LinkedIn can work well for the novice… who has common sense. A few months ago LinkedIn suggested I connect with someone I might know. Her name is Judie Keys. Judie is a local San Diego Hypnotherapist and New Life Coach for abused people. I reached out to her to connect on LinkedIn and much to my delight, she responded with an in depth email back to me encouraging us to meet at her office. She requested that I bring my business cards and brochures to place the networking bulletin board in her office. Also, she offered to have me take others cards and information an connect with those people on the networking bulletin board that I might like to meet.
Make Networking On LinkedIn About THEM
When Judie receives and invite on LinkedIn, unlike many, she goes to review their profile page. If she sees they are in San Diego, she then sends a reply suggesting they meet (like she did with me) and includes her email address as well as her phone number. When people respond, she sets up a time to meet. I took her up on this and now have a great resource to refer people to. And yes, I left my cards and brochure for social media classes on her board.
Judie says, “So many people who have gotten on LinkedIn forget about meeting with each other in person. Business happens with people you like and the best way to know if you like them is to meet in person. It’s really about growing a relationship.”
I totally agree.
When I went to meet Judie, she confessed she didn’t have much experience on using social media sites like LinkedIn, and I was actually surprised how effective she was considering her self-proclaimed “limited” abilities. However, she is an avid networker in her community. Whenever she goes to a networking meeting, and meets someone who has a business that some of her clients might be interested in as a service for them, she sets up a time to meet and get to know each other. Essentially, she is doing the same thing on LinkedIn. The cool thing is she doesn’t have to leave her home or office to go networking.
She invites and responds to people on LinkedIn about 6 times a week. Recently, she figured out how to invite people on LinkedIn. Specifically, she has been looking up people on her email list and connecting with them on LinkedIn.
Keep In Touch and Focus on Relationship Building With Your LinkedIn Contacts
One more impressive thing… Judie keeps in touch. Periodically, she sends a personal email message. The most recent email I got from her was an offer to get her Checklist of 53 Clues to Recognize If You’re Being Abused. Her passion is healing abuse and she wants everyone to have this list. She is now simply sending the list out. If you want it simply email at healerwoman at thehealingtree.net
Most importantly, her focus is not to get clients. Rather, her focus is to get to know people because she knows that people refer to people they like and have built good relationships with. She is also interested in educating people about her work because there are a lot of misconceptions about hypnosis. No, she won’t make you cluck like a chicken.
When we met, she gave me a couple of coupons for free consultations to give to people I might refer. What a great way to empower me as a referral source.
Related: How To Get Great LinkedIn Recommendations
Yes, You Can Get Business from LinkedIn
As a result of all her efforts to build relationships via her LinkedIn and subsequent in-person meetings, she has received clients and good referral partners. She is also a great referral source to wonderful local providers.
Recently, she met someone who didn’t think there was anything Judie could help her with. This person was a dentist and Judie let her know that working with people who have dental anxiety can be very effective. As it so happens this dentist was trying to work with a patient who had extreme anxiety and was a perfect fit for Judie to help.
It’s important to really get to know the person you are connecting with. You want to ask questions and listen for their business and personal challenges as there may be a clue as to how you (or someone you might refer them to) can help. You never know how you can help. Furthermore, if you think of a way to help them after the fact, this can be an excellent way to reach out. For example, Judie recently had a meeting with a Funeral Home manager (she met via LinkedIn). A few days after their meeting she realized a way to help that she hadn’t thought to mention. It was a great reason to connect again with an email saying… “I don’t think I told you this but, I have been doing grief counseling for twenty plus years now and that may be useful to the people you work with.” A wonderful dialog ensued that deepened the relationship and planted the seed for a future referral.
Bottom line… you don’t have to be a power user to get business from LinkedIn. Take it from Judie. All you need to do is listen to your intuition and reach out to who you’re drawn to. Judie continues to learn every day as I’m sure you do to.
Share In LinkedIn Groups
Judie’s most recent discovery is LinkedIn Groups. She is writing a book on abuse and made an offer to the people in the Hypnotherapist groups she recently joined. She asked if anyone wanted to be a contributing author on a certain topic. Now she is getting lots of engagement and making a name for herself while once again supporting others success too.
Another post you may enjoy: Hypnotherapy Help Me Be A Better Social Media Consultant
How are you using LinkedIn for growing your business? Please share your LinkedIn ideas and success stories in the comments below.
Great post about bring networking in the virtual world to truely building relationships in the real world. Taking action with immediate follow-up after a connection is made is key. I’ll send a card since most of my connections are not local. You never know when a prompting may occur – don’t neglect to take action when they do.