Selling.2.YES

February 2020

LinkedIn is dead, so now how ya gonna network??

I have been on LinkedIn since the beginning of time….I think I was user Number One. Okay, of course I wasn’t, but I have been a power-user throughout the years, and I respect the heck out of what they built. Truly transformational.

This is why it pains me to tell you that LinkedIn is dead. Yup. Done. RIP LinkedIn. Loved ya…hate to see ya gone….!

My clientele (including YOU, and others wanting help on all things revenue generating) come to me all the time saying their teams need to improve prospecting skills and results. I most always reply, “forget about writing catchy email subject headers and asking for referrals after every meeting”, consider how those on your team are networking. Yes, prospecting skills can be taught and coached, but ya shouldn’t talk about prospecting without a conversation about networking.

After reading the panel above created by my friend Tom Fishburne of Marketoonist, I conclude that relying on LinkedIn for networking value is a fool’s game. (Let those words sink in.) LI is a recruiter's tool. LinkedIn is a CRM tool Savvy and experienced B2B sellers and managers get this, which is why we use it less and less.

So if LinkedIn can't help our networking game, what is the key to networking in this helter-skelter harsh B2B sales world? We can’t just give up on networking because LinkedIn is dead (of course, if we as revenue drivers don’t network, we die.)

I go by two tips that help my networking efforts, which ultimately helps my prospecting. These tips are tried and true, and because there are only two things to do, I can handle it. I can’t handle eight, like the number of networking tips promoted in this truly lame Forbes article about the subject. My tips are actions that will actually work. (You be the judge.)

Ok, drum-roll please: here now are my TWO things to guide you on a higher plane when thinking about your PNS (personal networking strategy….oh come on!):

Tip #1: Your current network has gold in it. All the pundits run around yelling, “expand your network, expand your network”. I agree and offer that the way to do that is to work the mine you know has gold in it...your current network! Why start digging elsewhere? Worry about “elsewhere” when the gold runs out.
Action: create a list of your top 50 “power players” in your circle and make a point to connect with them at least once this year. Whether it’s a phone call, or a coffee, or a lunch…personally interact with your Top Fitty!!! (EMAILING and TEXTING DOESN'T COUNT!) Most of you are giving me the eye-roll because this is such a basic, sophomoric recco, but I challenge you back: how many of your Top Fitty did you get to in 2019? Uh-huh. Do the work, people.
Predictable benefit: you’ll enjoy being with someone with whom you once shared a bond, and you most certainly will gain something from it: an idea, an intro, inspiration…perhaps all three.

Tip #2: Bring value to each interaction with those on your Tip Fitty.
Action: our prospecting and networking approaches are mostly all wrong (see panel!)…we expect something for nothing. In what universe is that a good value exchange? If you really want something from someone, spend time to dig and figure out what they might value…it could be, again, an idea, an intro, or inspiration from you!
Predictable benefit: who doesn’t love gifts? Bring a valuable gift to the interaction and watch the vault open up. The trick is figuring out what the person values…but that’s the fun too!

All other reccos about networking…work the room, go to events, hold parties, ask a friend to bring two new friends to dinner….they’re all good, and you should be doing that stuff too, but focus on the TWO THINGS listed above and the gold will keep flowing.

Knowing how to prospect is key for success in sales, being a master networker is gold.

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Selling.2.YES

February 2020

LinkedIn is dead, so now how ya gonna network??

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