Leveraging LinkedIn for Prospecting, Relationship Building, and Business Growth with Adam Packard
Episode 22 with Frederick Dudek (Freddy D)
Leveraging LinkedIn for Prospecting, Relationship Building, and Business Growth with Adam Packard
In this episode of the Business Superfans Podcast Show, host Adam interviews a guest who specializes in leveraging LinkedIn for business growth. The guest discusses his journey from networking and sales to helping businesses generate leads, emphasizing the importance of prospecting, follow-up, and relationship building. He shares success stories of clients who have significantly increased their revenue through targeted LinkedIn campaigns. The guest also talks about the value of authenticity and consistency in posting content on social media platforms and the power of creating superfans who refer others to your business.
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Mentioned in this episode:
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Transcript
Adam Packard, founder of ninja marketing has 20 plus years
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:of sales and networking experience.
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:Raised in Maine with an
entrepreneurial background,
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:initially pursued a career in golf.
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:However, his journey led to
sales training under Tom Hopkins.
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:And various ventures.
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:Leveraging has networking cold
messaging and copywriting skills.
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:Adam founded ninja prospecting.
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:His formula for LinkedIn success
involved consistently genuine
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:engagement and tailored approaches to
build relationships and a pipeline of
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:opportunities and his free time he enjoys
golf and spending time with his wife,
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:Sarah of 10 years and playing soccer
with his eight year old son, Hudson.
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:Good morning, Adam.
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:Welcome to the Business
Superfan Podcast show.
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:How are you this morning?
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:Adam Packard: I'm doing great.
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:Thanks for having me.
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:Freddy D: It's been a hot minute
since you and I had talked.
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:We go back, geez, at least 15 years.
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:Adam Packard: Yeah, I know.
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:I'm glad we kept in touch and
cool to see what you're doing.
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:So yeah, excited to be on and
hopefully share some nuggets here.
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:Freddy D: Yeah.
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:So tell me a little bit about, your
background, how you got started
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:and what led you to being linked in
and being a master on leveraging.
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:Adam Packard: Yeah, it's an interesting
career path that obviously you and
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:I have a background and kind of work
together in the network marketing space.
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:I've always been in networking and
sales and, got recruited to work
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:on the corporate side of a network
marketing company about seven years ago.
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:So I did that and got
laid off out of the blue.
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:And yeah, I had to find something else.
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:I had a friend that came to me
and said, Hey, I know you're
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:good at networking and sales.
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:Can you help me generate some leads
for this new startup that we have?
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:It was all around trying to
find leads for advertising.
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:I had no idea how to sell
advertising, so I literally
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:Googled how to sell advertising.
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:I realized the only place I could
find those people was on LinkedIn.
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:I had a LinkedIn account, hadn't
logged in probably 10 years,
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:so I dusted it off, logged in.
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:Trial and error, just tried to figure
out how to start conversations,
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:use my networking skills to pique
people's interest and get them
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:interested and got pretty good at it.
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:We landed some national
clients for him and my wife.
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:Encourage me to do this for other people.
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:She's like, you're good at this.
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:You should help others.
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:They don't know what they're doing.
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:So come to find out there's thousands
in this space that do something similar.
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:So we immediately had to figure
out how to differentiate.
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:But yeah, it's been a fun and interesting
journey to help people have success
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:on LinkedIn, but it's always changing.
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:So you got to stay up with it.
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:Freddy D: Right, right.
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:Yeah, I've never really leveraged LinkedIn
myself yet from a business perspective.
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:I have close to 2000 connections on
LinkedIn, but I've not had the time
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:or really the understanding of how
to turn that into a revenue stream.
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:Adam Packard: Yeah.
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:It's a challenge for a lot.
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:Cause most people rely on referrals, word
of mouth, warm market venturing into.
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:Cold prospecting and cold messaging
just has to be done the right way.
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:But you said the key word
there is build relationships.
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:And I think at the end of the day,
that's what you're trying to do.
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:It doesn't matter what you're selling.
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:People are going to buy from people.
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:They like know and trust, and you have
to start the relationship somehow,
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:other than just connecting and trying
to pitch someone in a message, which
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:unfortunately it was what most people do.
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:Freddy D: Right.
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:So let's talk about, prospecting.
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:How important is really prospecting
in this because in my book, creating
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:business superfans, that's really
my first chapter is prospecting.
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:So I'd like to get your
narrative on that aspect.
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:Adam Packard: Always
be prospecting, right?
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:Yeah, it's just, it's the
lifeblood of the business.
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:I think everybody comes from
a different place though.
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:I mean, if you're, if your business
is at the point where, you rely on
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:referrals and you don't want to scale,
then prospecting is not nearly as
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:important, but most of the people I
talk to bring in maybe one, two clients
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:a month and they need other avenues.
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:I mean, when I was in my network marketing
days, I used to write down 20 different
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:ways that I could meet people because
I knew that building a pipeline of warm
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:and interested people was the only way
that I could have more conversations than
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:anybody else and generate more business.
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:So, depending on where you are in your
business and what you're looking to do,
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:80 percent of your time should be spent
having conversations and prospecting.
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:If you're too much in the business
and not working on the business,
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:then it's never going to grow.
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:So, yeah, prospecting is the
lifeblood of business, but it
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:has to be done the right way.
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:There's so many cold messages and
spam and email that you get that
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:you have to rise above the noise.
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:And that's what we help people
do is cut through the noise
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:and stand out and be different.
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:And at the end of the day, build
relationships, build a pipeline
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:and have endless conversations
with the right people.
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:Freddy D: Right, and of course, follow up
is the next part of the equation is now
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:that you've got made that connection and
had the conversation, you've got to engage
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:and follow up is everything in my mind.
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:And that's actually my second chapter in
a book is follow up because once you've
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:got the prospect, you've got to follow up
and you got to keep reaching out to them.
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:Adam Packard: It's one thing
that just gets overlooked, which
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:is just so mind boggling to me.
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:I mean, when I was in the network
marketing business, my only
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:goal was to not have anybody
slip through the cracks, right?
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:If I had a conversation with someone,
even if the timing wasn't right,
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:they would hear from me consistently
until they either told me yes, or
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:told me to go pound sand and not
reach out to them again, right?
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:Tom Hopkins used to say,
follow up till they buy or die.
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:A little extreme, but you'd be shocked.
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:Maybe you wouldn't how many people,
I send leads to on a daily basis
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:and they reach out to them once and
the person doesn't show up on a zoom
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:credit card in hand ready to buy and
they're like, Oh, this doesn't work.
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:The work begins when we hand
someone off that says, tell me
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:more, Frederick, I'm interested.
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:That's where the followup comes in
place and you have to have a system on
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:the back end to be able to handle it.
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:I mean, I use a simple CRM that
just gives me a list of people I
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:need to follow up with every day.
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:And I.
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:And meticulous and I don't miss it.
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:And I've had people that I've talked to
two, three years ago with it, because
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:I was the only one that kept in touch
when the time is right, they come
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:back to me because I was that guy.
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:So I always tell people when you're
prospecting, it's always the right message
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:to the right person at the right time.
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:You can control the first two parts.
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:You can't always control the timing.
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:And so that's where the followup is key.
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:Freddy D: Oh, absolutely.
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:With the interpreting and translation
company, I close more sales because I'm
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:the first one and the fastest one, and
that's the key right there, is being the
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:fastest one to respond back to an inquiry.
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:Because one, they're
overwhelmed that, wow.
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:You actually responded and you responded
within 15 minutes of me submitting
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:a message through your website.
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:And then I, basically, I eliminated any
chance of competition because I engaged
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:talking to them right off the bat.
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:Adam Packard: Yeah.
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:Freddy D: And yeah, we can take
care of this and next thing poof,
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:I got a contract done and my sales
cycle was probably 30 minutes, max.
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:And we're talking, some decent
money with language interpreting,
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:Adam Packard: yeah.
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:Freddy D: so.
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:It's critical.
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:So let's go back to LinkedIn a little
bit and let's talk about those people
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:that send you a message out of the clear
blue, you have no idea who they are and
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:you think that they're genuinely looking
to connect and you accept the connection.
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:And next thing you know, as
you get the sales pitch, what's
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:your thought about that crap?
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:Adam Packard: There's a
time and a place for it.
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:I think.
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:Yeah, it's a little too much.
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:I think it depends on the audience.
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:So I think everybody that we work with
has a different audience that they
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:serve and different offers, right?
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:If you're targeting higher up people
in business owners, founders, C
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:suite individuals, they get hit up
probably more so than anybody, right?
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:So you cannot come out and connect
and immediately pitch them on your
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:services, back in the day when
linkedin allowed you to have 100 150
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:connection requests go out per day.
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:You could throw enough
stuff against the wall.
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:Some of it's bound to stick, right?
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:So you didn't have to be very good.
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:So you could do that and still get
results when they limited the number of
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:connections you could make and limited
the number of messages you can send.
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:You immediately have to change your
kind of focus and priority to be more
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:efficient, more effective with those.
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:And so the approach has to change.
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:So when we work with clients.
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:We try to come up with outside the
box ideas because if you look at the
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:last 10 messages you got on LinkedIn,
9 out of 10 of them are probably
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:connecting and pitching you on something.
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:Freddy D: Oh, absolutely.
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:Adam Packard: Most links have most link or
most messages have links in them, right?
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:Say, hey, let's schedule a
discovery call or a strategy call.
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:And if that's your only way that you
reach out to people, you've got to
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:think of something else because you
cannot sell someone a multi thousand
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:dollar package and in a message, right?
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:So what we look to do is.
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:Create conversation and engagement.
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:That's the only goal on LinkedIn
is to get a conversation started.
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:Everything we do is permission based, so
you will never find links in any messages.
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:So if I sent you a message and said,
Hey, We'd love to have you on my podcast.
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:If you're interested, shoot me a message
back and we can talk through details,
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:you would automatically respond to that.
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:Now, if I pitched it this way and I
say, Hey, Frederick, we have a podcast.
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:Here's a link to the show.
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:Here's my calendar to book time to
learn more that comes across as spam.
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:So when you're looking at LinkedIn,
use it as a tool to create
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:engagement, curiosity, and interest.
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:Look at it as a tool where you can
add value and build relationships.
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:Yes, you can probably find some
opportunities quickly, but you also
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:don't want to cut yourself off from
any future opportunity by burning
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:through connections and just burning
through relationship capital.
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:Because if you have a great
conversation with someone, they might
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:not be a perfect client for you.
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:But because of the way you
approach them the right way,
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:now your foot's in the door.
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:They might keep you in mind for the future
and now their network is open to you.
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:So it's almost like when, we would go
to BNI meetings in the day, back in
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:the day, it just felt like everybody
would go to the meeting and try to
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:sell each other their services, right?
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:It wasn't like we were getting into
each other's network and actually
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:leveraging people's networks.
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:So it's almost the same way now with
LinkedIn is nine out of 10 people.
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:Go to LinkedIn to try to sell people.
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:They don't know services
that they don't need.
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:When in fact they should look at it as a
tool to whose network can you get into?
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:How can you add value to a certain person?
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:Yes, you might pique their interest
and they might have interest in
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:what you do, but you also need
to approach it the right way.
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:So you don't just.
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:Burn through that connection
and lose any future opportunity.
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:So our approach is a little bit
different in terms of it might be a
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:longer term nurturing, sales cycle
where you build a bigger pipeline.
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:Unfortunately we live in this instant
gratification society where people want
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:sales and want prospects now, but when
you're looking at LinkedIn, you have to
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:look at it as a networking tool first, and
then a way to add value and potentially
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:share your services with the right people.
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:Freddy D: You said a big thing right
there is building that relationships
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:and nurturing it over a period of time,
because the other aspect of that is,
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:as you also mentioned, Adam, was that,
they may not be ready for your service
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:now, but they have a network of people.
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:And if you built that relationship with
them and you're not pitching them, you're
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:just having conversation, building a
relationship, they may not be ready, but
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:they may turn around and says, Hey, you
know what, My friend Susie she'd be an
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:ideal person for your podcast or your
product or your service or whatever it is.
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:And they start becoming your superfan
in a sense, because they're out
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:promoting you to their network.
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:You can't buy that kind of PR.
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:That's why, I wrote the book
Creating Business Superfans.
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:It's people that believe in you
are trust you and want to promote
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:you because they like you and
they want you to be successful.
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:Adam Packard: A hundred percent.
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:Yep.
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:It's so true.
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:I mean, it's I'm in a very
competitive space, right?
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:And most people that are on LinkedIn
probably have lots of competition.
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:So if you just look at what your
competition is doing and do the opposite
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:we basically branded ourselves as the
opposite of every LinkedIn marketing
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:company because we do things differently.
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:We take a manual approach.
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:We're not using software.
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:We're not using bots.
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:We're using real people.
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:We take time to really put together a plan
that actually will help you strategically
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:connect with the right people.
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:But yeah, if you look at your inbox,
just look at the last 10 messages and
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:say, okay, this didn't resonate with me.
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:What type of message
would resonate with me?
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:If I were to receive it called
from a prospect, it would
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:probably be one that it's.
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:Focuses on you and not the other
person selling their stuff.
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:It'd probably be one that adds value to
you and maybe gives you some insights
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:and tips that, you didn't have before.
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:So yeah, value add, build relationships.
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:That's the key.
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:Freddy D: Absolutely.
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:So, how do you leverage LinkedIn
for, to, make connections?
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:How do you find the connections
and how do you leverage that?
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:I mean, you don't have to give
away all your secrets, give some
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:tips here on what people can do.
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:Adam Packard: Yeah, there's
a lot that you can do.
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:I think the first thing you have
to really do is get very clear
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:on who your audience is, right?
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:That's, if you tell me your audience is
the avatar, it goes back to the avatar.
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:I mean, if you say your audience is
business owners and you do leadership
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:development coaching, I'm probably
going to throw up a little bit in my
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:mouth because it's just so general.
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:It's just going to be white noise.
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:There's nothing I can create.
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:I can't market that.
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:But if you say I work with tech startup
founders that have less than 500 employees
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:that are based in Silicon Valley.
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:That are series a, or, just
getting funding, that's a
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:specific audience, right?
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:Or I work with service
based industries, right?
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:You just have to be super specific.
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:Now that's the first part.
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:The second part is identifying again
if your audience is that higher
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:tier person, that's the CEO or the
founders or the business owners.
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:Your approach is going to have to
be a little bit more indirect and
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:a little bit more value added.
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:Whereas if you're targeting maybe
entrepreneurs or middle managers,
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:you can be a little bit more direct.
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:So that's where the
strategy comes into play.
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:But from a, what can you do?
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:We leverage sales navigator for LinkedIn.
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:It's a necessary tool to be
able to find the right people.
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:If you do a basic search on LinkedIn,
you can find people, but you're also.
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:Probably burning through connections.
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:Cause you know, half the people
on LinkedIn are not active, right?
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:So with sales navigator, you can identify
people who are active on the platform.
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:You can find people who are premium
users, which means they're more
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:likely to respond and engage.
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:And you can just, do the right parameters
from industry to title, to years
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:experience, to geography, to keywords.
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:So you can make a much
more targeted search.
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:And then from there, there's
lots of tools and systems and
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:agencies that can help you.
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:But, if you're just starting out.
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:You can make 20, 25 connections
a day to your target audience,
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:engage in conversations that way.
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:That's what we do is we take that two
or three hours a day of prospecting off
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:people's plates so they can just handle
the warm conversations that we hand over.
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:And the new trend right now, I'm
not sure if you're seeing this
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:right now is let us place an
appointment center in your business.
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:And we'll take over all your DMS
and generate appointments for you.
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:The challenge is you're probably going to
be spending a thousand, 2, 000 a month.
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:You're probably going to have people on
your calendar that aren't a fit because
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:their goal is just to book people,
whether or not they're qualified or not.
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:Our approach is a little bit different.
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:I've tested this multiple ways.
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:What we do is we help you
get the conversation started.
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:So I create the copy and the targeting to
help you, generate the interest, right?
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:So someone who reaches back out and
says, Hey, Frederick, I'm interested.
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:At that point, we hand it off
to you because you know your
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:business a lot better than I do.
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:You can customize a reply back and get
the conversation started from there.
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:But yeah, LinkedIn, you can
send, 100 messages a day easy.
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:I mean, build up your existing network.
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:Obviously, you want to try to connect
with people first because then they
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:see your posts and your feed and then
you can message them anytime, right?
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:So I just created A campaign to
go back to some of my existing
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:connections to reengage some of them.
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:Whether you have a promo or a holiday
special you're doing building those
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:connections is key, but you have to
find a way to consistently do it.
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:That's the one thing I see a
lot of people miss is they'll
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:send five, 10 messages a day.
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:They don't get too many results.
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:You've got to increase that.
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:Do 60, messages a day.
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:Find a way to do that.
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:Whether you hire someone or
whether you do it yourself.
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:You kind of have to do it,
look at LinkedIn as almost
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:like a speed networking tool.
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:The more connections you can make,
the more conversations you have, the
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:bigger your pipeline is going to get.
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:But there are tons of tools and resources
out there to help you leverage it.
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:Freddy D: Do you have a resource for those
tools and stuff off of your business?
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:Adam Packard: I just have calls.
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:Honestly I'm the anti
hard sell kind of guy.
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:My goal is to educate
and give people ideas.
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:I had a call yesterday with a
someone that, was looking to
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:come on our podcast as a guest.
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:And I gave her some ideas on, Hey,
if you're going to leverage LinkedIn,
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:here's an idea that I would use.
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:And the idea was.
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:take a chapter from one of her books
every month, do an event around
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:that, that topic, invite her target
audience to come check it out.
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:You add a ton of value.
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:And then, at the end you can share, Hey,
if you're interested in having a separate
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:conversation, let's have a one on one.
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:So it's an easy way to promote
yourself, add value without pitching
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:and get more conversations started.
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:So yeah, I always encourage people to
just, check us out at Ninja prospecting.
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:com schedule a call.
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:Like I said, I'm the
opposite of the hard sell.
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:It's more of educating and adding
value and giving you some ideas.
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:And if you want to see how we
partner with you to, leverage
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:your time it works really well.
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:Freddy D: Right.
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:So what's the advantage
of LinkedIn premium.
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:Cause I'm not on it.
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:I know because I'm not on LinkedIn enough.
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:For what I'm doing at the moment.
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:Adam Packard: And you will
be we'll get you there.
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:Yeah., you definitely gotta leverage it.
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:Yeah.
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:So there's different versions
of premium for LinkedIn.
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:The only one I recommend, a sales
navigator, but unless you're gonna
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:be sending 50 to a hundred messages
a day, it's probably overkill.
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:Right?
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:Unless you're gonna actually
start leveraging it and
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:messaging a lot more people.
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:Most people don't take
advantage of Sales Navigator.
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:One of the advantages of having Sales
Navigator, number one, you get the little
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:gold logo next to your name so people can
recognize you as, you actually, think that
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:LinkedIn is valuable enough to pay for it.
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:But it's a, premium there are other
versions of premium that I think
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:allow you to just to see people
that are viewing your profile.
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:That to me didn't really
move the needle at all.
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:So sales navigator is the tool
that, that I would recommend, but
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:yeah, you can send with in mails to
people don't realize in mail is a
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:great way to reach out to people.
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:And they, they see this when they
sign up for sales navigator, you
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:get like 50 in mail credits, right?
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:Which basically allows me to message
you directly without being connected.
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:However, most people don't realize this.
391
:If you look at a search on LinkedIn
and try to message someone, if you have
392
:sales navigator, there's about 70 percent
of profiles that are marked as open.
393
:Meaning I can send you an in mail
without using one of my 50 credits.
394
:And they let me do that 40 times a day.
395
:So I can send 40 in mails a day, open
profile to start conversations in addition
396
:to the connecting that you can do.
397
:That's the advantage of sales navigators.
398
:It opens you up to being able
to do more messaging and just
399
:find more of the right people.
400
:Freddy D: Interesting.
401
:I never knew that.
402
:That's a great nugget for everybody.
403
:How do you build superfans within
LinkedIn that, become your promoters
404
:for the services that you guys provide?
405
:Adam Packard: Yeah there's a couple ways.
406
:So if you look at LinkedIn, as
you have passive strategies and
407
:you have active strategies, right?
408
:Your passive strategies are.
409
:posting content that is not
necessarily going to generate leads.
410
:It's really good for brand awareness,
thought leadership, credibility,
411
:visibility, social proof.
412
:But rarely do I post something and
somebody messages me saying, tell
413
:me more about your services, right?
414
:I'm really just doing it to show that
I'm active and to add some value.
415
:It's almost like you, you're the guy
in the back of the room at the seminar.
416
:That has the booth and
you're selling product.
417
:You're hoping people come
up and see your stuff.
418
:That's the passive strategy.
419
:Still really important.
420
:But it's not going to generate
immediate conversations.
421
:The active strategies are basically
getting out there, shaking hands, meeting
422
:people, starting conversations, almost
like going to a seminar instead of being
423
:the guy in the back of the room, trying
to sell a product you're out there in the
424
:crowd, shaking hands and meeting people.
425
:And so that two prong approach of.
426
:posting the content and
doing the reach outs.
427
:The content is where you start
to develop that fan base, right?
428
:But it takes consistency over time.
429
:Sadly, most people, will automate
their content or they'll outsource it.
430
:Or they'll just use AI
to generate content.
431
:It doesn't, AI for me doesn't
really reflect personality.
432
:It can create some great things,
but I, at the end of the day.
433
:You've got to share your voice
and share your wisdom naturally.
434
:So find a way to consistently do that
two, three times a week on LinkedIn
435
:post content that way, but you have
to add in the other piece that drives
436
:people to your content, that, that
builds more connections that build your
437
:network and starts more conversations.
438
:So you have to have
both working in tandem.
439
:Freddy D: It makes sense.
440
:It goes back to, sales, follow up.
441
:And this usually happens not
at the 1st, 2nd or 3rd connect.
442
:It usually is at the 8th,
9th, 12th, 14th conversation.
443
:And all of a sudden, boom, it happens.
444
:Adam Packard: Yeah.
445
:Yeah.
446
:So I had a conversation yesterday with a
guy that I talked to you back in March.
447
:And then luckily, because I have
the CRM and everything set up
448
:the right way, I could, I knew
exactly what we talked about.
449
:I knew where his business
was, what he was looking for.
450
:Even though it was eight months ago,
it was an easy kind of transition
451
:into the conversation yesterday.
452
:So yeah that's one of the Secrets.
453
:I don't think it's a secret, but just
most people don't actually do it.
454
:Freddy D: So can you share a story
of how you helped somebody that was
455
:struggling and how you turned around
their business, leveraging LinkedIn
456
:and the services that you provide?
457
:Adam Packard: Yeah, we've got
a lot of great success stories.
458
:I've had a, our goal is to
not be a service provider.
459
:Our goal is to come in
more as a growth partner.
460
:We want to partner with you, right?
461
:So we're a little bit
different in that regards.
462
:And our model is a little bit different.
463
:A couple of our long term clients,
I remember she came to me, she's
464
:a coach for product managers.
465
:We actually did a case study
and it's on our website.
466
:But.
467
:We basically created a a copy and a
campaign to drive people to a little mini
468
:funnel that she had a little training.
469
:So she would invite people and
add value with this kind of
470
:free training that she did.
471
:And I've the very first day we generated
17 leads for her, which was just insane.
472
:I think over the course of the last
three or four years, we've averaged
473
:a couple of thousand leads per year
for her that funnels directly into
474
:her calendar turns into clients.
475
:She generates four to seven clients a
month which is higher than our average.
476
:But yeah, she leverages LinkedIn.
477
:She's, found her voice.
478
:She's got the authority.
479
:And it works.
480
:She adds value first, right?
481
:She leads with that.
482
:She builds a huge pipeline.
483
:That was one of our great success stories.
484
:And I have another one that
started a coaching business and.
485
:When she started with us, she was probably
making between five and 10, 000 a month.
486
:And her note to me was if I'm going to
have someone working my LinkedIn account,
487
:I want to make sure that it represents
my brand, my voice, and is a reflection
488
:of our brand and adds value to our brand.
489
:Detracting from our brand
and giving it a bad name.
490
:So we put together a plan for her
something similar to what we did
491
:for the project manager coach.
492
:And immediately she started seeing results
and she has been with us for years.
493
:She's grown her coaching practice
now to over 200, 000 a month.
494
:has multiple coaches and it's
just scaling to the moon.
495
:So, and again, not everybody's looking
to go from five grand to 200 grand.
496
:Maybe you aren't, but if you're not
leveraging cold outreach as part
497
:of your plan to grow your business.
498
:You're leaving money on the table.
499
:You're not having any predictability
unless you've been in business 20 years
500
:and your business is 95 percent referral.
501
:It's just the lifeblood of any business.
502
:And it's fun.
503
:You get to meet people from all over
the world and have great conversations.
504
:But yeah, those are probably
two of our best success stories.
505
:They had success right out of the gate.
506
:Freddy D: Yeah, that's amazing going
from 5 to 10 grand to 200 grand a month.
507
:Adam Packard: Yeah.
508
:Freddy D: That doesn't suck.
509
:Adam Packard: Yeah.
510
:Now we're not the entire, reason for the
success, but we're a piece of it for sure.
511
:Freddy D: Right.
512
:Adam Packard: She knew
that it was reliable.
513
:She knew that every month she was
going to have a predictable number
514
:of people looking at her stuff.
515
:And that's what we do.
516
:Freddy D: Excellent.
517
:So, aside from that, how do
you make connections outside
518
:of LinkedIn for your business?
519
:Adam Packard: That's a good question.
520
:Most of my business is
done through LinkedIn.
521
:I do a little bit on Facebook.
522
:We do a little bit with
cold email as well.
523
:But at the end of the
day the goal is the same.
524
:It's to create engagement,
create conversation.
525
:I do a little bit of
networking face to face.
526
:It's, it's one of those things
where I could talk to five people
527
:in an hour, via zoom, or I could
meet one person for lunch, right?
528
:So I have to balance that.
529
:And the same thing when I was building
my network marketing business was, I
530
:want to get as, squeeze as much into
the time that I have as possible.
531
:So I'm trying to leverage my time.
532
:So most of what we do is done through
LinkedIn, but again, the goal is
533
:to humanize it as much as possible.
534
:And almost, even though
it's not face to face.
535
:It's a great way to just have way more
conversations than you could have been if
536
:you were to go to a networking event, but
I still I'm almost of the camp that you
537
:have to sprinkle in some of the old school
things that worked 20 years ago because
538
:they're probably more effective now.
539
:So finding the right group to belong to.
540
:Locally, a networking group, getting
out and meeting people make friends.
541
:I mean, at the end of the day, you're
just trying to make friends with people.
542
:So when I'm playing pickleball
with my buddies, right, I'll,
543
:they asked me what I do.
544
:We have conversations.
545
:They're all business owners, right?
546
:So.
547
:Yeah, there's, you have to have
multiple ways that you prospect and
548
:LinkedIn is one of them, but you
should have five or 10 different
549
:sources that you pull people from.
550
:Freddy D: And, going back to LinkedIn
and Facebook and, Instagram and all those
551
:platforms, how often should somebody
be posting so they're not obnoxious
552
:and at the same time it's meaningful.
553
:Adam Packard: Yeah, it depends.
554
:Most people will look and do a
lot of promotional posts, right?
555
:It's like, oh, I can do this and
everything is about business.
556
:What I found works best, and I would
say pick one platform, get really
557
:good at one platform to start.
558
:Don't try to do Twitter, Facebook,
Instagram, LinkedIn, because you're
559
:going to spread yourself too thin.
560
:You're going to run out of time.
561
:So I would pick one or maybe
two platforms to start with and
562
:get some really good traction.
563
:So where's your audience
hanging out the most, right?
564
:So for us, most of our
audience hangs out on LinkedIn.
565
:So that's where we post
and share our content.
566
:I would say three times a week
would be the average to do.
567
:Consistency obviously is key, but
what I found on LinkedIn, it's funny.
568
:If you look at some of my posts, the
ones where I talk about, business or
569
:tips or, things that you can do with
LinkedIn, don't get nearly as much
570
:traction as the ones where I post
maybe a personal story or something
571
:that's family related, where I can tie
in my business and my life, because.
572
:People want to get to know the
person behind, the company.
573
:They want to get to know you personally.
574
:So anything you can share, if you're
going on a trip, tell us about the trip.
575
:Tell us about, a lesson you
learned while you're on the trip.
576
:Share a story.
577
:Those posts actually tend to do better.
578
:On LinkedIn.
579
:But again, the key is the consistency
of it and not looking at it and
580
:saying, Oh, I need to get so
many likes or so many comments.
581
:Throw that out the window for six
months and just focus on adding
582
:value, sharing stuff that, you
have a thought of inspiration.
583
:You want to share it just right.
584
:And share it without any attachment
to, I hope people like this.
585
:So when I post stuff, yeah,
I want people to like it.
586
:But the day, I'm not shooting for likes.
587
:I'm shooting for being real
and authentic with my audience.
588
:And hopefully that comes across.
589
:Freddy D: And that's an important
tip right there is being real and
590
:genuine and sharing something.
591
:Because it's, you're right, I post
some personal stuff and all of
592
:a sudden, out of nowhere, I get,
two, hundred likes on something.
593
:And then if I post something
that's pure business.
594
:It falls flat on its face.
595
:Adam Packard: Yeah, exactly.
596
:Freddy D: It's a non starter.
597
:Adam Packard: That's the
old post and pray, right?
598
:What most people do is they'll,
they're, Oh, I'm going to post on
599
:all these platforms and people are
going to, come to me and I'm like,
600
:it doesn't quite work that way.
601
:You've got to be a little
bit more proactive.
602
:Freddy D: You've got to engage
and build those relationships.
603
:Yeah.
604
:And cause back to those two
clients, you really help out, I'm
605
:sure that they're your superfans.
606
:They love the services that
you've done and they've shared
607
:your services to other people.
608
:And that's really, how you build
that fan base that in turn starts
609
:a snowball, and I'm sure they're
your marketing piece today.
610
:Adam Packard: And you have to, yeah,
they, yeah, they refer us business
611
:all the time, which is great.
612
:It's easy conversations.
613
:Cause they, they realize
what we did to help them.
614
:So it makes the conversation easier.
615
:But yeah, you've got you've got to
create fans in your business and
616
:you've got to do more than what
you, they're paying you for, right.
617
:Care more communicate more.
618
:Try to do as much as
you can to over deliver.
619
:There's way too much over promising and
under delivering in the market right now.
620
:And so we try to be the opposite and, we
will, we'll guarantee a certain number
621
:of leads, but at the end of the day.
622
:I know that's a low bar.
623
:I'm shooting for a lot higher
because if I can over promise and
624
:be the guy that over, if I can over
deliver, we immediately stand out.
625
:But yeah, creating those superfans
helps you build that fan base, helps you
626
:develop more of a referral based business.
627
:But to get there, you've got to
have those cold conversations.
628
:Yeah.
629
:That's where I talk about, in
Creating Business Superfans book,
630
:I call it the unexpected extra.
631
:And so it's like you just said,
it's going above and beyond and
632
:that's unexpected in today's world.
633
:And that's a differentiator and that's
an attraction because now they go, wow.
634
:Look, that's just
unbelievable what he just did.
635
:That's helped tremendously and
it didn't charge us for it.
636
:And they start telling other
people about, and you start
637
:getting at that superfan base.
638
:Yeah.
639
:You have to come with the
right intention, right?
640
:If you're actually trying to help people,
then you will over deliver it and find
641
:those little moments where you can.
642
:Well, whether it's reaching out and just
asking if you can help or whether it's
643
:sending them a small gift, a thank you
gift there's a lot of little things that
644
:you can do that add up and just help
you build that relationship even more.
645
:Freddy D: Yep.
646
:Absolutely.
647
:So Adam how can people find you?
648
:Adam Packard: Yeah.
649
:Easiest way is just go
to ninja prospecting.
650
:com.
651
:All of our info is on there.
652
:We've got a podcast that's launching soon.
653
:So check out our podcast.
654
:It's called I need a coach where we
interview coaches and showcase them
655
:and get them to share their story.
656
:So.
657
:ninjaprospecting.
658
:com.
659
:You can learn a little bit more about
our services, about what we do some
660
:videos on there, some testimonials and
case studies and if you'd be open to
661
:having a chat and getting some ideas on
what you could do to leverage LinkedIn
662
:better, I'm always open to meeting
people and seeing how we can help.
663
:Freddy D: Okay, so you're
offering a free consultation
664
:Adam Packard: Yeah, every
conversation is different, right?
665
:So I need to know, tell me who your
audience is, what are you trying to do?
666
:What's your offer look like?
667
:What's your price point?
668
:What are you currently doing?
669
:How are you generating conversations?
670
:And then from there, I usually
give people a few ideas.
671
:Have you tried this?
672
:Have you done events?
673
:Have you done podcasting?
674
:Have you done, interviewing people?
675
:There's a lot of different outside the
box approaches that we, give you ideas for
676
:other than the standard connect and pitch.
677
:And here's my discovery call link,
which is not going to work anymore.
678
:So if you're looking for some
creative outside the box ideas,
679
:you're looking to build a pipeline.
680
:That's what we do on that call is just
give you some ideas, whether or not
681
:you want to leverage us and use us.
682
:There's, like I said, there's no
obligation whatsoever, but it gives you
683
:a chance to really explore what you could
do on LinkedIn because there's a ton of
684
:opportunity when it's done the right way.
685
:Freddy D: Appreciate it, Adam.
686
:Thank you very much for being on
the Business Superfan podcast.
687
:Great nuggets that you shared, and we'll
look to have you on the show another day.
688
:Adam Packard: I appreciate it.
689
:Thanks, Frederick.