Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / Leveraging LinkedIn for Corporate Contracts with Liz J. Simpson

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Leveraging LinkedIn for Corporate Contracts with Liz J. Simpson · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

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  Thanks to today's podcast sponsor, Amazon.
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  Amazon knows small businesses have many options when deciding how and where to sell their
• 0:07
  products.
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  Amazon works hard to be the best partner to help drive their success, like investing over
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  $30,000,000,000 in logistics tools, and programs to foster their growth.
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  Because when small businesses thrive, customers benefit from the products and services they
• 0:23
  offer.
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  I think it's powerful, especially in light of the pandemic, because that has been my
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  networking environment.
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  You know, that's the place that I go.
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  LinkedIn has become my water cooler environment, right, because I I can't go in
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  person and have these relationships You can invite others.
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  You've not met in person to connect.
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  It's the way with which you do that that is really going to disarm who accepts your
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  connection invite.
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  And additionally how you are positioned.
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  I left off.
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert, Melinda
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  Emerson.
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  Melinda's goal is to end small business failure and she'll give be the information you need to
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  succeed and live the life you dream of.
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  Now here's the small biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Everson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  This is Melinda Everson's small business lady.
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  America's number one small business sport.
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  And I'm so excited to welcome you to another episode of the small business chat podcast.
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  I am so excited for today's show Now the small business chat podcast is a peer to peer
• 1:34
  interview show where we give small business owner's advice, they probably would not be able
• 1:39
  to afford otherwise The mission of the small Bishop podcast is to end small business
• 1:45
  failure.
• 1:46
  Now the goal of the small Bishop podcast is to give our audience an opportunity to get Sage
• 1:51
  advice from multiple angles to grow your business.
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  Now it's time for me to introduce my guest.
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  Liz Jay Simpson Liz is the founder of the consultancy stimulus LLC, and she's recognized
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  by LinkedIn is one of the 15 sales influencers to follow.
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  She's also been featured on NBC, CBS, South by Southwest, 40 under 40, and LinkedIn sales
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  stars as well as she's a HubSpot Inbound Fellow.
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  Her firm stimulus empowers organizations and business development professionals with B2B
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  digital strategies to accelerate revenue growth.
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  This is also the founder of the accelerator.
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  The big money movement where she trains thousands of women experts to secure 5 and 6
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  figure corporate deals.
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  If you want more information about that, you can head over to the big money movement dotcom.
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  Liz, welcome to the small piece chat podcast.
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  Melinda.
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  Hey.
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  I am thrilled to be here.
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  Hello, everyone.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, listen.
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  Let's let's just how let me just start the big money movement because that that's a that's a
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  big claim right there.
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  Right?
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  So so Tell him about your sales background and how it led you to to start the big money
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  movement.
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  Yes.
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  That actually started with a few years ago.
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  I was reading American Express State of Women Own Business Report.
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  And in that report, It talked about how women owned businesses average about 67% less revenue
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  than our male counterparts.
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  And then if you go deeper into those statistics, it shows that Latina owned
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  businesses average only about $51,000 per year, and black women owned businesses average only
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  about 24,000 per year compared to the 170 1000 of white women or Asian women owned businesses.
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  And I guess I'm just one of those people, like most business owners, that when there's a
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  problem that resonates with me.
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  I just felt like, wow, I've been empowering sales experts.
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  I've had over a decade in sales.
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  And little did I know about those statistics?
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  And I think it's a symptom of so many women who are just brilliant at the work that they do,
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  but they're just not passionate about sales and selling, and it's been proven through the
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  movement.
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  So saw that started.
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  Awesome.
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  Awesome.
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  So why do you think that LinkedIn is so underutilized as a sales tool?
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  I
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  don't know how, but I think there's some people who still didn't get the memo.
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  I've been preaching this for years, but there are people who are still not getting the memo.
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  But LinkedIn is the place to be.
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  Right?
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  So when we look at And as business owners, the goal is for us to position ourselves where our
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  buyers are, where our potential clients are, where opportunities are, And so often what I
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  find is there's so many businesses that are struggling for what we call small money deals,
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  right, just barely getting by You know, we all know about the cash flow challenges of the
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  small business owner.
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  However, when you're able to secure just one corporate client, one corporate client can
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  provide life changing revenue and the type of cash flow injections that can help to sustain a
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  small business.
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  And so if we're looking at how then do we position ourselves for those type of corporate
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  opportunities.
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  To me, the no brainer is linkedin.
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  You know, linkedin, when we talk to executive buyers, executive buyer state that LinkedIn is
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  their number one place to go to for professionally relevant content.
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  If we look deeper into who the users are on LinkedIn, LinkedIn represents over 90,000,000
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  senior level influencers and 63,000,000 decision makers.
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  So so often we're spending so much money trying to position ourselves to where our buyers are
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  when there's this free platform that, you know, the top 10% of consumers are actually already
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  leveraging.
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  I love it.
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  I love it.
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  So, basically, you're saying, hello.
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  If you're selling B2B, you better be on LinkedIn.
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  Is that is that did I summarize that well?
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  You could've just said that and saved me my 5 minute dissertation, but, yes, that.
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  Alright.
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  So What can I do with LinkedIn that puts me in front of prospective clients?
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  Oh my gosh.
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  So many things.
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  I'll I'll I'll nail down 3.
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  So first and foremost, I won't get too, you know, technical, but LinkedIn is one of the top
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  5 indexing sites with Google, which is a fancy way of saying that when you're looking to
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  position yourself where in front of buyers who are looking for service providers, just by
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  optimizing your LinkedIn profile, you can position yourself for those opportunities.
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  So I treat my LinkedIn profile like an SEO rich, lead generating sales page.
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  Right?
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  So so many people put emphasis on their website, which I understand you own that asset,
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  but your LinkedIn profile is another great place.
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  So think about the status quo of your buyer.
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  When they're in pain and they're looking for the services that you offer, What are some of
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  the search terms or keywords that they use?
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  And make sure you optimize your LinkedIn profile for that.
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  That's one.
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  2, the other part that I love about LinkedIn is that The name of the game is consistency.
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  When we're talking about working with corporate clients, a small percentage might have a need
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  for your solution at the time that you come on their radar.
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  But if you're consistently showing up with thought leadership, if you're consistently
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  showing up with value that helps them in the day to day, of their role in corporate America,
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  they're going to remember you.
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  Right?
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  You're gonna stay top of mind.
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  So that's for publishing content on LinkedIn is critical.
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  Oftentimes, we have opportunities within our existing network, but we haven't activated that
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  network because our network doesn't know how we can serve them.
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  And then finally, the 3rd part is my favorite tool, which is sales navigator.
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  So with sales navigator through LinkedIn, you're gonna really do some amazing filtering
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  where you can go into sales navigator and say, I'm looking for a VP of sales and manufacturing
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  in the southern region, region of the US that has 500 employees And LinkedIn will literally
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  filter and show you who your buyers are that fit those search terms, and then you can
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  message and engage with them.
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  So there's so many ways that those are 3 that are very power.
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  Alright.
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  So here's the deal.
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  Do I need a paid LinkedIn account, or can I do all
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  it is with a free LinkedIn account?
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  Great question.
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  So if you, right now, if someone listening, I I don't have resources to buy another another
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  piece of technology or add anything else to my tech stack.
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  Absolutely.
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  You can be a 100% effective with LinkedIn's free tools.
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  If you're a power user, if you're someone who's really serious and you're disciplined about
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  strategic relationship building, then you want extra abilities so that you can make sure that
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  you're growing your network and engaging your existing network.
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  LinkedIn sales navigator is a cherry on top, but it's a nice city.
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  It's not a necessity.
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  Okay.
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  So I just wanted to understand that because I know you gotta pay to use LinkedIn sales
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  navigator.
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  Right?
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  You do.
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  I believe right now it's about 79.99 a month per user.
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  So it's still it's not the most expensive piece of software, but that no software adds up.
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  So it's not it's not required.
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  Tell me about proper connection etiquette.
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  If I don't know you, is it okay to send you a LinkedIn?
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  Hey.
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  I think so.
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  So I know knows you.
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  Like, like, what's what's the deal with that?
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  That is definitely a debate Tarissa, when you bring up that topic, you get debate amongst
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  sales sales professionals.
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  I personally love them because it's an opportunity for me to expand my network.
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  So I am someone that I'm definitely I will send LinkedIn invites to individuals that I don't
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  know.
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  But it's all about adding value.
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  Right?
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  And so when we talk about how you're positioned, at this point, because my LinkedIn
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  profile is very clear about who I am and what I do.
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  I'm adding people to my network every day that I've not I've not met in person, and I think
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  it's powerful.
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  Especially in light of the pandemic because that has been my networking environment.
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  You know, that's the place that I go.
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  LinkedIn has become my water cooler environment.
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  Right, because I I just can't go in person and have these relationships.
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  You can invite others.
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  You've not met in person to connect It's the way with which you do that that is really going
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  to disarm who accepts your connection invite and additionally how your position So, again,
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  going back to optimizing your LinkedIn profile, making sure that it reflects your thought
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  leadership, and it speaks to the status quo of your buyers is that they perceive you as a peer
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  and someone who's gonna add value to their day to day.
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  I love it.
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  I love it.
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  Well, listen.
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  You have been listening to the small bitch chat podcast.
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  I'm Melinda Ameren, the small biz lady.
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  We're gonna be talking more with Liz about how to get corporate contracts when we come right
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  back.
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  Stay with us.
• 10:46
  Hi.
• 10:46
  I'm Melinda Emerson's small biz lady, and I wanna welcome you to small biz lady university.
• 10:51
  Our mission here is to end small business failure.
• 10:55
  So all the courses here are about 2 things, how to become your own boss, or how to make money
• 11:02
  online.
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  So that's we do here.
• 11:04
  So whether you wanna learn about email marketing and sales funnels, or you're ready to
• 11:10
  get started with social media selling, Or if you're really just getting started with e
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  Commerce, you might want to jump into our how to sell and market online course.
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  Either way, if you want to learn how to become your own boss and do it well.
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  I have everything you need here at smallvislatinguniversity.com.
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  If you have any questions or have any technical problems getting signed up, just email us at
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  support@malindamerson.com.
• 11:36
  Take care.
• 11:38
  Welcome back to the small biz chat podcast.
• 11:43
  I'm Melinda Emerson small biz lady, your host, and we're back with my guest, Liz Simpson.
• 11:48
  And she's breaking it down for us about how to get 5 and 6 figure corporate contracts by
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  leveraging LinkedIn.
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  Alright, Liz.
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  I gotta ask you this.
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  What are the biggest mistakes people make on LinkedIn?
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  Oh, 1st and foremost, can we just have a moment of silence for all the bots that we need to
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  shut down on LinkedIn Oh my goodness.
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  The automation is a no no.
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  When we talk about corporate clients, we're all in the business of people, and it's all about
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  relationship And the last thing that you want to do is burn a bridge of a potential
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  relationship because we all conceive through the veil of automation.
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  So 1st and foremost, please turn off your LinkedIn automation and your messaging.
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  But I think the other mistake people make with LinkedIn is deeper than LinkedIn, especially if
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  we're gonna talk about small business owners.
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  So often as small business owners, we're excited about how often we've, you know, how
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  long we've been in business and how many years of expertise that we have.
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  And then the work that I do with clients, I find so often they don't have clear
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  positioning.
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  And what that means is who am I focused on serving What is the status quo of my buyer?
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  Meaning that, what is the cost of the status quo?
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  What does business as usual look like for my buyer now?
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  Can I quantify the cost of the status quo?
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  What is the cost of them staying the same?
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  What's the emotional cost of the challenges that they're having in their role right now?
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  And then what's their desired future state?
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  What are they trying to achieve?
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  One of my frameworks says that prospects only care about outcomes.
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  So we look at how then we translate that strategy because strategy comes first before
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  you use any platform.
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  When you go to LinkedIn, and then you can focus on This is the part of, you know, this is the
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  pocket of the population that I was focused on serving.
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  And then when all of my content, all of my engagements, all of the you know, assets that I
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  provide or resources are focused really on me understanding what's happening with my
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  potential buyer and how I'm able to offer them quick wins.
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  And I think that's the greatest mistake is the lack of strategy.
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  And for those clients, I see that just really have engagement, massive following, and more
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  importantly, contracts through LinkedIn.
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  It's not so much because they have fancy words that they're using are some amazing cadence.
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  It's more that they understand the needs of their buyer, and they can position themselves
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  as a peer.
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  Well, one of the things that I see that makes me crazy about LinkedIn is that when I do
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  accept somebody that I don't know, 2 seconds later, they email me a pitch.
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  Yeah.
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  And having not spoken to me, they don't know anything about my business, or the better one
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  is can you tell me about your business?
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  And I'm thinking about it.
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  So, dude, you can, like, go read my LinkedIn profile to learn about my business.
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  Why are you asking me about that?
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  Like, that that's just a telltale for me to, like, I had to figure out how to unconnect for
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  people on LinkedIn because it just irritated me just that much But, anyway, listen, can you
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  tell me a little bit about how people can use marketing assistance?
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  On LinkedIn?
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  Because that's something that you and I talked about that I'm not sure a lot of people know
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  about.
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  Yeah.
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  So having marketing assistance to support them on the LinkedIn platform?
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  Yeah.
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  Yes.
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  So I think there's a couple ways that can be done where I found a lot of value.
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  Melinda and I talk about, you know, when you're positioned well, and I'm I'm one day trying to
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  graduate to Melinda's, Melinda's level of positioning.
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  But when you're positioned well, unfortunately, LinkedIn does a horrible job of the inbox.
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  Like, I just if I could give LinkedIn any feedback at it's trying to organize and filter
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  that inbox is atrocious.
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  So when you have a lot of individuals who are trying to connect with you, it's really easy
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  for messages to get lost.
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  So one of the things that we do, you know, we have, individuals on our team that support and
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  help with my inbox.
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  So that's, you know, making sure, you know, sometimes they help me to connection invite.
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  So in sales navigator, I have my list of leads or relationships that I'm focused on
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  cultivating.
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  And so you can have marketing assistance that support you in sending those connection
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  requests or managing connection requests for you.
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  And then I have a team of individuals who helped me manage my inbox.
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  Right?
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  So my my deals, the revenue from my company is oftentimes sitting in that inbox of
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  opportunities.
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  So you can have an admin whose role is to help you filter through, you know, muting
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  individuals that are sending automation, blocking individuals, or tagging sales
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  conversations that that can be brought to your attention to cultivate.
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  So working smart, not hard, and having individuals to support you.
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  I'm really, really glad you you explained that.
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  So now here's my last question for you.
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  What is the best business advice you have ever received?
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  Oh my goodness.
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  I think the best business advice I've ever receive has been to trust myself.
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  I think the journey of self discovery, the the thing about business is we all have best
• 16:47
  practices, and you can follow the breadcrumbs, but there are always individuals who are,
• 16:53
  creating new tiers in business.
• 16:55
  And I think the biggest mistake you could make is following someone else's advice when
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  whatever you believe spiritually is guiding you somewhere else.
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  And I think it's all about self discovery, self acceptance as leaders.
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  We're all forging our own path.
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  So Take good wisdom, but also discern what path is for you.
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  Alright, Liz.
• 17:15
  What's your favorite business app?
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  Mine is Slack.
• 17:18
  I love Slack for all communication.
• 17:20
  It helps to filter.
• 17:21
  It sorts.
• 17:22
  It's searchable.
• 17:23
  It now has audio features.
• 17:24
  It's how I communicate with our journal partner.
• 17:27
  So slack is just Chef's kiss for a remote business.
• 17:31
  What is your favorite old school marketing tip?
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  Yes.
• 17:34
  So I still love the dream 100.
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  I don't know how old school we're going, and I don't know where that falls, but the dream 1
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  just the intentionality of knowing who you wanna work with and having a focus to make
• 17:47
  deposits and cultivate those relationships.
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  I'm a fan of that.
• 17:51
  I think you have to correlate those same strategies into the digital age about alright.
• 17:57
  Well, you know, when Steven Kllevy about relationships of making deposits, treating a
• 18:01
  relationship like a bank account.
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  I think we get so excited about the latest app or the latest tactic that we throw away those
• 18:08
  traditional strategies were all in the business of people.
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  So that's mine.
• 18:12
  I love it.
• 18:13
  I love it.
• 18:13
  That's a good one.
• 18:15
  Best business book you ever read.
• 18:17
  I love scaling up by Vern harness.
• 18:19
  She was also the Rockefeller Habits.
• 18:21
  That's a book I've reread over and over and over the past 6 years.
• 18:25
  That's mine.
• 18:27
  Love it.
• 18:27
  I thought that's a really good book.
• 18:29
  Alright.
• 18:30
  Thank you so much for being my guest tonight on the small biz chat podcast.
• 18:34
  Thank you all for joining me for this episode of the small biz chat podcast.
• 18:39
  If you're still working on your digital pivot, be sure to check out my small business lady
• 18:43
  university where you can sign up for my latest course, social media selling.
• 18:48
  It goes live February 1st, so go ahead and sign up for your spot right now.
• 18:53
  I can't wait to help you finally start making money you deserve online.
• 18:57
  So don't forget to head over to Small Bizlady University, dotcom.
• 19:02
  And thank you all for joining me for another episode of the small fish shack podcast.
• 19:06
  Our mission here is to end small business failure.
• 19:10
  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small business.
• 19:11
  And I will leave you with this.
• 19:13
  You never lose in business.
• 19:15
  Either you win or you learn.
• 19:16
  God bless everybody.
• 19:18
  Good night.
• 19:21
  Thank you for listening to the small biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 19:26
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss dot
• 19:32
  com.
• 19:32
  Subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and join us next Wednesday.