Connect summary

Meet Bob Sanders, one of the author’s clients. Having gained many years’ experience in the construction business, Bob is now setting up his own construction consultancy and is eager to attract clients. How can he make the business contacts he needs?

One way is through LinkedIn, a sort of business version of Facebook. If you’re in business, using LinkedIn is almost mandatory.

Say you’ve set up a profile, made some connections with some group members and are active in a couple of groups. What now? Create your own group! In Bob’s case he formed the group “Construction in Indianapolis.”

Of course a group is nothing without members, so you’ll need to go about selecting some people. You don’t want to send an open invitation to everyone you can find – you need people relevant to your business.

Have you ever tried to market yourself or your company by writing a book or speaking at conferences? Although these approaches may work for some, they can drain both time and money.

The good news is that you can make real headway by making good use of your LinkedIn group.

Have you ever attended a webinar? Maybe you don’t know what a webinar is, but take note – it’ll soon become a valuable tool for you.

Webinars are live seminars, lectures or tutorials, hosted on the web. During a webinar, a speaker will typically guide you through some PowerPoint slides which will be visible on your screen.

What is the worst thing that can happen to a party? No one shows up. The same goes for webinars. Imagine you’ve practiced over and over and learned your presentation by heart. But there are only five people coming and one of them is your intern.

Let’s see how you can avoid this disheartening scenario and make sure your webinar is a roaring success.

Now you may still be a bit skeptical, even after you’ve put everything into your webinar. Will it actually lead to sales? The answer depends on how you end your webinar.

The stock webinar ending is a slide containing your contact information and a brief text like “I’d be happy to arrange a complimentary consultation.” This is simple and clear but it still puts you in the passive position of waiting for others to call you. And of course that may never happen.

Your webinar or your LinkedIn campaign was successful and you’re inundated with new contacts. Great! But how about closing some deals and making some money? For this, you’ll need to make a few phone calls, but you’d better make them good.

In any sales call it’s crucial to take your time and form some kind of connection with the person you’re speaking to.