A conversational YouTube video (TJ Walker, Aug 21, 2024) about finding clients and building authentic relationships on LinkedIn. Speakers contrast past mass-outreach tactics (sending ~1,000 messages) with current best practices: personalized outreach to a small number (suggested ~10/day), avoid immediate Zoom invites, thank new connections, engage with their content, and let relationships evolve organically. The conversation also covers coaching: the guest defines coaching as one-on-one work focused on asking questions rather than providing answers, says most of their coaching clients arrive by referral from prior relationships or past training, and notes many certified coaches struggle to monetize coaching.
Chapters
Because there was a time a couple of years ago where the rules were different on LinkedIn. I didn't do this tactic, but I know people who did were successful. They sent out a thousand messages a day saying, hi, I'm so and so, I do this. Is that a service you could use? Can you meet me for a Zoom call? And Zoom was still kind of exciting and new, and people were looking for an excuse to stop talking to kids and spouse during the pandemic. You could send that out and, you know, you send out a thousand a day, you get. You book 10 meetings a day, you close to, and you're happy. Well, a couple of things have changed. Number one, LinkedIn changed some of its rules where they ratcheted it back, and these are not precise numbers, but if you could give out a thousand, now you can give out a hundred. The other thing that's changed is people. People's attitudes, like, oh, my God, not another Zoom call. I'd rather chew off my arm.
I know.
I don't. I don't take any Zoom meetings with anyone ever, really, if I can help it. So what's, what's the best practice and what are you advising your students to?
You're.
You're at Northeastern. That's in Boston. Am I correct?
Correct. Yes.
Okay. What are you advising them to do?
What you just described is what we affectionately call the pitch slap.
Here I am.
Here's my stuff. You want to buy? No, thank you very much. I do not. What I would suggest is still doing that. Reach out, but not to a thousand people a day. How about 10? How about 10 people that are either in your industry or working for an organization that you're interested in either working for or buying from or selling to. Or maybe they write about a common interest, a hobby, or someone. Send out a personalized message to 10 people a day. Two will accept it. That's fantastic. At the end of the week, you have 10 new connections that you didn't otherwise have. Do not invite them to a coffee chat to a Zoom, because they're not interested. They're zoomed out. Thank them for their connection and engage with what they have to say when they have to say it. Build a relationship the way you would build any other relationship as opportunity presents itself. If opportunity presents itself, then, yes, invite them to a get to know you networking call again so that you can understand them for what they want to be known for, and they can understand you for what you want to be known for. Seems like a long, hard slog, because sending out a Thousand a day and 10 meetings and so on. That was a whole lot more profitable back in the day. It's not working at all right now. So the two connections a day that you make by being authentic and by being just a genuine, interesting person to have in their network is far more viable than interesting to me.
You also call yourself a coach. And I've been in the training business, the speaking business for decades. I typically have not called myself a coach, I've called myself a trainer. People say coach, they think of Anthony Robbins and people wildly successful. I do meet so many people who tell me they've been through a coaching program, they're a certified coach, they've been through this person's program, this person's program. And then I asked them, well, okay, I don't mean to be overly personal, but how do you get CL clients? And you know, how much, you know, how much are you really banking with your coaching? And invariably, 99% of the time people are like, well, I haven't really, you know, marketed myself. I'm not making money from that. I'm still, you know, being a waiter or I'm still doing sales stuff, or I'm doing other things. They kind of like the label. It seems sexy and cool to call yourself a coach, but very few people have actually figured out how to market themselves as a coach, how to get clients, how to go from talking to someone who may have a need all the way through that, threading that needle to the point where they've paid you money and you're then either meeting with them on Zoom or in person or training them. Walk us through your process of how you became a coach. And what does that, what does that even mean to you?
Sure. So let me start with the, the what does it mean to me? What it means to me is that one on one relationship that I don't generally have when I'm doing a, a training session. I am a teacher at my core. I love the thought of helping people. And whether I do that in a large audience form with formally teaching in front of a classroom or speaking or whatever the case may be, it's fantastic. But I also appreciate being able to sit down with somebody one on one and help them work through the things that they want to work through. And the beauty of coaching for me is I never have an answer, but I like to think that I have some pretty good questions. And together we really dig deep into the things that they're curious about and inevitably they have the answers themselves. We just work through that. How do I find clients, they kind of find me because of people knowing me for what I want to be known for. My coaching clients have all been referred to me from somebody else. Sometimes it's a coaching climb former coaching client. More often than not it's somebody that I've had a different personal relationship with. Maybe I worked with them, maybe I taught a session that they were participant in or whatever the case may be. So frankly when it comes to marketing myself as a coach I could probably learn a thing or two. But I, I don't choose to do a lot of that marketing right now because I like the way that the relationships that I have with my coaching clients have come about authentically and walk.
Us through how it evolves when you help people. And there's a lot of different coaching models. There are people who have, you know, coaching slash mentorship community and it's once a month and you're in with 500 people.
