How to start conversations with your ICP on LinkedIn.
Most of the people I meet are terrified of sending DMs. They worry about offending people, they worry about looking needy - all legitimate concerns. We want other people to want to work with us. We want inbound leads.
Let me say this very clearly, it is entirely possible to build an ecosystem which brings you consistent inbound leads... especially if you only need 1-2 clients per month.
But it takes time and commitment to build the infrastructure to do that (and do it well).
There are three parts to your ecosystem you need to build to get there...
- The visibility circle - You need 1000 of your ICPs to know your name and know what you offer.
- The trust circle - You need 200 people to know, like and trust you.
- the pipeline circle - you need 50 people in various stages of sales conversations.
For many, especially those where there is some form of referral dependency, you can find yourself needing clients where this ecosystem is not big enough to sustain consistent leads and clients coming your way.
So, until you reach that critical mass, to keep a flow of people in your pipeline, you need to start conversations.
This week, I'll give you two simple ways to start conversations...
Loaded Polls
Polls are one of the simplest ways to do this.
- Ask a simple question about the problems / goals your target audience face.
- Hit the SEND button and send it to 30 people who match your ICP (people who've engaged previously or connections that match).
- Give it a few days and ask those who voted if they'd like a resource or conversation based on how they voted - keep it chilled.
I do a poll at least once per week and share a lead magnet with everyone who votes and those who want to talk more, I book calls with to learn more about them.
Simple Conversation Starter
This is so simple, just send a message like this to 30 of your ideal clients, preferably people who you've been connected to for at least 2-3 weeks.
- Construct a very basic "might have something for you" message
- Link it to a problem or desired outcome.
- Send it to 30 people in your network.
- For people who say yes, offer an asset or invite them to speak.
I get a 32.6% response rate from these messages. Just make sure what you say after they reply yes, is valuable for them.
Bonus
If you want some other simple tactics, check out this article I shared a few months back....
The EASIEST way to get conversations on LinkedIn
Outreach is icky, conversations are easy.
You don't need to sell in the DMs, just have conversations, be helpful. Invite people to calls but sometimes, it's helpful to share a lead magnet or insight piece first and then invite them to calls.
Remember, you can't sell anything until you have had a conversation, so your goal here is just to start conversations.
How I help you
The goal isn't to stop asking for referrals. It's to build a second source of demand that you control. LinkedIn is one of the best places to do that, where else can you reach 1.3 billion people?
Done well, it means you can:
- Find exactly the right audience quickly.
- Build visibility, trust and pipeline without spending hours a day on it.
- Win clients consistently, without relying on referrals alone.
It comes down to three things working together: your proposition, your pre-selling and your pipeline. This is how I help executive coaches, professional services firms, advisers, consultants and technical founders build them:
- Get clear on your goals and the number of clients you want to win.
- Proposition: sharpen your positioning so the right people understand your value and find it easy to buy.
- Pre-selling: build trust through your profile and content, so prospects arrive already trusting you.
- Pipeline: create a simple, repeatable flow of leads, conversations and clients.
No paid ads. No pushy tactics. No posting every day.
Most clients launch within 30 days (depending on your bandwidth) and start seeing leads in the first 60.
If you'd like my coaching and support to build this, schedule a call here.
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