Why I have been able to sell £10m to people I met on LinkedIn.
Actually it’s more than £10m. That’s just when I stopped counting.
Here’s how I did it:
I connected with people, understood their goals and businesses. Invested a little time, shared a coffee and understood what they wanted and what they needed. We had a discussion about the parallels in the values, value and solutions I have put into other clients and referenced these. Inevitably you have to put in a proposal for some work, but by then you have deep understanding and some rapport. Typically they gave me a small project to prove I could do what I said I could and how I said I would.
After the first small project we met again, shared a little time and coffee, understood a little more about each others needs and businesses. I maintained the relationship and next time they thought I could help they called me, we met – it’s not rocket science.
It’s about valuing your relationships, recognizing the value in your connection – not a collection of contacts but a connected network and investing a little now and again.
By the way, this is exactly the kind of stuff that sales people have been told to do on courses for years – two ears one mouth or listen and add value.
It’s much more effective than saying ‘do you want a red one or a blue one? I’ll do it cheap’.
I don’t do sales, I make it easy for people to buy– it’s so much easier and you never have to cold call.
