Generate Pipeline With LinkedIn Outreach Instead Of Cold Emails

The old way to outbound is broken

The average sales rep gets a reply 4% of the time when reaching out cold. But if you’re watching this you wanna know how high that number can go, don’t you?

See, that average is low because 70+% of buyers don’t want to talk to us sales folks. They would do anything to go under the radar. And you’re no different! Think of the last time you bought something. I bet you watched 10-20 youtube videos, checked for comments on reddit, and reviews on amazon. Probably even posted on social platforms asking if any friends have experience with the product. Why didn’t you just talk to a sales guy and get all the info you need?

With all of this info at our fingertips who could blame buyers for not accepting your connection request? But things look differently if you stop acting like the average rep - and in this video I’ll give you 3 ways you can reach out to prospects that make you stand out. Not only that, but I’ll cover the top 5 dos and don’ts so you don’t get blocked.

By the way if you want to take control of your sales cycle hit subscribe! I cover topics from prospecting to closing and I’ve been doing this for 10 years! This way you won’t miss out on tips like how I landed my biggest deal of 400k during the pandemic. That’s one of the examples I’m sharing at the end of this video.

Now let’s get started!

3 ways to start meaningful conversations

Build familiarity before reaching out

So we want to get in front of our prospects. What do you think is the easiest way to get someone’s attention online? Hint: It’s not pitching in your connection request! What’s the one thing you check every time you log onto social media platforms? Notifications, right? You wanna know who liked your post or commented, or followed you. So that’s where we want to start. Landing in the notifications section. Luckily you can get creative here because all of the things we’ll cover next will get you there.

The easiest is? You guessed it! Leaving likes and other engagements. Even better if you use a support, applause or intriguing emoji because that makes you stand out to anyone checking their feed. These do the trick but don’t get as much attention as the next ones.

If you want people’s attention you’ll want to give something that leaves them better off. Like a point of view in the comments section. Just ask something that can make them seem like an domain expert if they respond. Another one is to add on top of what they wrote using the “yes, and..” framework. “Yes, and have you also considered XYZ?” But you can also comment if you disagree as long as you do it respectfully. Say “I get where you’re coming from when you say dot dot dot, but I found that XYZ. What am I not seeing?”. All of these start a conversation. And in a much easier way than waiting to get a reply to your cold email.

So likes and comments, right? Sounds simple enough, but what if they don’t post? Here’s where you can get creative - as long as they’re using the platform. People get notified even if you like a comment of theirs under someone else’s post. Or comment under someone’s comment under their post. Or like a comment that that person is tagged in. Isn’t this effortless?

Now what do you do with casual scrollers? People who log in every now and then but don’t post or engage? Is there no way to build familiarity with those people? Actually there is as long as they’ve liked posts from other people in the past. Our goal is to be seen by our prospects whenever they’re active next. So follow the people they’ve interacted with in the past and turn on notifications for when they post. That way you have the chance to show up as one of the first comments.

Everything we’ve done up to this point was about getting prospects familiar with you. Now let’s see two different approaches. First, a way that makes you seem like part of their community and then with the last one we’ll be building instant trust.

People trust people like them

So why community? Because when people view you as one of them, they’re much more likely to lower their guard. Then they can judge your content or message objectively instead of asking themselves “what is this person trying to sell me?”. Let’s look at three places you can do this. Groups, events, and conversations. Now personally I can’t recommend LinkedIn groups. I like the idea but it’s taken over by fake gurus and wannabes. No value there in my opinion. I’m big on events on the other hand. And if you see events being promoted on LinkedIn as well, guess what! You’ll see a list of people who are also attending or have attended.

So let’s say you want to reach out to potential buyers who are taking interest in a product or problem area you’re working with. Scrape the list of attendees and write them a message. Can be over email, InMail, or DM once you’ve connected. If you attended you can write them with a point of view and asking for their input. “Hi NAME - what did you think about POINT. Saw you also attended EVENT. I have a different point of view and was wondering if there are others like me. Will be writing a post on it later.”

If you didn’t attend it’s easier. Write something like **“**Was EVENT worth the time? Saw you attended. I couldn’t be there unfortunately and trying to see if I missed out on anything. Cheers and have a good one!”

Lastly on the topic of community we have what I think is the most effective way to get noticed. People like talking with people who share their points of view. It reassures them that they are on the right track. So going back to comments you’ll want to start a conversation in the comments discussing a topic. Not only is it a guaranteed way to get into the notification feed of the poster and commenter but LinkedIn will mark that thread as more relevant and show it on top of the feed for new visitors to see first. Think of that n ext time you see an influencer with hundreds of comments under their post. It’s anything but a waste of time if you can start a conversation. If it was a constructive one, the commenter and poster might be more open to accepting your connection request afterwards.

Reach out warm whenever you can

Now for the part I love the most! We’re going to cover 3 ways to use relationship-selling so you don’t have to reach out cold. The third one is likely one you haven’t used before.

First up we have warm intros. I don’t know about you but on their own they don’t work as well as I hoped. At first you’d think everyone who’s satisfied has someone they can refer you to. But they have to think in the moment, they have to fully trust your intentions, and then they have to write an email to connect the two of you. All of this is friction. Here’s how I usually make it easy: Let your contact know you’ll be reaching out to PERSON about TOPIC. Mention you saw they’re connected and ask if you can mention that you’ve worked with them in the past OR ask if they’d like you to send their best wishes to the person. This is called name dropping and all your contact has to say is yes - which is way easier than asking them to do the intro.

But there’s another way to remove friction. You still pick the prospect and ask for permission, but this time your contact sends an email. How you make it easy this time is by writing a forwardable email AKA a letter on behalf. There are two ways to do this: one is where you write the message how your contact would write and let them edit and send. The second one is easier though. Write how you would send a request and have your contact forward the email. There’s nothing special here compared to a well-written cold email, but this one comes from someone your prospect knows and trusts. It can look something like this: “Hi CONTACT NAME, I was going to reach out to PROSPECT NAME at COMPANY about TOPIC because INSIGHT. Seeing as you know each other do you think solving PROBLEM would be worth discussing for them?”. Then they forward it with a one-line cover sentence like “Hey, I worked with YOUR NAME and he’s a good one. Is this topic top of mind for you?”

And here’s my favourite. The approach that lead to closing a 400k deal. Similar to warm outreach but this time you’re doing all the work based on insights you’ve gathered from people close to the Account you’re trying to get a call with. It’s called near-bounding. Unlike outbound sales which is typically cold outreach, you’re reaching out to people close to the account. Hence the name nearbounding. The goal is to get as much context as possible on what’s going on inside a company or with a person of interest and then craft a value-based cold email. What makes it warm is the combination of name dropping and leading with a point of view. Here’s an example: “Name - I was talking with CONTACT NAME about TOPIC and heard INSIGHT. Might be a stretch but it sounds very similar to what we helped CUSTOMER achieve a while back. Think it might be worth 15 minutes of your time to discuss?”

Notice how none of the examples we discussed so far include a pitch. They don’t point out the obvious like “I saw you’re a ROLE at COMPANY” or “saw we both work in FIELD” and all that crap. We give, give, and give as much value as we can before asking for someone’s time. And even when we do ask, we ask for interest, not time. I also don’t recommend name dropping without permission. It’s the fastest way to discredit yourself and get blocked.

Instead, here are 5 things you can copy that have been working for me: Compliment the prospect by pointing out something they wrote or shared. Lead with a point of view: share insights you’ve gathered about their industry or assumptions based on their company goals and how it affects your prospect. Offer an intro to someone you know if both of you could benefit from connecting. Or the example I already mentioned where you reach out to event participants asking it it was worth attending.

But above all: create content regularly and let your work speak for you. If your prospects find value in what you regularly share they will want to follow and to connect with you. All you have to do is get in front of them. Likes, comments, you know the drill by now.

Takeaways

So to recap the 3 ways you can approach contacts are:

1. getting familiar through engagements and comments,

2. becoming an active part of communities where your prospects are active, and

3. leveraging your relationships to reach out warm.

That’s how you succeed in sales today!

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