People buy from those that they know, like, and trust.

Anonymous

Sounds simple right? But how exactly do you get people to know you, like you, and trust you in a natural and authentic way?

I looked up what the experts say, reflected on my own experiences, and created my own how-to guide for LinkedIn. Here is the short version I recently shared on LinkedIn.

An even shorter version would be my Streak CRM setup I use to manage my LinkedIn connections, regardless of whether they’re potential clients.

Except for people I know from school/work who live in the ‘More Active IRL’ stage because they barely use LinkedIn, every new connection starts at the first stage and works its way down the funnel. Btw, if you’re curious about Streak, keep your eyes and ears open because I’ll be sharing my process in more detail in another article 🙂

Before You Start, Have a Name!

Even if you’re not selling anything, it’s a good idea to establish some sort of criteria for whom you connect with and follow on LinkedIn. I started following Josh Steimle over a year ago because he creates useful content but I didn’t really know him.

From Not Knowing to Knowing

Wait, what’s the difference between ‘not knowing’ and ‘knowing’ someone? This article on Content Marketing Institute captures it perfectly:

To know you, your prospect must ‘get’ you

Renae Gregoire, Content Marketing Institute

You can really get to know someone by studying the type of content they put out, and how they engage with others in the Feed. My first memory of interacting with Josh was through this post:

At this point, I was overwhelmed with the random/generic connection requests I was receiving, so I could really relate to Josh. In my head, I was like, I really need to know this guy better, and get him to know me as well!

Engaging With a Purpose

When I come across posts like this one, I like to browse through existing comments before making my own comment. Sometimes I’ll just insert myself in an existing comment thread instead. Whatever you do, ask yourself these questions:

• What purpose do I want my comment to serve?
• How can I add value to the author and/or other commenters?

With my comment, I wanted to let Josh know that I get where he is coming from, and also address some points he may have missed (or maybe he ran out of room due to the 1,300-character limit).

Wait For the Green Light

If your comment is worthy of a response, and the other person is still a human, he or she will likely respond. This gives you permission to continue having a dialogue with them.

Note: You may have to repeat this step several times to stay ‘top of mind’.

Ready, Set, Connect!

The thing with busy people is that they’re constantly bombarded by messages, notifications, and invites. You want to make it quick and easy for them to decide whether you’re worthy of their time. Also, personalize your request in a way no one else could. Immediately after he responded to my comment on his post, I sent him this connection request:

Josh, you should accept my invite because I am 100% human, have a profile pic, Almost #RejectionProof, dislike ALL CAPS, have an interesting bio, just engaged with your post from today (& probably in the past too). BONUS: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6350459838308458496/

But Don’t Stop There!

He accepted and responded (which is a rare thing). But I didn’t want to be just one of his many connections. So I skimmed through his profile and saw he went to the same school as Jia Jiang (I was working for Jia at the time).

After I shared Jia’s profile and TED talk with him, Josh told me,

Wow, this is definitely a guy I need to connect with. Thanks for bringing him to my attention!

He then sent Jia a personalized connection request, which I saw come in, so I simply screenshotted Josh’s messages to Jia over Slack and said something along the lines of Josh is cool, want me to accept his invitation for you?

By this point, Josh knew me as not just one of his many connections who value meaningful interactions, but also someone who happens to work for a cool TEDster from BYU. We continued engaging through the feed but I didn’t message him until three months later when he posted a video about moving to Asia to adopt a girl from China. I thought it was cool because not many parents would do that (didn’t get a response to that message for some reason but it’s okay).

Making The Ask(s) in Unexpected Way(s)

Most people hate cold pitches because they’re boring and predictable. Don’t be boring.

Be unexpected yet memorable. Unexpected and memorable gets attention.

I bet you don’t know anyone who has gotten work because of a $100 ask. I wrote about this here and here.

Technically I got rejected, but it felt more like a challenge. I poked around and found some broken links etc. and joked about getting hired for SEO work (I don’t know much about SEO). Then I saw this post from just a week before my #100DollarRejection ask!

And asked a valid question:

Within 60 minutes, I sent him the most unexpected email, referencing several pain points and previous conversations:

And within 10 minutes, he responded with:

Are you available full time and how much would you charge?

This Works, But You Have to Work Too

Since graduation, I’ve not filled out a single job application (due to fear of rejection) but have created valuable connections and opportunities for myself through LinkedIn. Josh is just one example. With Josh and others, the result can’t be traced back to a single action I took, but rather multiple actions building on top of each other. Yes, it takes time, but it’ll be worth it, trust me!

I tried to keep the instructions simple, but if anything is not clear, let me know.