Show “Why do I get so many random invitations?” someone asked. I think everyone in the room nodded in agreement. Most people, especially CEOs and business owners, don’t like those constant, random invitations. CEOs get more than their share of invitations, no doubt. “You’re the CEO; people want to know you and connect with you. You make the decisions, and you authorize purchases,” I answered. It’s reality and the truth. People may not connect with the CEO because they want to know you. It comes with the title, period. Other things I heard throughout the morning included “Uggghhh, how do we work around that? I don’t want to be a jerk, but I get too many invitations from random salespeople to respond to.” “Is it better to just delete them or should I answer them?” “They only want something from me. These people are just trying to sell me something.” “Don’t they know I already know a dozen financial planners, insurance people, printers, IT providers?” “I don’t want them in my network trolling around.” There’s truth in each of those statements. I get it. And, CEOs and business owners should read this with their salespeople in mind. How are your salespeople reaching out to other people just like you? If you are in sales or business development, your job is to get in front of decision-makers. Period. And now, you use LinkedIn. Good work. But think about your sales process. You have a quota, you have a list of prospects or customers, and you need to make a certain number of calls, appointments and actual meetings in a week and month. You are diligent, often aggressive and you reach out via every means possible. If you were the CEO, would you take your call, respond to your email, accept your LinkedIn invitation? Be honest. Have you provided enough reason, value or earned enough trust to warrant a response? Do you have enough status, power or known celebrity to justify a CEO of a company to want to talk with you? Stop trolling and start putting some effort into to working on their behalf. A well-crafted, deliberate and thoughtful business development process is best when personalized with real research, an introduction, a great referral and a proof-based value proposition. Consider the CEO’s perspective. They are smart people and have trusted go-to advisors. They probably have insurance, financial advice, networked printers, and most everything else it takes to run a business. Once again why should they connect with you? CEOs know people, know how to reach out to those they want to do business with and are careful about inviting new people in without a reference or referral. Initially, at least, you represent a learning curve, change and risk. Many of today’s CEOs are not comfortable online. They did not necessarily come of age in a collaborative, open networking system. They are concerned about privacy, breaches and the list goes on. Younger CEOs are far more likely to be open to connecting. Know your audience. Everyone says to start at the top. Sometimes it works, but often it doesn’t. It can if you develop your brand, hone your value proposition and build an influential network. Here are three ways to earn trust and make the most of your current network: 1. Ask for referrals. You may or may not receive them but at least you asked. Consider whom you are asking and why they would refer you in. Have you treated them well? 2. Be good at what you do, do more than what was expected, and create a reputation that begins to precede you (can you find a market niche, for example). You will receive some good referrals. 3. Be so good, you receive referrals without asking for them. This is where you have earned the trust in an area, geography and market. To all sales, business development people, consultants and job seekers: Act like an owner, think like an owner and reach out like an owner. Make it count, be valuable and memorable in the best possible way. Advice for the CEO One of the primary reasons business development folks push to get in front of you is evident. You are the final authority; you sign the checks. But the best business development and sales folks are here to bring value and insight to the conversation they have with you. Manage how people reach out to you on LinkedIn. There are ways to manage how you show up and whether people can reach you. -Spend 15 minutes reviewing your Privacy & Settings (upper right corner under your photo or silhouette) -What kinds of messages, opportunities and advice do you want to receive? Add a disclaimer to the Advice area explaining how you will use LinkedIn. This information shows up on your Profile. -Choose who can send you invitations. If you prefer to keep those invitations limited, choose from two or three. -Decide if you have an open or closed network -Rather than accepting an invitation, click on the reply arrow and send them a quick message saying you prefer to know the people you connect with and ask why you should connect, suggest a conversation. -Rethink your headline area. Rather than your title, or in addition to your title, add keywords related to your industry, value proposition or specialty. Your title will appear in the experience area. Connect:
Digital world offers many opportunities for you to connect with C-level executives – emails, cold calls, referrals, etc., but LinkedIn tops the chart. Over 45% of LinkedIn users are C-level decision-makers. And they are not there to find BuzzFeed quizzes or wedding photos or memes but to do business. They look for content that can change the way they do business and there lies the fruit of opportunity for you. But the problem is How to Connect on LinkedIn with C-level Executives ? You don’t know how to connect on LinkedIn with these decision-makers! What to say with your connection request to these people? Or how to follow up while connecting on LinkedIn? Well, that’s not a secret code to crack. You just need the right message to connect on LinkedIn with these decision makers. And that’s what I will tell you in this post. So, read on as I reveal the exact steps to connect on LinkedIn with your desired decision makers; how to approach them the right way so they don’t bypass you. 1. Define your target audienceHeard this a dozen times? That’s because you can’t escape the truth! Even to connect on LinkedIn with C-level decision makers, you have to be clear about your target audience. C-level decision makers are many, but everyone won’t show interest in your business; not everyone would benefit from your services. Bottom line? Define the personas of C-level decision makers you wish to connect on LinkedIn. This small initial step will take out all the hassle out of it. To define the personas, write these key points about your target decision makers:
2. Search for target C-level executivesOnce you know the C-level executives you have to target, it’s time to search them on LinkedIn. For the purpose, you can:
3. Send connection request with a messageMajority of people send connection requests on LinkedIn by just clicking on the ‘Connect’ button one after the other. And then complain of not getting it accepted. Of course, you won’t be! Because your strategy of sending connection requests is faulty! With the above approach, LinkedIn sends a connection request to your desired audience with a default message, “Please add me to your LinkedIn network”. Now, just put yourself in the shoes of the C-level executive you are connecting to. If you receive such a message with a connection request, how likely will you accept it? Very less, right? Same holds true with the other person. Being a C-level executive, his LinkedIn inbox would be flooded with such messages. Why should he/she connect with you? Are you giving them a valuable reason to connect? That’s the point! Always send connection requests on LinkedIn with a personalized message. And what that can be? Let’s see a few examples:
So, what are the key takeaways from these examples?
By following these points, you’ll increase your acceptance rate! 4. Keep your first outbound message shortCongratulations! Your target decision maker has accepted your connection request! That means you made a great first impression with your connection message. But that’s half the battle won! What’s next? Keep them interested in you so that eventually they become your paying customer. So, now it’s time to send them your first outbound message. Important thing to remember here is to keep your message short, catchy, and valuable. A short welcome message comes in handy at this hour! Something like:
5. Follow up with a thoughtful messageWell, many people have a varied opinion on this! Some prefer to send a direct sales pitch after the welcome message, while others don’t. I consent to the second approach. Though LinkedIn is a platform for B2B communication, we all are humans. And everybody wants to talk with a human, not a salesman. So, rather than sending a sales pitch after the welcome message, I recommend sending a thoughtful message. To come up with one, read through the profile of that decision maker, and try understanding what their pressing business challenge could be. Share a tip or two with them from your knowledge bank, which you think might help them in overcoming their challenge. This makes the opponent feel cared for; that you understand their business situation and are ready to address them with your expertise. And Lo! You might have the decision maker asking for more info; thus, giving you a chance to showcase your product/service. Go for it now. You have struck the chord to start your dialogue with the decision maker. Here are a few examples of such thoughtful follow-up messages:
What to take away from this post?Connecting on LinkedIn with C-level executives is not as hard as you think. It just takes 5 steps in the right direction to connect and engage with your target decision makers on LinkedIn. Define your target audience first, search for them on LinkedIn, connect on LinkedIn with a welcome note, and follow up with a thoughtful message which could be your blog post providing valuable information to help their business, tools or strategies to implement and take their business to the next level or a genuine piece of advice. Before I leave, a few words of wisdom! Whenever you get a positive response from a C-level decision maker, make note of what you did right to reuse it in your future LinkedIn campaigns. Over to you now! Did you try these 5 steps to how to connect on LinkedIn with C-level Executives (decision makers)? Let us know how it worked for you! You can further send personalized images with LinkedIn messages by using our new Feature of Hyperise integration. Know more about it here. How to Connect on LinkedIn with C-level Executives in the Right Way? |