Building a powerful network on LinkedIn can open doors to new opportunities, collaborations, and success for you, your potential Trusted-Relationships, and your Trusted-Relationships in and outside of the H7 Network. Here’s a “how-to” guide for making the most out of LinkedIn introductions and ensuring you’re leveraging your connections effectively inside the H7 Network Meeting to grow your business via word of mouth marketing.
Keeping Your Connections Up to Date
- Review Your Client List: Start by going through your existing client list and personal contacts.
- Connect on LinkedIn: Ensure that these individuals and other types of professional relationships are part of your LinkedIn network. This helps maintain a current and robust list of connections.
- Connect on LinkedIn with your H7 Relationships: Ensure that you are connected with your fellow members of the community consistently. This helps maintain a current and robust list of your H7 relationships.
Asking for an Introduction
Identify Your Target Audience:
- Determine the industry and demographics that align with your goals.
- Develop a specific list of companies you aim to reach.
- Bring a short list of 3 with you to the meetings and your Connect, Serve, and Ask™ One to ones
- When you’re in the live H7 meeting, you want to share one prospect at a time when the facilitator asks you “who you would like to meet”. It’s a best practice to ask for “industries” inside the meetings however if you happen to be in a group with other members you already know, they are going to be more inclined to be able to help you with the list of companies instead of the industries. Totally up to you when you’re in the meeting. Just don’t go backwards and “ask ramble”. This technique gives you leverage immediately in the meeting because it’s made clear who you wish to meet.
Utilize LinkedIn Features:
- Go to a connection’s main profile and click on “500+ connections” to explore their network.
- Apply filters to streamline your search:
- Connection Level: Focus on 2nd and 3rd-degree connections. (you can also try your 1st connections)
- Location and Company Name are useful for narrowing down prospects.
- Use All Filters to specify Industry, Service Category, or Keywords.
Select Your Top Prospects:
- Draft a list of the top 3 people you want introductions to. (This list of 5 is a “best practice” for when you are in the LIVE H7 meetings and your Connect, Serve, and Ask™ One to ones)
Request Introductions:
- Approach your connection and inquire how well they know each prospect.
- Rank the potential introductions by priority.
- Provide a concise description of how you’d like to be introduced, to make it easier on the person that will be making the introduction. (see H7’s Member Resources and Tools for introduction templates and more)
FOLLOW-UP & THROUGH
By following these steps, making it a habit of implementing this methodology, you’ll enhance your Word of Mouth Marketing strategy inside the H7 Network meetings, building so many Trusted-Relationships that can pave the way for your success. Stay proactive, clear with your intentions, communicate intentionally, and open to fostering beneficial Trusted-Relationships. You’ll reach heights of success in your word of mouth marketing strategy you’ve never seen before.
Written by: Clay Hicks
“When you focus on the relationship and not the outcome, your outcomes become more predictable” ~ Clay Hicks
