Avoid turning LinkedIn into Tinder

Today on The “S” Word LIVE Show (making sales simple and fun)
***Avoid turning LinkedIn into Tinder***

I have heard some questionable “connection” strategies from some “so-called” LinkedIN Experts and it is cause for alarm. . .

Let me tell you a story first to give you context . . .

A smart woman — has a great high end coaching business. Her entry level offer is $1000 and on up to $30,000 and she is not one for “small talk” as she puts it.

She is in search of where to best spend her time so that she doesn’t waste time with “tire kickers” … she only wants SERIOUS inquiries . . .

She decides on LinkedIn

She seeks out a Linkedin expert

Some “so-called” Expert sells her a $2,000 strategy that basically turned LinkedIn into Tinder . . .

Listen in iso that you can avoid the painful mistakes she made and protect yourself.

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TRANSCRIPT

Hello and welcome to the “S” Word LIVE.

My name is Renee Hribar, sales strategist, TEDx speaker, and author. And I’m going to talk about how to avoid turning LinkedIn into Tinder. Wow. So who here has a LinkedIn account? Me.

Who here loves LinkedIn?

I love LinkedIn. I love all social platforms that help me connect with great people. Now, what makes people great is oftentimes how I treat them. They often reflect that. Let me know if you agree with me in the comments. So say hello as you join. I am joining you running the “S” Word LIVE show today from sunny Detroit, Michigan. I am not always in Detroit, but today I am. And today I have heard some disturbing trends, some questionable strategies from some so-called LinkedIn experts. And I want to get your attention so that I can help you avoid turning LinkedIn into the business version of Tinder. What’s up, Linda? Kathleen, hello. Say hello as you join. Share this with a friend who you know is using LinkedIn. So I want to tell you a little story to give you some context around this particular strategy that I’m going to share with you. Hey, Wendy, how are you? Wendy is in Guantanamo Bay. So on LinkedIn, this particular wonderful smart woman, she has a great account there. She is a high end business coach. Her entry level offer is a thousand dollars and she charges highly up to 10, 15, 30 thousand dollars for some of her services. So when we discussed where she should best hang out, those people that might best be her candidates, she decided together

that LinkedIn would be the choice. Great. I agree. That’s fantastic. So she went on her way and she was struggling with, “Well, what do I say and how do I say it so that the right people will show up to to talk to me?” Right. OK. That makes sense. Sure. But I always say content alone does not equal sales and definitely more content does not equal sales. So what I always say is it doesn’t matter whether it’s in person or LinkedIn or Facebook or Instagram or anywhere else that you meet someone, a connection can turn into a sale if handled correctly. So let me continue on with the story. So she was struggling with what to say, so she went in search of a high end LinkedIn strategist. So this person that she found, I will not say this person’s name, but this person she found charged over two thousand dollars for what ended up being basically a content calendar. Post this this many times a day in these times. And when this person does this, go and send them this message and and make at least one hundred connections a day and a thousand connections a week.

I guess that would really add up. But 700 plus one hundred a day. So she was really pushing it. So have you ever heard advice like that? If you have, it’s not your fault. Because it’s definitely a perpetuated, unforgivable, I think, strategy that I just don’t agree with. So here’s the deal. You never want to have any platform be the place where you try to blast people. Right. So what is wrong with this strategy? Let’s first break it down. So first and foremost, when it comes to any platform, especially LinkedIn, it’s not about volume. Can you get a heck yes? Can I get a I don’t need more volume in my life? I don’t need more posts to connect with the right people. Because if you want to connect with the right people, ultimately, it’s about quality, not quantity. So that’s the first myth that I want to blast out. The second thing is, it’s not about posting so many times or these certain times. It’s about what you say, not how many times you say it. So that is another key strategy. The other thing is, don’t try to make connections,

well,don’t try to make it like a number, like I want to get a hundred connections today, because that just sounds, right? Turn down the volume. Right. That just sounds like ish kabibble. Hey, Brittany. Hey, Birdie. Hey, Linda. Wendy, how are you?

Say hello as you join. That just sounds like a hit it and quit it kind of strategy, like where you’re treating people like numbers. So when you start to treat people, humans, like a data point, that is the first determining factor that you might be on the wrong strategy and it might be something that’s not going to be able to A, last or B, develop quality leads. Because one of the other things that this particular woman was saying was she wanted to develop quality leads. She wanted to find quality people that were ready to buy what she had. They were on the right point of their buying cycle and had the money to do it right. And so I get that. I understand that. Hundred percent as a salesperson for the last 20 years, I know about prospecting. I know about qualified leads. I know about turning an interaction into a sale. I get it. And so when someone is enticed, by a so-called expert, that volume is the answer that, oh, goodness gracious, you just say this and you make these hundred connections and then you say this. People were getting upset with her because she was following this program’s advice that she bought into.

God help her. She’s a very smart woman. Again, It’s not her fault. But I wanted to come out and address it, because if you’re also hearing this, I don’t want you to fall prey to it. So if you’re under the advice where, oh, you make a hundred connections and you’ve got to send them this blasted message. I’ll help you get this and I’ll do this for you. Have you ever responded to that yourself? Have you ever received those and then respond to them? There’s a great lesson that my first sales manager ever had us do. So we were in Manhattan, OK? And he had a take out single dollar bills. Cash. Cash. Money. Twenty single dollar bills. He’s like, if you can give these away in Times Square, I’ll make that 20 into one hundred. So he’s like, you have to be honest. You know, he had no way of tracking it. So we literally went to Times Square in New York City. This is rewind the tape. 1994. And he’s like, just give them away. But you can’t say anything.

Hand them out. Hand them out. Hand them out.

And you can’t tell them why. You can’t tell them the story. Right. YOu can’t tell me your sales manager’s going to turn it into a hundred dollars if you can give out twenty.

You just have to hand them out. Guess how many of us actually got rid of all of our 20 dollars? Not one person.

Because people don’t just want this. This, this. This, this. My gosh, my brother. I love him to death. Nick, if you’re listening, when he was two, I would sit next to at the dinner table. He’s like want some, want some, want some? I’m like, no, I don’t want that. Stop trying to feed me. So at the end of the day, making those 100 connections, blasting people with messages inside of LinkedIn or trying to hand out single dollar bills to strangers, even if it’s cold, hard cash, they still are like, who are you and why are you talking to me right now? It’s not just New Yorkers. It’s everybody. So at the end of the day, what I’m encouraging you to do is to treat people like individuals. So is LinkedIn a great platform? You betcha. So is Facebook. So is Instagram. Because guess what? There’s a lot of  overlap. And it just depends on the mood that I’m in as to which platform I might tune into. More of you does not mean better connections. What would make a better connection is personalizing it.  So when you do have someone that wants to connect, that is engaging with you, look at them as a human. And something I tell a lot of my students is why don’t you look them up? You know, it’s hard for us to sell to a thousand people if we can’t sell to one. So focus on the one person. You know, one of my favorite writers of all time, she’s teaching writing right now. She says, you know, remember in the middle school days, we would write a letter to our friend? Treat each person like that, like where you’re actually just writing a letter to a friend. You’re not trying to like sell ’em something. And you’ve heard me say that before, too on the “S” Word LIVE. Don’t go and be like, I want to sell you. Instead, go in. Go into LinkedIn and continue the conversation. Do make a connection, but make it genuine. Look them up. Have something nice to say.

Like, Oh, I like those sunflowers. I like sunflowers too. Or Oh, that shirt looks like JLo’s green dress. Oh yeah, that’s why I wore it today.

So ultimately I’m going to encourage you to use what comes natural to you. So especially because this is who I work with, women who sell to other women, business professionals selling to other business professionals. We’re not all about the chitchat. We don’t need to know everything about, you know, what you put in your coffee this morning and what color your nails are, although that’s fun to talk about sometimes. It is also exciting to talk about business. We’re both in business. We love talking about business. So let’s talk about business, too. So LinkedIn is a place that I love to go to talk about business and to talk about quality information that I have found that I wanted to share. And then those people that engage with me, I will ask them more questions. You’ve heard me say that here, too. Great sales people ask great questions. Good salespeople have a good pitch. Great sales people ask great questions. Oh, Irena says hello. Yes. Let’s talk about business. So what can you do on LinkedIn to avoid turning it into Tinder? Don’t worry about volume. Don’t try to make it all about the numbers. And do treat people like individuals. And you will build a strong network that you can rely on and depend on for the next 10 years. We’re about to go into a new decade. It’s so exciting. And I want to encourage you to use this platform and the next to your advantage with those same principles. You can sell. It can feel great. And it can be simple and fun. I’ll tune in to you next week when I am back on the “S” Word LIVE again. See you guys soon.