures and figure they were all the same. At the time, local fisherman knew that the more expensive Buzzbomb lure was the one to use it if you really wanted to catch a salmon of some value.
The purchase intent for each of these different type of anglers. The recreational boaters were fixated on the cost and would likely never catch a fish, so no wonder they would often repeatedly go for the less expensive gear. After all, if you’re not likely to catch anything why would you invest in more expensive equipment? On the other hand, the locals had an emotional connection to the experience of catching fish because they had invested in better gear.
When presenting your products and services first, you are marketing to the head. The head is rational, looks for safety, compares costs and wants to justify it. Whereas when you lead with marketing your vision, the possibilities, your WHY, you market to the heart. The heart receives emotion, is accepting and wants to act much more quickly as it sees the opportunity to remove pain, shift roadblocks & generate compassion. We get excited more quickly about the possibility an idea presents, faster than the facts and figures make any logical sense.
Problem Solving not Product Selling
So why do so many of us focus on the product and services versus the pain we remove and the problems we solve for the audience we serve, and how [in doing that] we can fulfill a broader mission? Just go look at your website. Likely, the emphasis is on WHAT YOU DO/SELL versus WHO YOU ARE and what pain you remove and PROBLEMS YOU SOLVE. When reading your LinkedIn profile, does it read like a resume or does it share a wonderful story that MOVES, TOUCHES, INSPIRES your reader to connect with you?
So what kind of prospector do you want to be on LinkedIn? A recreational boater just dabbling with no real system or approach, or a local fisherman who follows a method or formula for catching the exact type of fish? Ultimately your success comes down to your “lure factor” and implementing these three secrets with precision-like accuracy.