Latest / Founder Unfiltered - What Founders Think But Never Say / Cringe to Connection: Authentic LinkedIn Messaging That Actually Works

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Cringe to Connection: Authentic LinkedIn Messaging That Actually Works · Founder Unfiltered - What Founders Think But Never Say

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  Welcome to another episode of 6 Figure Secrets for Fractional
• 0:03
  Experts. My name is Bradley Jacobs, I'm
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  the founder and CEO and your host today.
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  Today's episode is all about what do I say with my outreach
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  on LinkedIn because I think you all know the importance of
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  adding new connections, connecting with new people,
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  building new relationships. I mean, every client came from a
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  relationship of some sort, whether it's a referral, whether
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  it's a new relationship online, whether it's meeting someone out
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  at an event, it's a relationship, right?
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  So it's like, how do I generate new relationships and how do I
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  build trust? Because that's why referrals
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  work so well because the trust is transferred when we don't
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  have the referral we're generating, we're building that
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  trust ourselves. So that is the core component.
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  And the question, of course, is how do I do this before I keep
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  going? We have this new tool out that's
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  really been incredible. It is building you a LinkedIn
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  content calendar, a LinkedIn content strategy, and it is
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  learning your voice over time using AI to get smarter about
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  what's working, what's not working.
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  So come check us out. We're in beta right now.
• 1:15
  We're offering a big discount for feedback.
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  So come check us out. mylance.co.
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  You can sign up right there. Book a call with me and we can
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  discuss if it's a fit. OK, with that, we're going to
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  jump into the episode. So the problem that I hear and
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  feel myself is the majority of outreach is salesy and
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  uncomfortable, right? It's cringy, it's self
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  promoting. And we all get those inbounds in
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  our inbox of like, hey Bradley, do you have trouble with video
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  content? And it's annoying, right?
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  And I don't trust these people. I don't know who they are.
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  And frankly, I immediately delete them.
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  And if they don't stop, right, if I say, hey, please stop or
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  I'm not interested and they keep going, I will legitimately block
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  them. Like I think that's the
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  mentality that a lot of people have.
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  And you don't want to be that person.
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  So the question is, how do I generate authentic relationships
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  without being that person, without being annoying and
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  cringy and self promoting and all that kind of stuff.
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  So we're going to talk about the main concept here of instead of
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  what do I want from you, right? I want business.
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  But instead, we're going to flip it and we're going to flip it to
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  how can I add value to you? How can I help you?
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  What can I do for you? That's a value add to you that
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  also legitimizes me and has an opportunity for us to work
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  together in the future. But the number one first thing
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  you want to do is you just want to add value.
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  Like flip the script. This is not about you.
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  This is about adding value to them.
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  You're actually giving them an opportunity for their problem to
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  be solved. Now you are the mechanism to
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  solve that problem, which is beautiful, but they are the ones
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  getting value. And you're basically coming in
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  to say, hey, I can do that, and I'm going to do that maybe even
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  before you hire me. So there's going to be a
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  sequence here. There's going to be the sequence
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  of 1 introduction who am I2 adding value.
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  Ideally you're even adding value even before the introduction.
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  And then three is some sort of contribution.
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  And then lastly, it's going to be building this relationship to
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  really play the long game. Like there's no get rich quick
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  here. There's no silver bullets.
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  And sometimes things can feel like you're silver bullet.
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  But I'm going to tell you why that's actually false.
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  And it's due to the work that you put in ahead of time that
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  built up to, oh, I want to work with you now.
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  I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about the value of content along
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  with this strategy because at the end of the day, let's just
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  say you've been following me for a few months on LinkedIn and
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  then I reach out to you. It's a very different experience
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  than if I connect with you, reach out to you and say, hey,
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  I'm Bradley, I can help you with your fractional business.
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  I hope you find clients. Come talk to me then.
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  I sound like every other lead Gen. company out there.
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  I have no credibility. You have no idea what I'm
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  capable of or what I've done in the past or what makes me real
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  and legit. And you're going to ignore it.
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  The first way of you've been following me for a few months.
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  You see the content I put out. You see what I've done in my
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  career. You see that I'm genuine, I'm
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  authentic, that I'm talented. I know what I'm doing.
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  I've been doing my lands for a long time.
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  I've been in this industry for years.
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  I've helped thousands of fractionals.
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  All of a sudden I have all this legitimacy built up in your
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  mind. So when I reach out and say,
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  hey, Carrie, I'd love to chat with you, you're like, oh,
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  Bradley wants to chat with me. That's interesting.
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  Like what a different response. Then who are you?
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  I don't know you please leave me alone versus oh, like he knows
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  what he's talking about. He could really help me.
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  So as we are navigating this outreach, we can't do it alone.
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  Like there has to be another way that we're building legitimacy
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  and building trust and content is the best way because people
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  are just seeing it organically. That being said, let's talk
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  about a few different messaging options for doing outreach.
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  The first one, and really this is my favorite, is having them
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  contribute to something that you're doing.
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  So maybe you are writing a monthly article on a topic in
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  your area of expertise and you want them to contribute to it.
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  So it's saying, hey, I'd love to get your take on this
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  perspective. I'm going to be compiling, I'm
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  compiling an article and I'll share the final insights with
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  you across the industry when it's done.
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  Are you open to a quick conversation?
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  So you are basically adding value to them because you're
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  actually going to give them the full report at the end, which
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  will be insightful to them, hopefully, if you're kind of
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  hitting on the right topic. The second one is I have a
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  podcast and I'd love for you to be on it.
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  I'd love to get your take on, you know, it's a similar kind of
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  vibe, but again, you are increasing the exposure of that
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  person. And frankly, people love being
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  the expert. People love being like, what do
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  you think about this? People love giving their take.
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  So you're kind of feeding into that as well, which is great.
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  The third option is really a soft intro with actually no ask.
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  So you say, hey, I'm Bradley, this is what I do.
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  I'm going to be publishing content.
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  Would love to get your take. Would love, would be interesting
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  to see if it adds any value to you.
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  Hope you have a great day. So you're just introducing
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  yourself and then you're going to let your content actually do
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  the work. You're going to let your content
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  legitimize you build a relationship.
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  And then in 30 days, 60 days, I'd say probably more like a
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  month, as as long as you're publishing content regularly,
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  would be a good time to reach out again and say, hey, I'd love
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  to get your take on this or curious if this is something
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  that's resonating with you or just ask a question and start a
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  conversation. See if you can get on a call at
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  that point. Now, this might feel like a lot
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  of work because the end of the day, you need to do the
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  outreach, you need to create the content.
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  And then you need to follow up with who you did the outreach to
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  in 30 days or 45 days or whatever you choose and follow
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  up with them. And yes, the answer is business
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  development is the core of your business.
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  You might think you're in, you know, professional services and
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  it's all about delivery. And yes, it is right, you have
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  to deliver an amazing product. But sales is the engine of your
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  business. It's the only thing that keeps
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  things going is bringing in new clients and being able to bring
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  in new clients when you need them.
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  So you need to be setting aside, I'm going to say a minimum of
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  eight to 10 hours a week for business development whether
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  your plate is full or not. And every single fractional
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  executive that stops doing their consulting business, I'd say 95%
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  of the time it's because they did not make time for business
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  development ongoing. And thus, you know, they had a
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  full plate maybe, but they stopped doing business
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  development. And then eventually like a
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  client or two left, which is just going to happen.
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  And then they are starting over from scratch, which is not a
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  place you want to be. So yes, you need to be putting
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  in time towards this. And we're really talking about
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  how you can make the most out of that time.
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  The fourth option for outreach is the hard pitch.
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  It's clear, it's direct, it's efficient.
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  It says like, hey, this is what I do.
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  This is the problem that I solve.
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  Are you open to a quick chat to see if this is something that I
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  could help you with? And you're kind of hoping that
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  the problem that you solve really lands and really
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  resonates with them and is a really big problem right now.
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  And honestly, sometimes it works.
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  I'd say it works 3 and 100. So if you reach out to 100
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  people, three people might say like, yes, that's of interest,
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  let's chat. So at the end of the day, it's
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  not a bad strategy because you could easily reach out to 100
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  people a week, get three people to respond.
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  You have 12 calls a month, Could you get 2 clients from those 12
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  calls? Probably, right?
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  So it's not a bad route, but you are playing a numbers game.
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  You are guessing. And as time goes on and people
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  more and more people use tools and use AI and all this kind of
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  stuff, it's just becoming less effective.
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  And I think it's less trusting because even if I have that
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  problem and I'm willing to jump on a call with you, I don't know
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  that you are the person to solve that problem for me.
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  You're kind of like fighting this uphill battle every step of
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  the way versus building trust and using that trust to get in
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  the door and show that you're the best person to solve this
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  problem. So I'll throw it out there as an
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  option, but I can't say I recommend it.
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  It's something that I've done in the past.
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  It's something that we used to tell clients to do years ago.
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  And frankly, as the market has matured and more and more people
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  are out there, it's just less and less and less effective
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  cracking down on it. e-mail clients are cracking down on it
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  and for a reason. Like nobody wants to get spammed
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  with these kind of messages. And I shouldn't use the word
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  spam because it's really not. You're like offering the
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  opportunity to solve their problem.
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  But when you're sending out 100 and you're expecting 97 to say
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  no, those 97 are saying like, hey, you know, please stop,
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  right? And and that's just not the best
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  feeling in the world. I think we've all felt it.
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  Then the question ends up being, what outreach method do you want
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  to incorporate into your business?
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  And you get to decide, you know, what's your personality, what
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  feels genuine, what feels authentic to you?
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  Because if it doesn't feel good, you're not going to keep doing
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  it. And we need to be consistent
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  over time. So are you more of a like, hey,
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  I just want to introduce myself And then let let your content do
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  the work. Do you want to have whether
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  mastermind groups or roundtables or the article we talked about
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  or the podcast we talked about? Like is that something that's of
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  interest to you? Like I love doing my podcast.
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  I get to share my expertise. I get to talk with guests that
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  are really interesting. And so it's really kind of a no
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  brainer to invite people on the podcast because one, I love
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  doing it and two, it is great for business development and
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  marketing and awareness and trust and all of that.
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  So I love doing it. It takes very little work from
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  me actually, and it's a huge value to the business.
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  So you get to decide what do you like doing?
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  What's your personality? How do you want to show up in
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  the marketplace? I mean, you really get to
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  decide. And then the key is just being
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  consistent over time. So how like, what's the, you
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  know, next step, like I, you know, I like to make these
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  podcasts as actionable as possible.
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  And I'd say look, you have your, you have your options, right, of
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  what your outreach is going to look like.
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  And you essentially get to sit down and pick 1.
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  You get to say, OK, I am going to do the soft intro and then 30
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  days later I'll ask them for a call, whatever it is, right?
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  We talked about the options already.
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  So you get to pick which one you want to do and you get to set
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  basically a plan for yourself. Like OK, Monday I'm going to do
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  this, Wednesday I'm going to do this, and Friday I'm going to do
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  this. As far as adding new
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  connections, sending the outreach, maybe tracking in your
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  CRM, and then of course creating content.
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  I think content just absolutely has to be part of the strategy.
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  You can't really do 1 without the other.
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  Like being having both is I'd say 1 + 1 = 3, right?
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  Content is great, outreach is great, but combining them
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  together is really the multiplier in growing your
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  network and building trust at the same time, which just has
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  this ripple effect of frankly, clients coming in the door.
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  Like it just, it just worked. And then the last part I really
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  want to touch on here is there is this fear of just putting
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  yourself out there, whether it's with content, whether it's with
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  outreach of what's going to happen on the back end.
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  Like what if people don't like my posts?
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  What if people don't like what I have to say?
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  What if they tell me that I'm a fraud or tell me that I'm stupid
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  or tell me to go away? There's all of these fears.
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  And I think the fear is actually bigger than the logical
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  response, meaning the fear in your body of like, I don't want
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  to do this. When I actually ask people, why
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  don't you want to do this? Like, what is the fear?
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  It's actually much smaller than than the emotion lends itself to
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  be. So like, the emotion is this big
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  fear. I don't want to do this.
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  When I ask why, they're like, oh, well, what if, you know,
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  someone on my network tells me I look stupid.
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  I'm like, OK, well, what if that happens?
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  What if someone's like, yeah, you know, Bradley, like, this is
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  a stupid post. Can I handle that?
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  Am I OK with with hearing that from a friend or someone I trust
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  or you're a stranger and the answer's like, yes, I'm OK.
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  Like I can wake up the next morning and have one person tell
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  me that I'm stupid or two or three or four or five and know
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  that I held dozens or hundreds or thousands of others that did
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  get value from my post. So you really get to kind of
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  acknowledge what's true for you and write it down, really write
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  it down and then question the story.
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  Like the story is, if someone tells me I'm stupid, the story I
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  tell myself is that like I'm not good enough and my business is
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  going to fail and I'm not a good entrepreneur.
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  Like are those things true? No, those things aren't true,
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  but that's my fear. And I think when we can actually
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  verbalize them and write them down and put them into words and
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  then see the story that we're telling ourselves, we're able to
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  challenge it pretty easily actually, and really just kind
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  of get get out ahead of it. So anyway, I will leave you with
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  that. There are lots of hopefully
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  great takeaways from this episode as far as how to do
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  outreach, how to use content to be effective and how to really
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  take the few hours a week, ideally 8 to 10 that you're
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  doing for your business development and really make the
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  most of them. So with that, I will end and
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  recap today's episode with talking about our content again
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  like this. We are we built this tool to
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  make publishing great content for your customer is easy as
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  possible. Like that is the problem to be
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  solved here of you don't know what to say on LinkedIn, but you
• 15:00
  know you need to be showing up on LinkedIn.
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  And so we've made it so much easier to take your ideal
• 15:06
  customer and what their pain points are and turn that into a
• 15:09
  content strategy, a content calendar and one that gets
• 15:12
  better and smarter over time, that saves you time and also
• 15:15
  delivers an amazing content strategy that's going to
• 15:18
  resonate with your customer and help you get clients with that.
• 15:22
  If you enjoyed this episode, please give us a, a rating.
• 15:25
  Please reach out to me on LinkedIn.
• 15:26
  I love hearing from you guys that have come to me telling me
• 15:30
  that you enjoy the podcast and listen to it.
• 15:32
  You know, when you're at the gym or in the car or wherever you
• 15:34
  are. So I would love to hear from
• 15:36
  you. Have an amazing rest of your
• 15:38
  day. Share this with a friend.
• 15:40
  Come say hi. We're here for you.