#157: A Powerful 3-Step Process for LinkedIn Outreach

Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast, helping you propel your writing business to a whole new level. And now, here's your host, Ed Gandia. Hey there. Welcome to the High Income Business Writing Podcast. I am your host, Ed Gandia, and this is the podcast for business writers and copywriters who want to earn more and less time doing work they love for better clients. And you can find detailed shown us for this episode@b2b launcher.com Episode 157 and those notes include a summary of our discussion as well as any links to resources we mentioned during the show. Now, before we get to this week's episode, I wanted to let you know that I'm starting a new coaching group for established freelance writers and copywriters. If you're already earning somewhere around 2,000 to $7,000 per month, or the part time equivalent to that, we're going to work together to double your income and take more time off. If that's a result you'd love to have, send me an email@edblauncher.com put the word double in the subject line and I'll reply to you with all the details. Now for this week's show, LinkedIn. LinkedIn is become so incredibly popular, it's one of the most effective marketing tools for writers and copywriters today. And that's happened relatively quickly. Quickly, really? In the last couple of years or so, we've talked about this tool, the social media platform in Depth with Steve Maurer, with Melanie Daddaro, with Jill Konrath in this podcast. Over the years, it's also been a topic of discussion in many of my podcast episodes and articles. But one of the downsides of this popular platform is that it can feel overwhelming. You know, how should you use it? What's the best way? Where should you start? How should you search for prospects inside? What's the best way to connect with them? It gets very confusing and overwhelming very quickly and that can create overwhelm which quickly leads to inaction and frustration. If that sounds like you, I think you're going to enjoy and get a lot out of this episode. My guest is Chrissy Weirat. Chrissy works with clients on their LinkedIn profile and strategy as well as their online brand to establish her clients as experts and resources in their field. And she has a very simple process she's been using very successfully to get the most out of LinkedIn as an outreach, marketing, thought leadership and relationship building tool. And she's going to detail that process in this interview. I think you're really going to enjoy this, get a lot out of it. This is very practical information. So without further ado, here, here's my interview with Chrissy Weirat. Hey, Chrissy, welcome to the show. Great to have you here.

Thank you. I'm such a fan girl.

Well, I appreciate that and I am really excited to talk with you about this because when you contact me about this topic, I thought, oh, man, this is going to be juicy. This is exactly the kind of thing we need to have on the show. We're going to go there in a minute. But I always like to start by asking my guests for a bit of background. So share with us something about yourself, your business, what kind of work you do, what types of clients you work with. Give us an overview there.

Sure. I'm Chrissy and I am a wife and mother. I guess I'll go there first. I have three kids. They are seven and a half, six and three and a half. So life is crazy.

Never a dull moment.

Never a dull moment in the Y Rod household, Never. And my husband is the media relations director for men's basketball at the University of Michigan. So we have a super fun, crazy, hectic time. He travels with the team. So for more than half of the year, I'm a quote unquote basketball wife on top of it. So things are nuts. But in terms of my background when it comes to writing, I've always been a writer. I save all sorts of memory things and memento things. And when I go back, I find it fascinating just to see the, no pun intended, like the writing on the wall that I was meant to be a writer. So I was one of those kids that created newspapers and sold them to my neighbors. And I did, you know, newspaper for my fifth grade class and all of those sorts of things. And my grandfather was a newspaper man. He was an editor for the Detroit News. He was on the crime beat and he was a sports editor. And I worked for the Detroit Lions for a long time. And the someone who was hired on as a writer, his name's Mike o'. Hara. He's a longtime beat writer for the Lions. And he actually worked for my grandfather way back in the day. So I have a long history of writing and editing and all of that and sports.

That is so cool. Isn't that funny how we like Steve Jobs has said it's easy to connect the dots looking back, but it's not as easy looking forward. Right. And looking back, it's all made sense.

It sounds like, yes, I used to write when I was Little. My grandfather gave me an old school typewriter that you can't even really use proper typing technique on because you have to put so much energy into pushing down the keys.

Yes.

I don't know how anyone would actually have.

I have one of those passed down to me like an under. It's an Underwood from like the 20s, I think, 30s maybe.

Yeah, it probably weighs as much as my current 6 year old. Like one of those. And so I would. And I would like break nails or like rip nails because I would like miss the key slightly and I'd be pounding it so hard. But I have like a whole. I have like editorials that I wrote and then I illustrated like a picture of my grandfather and he was like the old school. He actually had a pipe, you know, one of those. And so it's like written and illustrated by Chrissy. It was Zavicar at the time. Chrissy Savicar.

So that is so cool. Yeah. So you've come from a long time. History of writers, strong journalism background. I'm curious, how long have you been out on your own freelancing?

So this is the story and it has to do with your podcast. So I'll start with that story.

I'm scared. I don't even know where this is going. So I'm bracing myself.

Yeah. So back in the day when I went to college, I always wanted to work in sports. I love baseball and I wanted to do pr. My degree is in public relations, which my grandfather, he's passed away now, but he used to make fun of me that I was one of the bad guys. I was the enemy because I was. I majored in public relations. So I went to Eastern Michigan University. I ended up volunteering at the University of Michigan Sports information department, where actually I met my husband. We didn't start dating then, but an Sid and I loved that. I loved the media relations and sports. And I ended up getting an internship with the Detroit Lions and tried to get into pr, but they had those spots filled. So I ended up being hired on to quote unquote, new media. So I ended up managing the Detroit Lions website, which this was 2005, 2004, 2005. So there was literally no social media then. It wasn't even a thing. So I was overseeing the whole process. I was. I became self taught HTML and all of that and ended up starting up all of the Detroit Lions social media accounts and just fell in love with it. Just loved Twitter, loved Facebook, loved the whole thing. I was a content generator for the Lions and I Loved the strategy of football. So I was an interviewer. I would interview the players and write content for the website. And then I also did social media, and I did that for about 10 years. So I ended up leaving in 2014. I just kind of grew out of it, to be quite honest. When you're at that level in sports, you don't make a ton of money. And it just. I just grew out of it. There was nowhere for me to move up, and so I decided to partner with a former player. That lasted about a year. And then I ended up in the world of what do I do next? I never really wanted a full time job, but I felt like I was, quote, unquote, supposed to. And after interview upon interview upon interview, but not getting a job, probably because I didn't want one, my husband said, no, I think you'd be really good at freelance. I'm like, well, thank you for putting me through this horrific experience of trying to get a job for an entire summer when I could have just had the support and gone out on my own. And so I decided I was going to try my hand at freelance writing. And I found your podcast. And it was amazing to me to hear somebody talking about doing this thing about, you know, writing for a living, because I had just been in the world of sports. I'd only known one thing. And to hear you talking about it and about the real thing people want to hear about, which is getting clients. Like so many podcasts, you know, just talk about marketing and business and things like that, where you were just like, this is how you get clients. So I was listening to it like it was my lifeblood, my lifeline to help me build up what I was going to do and just build up the confidence.

That is awesome. That is great. So you found it early on. I mean, it sounds like in a way it was, you know, it guided you through the process. Which means a lot to hear, by the way, because. So there's a running joke here in our house that my wife says she has no idea why anyone would listen to me for more than five minutes. Because when I tell her that, you know, I get these emails from people who say they just binge listen to me on a road trip, you know, for six hours each way. She just, she gets nauseous just thinking about it.

Yeah, I mean, as a married person, I'll be married 11 years and I.

You know, could you imagine listening to your husband, you know, six hours one way, like, you know, in your car.

Instead of music, and we joke about how he monologues.

So he could just start a podcast.

Yeah, he's a PR guy and he actually, it's weird because there was a point where he did some color commentary for his basketball team and everybody loved him. He was actually fantastic, believe it or not. But then it was a, it was a bit of a conflict of interest. He had to manage the media.

Yeah, yeah. So it's funny because you're right, most of the podcasts out there are very, I think it's very generic. It's hard to find in really any category, something really, really specific. That's really where the growth is though, by the way. It's just in very specific media. You're not going to have, of course, the 100,000 downloads per episode that some of the, like the NPR shows for instance, are going to have or Tim Ferriss and so forth. But there's so much out there for very, very niches and it's, it's fantastic. So I'm glad you found me and I'm curious about, and this is what we're going to be mainly talking about Today is a LinkedIn strategy that you've developed over the years to prospect for clients and something that's been very effective for you. Now, before we do that, I'm curious as to how you found your first few clients. I'm always curious how people do this when they make the transition because I'm always amazed at the different ways that people do this. It's not like one one way. There's not like, oh, it's just networking or I did this or I did that. Everybody is different. So you're jumping into this. How did you land those first two, three pivotal clients?

I jumped into third party sites. So I started looking for where job postings for writing. Because you know, my whole background was in sports and so I was really finding my way as to what was my niche going to be. So I just started looking at the third party sites and ended up in upwork and had a ton of success through upwork.

Why do you think you were successful there?

I was successful because I treated it like any sort of a pitch. I didn't, I didn't allow myself, I think, to get intimidated by the other low ball offers that are out there. But then what's interesting is once I did make the transition to LinkedIn, something that has given me a ton of business through the platform is I actually recorded a video into my upwork profile that explains my LinkedIn profile optimization process. And I actually just recently, because I still Now I'm to the point where I just get people reaching out to me specifically for LinkedIn through Upwork. And so if it's something I want to take, I'll explore it. But somebody recently said to me, you know what got me is that video that you have in your profile. And that video is so old at this point, but I'm refusing to change it because it keeps, it keeps getting me business. But it literally just goes through the process of this is what I do. And I think that especially in a platform like Upwork, it creates a level of trust because they see a real person explaining the process and I think that wins people over because it's self explanatory, but then it's a real person.

Now we should probably take a step back and explain what kind of services you offer because it sounds like you do some LinkedIn optimization, profile development, but I don't want to assume that.

Yeah, so it's interesting how it happened. It was almost like an act of God because this person reached out to me randomly through my website and said she was referred to me by somebody and I have no idea who she was talking about. I don't know who the person is. But I was referred to you by Michelle. I'm like, I don't know who Michelle is. And I was hoping you could do my LinkedIn profile. And in my head I'm thinking, okay, I don't do this yet. But it was perfect for me because I have historically been a ghostwriter and it's one of my skills. I mean, I used to ghostwrite for my players with the Lions. And one of my gifts is really being able to pinpoint the sellable qualities of someone or their business. So it's something, you know, I love strategy. It's something that has always been a part of me since, you know, going through X's and O's for football to now with sales in LinkedIn. So I said I could do this. So I interviewed her, which is one of my core skills, and then just wrote her profile in the first person. And I started to recognize as you talk about a niche and how that's so important, that's what everybody wanted me for, was LinkedIn. So even if I would try to be more general, when I really focused on specifically LinkedIn, that's when my business really took off, was deciding, I'm gonna do LinkedIn. And that's when everybody started coming to me because it was specific and it was something they needed. And it wasn't just, hey, I can write for you, it was, I can help you with LinkedIn. And that's when people started reaching out.

So let me make sure I understand right? You. You go, you decide to go freelance, and you start with places like Upwork. And did you initially position yourself as someone who could help clients with their LinkedIn profile?

Nope. No. And. And I am. What I now tell people when I first start going back and forth for prospecting is I'm kind of a marketing unicorn in that I can do so many things. It was actually really tough for me to narrow it down because I can write, I can manage your website, I can help you with sales, I can help you with LinkedIn, I can do graphics, I can do all sorts of things. And so I started out just doing freelance writing for parenting sites and sports sites. And then once this LinkedIn thing started happening, I recognized how much of a need there was, because LinkedIn was starting to grow as a prospecting tool. Not just like it used to be, this tool where everyone just hung out with their friends, and if you tried to reach out to somebody you didn't know, they kind of digitally slapped you on the wrist like you're not supposed to talk to people you don't know. And so it was starting to grow. And so I got into that specifically because there was a need out there.

But. But it happened kind of serendipitously is what I'm hearing. Right. Because it's what you didn't do the video on LinkedIn first, and then that's what did it. Right. You. Somebody who said, hey, Michelle referred me and you had no idea, but you went with it. Right. And that's what. That was, the seed of this whole LinkedIn thing. Yeah, got it. And by the way, but it sounds like you, you did have some success in upwork, just kind of across the board with some of these, you know, sports writing projects and. And so forth. Right, yeah.

And if anyone's interested in upwork advice, they're older. Their older posts on LinkedIn and on my website. But I have a couple upwork articles like how I was able to be successful with it.

Gotcha. So it's a good springboard for what you've developed. Okay, so the LinkedIn thing was kind of serendipitous, and suddenly you start doing this. Okay, so how did you build from that one success? What was next?

I started optimizing profiles and really becoming a student of LinkedIn. Because for me, and how I look at all social media is, it's just a matter of leveraging the specific platform for what it does. You're always going to be you. You're always going to have your skills, you're always going to have your abilities. It's just, how can I use the particular platform I'm using to accomplish what I need to accomplish? So for LinkedIn, it was, okay, how does this platform work? What are the best ways to leverage it? And it's evolved over the last couple years that I've been doing it since it was bought by Microsoft. And the way that the platform operates and the best ways to get business out of it has changed. I became a student of LinkedIn while just honing my craft for writing profiles for people.

That is so cool. And was it a combination of just word of mouth, some upwork stuff, and we'll get to the actual prospecting you do through LinkedIn. But early days, what did that look like? Was it a mix?

Yeah, it was upwork and then referrals. I did a stint as somebody's subcontractor and he was doing LinkedIn, which was actually helpful because, you know, I got new perspective as to the best ways to leverage it and the best, you know, different ways to approach it. So I did a bunch of different things. But, yeah, it was just word of mouth. And then I had people reaching out to me through LinkedIn just based on my profile and the fact that they were looking for what I was offering.

Cool. Yeah. Can you help me optimize my profile, rewrite my profile, that kind of thing?

Right, Yep.

All right, so let's. Let's talk about how you started using LinkedIn as a prospecting tool for you. How did that come about? How did it start? And then walk us through kind of the system you've developed for doing this systematically.

Yeah. So as a writer, my primary method of promoting myself was through blog posts on LinkedIn. And so I was just publishing content about the best way to use the platform through the platform. And ultimately that's actually evolved that that's no longer the best practice in and of itself. When I first started doing it, I was getting a good amount of traffic through my blog posts, and those are posted natively on LinkedIn, so it wasn't posted on my website and promoted through LinkedIn. I was actually creating the articles on.

LinkedIn and you were publishing them first and then maybe on your website later at some point.

Yeah, okay. Yep. And that was when, you know, LinkedIn Pulse was the primary method and all of that.

It's crazy, right? I would post stuff there and the number of views was Insane. I couldn't believe it. That didn't last.

But no, it didn't. Very sadly.

We can't have nice things. I think people broke it.

It's all of a sudden, what the heck happened?

Somebody messed it up anymore.

Exactly. Darn monetization for LinkedIn.

Somebody. There's always somebody who just abuses it and then they break it for everybody, I'm telling you.

And then there were a whole bunch of Goodbye Cruel LinkedIn posts. The original adopters got angry.

Crazy. So you started with LinkedIn Pulse. You were publishing quality content on the platform itself.

Yep, yep. And then I was getting people reaching out. There were people. And this, you know, goes to show too, that your past network is still very much important. So there were people that I knew through my sports ties because I had a ton of high quality connections from my days with the Lions. And so I would have people reaching out because they knew of me from there and asking to help with, you know, marketing or website or social and then through LinkedIn. So yeah, it was really helpful.

Gotcha. Okay. And then when did you start using it as an outreach tool where it wasn't so much client attraction? Now you're reaching out to potential prospects, some of whom don't even know who you are.

Yeah, I think that's probably been within the last year, just through I had a business coach articulate to me how good I was at cold reach outs. And, you know, I find this to be true of really anyone professionally. I think you don't realize how good you are at the things you do naturally. Well, so true. Because you just think everybody else does.

This if it comes easy to me.

Right, exactly. So you don't consider the fact that you're really good at it. And so that's really been a big thing with, with LinkedIn for me in general is that people keep reflecting back to me like, no, you're really good at cold reach outs and selling people. I'm not good at that. I'm like, what do you mean? You don't just reach out to people and ask them to work with you and they do. No. Oh, okay. So I learned that I was really good at that and just creating genuine conversation online, you know, not needing to be in person and just. I'm someone who has always loved psychology. I almost had a psychology minor in college just from taking classes based on interest. And so human behavior has always been something that I love to study. And someone recently drew that correlation for me that marketing and human behavior are pretty closely intertwined. And so I Think that's where a lot of my sales ability comes from, is just being able to predict how people are going to perceive things, take things, you know, how hard or soft of a sell something should be, the sales process and all of that.

That's interesting. So it sounds like you maybe started doing this. It just felt very natural to you. Can you walk us through maybe how that's evolved and what you do today? I'm very curious to hear kind of step by step how you approach it.

Yes, it has been, it's become a very specific process for me. And so if I were to approach another individual, and I do this for myself too, although, you know, we struggle to do things for ourselves because we're so focused on other people. But there's a three pronged approach. And number one is making sure your LinkedIn profile is optimized. So for LinkedIn, it really is a searched tool. So if someone is looking for a specific position, you know they're going to type in, you know, freelance writer, sports freelance writer, parenting, whatever the case may be. Some industries are searched more heavily than others. Some, some specialties are searched more heavily than others. But you really want to make sure that your LinkedIn profile is optimized the same way you would your website or your sales page. And there are certain. So your summary, which is not as prominent as it used to be, now you have to click to read it. But your summary and your current experience sections are the heaviest weighted in terms of search. And you want to make sure that you have a wonderful optimized headline. That anytime that you are engaging on LinkedIn, that headline is like your billboard. I mean, it's going to tell people what it is that you do and you can catch the attention of someone who might not be in your network based on your headline. So you want to make sure you have an action oriented headline and that the majority of what you want to say is in the first hundred characters because that's what's happening, always visible when you're on LinkedIn talking.

Do you agree that your headline also needs to have words that are written in the way that your prospect, your ideal prospect would be using when searching for somebody like you?

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, that's the thing that is going to catch someone's eye.

I'm shocked at how many, and I've been looking through this over the past few weeks because some inner stuff that I'm putting together with LinkedIn and I am shocked at how few writers and copywriters actually do that. They either try to get really cute with words and phrases that I don't even know what they mean or they'll be very generic. Copywriter for hire.

Right.

Okay, that tells me nothing. So we're talking about very specific keywords in terms of industry, target market, specialty, if any, for writing projects and so forth, Correct?

Yes. And don't put for hire. We want to play hard to get.

I know.

I hate for hire people who say open to new opportunities. Yeah, no one wants to read that.

I saw one yesterday, is my favorite one so far. Looking for great opportunities in the cannabis industry.

Oh, dear.

I bet you are.

I'm sure you are.

I hope he's not a listener. We'll see.

Yeah, yeah. If he is, you know, if you have any opportunities, let him know.

There you go. Okay, so start with an optimized profile. Very. That's. That's key. Yeah, makes sense.

And then secondary is content. But as I said, content is no longer just your blog posts. It's really just being active on the platform. But you do want to make sure that you have some content that you've published natively on LinkedIn, especially if you're a writer, because you know the first thing someone's going to do, whether you reach out to them one to one or whether they notice something that you said, they're going to click on your profile to see what it says. And the benefit of having content written natively on LinkedIn is when you go, if you click and look at your profile, there's a huge thumbnail of your most recently written article and then right underneath it says, see however many other articles you have. And so it's prominent and it's a way that can help vet your experience to someone who is interested in what you're providing.

Interesting. So, and I keep hearing about this. Yeah. Published natively, which is something that I need to take a look at for my business because I don't think we're doing that. I think we are sharing there through some of these automation tools. But that is not going to get the attention that something published natively on LinkedIn will. Correct.

Yeah. And it's really for the people who are digging to see what it is you're about. Because any activity LinkedIn, when they have their activity feed, which is right next to the native content in your profile, they track everything. It's like ed sneezed on LinkedIn, you know, that becomes an item. If you like something and you comment on something, that's two updates on the same post. So anything that you publish that isn't Native content is going to get lost for someone just looking to see what you're about. It's hard to locate it after it's gone into the LinkedIn abyss.

And just for clarification, for people who are not sure what that means is if you publish natively, that means you actually publish that article or that post or that comment or update or whatever right there on LinkedIn. As opposed to using something like Buffer, where you have something you're sharing across all your social media profiles.

Yes and no. The other, the option I'm talking about is actually write an article on writing an article.

Gotcha.

Okay. Yes, yes. So if you go. And if you go to the home section and you look at the top where it gives you an opportunity to write a comment or write a post, there will be a little button that says write an article and you click on that and then you can just. And the publisher tool has been made a lot nicer than it used to be. So it's less finicky and gives you better formatting options and all that.

Okay, understood. All right, so that's the second step, is be active on the platform. Publish natively. Publish content natively on LinkedIn itself on the site as opposed to sharing.

Yes, yes. And then the final thing is actual reach outs. And this will vary. The level of directness in terms of what you actually say to people will vary based on how specific your ask is. So, so we can use your cannabis friend as a. Yeah, let's do that. So you have your cannabis friend and he's got a friend.

I don't know if he's a friend.

But okay, your acquaintance, your fellow LinkedIn.

User, just to be clear for the record. Yeah, Exactly.

Your fellow LinkedIn user. So anyway, this is a good example though, because it's very specific. So he's got his cannabis profile, he's all in. He's published some wonderful posts about it and he wants to look for some writing opportunities. So he's going to search and we can get into the search part a little bit later. But let's say he finds somebody who is the editor of Cannabis Weekly and he will reach out to this person. I recommend when you reach out to people that you do so through a connection request, a personalized connection request. InMail is very salesy in terms of when people get it. It's like LinkedIn puts lights around it and says this is InMail. And then it gives somebody the opportunity to decline it, which then means that you can't talk to them anymore. As soon as they decline it, you're not allowed to respond. So by doing so through a connection request, the benefit is first, that it doesn't scream sales, and then second of all, a lot of times people will just accept a personalized request, even if they're not interested, and then they become a part of your network. So then you have that opportunity for inbound marketing so you can nurture that lead along with the way that you post on the platform.

Gotcha.

So cannabis guy will reach out to the editor of Cannabis Weekly with a personalized connection request, which they give you 300 characters. But because this is really specific, he has the ability to say, hey, editor, I am an expert in cannabis. I have some fantastic specific content that I can write for you that your readers will absolutely love. I would love to jump on a call with you to talk about the potential or the possibility of that so he can get super specific. Now, on the other hand, let's say I am, you know, just a writer for. I write for parenting publications, and I'm reaching out to my local paper. You know, I might just say something along the lines of, hey, I write, you know, I am a writer for parenting topics. If you're ever in need of someone for this subject, I'd love to talk to you about it. But regardless, I'd love to connect with you and add you to my network. So there's a varying degree of directness that you can have with these reach outs, but the goal here is to just make a new connection, be personal, and then add them to your network so you have that ability to foster the lead down the line.

So let me make sure I understand this last step is really about. It's the outreach, and you should do it through a connection request, which gives you 300 characters to include a message. By the way, I don't know what numbers you're seeing on your end. On my end, I'm seeing more about closer to 5% of people who are requesting a connection with me. Include a personalized note, which I think is pathetic.

I know I would have thought it would be a lot higher.

It's sometimes 10%, but it's usually closer to 5%. I run the numbers every time I go through there, and it's. I mean, it's the way I see it. This is such an easy thing to do that will immediately make you stand out. I mean, think about it, right? You're going through, let's say, and most People log into LinkedIn only two or three times a month on the client or prospect Side. And so you're going through the 18 or 20 requests, and only one or two have included a personalized note. I don't care what people say. And you're a student of psychology, you know this immediately. Your eye is drawn to the one that actually included that note, isn't it?

Yes. And I will say that in addition to the note, the thing that I think everyone should always keep in mind is this needs to be a mutually beneficial connection. And so the last thing you want to do is copy and paste the same message to 30 people.

Yes.

And it's completely not personal. And it doesn't have to be where I, you know, scour your profile and see that you have a dog. And then, like, talk about the dog thing, you know, it's. It's just about. It's just about being genuine. So I might reach out and say, you know, I am somebody who specifically works with freelance writers. If you need LinkedIn help down the line, it'd be great if you could think of me, but I'd like to connect with you. Yeah, you know, that's it.

Yeah, absolutely. So then let's go back to the numbers. Let's say it's 10% who are actually doing that. I find that it's fewer than half who are actually including a personalized and relevant note like what you just described. So really, at the end of the day, it's only like less than 5% of the connection requests you're getting are including a personalized and relevant note. So talk about standing out. And I love your approach. It is direct, however, it's relevant. And I think the relevance and personalization make it work.

Yeah, yeah, definitely. And it's, you know, it's easy. I mean, it's, it's just a matter of being yourself. And the one thing you don't want to do is if someone does connect with you, don't immediately send, like your sales page copy right away.

Yeah. So what do you do? Let's go there. By the way, I have one other example that I wanted to throw out there for those of you who are writing and approaching just a business to business prospects. You do content marketing. Hey, you know, I'm a. I write case studies and white papers, and I focus on high tech industry or medical devices or whatever. If you ever need help developing that kind of content, you know, feel free to reach out. So that, that would be the equivalent message. Right, for kind of on the commercial writing side of things.

Absolutely. And that's. And that's why, honestly, it's Such a great method for writers in particular because you know, any writer is going to have a niche and that makes the reach out relevant. The more specific you can get with your reach out, where you can tell just from looking at someone's profile that they are an ideal person to hire you, the more successful you're going to be. Like the opposite of quote will be like, let's say I'm a business coach, okay? So I'm just going to work with people who need a business coach or someone who's struggling with their cash flow or whatever the case may be. I can't look at someone's LinkedIn profile and know if they need a business coach or they have cash flow problems. So my reach out is going to have to be more general. I'm just going to have to say I'm a business coach if you're ever in need, blah, blah, blah. But for a writer, someone who specifically knows, I write for the tech industry, I write for, you know, parenting, whatever it might be, you have that ability to be super specific with not only the reach out copy, but the people you reach out with to where you know it's relevant.

So what happens when you send it out and I mean is that if you get no response, do you just kind of leave it there? You just kind of keep going through this and hoping that, you know, some of them will respond and connect with you and maybe start some dialogue?

Sure. You can always say, thank you so much for connecting. I look forward to talking to you in the future. Some people say thank you for connecting. Let me know if there's anything that you'd like me to share. You could always say, you know, please let me know if you have any specific assignments or any openings that you need help with. You know, something that isn't intrusive but is just putting you in there in the back of their mind.

Gotcha. And you're just leaving it there. And you know, this is not about follow up. This is not about two weeks later. Hey, just making sure you got my note. Are you still there? None of that nonsense, right?

No, and there's something too, you know, when it comes to search, you know, this is important too. So I use Sales Navigator, which is pretty expensive, it's $80 a month. But LinkedIn does offer a free month of premium if you're not a current premium member. So you could try out Sales Navigator for a month to see if it, if it works well for you. But Sales Navigator is a very detailed search tool and one of the things that you can benefit from by using it is that it will give you. It will categorize people of those who have posted on LinkedIn in the last 30 days. So that can help you not reach out to dead profiles where people have just abandoned it or they don't use it very much. So that's something that I use. Usually I will create a search, but then I filter it specifically for people that have posted on LinkedIn in the last 30 days.

I love that because many of us are searching even if we're narrowly niched. Really, it's a big universe. For instance, software marketing directors in the software industry. I mean, there's millions of them, so that doesn't really help. I've narrowed it down to 2 million. Okay, how do I narrow down from that? And that's a great criteria. It tells me that they're active, they're alive, they're breathing.

Yeah. And you can search for just about anything. Using Navigator, you can look for specific keywords so they will pull in the profile. So let's say that you marketing directors, but you really do well with marketing directors who specialize in Facebook marketing. So you could look for the title and then you can put Facebook as a keyword and then it will find profiles that have the word Facebook in.

It and not just in the headline, but also in the profile itself, essentially.

Right? Yep.

Very, very cool. All right, so let's talk a little bit about results. So if you can share a little bit about what you've seen out there as you've used this approach for yourself and your clients.

Sure. For me, I am one of those who is a nurturing. I have the nurturing type sales process where very, very rarely am I going to reach out to someone knowing that they need me. So it's more just adding individuals to my network and then doing my thing on LinkedIn and then letting them notice what I'm doing and then reaching out. I've had a wide variety of clients that I do this reach out method for. So I will optimize the salesperson's profile and then I will actually conduct the searches on their behalf and then reach out and then they jump in and take over the conversation. So what ultimately happens in terms of results, we usually get about 40 to 50% except the connection request.

That's great.

And then from there results vary depending on the specific nature of the ask because some sales processes or sales cycles can last months. Of course, one of the companies I like to use as an example is they're a tree company. A tree removal company in Boston. And this can show you too, how you can be local and have success doing cold outreach. So they reached out to me. They were trying to reach out to property managers and golf courses. And so he told me, the person I was working with said, you know, we're in Boston. No one wants to be nurtured. Just ask them whether they need it or not. And that's honestly a lot of where I go to when people say, don't ever ask someone to buy from you in your first message or in a cold reach out. There is absolutely a situation where that might be relevant. So we were reaching out to people saying, hey, we removed trees. Do you need trees removed? And it was extremely successful because it was so special. We knew exactly who needed the tree removal company. We knew exactly where those people were because it was in Boston. And we were just asking, do they need it or not? And he set up, you know, I don't have the results in front of me, but he was incredibly happy with the results we got. He was. He was going on calls and coffee dates and all of that throughout the week. You know, we worked together for a few months.

Well, so here's the interesting part, right? What people need to understand is 90% of prospects aren't ready or looking for what you offer today. The problem is we are. The typical mindset is we're looking for somebody who's ready today. That's only 10%. And I'm being generous. The problem is we're forgetting about the other 90%. What I love about this system is you're doing this outreach, you're planting the seed 90% of the time. They're not going to be in a position right now to even use you. It's just a timing issue. And you're very relevant. It's just. It's a timing issue. So by now, being connected, if half of them are accepting your requests or even more, you're now kind of putting your name in front of them just by default because they're now in your network. And when the, when the right time comes, hopefully you'll be, you know, the person they think of. Because I've seen your content on LinkedIn, right? Hopefully, if you're also liking their stuff and maybe commenting on the occasional post or update they put up there, that really helps. It makes you more visible to them. The scenario you just described is kind of one of those unique ones where you're looking specifically for those 10%. It's so specific that it's kind of like, look, I'M just looking for the ones who are ready today. I love that. That makes perfect sense. Especially after a storm.

Yeah, exactly. Well, that's when they were too busy to actually do the reach out. But yeah, it was. The hope is that as you're blindly reaching out and just looking to add people to your network, you'll hit on a couple who actually just happen to be ready. And that does happen. So you're just, you're not being, you know, too forceful. You're just asking. And then they're like, hey, you know what? I actually did need that right now. Which is pretty fun.

That is so cool. That is so cool. So, as we wrap up, I want to ask you about turning this into a habit, because I know people listening right now are going, you know what, you just gave me some great ideas, I need to do this. Absolutely. I'm sold. I find that most of us have great intentions, but life gets in the way. Suddenly you get really busy with client work and this stuff doesn't happen. Do you have any ideas or suggestions on how we can turn this into more of a habit? Something we do more automatically, even when we're really busy and not. Well, whenever I have time, I'll get to it.

Yes. And I completely relate, which is ironic. But, you know, I suggest trying to check in on LinkedIn daily. I mean, we're all writers, so we're going to be in front of a computer.

Or a typewriter.

Or a typewriter. This is true. But the LinkedIn is turning into a platform where there's a lot of conversation happening, which is really fun. LinkedIn has rolled out hashtags and they're actually using the hashtag. So kind of like where LinkedIn post categorized everything, they're now putting them into hashtags so you can. People will be following specific hashtags and so you might not even be in their network and something you post or something you say might show up. So, you know, attempt to post daily or every other day, just poke around, see if there's something that you can jump in on. As far as a conversation, just put in your two cents and go from there. Try to have fun with it and then attempt to, you know, weekly or bi weekly, just reach out to 10 new people. You know, if you don't have Sales Navigator, you can just conduct a search. They do have some search options with the free version. Just type in a particular industry or go down a rabbit hole of starting with someone who you know is ideal and then look at who they're acquainted with. Or if you know a specific publication, go to their business page and look at people who work for them, whatever the case may be. But just try to make it a habit to reach out to 10 new people a week and add them to your network and just see what happens.

I think that's an easy start, especially if you can. And I think with Navigator you can save those searches. Right. And create lead lists, which is great because then you don't have to keep doing this stuff over and over again.

Yep, you do. Leadless. Yeah. Navigator is a fantastic tool.

$20 more than the. I think business premium is the one down from that. So really not a huge price difference. I used to give my advice was, hey, go with just premium, start there. But more and more I'm seeing that the features and Navigator are worth the price difference. I mean, if you're already paying 60 for 20 more dollars more a month, it's just you get a ton more.

Yeah. And it's really interesting just how the nature of what people are doing on LinkedIn has evolved. It's getting to a point like I went recently to my very first LinkedIn local event, which they're popping up all over the country or all over the world, I guess now where people are, you know, saying on LinkedIn, we're having this event in our area, so let's all get together and just network with each other. And I went to the one event and it's like now I have 10 to 20 LinkedIn cheerleaders where I post something and they're commenting and they're liking and all of a sudden you have these real connections with people who are active and it helps my exposure that much more. So I'm going to be going to those, I'm going to be going to those monthly just because that really helps too with your online exposure.

That is fantastic. Wow, how cool. Who Knew, right, that LinkedIn was suddenly going to be like the cool platform. Yeah, it was so buttoned up just a few years ago. This has been fantastic. Chrissy, I really appreciate you sharing all these ideas and insights with us. And LinkedIn is really, really, really hot in my tribe. I get asked about it all the time. You just gave us some very practical advice on how to leverage it. I don't want to wrap up without asking you about your work and how people can learn more about you and what you do.

Sure. So I offer three primary offerings. Primary offerings. I do marketing, full scale marketing strategy, which digs into my love of, of strategy. I was dubbed by my business coach the Olivia Pope of Marketing. I don't know if you watch Scandal, but that's what the fixer basically. But in terms of LinkedIn, I do LinkedIn profile optimization and then I actually do these reach outs for people where I will optimize their profile and then reach out on their behalf and we work out a system and add people to their network and then the hope is that there's some hot leads in there that come through and then it goes from there.

That is awesome. Where can people learn more about these offerings and connect with you?

Well, I would love anybody to connect with me on LinkedIn, which is LinkedIn.com in ChrissyWyrot, which is C H R I S S I E W Y W Do not forget the second W R O T. And then my website is chrissywyrat.com but anybody who wants to connect with me on LinkedIn, please do.

And please send her a personalized message with a request.

Yes, we can talk about how much we love Ed's podcast.

Awesome. Chrissy, thanks again. I just really appreciate you sharing all this with us today.

Thank you so much for having me.

The High Income Business Writing Podcast is a production of B2B business launcher. Learn more@b2b launcher.com.

And you want to make sure that you have a wonderful optimized headline. That anytime that you are engaging on LinkedIn, that headline is like your billboard. I mean, it's going to tell people what it is that you do and you can catch the attention of someone who might not be in your network based on your headline. So you want to make sure you have an action oriented headline and that the majority of what you want to say is in the first hundred characters because that's what's always visible when you're on LinkedIn talking.

Do you agree that your headline also needs to have words that are written in the way that your prospect, your ideal prospect, would be using when searching for somebody like you?

Absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, that's the thing that is going to catch someone's eye.

I'm shocked at how many. And I've been looking through this over the past few weeks because some inner stuff that I'm putting together with LinkedIn and I am shocked at how few writers and copywriters actually do that. They either try to get really cute with words and phrases that I don't even know what they mean or they'll be very generic. Copywriter for hire.

Right?

Okay, that tells me nothing. So we're talking about very specific keywords in terms of industry, target market, Specialty, if any, for writing projects and so forth. Correct.

Yes. And don't put for hire. You know, we want to play hard to get.

I know.

I hate for hire people who say open to new opportunities. Yeah, no one wants to read that.

I saw one yesterday, is my favorite one so far. Looking for great opportunities in the cannabis industry.

Oh, dear.

I bet you are.

I'm sure you are.

I hope he's not a listener. We'll see.

Yeah, yeah. If he is, you know, if you have any opportunities, let him know.

There you go. Okay, so start with an optimized profile. Very. That's. That's key. Yeah, makes sense.

And then secondary is content. But as I said, content is no longer just your blog posts. It's really just being active on the platform. But you do want to make sure that you have some content that you've published natively on LinkedIn, especially if you're a writer, because you know the first thing someone's going to do, whether you reach out to them one to one or whether they notice something that you said, they're going to click on your profile to see what it says. And the benefit of having content written natively on LinkedIn is when you go, if you click and look at your profile, there's a huge thumbnail of your most recently written article and then right underneath it says, see however many other articles you have. And so it's prominent and it's a way that can help vet your experience to someone who is interested in what you're providing.

Interesting. So, and I keep hearing about this. Yeah. Published natively, which is something that I need to take a look at for my business because I don't think we're doing that. I think we are sharing there through some of these automation tools. But that is not going to get the attention that something published natively on LinkedIn will. Correct.

Yeah. And it's really for the people who are digging to see what it is you're about. Because any activity LinkedIn, when they have their activity feed, which is right next to the native content in your profile, they track everything. It's like ed sneezed on LinkedIn, you know, that becomes an item. If you like something and you comment on something, that's two updates on the same post. Anything that you publish that isn't native content is going to get lost. For someone just looking to see what you're about, it's hard to locate it after it's gone into the LinkedIn abyss.

Just for clarification, for people who are not sure what that means is if you publish natively, that means you actually publish that article or that post or that comment or update or whatever right there on LinkedIn. As opposed to using something like Buffer, where you have something you're sharing across all your social media profiles.

Yes and no. The option I'm talking about is actually write an article on LinkedIn.

Writing an article. Gotcha.

Yes. Yes. So if you go and if you go to the home section and you look at the top, where it gives you an opportunity to write a comment or write a post, there will be a little button that says write an article. And you click on that and then you can.