5 Secrets To 10,000 Connections On LinkedIn

This week I crossed over 10,000 LinkedIn connections. It’s a big number, a milestone you might say. To my knowledge there are no official accolades for this, no t-shirt or coffee cup, or even congratulatory e-mail from the company. So why would anyone want to take on such an endeavor, and how do you get there if you choose to try?

Think about if you had the opportunity to hire two identically qualified recruits. One who had 10,000 connections on LinkedIn vs. someone who had 200.  One recruit has proven charisma, is well-connected, and has demonstrated the ability to connect with folks across industries and verticals, and one has not. Which would you choose?

There have been many times over the years I’ve needed help, something, anything – and I’ve reached out to one of my direct connections for an introduction, good word or an assist. There have been times when a new client has cheerfully exclaimed, “I know you from LinkedIn” before even shaking my hand, and that instantly made for a credible introduction in-person. LinkedIn works best when you do! The power of being able to send an email or pick up the phone and call someone who knows you or your reputation is huge, and something that absolutely sets you apart from the pack – so why wouldn’t you want to build that muscle? 

1). Find Your “Why” And Set Your Goal

I wrote a whole article goal-setting a while back, but in a nutshell: Pick a number, think about why you’re doing this, and then work on taking massive action on a daily, quarterly and yearly basis until you hit it. Setting a goal of making 10,000 connections on LinkedIn is an aggressive way of expanding your social network, which can be an invaluable tool in growing your influence, reputation, and ability to get business done.  Maybe you’re “why” is because you want to earn industry respect, make yourself more marketable, or keep your options open in case of future career change – only you know the answer to this question.

2). Take Action Every Day

LinkedIn networks don’t build themselves, and for you to hit your goal of 10,000 you’re going to have to put in the work. Here are some examples of how I built mine:

•  Friends/Family: The first “no-brainer” of LinkedIn network building to add all of your closest friends and family. There are no closer ties on the planet, and these people can vouch for you in a way that rises above all others.
• Colleagues: Add every colleague you work with directly or indirectly. These could include folks that you’ve met with once, been on a call with, shared an account with, or even shared an email thread with. Your entire management up-line all the way through the executive leadership team to the c-level should be happy to add you to their LinkedIn networks (to say “no” would be an admission that they don’t know who you are, and they’re not going to do that – don’t worry! One day they WILL know who you are).
• Industry Peers: Add every vendor, partner, and peer you have come into contact with throughout the years. That pile of business cards from the last conference you attended is a great place to start! From there, begin searching for peers that live in your hometown and offer to take them out to lunch. Adding notes to your connection requests like, “Looks like we should probably know each other since we both live in the same city!” can work wonders in opening up your network.
• Sales People: Folks who earn a living trying to sell you something will be more than happy to accept your connection request. These folks are handy to know, because they are literally sewn into the fabric of many industries. Everywhere I’ve worked has had a relationship with Microsoft, for example. You can start with the enterprise sales rep, and then add their sales engineer, the renewal rep, and their services rep. These days you’ll find there are cloud services reps, customer success managers, and technical account managers in the mix also. A treasure trove of nearly 20 individuals that should happily connect to you per business relationship.
• Recruiters: Recruiters are some of the best on LinkedIn, because they are usually more than happy to take a connection request and the relationship that comes from it can be mutually beneficial. You don’t usually have to know them to get accepted. Maybe they know of an opportunity that you, or someone you know, would be interested in. If you’re not currently in the job market, some will even pay you a referral fee for sending them the right candidate.
• LIONs: If you’re like me, sooner or later you’ll run short of personal connections. For me, it happened around 7,000. At this point I learned about LIONs (or LinkedIn Open Networkers, as they call themselves). These are folks who will eagerly accept a connection request from anybody, and I do mean anybody. When you search for “LION” or “NoIDK” on LinkedIn, you’re going to get thousands of potentially additions to your network. If you’re finicky, you can select only those that work in your industry or that you find interesting. Maybe choose the ones in your hometown or state. Be careful that you don’t add too many “low quality” connections (folks who don’t work in your industry, share similar job title, etc.), because these can be seen to weaken your network overall.

3). Be Accountable

There hasn’t been a weekend for the past 5 years that I haven’t laid in bed with my coffee, and checked the size of my LinkedIn network first thing Sunday morning. It was brutal sometimes to see how many profile views I’d gotten that week, if they were less than I was expecting.  Grinding your number higher and holding yourself accountable on a weekly basis is a long hard slog, and unglamorous work – but it gets the job done. I’d evaluate the actions I’d taken the previous week, from writing articles to making comments or posting photos on LinkedIn, and I’d see which of those brought in the most connection requests. Sometimes it can seem like there is no rhyme or reason to the LinkedIn algorithm, but the one sure-fire way to beat it eventually is through hard work. Never give up!

4). Be Gutsy!

Are there people that made it to 10,000 faster that I did? Absolutely! Do I know every trick in the book? Absolutely not. What I will say is that I seized every opportunity I could to build a large high-quality network. I didn’t sit and wonder if this person liked me enough to accept my connection request. I didn’t hmm and haw about whether the CEO of company X would accept my request because we’d met once, years ago. I just clicked “connect”. Seize the moment, and if you screw up – ask for forgiveness later! Fortune favors the bold!

5). Be Relentless!

The journey to 10,000 often takes years, and it’s a long difficult road. It can be a metaphor for life, because there are going to be ups and downs – and times when you want to give up completely. Early on, I actually got placed in “LinkedIn Jail” for sending too many connection requests, and having too high of a % reply that they didn’t know me well enough to accept. This almost broke me into giving up until I realized that I could appeal, and get my account reinstated rather easily. I’d be more careful about who I sent requests to after that moment, but wouldn’t let it deter me. Remind yourself that you’re climbing a mountain, and there’s no elevator to the top – just lots of hard work. Break off a little at a time, and don’t give up until you’re standing on the peak staring down at the 98% who never even started the journey you’ve just completed.

Bonus #6). Give Back!

I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that once you’ve reached your goal (any goal), it’s important to reach a hand back and help up the next generation of folks who would like to accomplish what you have. This is why I make myself available for mentoring, advice, or grabbing coffee when you’re in my town or I’m in yours. Anybody should feel free to reach out to me genuinely, and expect a genuine response back!