Want Your Ideal Clients to Reach Out to You on LinkedIn? Use These Persuasion Tactics

(This article was also published on Social Media Today)

"Those who don't know how to get people say 'yes' soon fall away. Those who do stay and flourish." -  Dr. Robert Cialdini

If you think LinkedIn is boring, think again.

The truth is, your LinkedIn profile is so powerful it could help you get people to say 'yes' to your requests.

A persuasive LinkedIn profile combined with your sincere intention to build relationships is a valuable tool in attracting the right people to your profile and getting them reach out to you.

To be persuasive, use these principles: liking, social proof and scarcity. Here are some ways to apply these rules:

LIKING

Dr. Robert Cialdini, known as the 'Godfather of influence' and author of the classic book Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, says:

 "As a rule, we most prefer to say yes to the requests of someone we know and like."

According to Dr. Cialdini, compliance professionals use these four factors to make people say 'yes': physical attractiveness, similarity, compliments, and contact and cooperation.

LinkedIn Tips (Liking)

1. Physical Attractiveness. Dr. Cialdini says that in most situations including hiring, judicial process or election, people tend to equate good looks with talent, kindness, honesty and intelligence.

On LinkedIn, probably the first thing that will make other users 'like' you is through your professional photo. Yes, your LinkedIn headshot matters. It may sound obvious, but a lot of profiles on LinkedIn have no photos.

According to LinkedIn, using a professional photo makes you nine times more likely to receive a connection request and your profile 21 times more likely to be viewed.

Related??? 3 Key Steps in Building Your Personal Brand on LinkedIn

So have your professional photo visible to all LinkedIn members, not only to your connections or network. 

2. Similarity. Dr. Cialdini says:

"We like people who are similar to us. This fact seems to hold true whether the similarity is in the area of opinions, personality traits, background or lifestyle."

Similarities in location, favorite sports, movies watched, books read or other trivial matters can make a big difference in starting a conversation. No matter how trivial, you can leverage similarities as a 'weapon of influence.'

Let's say you want to connect with Joe Griffin, CEO and co-founder of ClearVoice. A generic request might not convince him that you should be his 1st-degree connection.

So if you want Joe in your professional network, you must customize your message. But do your 'homework' first. You can do this without leaving LinkedIn.

Here's how to leverage similarities to come up with a connection request that's hard to ignore:

• Visit his LinkedIn profile and read the summary. This will help you find any similarities that can help you start a meaningful conversation.
• Read his articles and check out his LinkedIn activities. By skimming the articles or posts that he shared, liked or commented on, you'll see if there's anything similar to your interest. 

So, for example, if you're into content creation, management and distribution, Joe's articles including the one published on MarketingProfs, 'How to Turn One Long-Form Article into Nine Pieces of Content,' will resonate with you.

You may also check out the influencers and companies Joe follows, as well as his LinkedIn groups. Is there anything common between you?

Another effective approach is to look for "uncommon commonalities," which Adam Grant suggested in his article, 6 Ways to Get Me to Email You Back.

Okay, so what will you do with those details? When you send Joe a connection request, mention briefly (up to 300 characters) any similarities that may catch his attention.

Once your connection request is accepted, send him another message just to say, "Thank you." Those similarities you've 'researched' can still help you nurture your relationship with him as your connection.

Eventually, if he needs someone with your skills or expertise, he would most probably remember you. And that's 'persuasion' at work.

> Ready to make LinkedIn work for you? Subscribe to my Weekly LinkedIn Tips.

3. Compliments. Dr. Cialdini's years of research confirmed that:

"The information that someone fancies us can be a bewitchingly effective device for producing return liking and willing compliance. . . We are phenomenal suckers of flattery."

You can naturally compliment a person on LinkedIn without any agenda in mind. Here's how you can use LinkedIn to give compliments:

• Liking a person's article or status updates. Doing this sends the message that the article or status update makes sense to you or that it's helpful to your connections.
• Commenting on a person's post or article. Many LinkedIn users prefer commenting to 'liking' because commenting allows them to add value to the conversations. On LinkedIn, engagement is a form of compliment.
• Sending a customized connection request. Sending a customized, thoughtful connection request could be a form of compliment just because most LinkedIn users don't do this. A customized request shows your initiative to learn more about the person before reaching out.

On LinkedIn, if you want to get people to say 'yes' to your request, you have to build relationships. And it starts with forming a good impression.

Appreciation can go a long way. Dr. Cialdini found out in his research that:

"Positive comments produced just as much liking for the flatterer when they were untrue as when they were true." 

Of course, you shouldn't give compliments that are untrue. If you want your professional relationships to grow, be authentic and sincere. 

4. Contact and Cooperation. Familiarity breeds liking. You've heard it before: You have to stay top of mind to get those leads that you want.

Dr. Cialdini says:

"For the most part, we like things that are familiar to us… familiarity plays a role in decisions about all sorts of things…"

 So how do you use LinkedIn to stay top of mind?

•  Engage with other users' posts.
• Publish and share your original content on LinkedIn Pulse. To maximize content engagement, LinkedIn advises its users to "deliver helpful and informative content to the right members at the right time."
• Curate content relevant to your connections.

Every action you make on LinkedIn is shared with your connections. They see your comments, likes, status updates and original content on their news feeds. Every engagement is a chance to appear on top of each of your connections' news feeds.

Sounds good, right? Yes, but that means you have to be strategic in every move you take on LinkedIn.

> Ready to make LinkedIn work for you? Subscribe to my Weekly LinkedIn Tips.

Don't share too many updates at a time to avoid flooding your connections' news feeds with your updates. Don't share irrelevant or useless content. And don't do too much self-promotion.

If you 'abuse' your chance of being 'top of mind,' your connections can 'hide' your posts or 'unfollow' you anytime by simply clicking on a couple of buttons:

Again, familiarity breeds liking, so you want to stay top of mind in a positive way. After all, "the greater the liking, the greater the influence." 

SOCIAL PROOF

Let's admit it. People view a behavior as correct depending on how many other people are doing the same thing.

Dr. Cialdini puts it this way:

"We assume that our actions are correct because others are doing it."

This explains why referrals work. If we're clueless about a person's capability, the first thing we do is to look for a social proof.

LinkedIn Tips (Social Proof)

You may talk about your credentials or achievements on LinkedIn, but it's always better to let your LinkedIn profile speak for itself.

Sometimes, what others say about you matters more than what you say about yourself. LinkedIn makes it easy for you to let others vouch for your skills and performance.

In building your personal brand on LinkedIn, you can almost always rely on social proof to help trigger compliance. In his article, Ed Hallen identifies five types of social proof and explains why they work.

Here are a few ways to add social proof to your LinkedIn profile:

• Display your bestselling book on your profile. Publishing a book makes you an 'authority,' but publishing a bestselling book makes you more credible. Don't forget to add your positive customer reviews to better establish your credibility.
•  Ask for recommendations. These are testimonials from your current or previous customers or colleagues who are on LinkedIn. The more recommendations you have, the higher points you'll gain on social proof.
• Highlight the famous clients you've worked with. Working with popular and highly respected brands and companies now seems to be a privilege. So, cite those brands on the 'Experience' section and highlight them on your profile summary. If popular brands trust you, then your target clients would most probably do the same.
• Include client testimonials or customer feedback. If you have customers who don't have LinkedIn profiles, but you think their feedback will increase your credibility, you may add their testimonials to your profile summary or to the 'Experience' section.
• Leverage video testimonials. Ask your previous clients to record a video testimonial and then publish it on your profile. This can now be done easily as LinkedIn has just rolled out its feature allowing users to upload native videos.
• Add your skills and manage your endorsements. Add skills that can help you win your target customers, then get as many endorsements as you can to "validate" them.

Related ??? How to be Found on LinkedIn for Your Key Skills

SCARCITY

Ask yourself these questions: Are you likely to act when you know you will gain something? Or do you tend to respond more when you know you're about to lose something?

Dr. Cialdini emphasizes that:

"The idea of potential loss plays a large role in human decision making. In fact, people seem to be more motivated by the thought of losing something than by the thought of gaining something of equal value."

> Ready to make LinkedIn work for you? Subscribe to my Weekly LinkedIn Tips.

LinkedIn Tips (Scarcity)

If applicable, you could explicitly use a call to action on your profile summary. You can say how much your target customers would lose if they don't hire you or your company. You may also emphasize how much time they would be wasting if they don't act now to start achieving their goals.

You'll be amazed at how much people fear losing something they've never had in the first place.

Related ??? How to Boost Your Influence on LinkedIn Using Persuasion Tactics

Results

Your LinkedIn profile is a powerful tool that can help you achieve your personal and business goals.

Apply the rules of liking, social proof and scarcity on your LinkedIn profile and watch your LinkedIn network do these:

• Send you connection requests
• Accept your connection requests
• Use their InMail credits to message you
• Endorse you for your skills
• Refer you to those who need your products or services
• Share your content on social media
• Engage with your updates and content
• Ask for an interview for local or national media
• Offer you a lucrative job in their companies
• Ask you to write for a popular and credible publication
• Invite you for a speaking engagement
• Ask you to collaborate with them on special projects
• Pay you for doing what you love

The list is endless. You can achieve your desired results by simply making tweaks to your profile. And the best thing about it: You don't need to ask for what you want. The right person will reach out to you.

So, stop ignoring your profile. Use LinkedIn to take your career or business to the next level!

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[Credits] Learn more about the six persuasion principles by reading Dr. Robert Cialdini's classic book, Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion, Revised Edition.

Learn how to boost your influence on LinkedIn using three other persuasion principles: reciprocation, authority, and commitment & consistency.

If you find this article useful, please SHARE with your connections. Thank you!

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?Read more: Personal Branding Works: My LinkedIn Journey 2017

About Virginia Bautista

A freelance writer and editor for 10 years, Virginia is currently the only independent LinkedIn Trainer, Speaker & Consultant based in the Philippines. She helps professionals, freelancers, consultants, business owners and executives leverage LinkedIn in building a powerful personal brand that accelerates career success and generates leads for businesses. Virginia was featured on Forbes and Entrepreneur Philippines. #LinkedInForSuccess