How do I connect, build trust and increase revenue on LinkedIn?

This was the question that someone within my network recently asked me. Inspired by her very kind compliments on my previous post, I thought I'd share my LinkedIn story - not some academic, thought leadership, corporate article - but my own personal story of how the connection, trust and revenue puzzle slotted into place for me.

Maybe my story will resonate and support you with your LinkedIn journey.

What I was doing was no longer working: 

In my previous role, I was responsible for business development. No existing accounts, no existing relationships - a blank canvas to purely grow new business. So I tried what I knew and what had worked previously… cold emails.

I went down the route of cold emails to clients that I didn't know but that I wanted to work with.

Of course they very rarely responded to my emails (which took forever to write as I believed they were bespoke and compelling) and those few meetings that I did secure where the result of months of work.

Why weren't they responding or communicating with me even if I knew that my product, my solution, my offering was absolutely right for them?

Because they didn't know me.

Because we had no relationship.

Because there was no trust.

 All these emails took so long, weeks of wasted time, frustrations, feeling unhappy and increasingly lacking confidence in my efforts. Feeling the pressure to secure new meetings, pressure to grow my pipeline and deliver new revenue but unable to have any success with my approach. Going to trade shows but coming away with nothing but expense receipts and a handful of business cards.

My old black book of contacts no longer worked - people had moved on, I'd lost touch with them, I didn't know what they doing. My old business relationships didn't seem to matter anymore - how quickly we can become forgotten.

I'd never even thought of LinkedIn for business development…

I'd had a LinkedIn profile for years but it was just that - a profile.

An incomplete, dormant profile that was just my digital CV. I very rarely checked LinkedIn and when I did I was only ever a scroller and never a participant. What on earth would I say anyway? I'd never ever written my own content (it didn't even occur to me that I could) and I very rarely commented on anyone else's.

Your network? What was that? I didn't connect with anyone that I didn't know and was just happy to get past the golden nirvana of 500+ connections, because I thought that gave my profile some form of gravitas.

LinkedIn was something that others knew about. It was place to find a new job or announce your new job.

It was way out of my comfort zone - it was something that thought leaders, influencers or marketing departments did. It was a professional, serious platform that I didn't understand and one that I knew nothing about.

And then I had my lightbulb moment:

I went on a social selling training programme and met Adam and Tim from DLA Ignite. Everything really did change for me. This was my spark - there was a structure, a methodology to it all, it made sense and even though it pushed me right outside of my comfort zone, I embraced everything that was asked of me.

I started to understand just how important social media platforms are when we are researching our suppliers and the role social media plays in our purchasing decisions.

I started to grasp the importance of my LinkedIn profile and how it was anything but a digital CV. The realisation of just how bland and incomplete my profile was - that it lacked any form of personality, it told no one anything about me and was just a load of words that I had written to try and look professional.

I wrote a headline on my profile that wasn’t my job title. Despite the uncertainty about doing this (wasn't this way too alternative and unprofessional?) taking that plunge has been one of the most positive conversation starters when I connect with people - everyone seems to like wine, no one ever likes burpees and everyone is very intrigued by my Blue Peter badge.

A lot more engaging than my previous headline of Business Development Manager.

I started sending personalised connection requests; requests with a valid reason as to why I wanted to connect. I sent personalised connection requests to the same senior people that I had emailed before. The same people who had ignored and deleted my email previously. And they were now accepting my requests. And sending me a thumbs up or wine glass emoji in their response. Or asking about my Blue Peter badge. And wanting to chat. Wishing me a nice weekend. Normal, real human beings people with positions of seniority - people that I wanted to work with but had never been able to connect (literally or metaphorically) with.

And I didn’t sell a thing. I never pitched. I never broke that new founded trust. I was just polite, myself and pleased that they had accepted me into their network. My connections started to grow.

And then the final piece of the LinkedIn puzzle - the most important piece that underpinned everything that I had learnt...

Content.

This was such an enormous, fearful step for me - what would I say, how would I say it, who would be interested in it, what if it bombed? What were hashtags - did they matter? What was the difference between a post and a blog? Me - blogging? That was something that other people did!! It took a lot of support and coaching for me to get to the place where I could post content.

And yet I did.

I started posting my own authored content. And at first it wasn't that pretty if I'm honest and I know that I wasn't that good at it. It's taken me time to find my confidence, my tone of voice, my own style and to be comfortable with pressing the post button.

It's a process that I continue to learn and apply, but I know that without my content, there was no point in working hard to build relationships with people.

Without my content, I would become invisible and just another connection in someone's network. Without my content, there is no mechanism for people to engage and interact with me. And without content, there is no mechanism for me to interact and engage with them.

So, what happened after all of this?

So much! Within 5 weeks of my social selling training, I had a 6 figure proposal out to a new client in a industry that I'd never worked in. A personalised connection request to someone I didn't know, a few chats over LinkedIn, a phone call, a few Zoom calls and then a request for a proposal. Some might argue luck was involved - maybe. But without being visible on LinkedIn, without the knowledge and training, I would never have had that opportunity.

I've fast tracked my business conversations - I've had more video chats with clients resulting in more proposals and more revenue than I ever did before my training.

I've grown the most amazing relationships with people who I would never have met had I not connected with them on LinkedIn. People who support my content, people who I would always help, people who I check in on if I've not heard from them in a while (indeed as they do with me) - with no other agenda than to just see how they are doing. People who I know would recommend me as someone to talk to about LinkedIn and Social Media, just as I would recommend them for their services.

Genuine, meaningful relationships that were founded on trust and never a sales pitch.

I've had fun, joining the conversation and having great chats with people on comments.

I've developed the confidence to be me and to shake off the professional corporate content shackles. I have the confidence to be social.

I've posted a picture on me in my boxing gloves and a post with my puppy.

I've used wine emoji's in my comments and I've challenged the status quo that content on a professional platform can't be personal or have a personality to it.

I engage and comment on content both within and outside of my network - one comment I posted a few weeks ago had nearly 50 likes - and I continue to value and strengthen my existing relationships, whilst growing new ones. 

LinkedIn is a continuous journey and I feel extremely privileged to be able to train, coach and support others as they start theirs.

Can you connect, build trust and increase revenue on LinkedIn?

Yes. Absolutely you can … you just need someone to help you put the pieces of the puzzle together.