Dear Alex
My business is suited to larger corporate clients who have a number of teams or departments
I’ve tried networking and the people are lovely, but they’re all small businesses and they’re not really my ideal clients who will buy from me
People tell me LinkedIn is the place to be, but I’m getting no results and am on the verge of giving up on LinkedIn
Do you have any advice that would help me get my mojo back and grow my business?
I feel this message, as it resonates with my own experiences in growing the business
I work with so many different types of businesses from tiny startups working on the kitchen table (before the pandemic as everyone technically now works on the kitchen table) through to really large corporates like the BBC, United Utilities and large law firms
And none of the large corporate jobs have ever come directly from a networking meeting. They’ve either come through from LinkedIn or Google
Some of those bigger jobs came about from serendipity and having a strong reputation across the North West, but I’ll try and answer it to help you from the perspective of someone who isn’t as well established in the market place
As always, I’ll try and break it down into a step by step process so you can action it
1. Define what you mean my corporate clients (and do the research)
Write down which type of corporate clients you’d like to work with in terms of sector and location
At the moment location may not be the defining feature, if your service can be delivered virtually
But say for instance, you wanted to reach solicitors in Manchester you might google that
Put those names into a spreadsheet / word file and use LinkedIn Company Pages to establish how big they are
Refine this list then down to your Top 25 / 50 / 100 that you’d want to work with
2. Connect with the decision makers on LinkedIn
We’ve all been there
You’re scrolling through LinkedIn and you see someone who does what you do, delivering work for a big-name client that you’ve thought would make an ideal client for you
You get angry with them because they’ve bagged “that client” and it should have been you
And then it dawns why would the client ever buy from you because you weren’t connected and they didn’t even know you exist
Lesson learnt
Connect with the decision makers … and that features an s in for plural, as chances are the decision in a corporate business is made by more than one person
Also follow their company page on LinkedIn as well – although you’ll find the LinkedIn algorithm doesn’t show the company page that often
3. Post Content That Resonates With Your Ideal Client
There’s no point in connecting with your ideal clients – the larger corporates
And then every post you put out is geared towards the smaller clients that attend your networking group
Be big. Be bold. Be goals focused
How can you offer value to those larger clients and talk about how what you do helps them
If you’re connected with us on LinkedIn, you’ll notice we talk about Employee Advocacy a lot – that means nothing to a solopreneur, but it means a lot to companies with 10+ employees
4. Engage With Your Ideal Client
You need to diarise time in your diary for engagement on LinkedIn
20+ minutes a day where you do a mixture of engaging on the feed, but also targeted engagement with those people you wish to work with
Show up regular and think about what you’re commenting rather than bland platitudes
Well done, congrats, great to see will make such a small difference they’re hardly worth posting
Post something that is so insightful they feel compelled to click on your profile and read about you
Be as interesting in your comments, as you are in your own updates
5. Ask Your Networking Group For Introductions
Your networking group already know what you do
They might not have used your services yet, but they might have seen a taster of what you do in action
They might know people you’ve worked with who have sang your praises
The key now is to be specific when you next have a meeting and part of the intro round is who you’d like to meet
It’s not just who is in the room, but who those people know
Actually, mention a specific name or specific company and people tend to take more notice than generic requests
It’s a bit, dare I mention it, BNI, but it works
BONUS TIPS
– Write your web copy geared towards your ideal client
– Increase the number of reviews you have
– Write for a trades magazine your ideal clients read
– Deliver a free webinar aimed at your ideal client
– Join a networking organisation that attracts larger businesses – city centre ones tend to, over smaller town groups
Anything else you’d add?
NEED HELP WITH YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA?
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Please call Alex on 07806774279 or email alex@altrinchamhq.co.uk
