How to Use LinkedIn to Connect with Decision Makers.

Imagine being able to write content that could potentially reach over 850 million people, across 190 countries and territories, speaking over 25 languages, of whom over 72% drive business decisions.

Imagine getting your story, brand, idea, content, and ambition in front of top-level, C-Class executives, decision-makers, and founders without having to take out too much time, and exert a lot of effort.

Imagine being able to reach the people you’d usually have to spend months scheduling and rescheduling appointments with, hoping to catch them at high-level, exclusive events, just to get a few, precious minutes of their time.

Imagine being able to connect with nearly anyone from those hundreds of millions of people, from industry experts to freelancers to investors to high-level executives.

Now, imagine being able to do all that, just by understanding how to properly use one platform: Linkedin.

At the end of the day, we all want to get to the decision-makers.

They are the people that matter, right?

The people whose decision IS the ultimate decision.

That’s what I’ll get into today.

Implement things properly, and stay committed, and there should be no reason why you can’t connect with anyone you want (as long as they’re active on the platform).

So, when it comes to LinkedIn, as simple as it may sound, the first thing you want to focus on is your profile.

Suppose you hand your business card to someone.

What do you expect from it?

Well, you’d want it to tell them, at a glance, who you are, what you do, and where to find you, all the while being appealing, right?

You’d want them to be able to understand everything easily and quickly, just by looking at it, right?

Even on a small card, everything from the design, color, and texture to the text size and information mentioned matters.

It’s the same when it comes to LinkedIn.

Everything from the links in your profile to your headline, to your name, and your LinkedIn banner matters.

“Okay, everyone says this, don’t they? “Optimize your profile, have a color scheme and have good content.” Isn’t that kinda overused?”

No. There’s a reason why that’s mentioned so much.

When someone visits you on LinkedIn, that’s the first thing they see. Your profile. That’s what you’ll ultimately be judged upon.?

It’s your digital business card. Your details at a glance. Who you are. What you’re doing. What they can expect from you. So, it’s in your very best interests to start there. To make sure your first impression counts.

Now, before you think it seems pretty complicated and confusing, it’s not.

All you need to do is figure out who you are, what you have to offer, and how you can help people, AKA your target audience. Then, put that together in such a way that it’s easily understandable by whoever reads it, target audience or not.

For example, let's say you’re a sales rep?

Now, on the surface, it might seem that things end there.?

“Wow, Matt. Sales. Fun stuff, eh?”

Well, okay, maybe that’s an oversimplification of things. But, let's start by going over your strengths.

Do you have a track record of standing behind the claims and guarantees you’ve offered to your clients? Are you really good and effective at communicating with people that need your service but have no idea about how it works? Are you good at building relationships?

There’s something there that’s unique and special to you. Identify it. That’s going to help you stand out.

After figuring that out, you can go over what your company has to offer. A good product? Exceptional customer service? Both, maybe?

How does it compare against the others in the industry? What’s so special about what you do that no one has come close to replicating? Does the software have an extremely LOW learning curve? Is it time-saving and easy to use, instead of just another hassle?

After figuring that out, the last thing is to put things together.

So, let's say you’re a sales representative who has a proven track record in B2B sales.

Your product? A cloud-based project management software with Gantt chart visualization, resource management, and budget tracking features.

The result? Well, you could have the following as a LinkedIn headline:

Let's Streamline Your Project Management Together | Unleash Efficiency and Productivity with Our Cloud-Based Tool | B2B Sales Expert at Your Service

Obviously, this can be further worked upon, but you probably see how simply putting your thoughts together, something substantial can easily be formed.

Simply exploring your strengths and your offers can help you come up with a combo that appeals to your relevant audience and is easy to understand as well.

So, here’s the first thing. Your profile. Your banner. Your headline. The link you have in your bio.

That’s your first impression. Make it count.

Now that your profile’s done, you should focus on networking with others.

No, I don’t mean you should go and spam connection requests with generic ‘personalized messages’ to anyone and everyone you can find. No.

Instead, network with two types of people. Those who might be able to help you, and those who you can help in some way.

If you’re the founder of a new marketing agency, you might want to connect with a few people who’ve been in the marketing game for a long time and also post content occasionally. From them, you’ll be able to learn different things.

On the other hand, you might also want to reach out to growing startups that recently raised capital, as well as restaurants opening up new branches in various locations. There, you have some sort of prospect, and a chance to land a deal to work with them.

“So, just a handful of people? Come on."

Well, go ahead and explore. And it’s not exactly just a handful.

When you start searching using your industry-relevant keywords, you’ll be surprised at how many people you can find.

From Managers, Directors, and Sales Executives to designers, branding experts, and digital strategists, there are just so many different categories, groups, and types of people you’d be interested in starting conversations with.

Also, while you’re at it, remember it’s not just about an immediate sale, subscription, or conversion to your service.

It’s about building something meaningful. Beyond business, relevant and productive relationships.

Connections that turn into conversations.

Conversations that turn into relationships.

Relationships that MIGHT end up into something transactional.

You’d only take a major decision, be it business or money-related if you were comfortable with the other person, right?

Do the same when you set out to connect with people.

“Okay, Matt. I came here to get in touch with Decision Makers. Like, people who can give the go-ahead. People who’re the control. How do I get in touch with THEM?”

Well, it’s simple really.

If you can connect with anyone you want, it’s not much different when it comes to getting in touch with decision-makers.

Ideally, you’d want to have something in common. Maybe you replied to a comment of theirs somewhere. Perhaps you commented on their post. Or maybe, you’re in the same LinkedIn group for, say, professional marketers.

Having something in common will help you stand out. Remember, they probably have a lot of people trying to sell them something, from software to products to various services.

If you show up with a friendly, no-needy, genuine attitude to grow together and do something mutually beneficial, you’ll have better chances of getting accepted.

Think about it like this:

If you’re a busy manager, and someone messages or emails you, pitching you a service you don’t need and you’ve never seen them before, what’re you going to do? Block them, right??

However, if someone wants to connect to find out more about your company or something that you offer, and you’ve seen a post or two from them and maybe a comment somewhere, and things check out, would you consider hitting that accept button?

Probably.

So, things all come down to trying to foster a mutually beneficial and selfless relationship.

If that’s the vibe you give off, it doesn’t matter if you send DMs, leave comments, post, send a connection request with a personalized message, or even do all four.

People tend to generally see through what the other person wants. If you give off genuine vibes, you’ll get noticed, sooner or later.

If you’re straight-up salesy and of a “Hey. Hi. Buy This” attitude, things will go downhill fast.

And, it’s not just restricted to the very top, influential decision-makers. This applies to the rest of the people out there.

Whether you’re putting out content to generate leads, looking for a mentor or coach, or trying to go outbound to find high-paying clients, this attitude of selflessness and adding value will go a long way.

Overall, you want to have a strong, valuable, and relevant network you can call on to get help, work, or any sort of guidance. All it takes is a little bit of work.

That work can end up getting you in front of a lot of people.

In front of a crowd of relevant people who need what you have to offer.

In front of investors, ready to help you grow and scale to the next level.

In front of executives, willing to join you on your journey and turn your dream into a reality.

All it takes from you? A little bit of work.

And that’ll go a long way.

And sure, you might think “Yeah Matt, you’re a growth hacker. You’re experienced in the game. You’re just saying this just for the sake of it.”

Well, that’s not the case. Regardless of how much money, influence, experience or connections, and followers I get, as long as I remain genuine and upfront about what’s up, I’ll keep getting in touch with people.

It’s not just always about money, business, more money, more business, and so on. Sometimes, it’s just about becoming friends. Having conversations. Those then maybe turn transactional down the line.

But until that happens, and even if it doesn’t, remain genuine.

If after all this, you still can’t figure out why you’re unable to reach out to the people you want to talk to, after trying everything, feel free to reach out to me and I’ll be more than happy to have a look. It never hurts to get a second opinion.

Otherwise, this should be more than enough for you.

Go out there and crush it. Close more deals. Start more conversations. Build more wealth.

In the meanwhile, keep building,