4 Ways To Build Relationships With New Contacts On LinkedIn

More and more entrepreneurs and sales professionals are turning to LinkedIn as their go-to platform for generating new leads and driving business development. For B2B transactions, LinkedIn is essential for making your prospecting:

• Faster
• Smoother
• More profitable

While compiling a list of potential leads is an important first step, true success lies in getting in front of the right decision-maker. You can engage with gatekeepers all day, but without directly reaching the person responsible for making purchasing decisions, your efforts might fall short.

In this newsletter, we’ll guide you on how to build a sales pipeline filled with highly targeted leads using one of LinkedIn’s most powerful tools for lead generation—Sales Navigator’s search functionality.

The foundation of any successful marketing strategy is identifying a clear target market, gathering as much data as possible about that demographic, and seamlessly connecting with them. This is where LinkedIn's search tools shine. With access to over 900 million members—of which nearly 50% are key decision-makers—LinkedIn provides an unparalleled opportunity for business growth.

To kickstart the process, you'll want to perform a highly targeted search using Sales Navigator or LinkedIn’s search functionality. Even with a free account, you can filter potential prospects by:

• Keywords
• Relationship level
• Location
• Participation in one group

You can further refine your search results by adding more specific filters, such as zip code, if you're targeting prospects within a specific geographical region. Use these options to narrow down your ideal customer base. The goal is to identify the people who are most likely to become valuable connections for your business. Once you've set your parameters, simply click the 'Search' button to generate your results.

Tip: When conducting a search, include relevant job titles like Account Manager, Director, VP, or Owner to better target decision-makers.

If you're using LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator, you can take your search even further with advanced filters like:

• Company size
• Seniority level
• Years of experience
• Job function
• Join date
• Areas of interest

After running your search, if the results include someone in your extended network (2nd-degree connection), you have a few strategic options:

Option 1:

Visit their LinkedIn profile to gather key details like their name, position, and company. You can then use this information if you choose to reach out directly or call their company.

Option 2:

Follow them on LinkedIn. This allows you to see their posts and updates in your feed, giving you the opportunity to engage with their content by liking, commenting, or sharing—an easy way to begin building a relationship without needing to connect right away.

The great thing about this approach is that you don’t need to be connected to someone in order to follow them. To do this:

1. Visit their LinkedIn profile.
2. Click on the 'More' button next to the ‘Message’ option.
3. Select ‘Follow’ from the dropdown menu.

Option 3:

You can also send a personalized connection request on LinkedIn. If they accept, you'll become part of each other’s network, allowing you to send private messages, organize them into tags or folders, and share relevant content that will appear in their feed.

Option 4:

Finally, if you and your prospect both have LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator, you can send them a direct message, which is different from InMail. With this feature, you can send unlimited messages at no extra cost. To send a message:

1. Visit their LinkedIn profile.
2. Click the 'Message' button next to the connect button.

From there, you can compose your message and hit 'Send.' Best of all, replies to your message are free as well.

The landscape of business has transformed. Customers are more informed than ever, and the number of influencers and decision-makers has grown significantly. Traditional cold calling is becoming increasingly ineffective—practically a thing of the past! To thrive in today’s market, it’s crucial to adopt new strategies and embrace modern methods for reaching and building relationships with key decision-makers.