I see a lot of people who try and establish them as an expert on LinkedIn through the messages they send when they first connect with someone.
With these individuals, the first message I get is a three-scroller.
You know the ones!
Where it’s a giant block of text and you have to scroll three times on your mouse to get to the top so you can read down through a nice long pitch.
Alternatively, some individuals are trying to do this through the connection request itself now!
The problem with both of those is that I don't really know them well enough to read through a page and a half or a three-page first message on LinkedIn; if they are trying to show me how awesome they are just through our connection request, I'm probably not going to want to connect.
Why? Because it's not about you. When it comes to my attention and my time, I want to spend it on the things that matter to me.
When you reach out to me and you're telling me about how amazing you are, how awesome you are, how much you've got it all together, how you can help me out, and all these great things, there’s an issue for you. The problem is I don't really care.
I haven't learned enough and you haven't shown any interest in me first.
One of the first keys when you're looking to establish your zone of genius is to sit down and put all that on your LinkedIn profile. Build out a LinkedIn profile that really represents you well.
I know some of you guys are thinking, “yeah, but what if they don't look at my profile?”
Then you have to drive them to be interested in your profile through great conversation. That's your job. You build out a great looking profile that really does a good job laying out what you’re representing, what your area of expertise is, and then your job is to sit there and then start a conversation.
Once you start a conversation with someone, they will become curious about you - if you're paying attention to and are curious about them. We as human beings work with this thing called the mirror neuron. We give back what we get and so if you're curious about me, I will become curious about you in return.
So how do you build out your profile?
- Figure out what you want your profile to communicate! (Hint: it shouldn’t be begging someone to buy from you, because no one cares [sorry, not sorry])
- Figure out what makes you special
- Figure out what draws your clients to you specifically (Hint: try interviewing your best clients)
- Ask yourself whta it is about you that gets your prospects to ask questions about you in return?
Then make sure all these items are showcased on your profile.
If you want more, we have a really awesome five-day LinkedIn challenge we just launched.
It's completely free!
Why? Because I want to turn LinkedIn into a GREAT place to network and connect and give others the tools and knowledge they need to make LinkedIn a true networking connector.
This challenge will walk you through exactly what you need to do to establish your zone of genius and turn LinkedIn into a lead generation & prospect generation machine!