Last week Mike and I sat down for drinks with a friend who knows we work in social media. He said “I know you guys ‘do’ LinkedIn, and I’ve made some connections, but I haven’t figured out how to monetize it.” He has been on LinkedIn for years, but he had never made a connection that brought him business. So, we did for our friend what we do for our clients… we pulled out Mike’s laptop and show him in 15 minutes how to search his network for a connection that might become a client.
His response? “I didn’t even know that company existed and there’s a potential million dollar sale there for me!” (Our friend is in the business of leasing/financing server solutions to web hosting, gaming, and VOIP companies. So, if you know anyone, drop us a line and we’ll pass you along!)
We ended up at his office two days later to take a better look at his social media presence and see how we could help him. That visit resulted in 3 more solid leads and the promise of revenue for us if we would build up him and his sales team so they can find more business leads on LinkedIn.
I thought about how many people pull me aside when we speak at conferences with the same questions of how to get real results. So many people don’t realize how powerful a business social networking site like LinkedIn can be for generating solid leads and starting real relationships with professionals who are interested in who you are and what you do.
If this post makes you think about a good lead that would be valuable for you, but that you never thought you could find, why don’t you drop me a line and tell me what that person looks like and what the result of a phone conversation would be. We’d absolutely love to hear from you and see if we could help you too.
