10 Types Of People You Should Connect On LinkedIn...To Maximize Your Benefit From This Platform

If you are serious about using LinkedIn to grow your business, you need to grow your professional network intelligently.

What I have seen though is that a lot of entrepreneurs get trapped in increasing the number of their connections, and start sending/accepting connections randomly. (I know this coz I made the same mistake many years back when I started on LinkedIn)

Now when I talk to entrepreneurs I get responses like, “Ohh but LinkedIn allows 30,000 connections. So how does it matter? Why do we need to be careful? I am never going to exhaust that limit.”

Well, it’s not about exhausting the limit. But it’s about teaching and training the LinkedIn Algorithm to work for you.

Remember, the algorithm is tracking your activity on LinkedIn. What do you do? Who are the people you want to get connected to?

It tracks this so that it can help you get connected to more of those people. So if you are connecting with random people, LinkedIn will help you get connected to more random people

And you definitely don’t want that to happen.

Which is why you want to be connected to the right people on LinkedIn.

One More Thing...

If you are connected to the right people, the probability of your name featuring in their search results (when they are searching for your kind of services) is much higher.

All the more reason to have an effective professional network on LinkedIn.

Over the years, through my own experience and talking to entrepreneurs who have been successful on LinkedIn, I have compiled a list of 10 types of people that you should be connecting to on LinkedIn.

Here they are:

1] Active Clients

As an entrepreneur, you have to ensure you are connected to all your existing active clients. If it’s a B2B relationship, you need to be connected with the decision-makers and influencers within the company. 

Remember: Only your 1st-degree connections can endorse or recommend you on LinkedIn. So if you are not connected to your clients, you are limiting your ability to get these on your profile.  

2] Non-Active Clients

Even if you don’t have an active relationship with a client anymore, it’s important to be connected with them on LinkedIn. You never know when an old relationship can offer you new business or a referral for that matter.

Additionally, non-active clients could also be a great source for endorsements and recommendations.

Note: One of the biggest advantages of connecting with your active and non-active clients on LinkedIn is that you may find (through LinkedIn Search) that your client is directly connected to one of your target clients and therefore can introduce you to them. Wouldn’t that be amazing?! Getting introduced to a target client and getting a head start on credibility and trust.

3] Target Clients [Prospects]

Being connected with your prospects (business owners, decision-makers, influencers) gives you the opportunity of gaining visibility, building authority, and trust with your future clients even before you have a chance to engage in a sales conversation. This needs to be done very actively and consistently…but not in a sales-y or slimy manner.

4] Alliance Partners

One of the best kinda connections you can make on LinkedIn. As an entrepreneur, you need to be connected to those stakeholders who are already talking to the same type of clients as you are. 

Let me share an example.

Let’s say you are a Corporate Trainer / Training Organisation. You talk to HR people within organizations who are the decision-makers when it comes to giving training mandates. Similarly, Recruitment companies also deal with HR people who are the decision-makers when it comes to impaneling recruitment agencies.

So if you were to connect and engage with a recruitment company, there is a good chance you can become a consistent source of new business referrals for each other. Such a partner is called an Alliance Partner. 

If you are a B2C business, an alliance partner could also be an influencer, with a lot of followers that resemble your ideal client avatar.

5] Network Partners [BNI | Rotary | Industry Association | Ex-Colleagues]

If you are a part of a networking platform like BNI, Rotary, Lions International, or an industry association like Chamber of Commerce, etc, please make the effort of connecting with the members of these platforms. If you have transitioned from a job to becoming an entrepreneur, make sure you are connected to your colleagues from previous organizations.

These are people who are committed to seeing you succeed (given the nature of your association) and therefore should be a part of your professional network on Linkedin.

6] Vendors / Suppliers

Entrepreneurs should also use this platform to connect with your existing as well as prospective vendors/suppliers which could add tremendous value to their business. 

One of my friends, who runs a financial services company once told me that the moment he got connected to multiple vendors/suppliers on LinkedIn, it triggered his existing vendor to not be complacent as he knew that his client now had easy access to other options. 

7] Competitors

This is a tricky one. Many entrepreneurs might disagree with this. As I have seen some claim...

"What if my competition steals my client”. 

Well, if you think that you might lose clients just because you are connected to your competitors on LinkedIn, I think you got a different problem at hand. By the way, your competitor can anyway see all your activities on LinkedIn (without being connected)

I think you should definitely connect with your competitors. We live in an era of collaboration and you never know when a competitor can become a collaborator and something BIG could emerge from this relationship.

8] Target Client’s Target Client

Are you connected to your potential client’s target client on LinkedIn? Could you introduce them? Imagine, what kind of value you can add to a potential client if you can introduce him/her to their target client. Entrepreneurs underestimate the importance of building this network.

It’s like relationship building on steroids. This can help you break barriers, build rapport, and move your relationship forward at a much faster pace. You are no longer the guy who just wants to sell something to your potential client; you are someone who wants to make his/her professional life easier. 

Having said this, this is easy to do if your target clients have a homogeneous nature. Else you could easily get distracted (and lose a lot of time) just trying to build this network. 

9] Target Client’s Vendors/Suppliers

Same reason as above. If you can connect your target client to a vendor/supplier which will help them reduce time, effort, or money to get the same or better result, you have added an amazing dimension to your relationship.

Note: In points 8 & 9, while I have written “target client’s……”, there is nothing stopping you from doing this for your existing clients or even your old clients. Helping others (without any explicit expectation) is one of the best ways to build professional relationships.

10] Alumni [School | College | Post Grad]

Yet another un-explored area in network growth. A lot of people don’t leverage their massive alumni network which is already present on LinkedIn. Remember...

“People like people like themselves”

In the least, you should definitely be connected to your batchmates across School, College & Post Grad(if any) and then go on to explore other Alumni connections.

Caution: Don’t go ballistic and send connection requests to all and sundry amongst your Alumni. Go nice and slow. Have conversations along the way. Focus on building relationships, not connections.

If you have already done all these 10 things. GREAT!

If not, I will urge you to take action and grow your network purposefully.

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Thank you so much for your time in reading this article. I always love to hear from the readers, so please feel free to share/ask in the comments section below.

If you would like to consume more content on how to leverage LinkedIn for sales, please follow my LinkedIn page: https://www.dhirubhai.net/in/sanketprabhuofficial/

In case you have any specific LinkedIn questions pertaining to your business, you can always write to me on [email protected] OR you can book a call with me at a convenient time through this link: https://calendly.com/sanketp/15min

Thank you once again.