A Different Approach Will Help You Avoid These Blind Spots On LinkedIn

Do you know what the word “scotoma” means?

We all get them. It is a function baked into human psychology, sometimes quite useful and sometimes... potentially damaging.

The short definition, is that a scotoma is a blind spot on the brain. You likely experienced this the last time you looked for your lost car keys or the ketchup in the refrigerator. The lost object was right there in front of you the whole time, but you failed to see it.

Turns out, that many LinkedIn users who are seeking to develop new lines of business on the platform, also suffer from some of these unwanted scotomas. The first of which is, your next client is RIGHT THERE, one conversation away and you may have overlooked them.

I know that sounds crazy. Many of the people you will meet on LinkedIn are actively using the platform to connect with new prospects and potential clients. This is particularly true if you connect with “Premium” users who pay for the added functionality.

So if nearly everyone is looking... why are they not finding?

Without getting into the details of HOW and WHY scotomas are created (that is a demonstration of “psychology in action” for another day) let’s jump ahead to some examples that you may recognize.

The First Big Blind Spot is created by playing “The Numbers Game.”

Spend enough time around the sales + marketing circles and you will hear this phrase - “it is just a numbers game.” If you kiss enough frogs, eventually you will find your prince or princess.

I understand where this mindset came from, because when you become too attached to the outcome of selling a new client... when you want it more than they do, it is often counter-productive. It drives the prospective client away.

But an unintended consequence of the “Numbers Game” approach is that many LinkedIn training programs now teach an approach of making hundreds of new connections each day, with the hope that 1 new clients will drop out of the bottom of the funnel.

That has to work, right? It’s a numbers game and the math says that some small percentage of people are going to buy.

Here’s the problem with that:

1. It is worth ruining your reputation by taking a salesy, impersonal approach with the other 97% of people, just to get a sale? That’s very short term thinking...
2. If you did enroll a new client using this “Numbers Game” approach, how committed to you and your program, product, or service is this new relationship?

Here’s the truth: People don’t refund a relationship. (And credit to Dean Jackson, who was the first person I heard use that phrase).

Most business transactions (B2B) happen between two or more people. This is particularly true when you operate in the “high ticket” or signature or transformational program space (our primary focus).

Right now, there is between $50k and $500k of business waiting for you in your EXISTING NETWORK. If you are not seeing it (yet) you may have enacted one of these scotomas we have been talking about...

This diagram from Chet Holmes provides a good rule of thumb for any market and any industry.

Just as a useful reference number, grab a pen and paper and do a little math. If you have 1,000 connections in your network today, or 2,500... how many potential clients are sitting in your network RIGHT NOW?

The problem is... we often don’t know who the 3% are.

People buy when they are ready to buy, NOT when we are ready to sell them.

The solution to this problem of not knowing, is two-fold:

• Create more conversations, and with the right people. You don’t need to sell them anything. Get out of the Numbers Game mentality. Just listen for clues about what they are ready to buy.
• Be top of mind when they are ready to buy what you sell, because if you are not... they are going to end up buying from someone else in your space.

Each requires a different strategies and tactics to get best results. But let's be clear about one thing... it starts with creating more conversations.

That is the big fallacy of "inbound marketing" or content marketing. They sell you a bill of goods (build it and they will come). I know this... because I used to own an inbound marketing agency.

And I also know that Hubspot (the company that coined the term, "inbound marketing") largely built their success, with their outbound sales team.

If you’ve read this far and you are still with me... you likely have a ton of questions. This post was NOT meant to answer them all. It was written to be a door (see the free trainings below).

We (my partner Janet Clark and I) run a program called the 60-Day Sales MAP Sprint, which is a simple elegant way to turn new, cold connections into warm leads and ultimately into high-end clients.

And we do this WITHOUT needing to ruin your reputation by coming across as too salesy; no need for advertising or paid traffic; no fancy funnels or overwhelming technology.

 It is just a...

Simple, elegant approach to creating more conversations, and with the right people.

THE GOAL is to take a DIFFERENT APPROACH to LinkedIn. One that is NOT dependent on just churning numbers, but rather building real relationships with your ideal, dream clients.

To help answer some of the “But how do you do that?” questions, I put together the following mini-training sessions for my client group.

Session 1 is an overview of the Fogg Behavior Model. Have you heard of it? It was a game-changer for me, because once you watch this video you will NEVER look at sales + marketing the same way again. Click this for the training.

Session 2 is about tools. I gave a peek behind the scenes at what tools we are using and why. If you are currently using any kind of scheduling software (Calendly, ScheduleOnce, etc) you will love this training on “how to not throw cold water on your warm prospects.” Click this for the training.

Session 3 gets at the core of our DIFFERENT approach to LinkedIn and how it is very different from what I see others teaching or recommending. It breaks down 5 common mistakes that are being missed because they are counter-intuitive. Click here.

You might also be interested in this 5-Part Series about "What I Wish I Had Learned Sooner" when it comes to digital marketing that is actually working for client acquisition.

Part 1 - https://www.facebook.com/tobin.slaven/videos/10220721965266053/

Part 2 - https://www.facebook.com/tobin.slaven/videos/10220732137680357/

Part 3 - https://www.facebook.com/tobin.slaven/videos/10220739815312293/

Part 4 - https://www.facebook.com/tobin.slaven/videos/10220750038127857/

Part 5 - https://www.facebook.com/tobin.slaven/videos/10220760823237478/

This “Pitfalls Cheatsheet” was created as a brief overview, but it also includes links to short podcast episodes that dig into HOW to avoid the Pitfalls of LinkedIn.

Download the Cheatsheet from Dropbox (no optin required)

If you are NOT consistently crushing five-figures each month (but you want to be) and you are offering a signature program that is transformational, I would love to hear more about your business.

We have a bunch of no-cost resources and tools that we provide to our growing community of coaches, consultants, and expert-based businesses.

We help them

• fill their pipeline with qualified prospects
• enroll new clients by asking questions instead of selling
• and ultimately, match you up with other members of our community who are trained in the same approach, so you can grow your team, and scale your business

We just launched our most recent group of Sprinters (19 people). Would you be interested in hearing more about their results, or how to turn your own marketing efforts into a playful approach (like a video game for getting clients)?

Message me or drop the keyword “SPRINTER” in the comments below and I will follow up with you.