How to Attract Your Dream Clients Using LinkedIn – In Just 7 Minutes with Yakov Smart

Resources/Links:

• Download Yakov’s Book for Free: Disrupting LinkedIn

Summary

Do you want to know the S.P.O.T. Formula for generating leads, receiving referrals and attracting more of your ideal clients by tapping into LinkedIn?

…even if you hate marketing and can barely remember your LinkedIn password.

Yakov Smart is an Internationally Recognized LinkedIn Business Advisor and the Author of Disrupting LinkedIn.

In this episode, Yakov shares his proven strategies for turning your LinkedIn profile into a lead and referral generating machine.

Check out these episode highlights:

• 01:10 – Yakov’s ideal client: “Somebody who’s a service-based business owner, who has a hard to reach the type of client. So, whether it’s the C-suite executives, highly acclaimed individual, or the referral sources. There are people clamoring on their door wanting their business.”
• 01:28 – Problem Yakov helps solve: “Biggest challenge, and there’s a number of them, the biggest one is cutting through the noise. There’s just so much competition out there in marketing. So many people clamoring for attention, it’s cutting through the noise in an authentic way that actually moves the needle towards a business relationship.”
• 02:09 – Typical symptoms that clients do before reaching out to Yakov: “Not enough people know them, not enough of the right people, the right decision-makers know who they are. And oftentimes, decision-makers are fixated on not knowing what they don’t know. So, they’re fixated on these preconceived notions or beliefs around their business that just aren’t true.”
• 03:05 – What are some of the common mistakes that folks make before finding Yakov and his solution?: “Well, they’re not giving LinkedIn enough time a day. They’re trying to run Facebook ads. They’re going to networking events. They’re picking up the phone and cold calling. They’re knocking on doors, they’re doing all this old school type of marketing dilemma length work, it’s not really moving the needle because that’s what everybody else is doing.”
• 04:43 – Yakov’s Valuable Free Action (VFA): Go in and play with the LinkedIn search and see how specifically they can segment a list of their ideal clients. Go out there and build a list and at least start with the right who.
• 05:24 – Yakov’s Valuable Free Resource (VFR): Download Yakov’s Book for Free: Disrupting LinkedIn
• 05:54 – Q: What is it about LinkedIn profile that stands out? A: Looking at LinkedIn as a search engine, which happens to be a very powerful search engine within itself. But also, for credibility and establishing that authority positioning as that trusted advice.

Tweetable Takeaways from this Episode:

“Go in and play with the LinkedIn search and see how specifically they can segment a list of their ideal clients. Go out there and build a list and at least start with the right who.”-Yakow Smart Share on X

Transcript
(Note, this was transcribed using a transcription software and may not reflect the exact words used in the podcast)

Tom Poland: 0:09
Hello everyone, a very warm welcome to another edition of Marketing The Invisible. I’m Tom Poland, beaming out to from a Little Castaways Beach in Queensland, Australia. Joined today by Yakov Smart. Yakov, good day, very good evening, I think it is just. Where are you hanging out right now?

Yakov Smart: 0:24
I’m in Wellington, New Zealand, right now.

Tom Poland: 0:26
Wellington, New Zealand. Windy Wellington, has got as much wind as Chicago, I believe, for different reasons. Yakov, where do you normally abide?

Yakov Smart: 0:35
Scottsdale, Arizona, in the US.

Tom Poland: 0:37
Folks, if you haven’t heard of Yakov, you’ve been living under a rock. He is an Internationally Recognized LinkedIn Business Advisor. He’s also author of the magnificently, fantastically, spectacularly good book, Disrupting LinkedIn. So, if you think you knew how LinkedIn works, you may not actually know. You want to get a hold of that book, Disrupting LinkedIn. So, our title today, as long as similar theme, it’s, “How to Attract Your Dream Clients using LinkedIn.” And Yakov’s going to show us how to do that in just seven minutes. Yakov, our seven minutes starts now. Question number one is, who is your ideal client?

Yakov Smart: 1:10
Somebody who’s a service-based business owner, who has a hard to reach type of client. So, whether it’s the C-suite executives, highly acclaimed individual, or the referral sources. There are people clamoring on their door wanting their business.

Tom Poland: 1:21
Perfect. Thank you. Well-articulated. Just over six and a half minutes left. Question number two is, what’s the problem you solve for them?

Yakov Smart: 1:28
Biggest challenge, and there’s a number of them, the biggest one is cutting through the noise. There’s just so much competition out there in marketing. So many people clamoring for attention, it’s cutting through the noise in an authentic way that actually moves the needle towards a business relationship.

Tom Poland 1:40
Right. So, there’s two things there, getting their cut through, but also authentically motivating the prospect to take action. Thank you.

Yakov Smart: 1:48
Absolutely.

Tom Poland: 1:49
Just over six minutes left. Question number three, when you meet with a new client, they will have had some symptoms that they needed addressing prior to meeting with you. So, questions three is, what are the typical symptoms that your prospects experience with the problem that you solve before they start working with you?

Yakov Smart: 2:08
Not enough people know them, not enough of the right people, the right decision makers know who they are. And oftentimes, decision makers are fixated on not knowing what they don’t know. So, they’re fixated on these preconceived notions or beliefs around their business that just aren’t true. They’re preventing them from taking action moving forward. The other symptom that they’re facing is not knowing how to stay out of the marketplace, and coming up against thing we call commoditization. And so, they see LinkedIn as a way of connecting with their ideal clients or dream clients directly. And the symptom is there’s a lot of potential, there’s a lot of opportunity, but oftentimes, I mean, they’ve had a LinkedIn profile for years, but they barely remember their password.

Tom Poland: 2:47
Okay. So apart from that, question four, just over five minutes left, what are some of the common mistakes that you see that people are making before they find your solution? What are some of the things they’re doing and trying to get heard, trying to get the cut through, trying to create an authentic message, but they’re just really, they’re just making mistakes.

Yakov Smart: 3:05
Well, they’re not giving LinkedIn enough time a day. They’re trying to run Facebook ads. They’re going to networking events. They’re picking up the phone and cold calling. They’re knocking on doors, they’re doing all this old school type of marketing dilemma length work, it’s not really moving the needle because that’s what everybody else is doing. So, most people have a LinkedIn profile, they just don’t know what they don’t know. They don’t understand the potential and the possibility for marketing on LinkedIn. The common LinkedIn mistakes that I see besides not using the thing to effectively market is having a profile in owning a business that very much looks like a resume. Where it looks like it talks about your job description, your experience, as opposed to what’s in it for that ideal client or referral source, and what makes you unique, right? It doesn’t showcase that level of uniqueness. And the other big, big mistake is spam message, right? We say I get these messages all the time. You probably do, Tom, as well, and other people listening may as well, where it’s these long-winded pitches that come through and as soon as somebody connects, zap, where they try to sell you five things in the first message. And that’s a big mistake. As well as not doing it in a way that achieve relationship based and going for that one shot kill rather than having a multi-step process. And the other big mistake is not having a system in place and thinking that somehow the amount of time being spent on LinkedIn correlates into results. And oftentimes, there is no direct correlation and quite the opposite action.

Tom Poland: 4:23
Especially if they don’t know what they’re doing.

Yakov Smart: 4:25
Exactly.

Tom Poland: 4:26
Thank you for that, well-articulated, again. Question five, so 5,6,7, three questions left, three and a half minutes left. Pacing is great. What’s one valuable free action that a listener to this podcast could take, that’s not going to solve the whole problem, but it might take them a step in the right direction?

Yakov Smart: 4:43
So, go in and play with the LinkedIn search and see how specifically they can segment a list of their ideal clients.

Tom Poland: 4:50
Okay. So, yeah, just, if you don’t have to do that, folks, just google search LinkedIn search and you’ll figure it out pretty soon. So, I’m assuming the point behind that is to make sure that they can somehow at least identify list of suspects, if not, have not qualified prospects. So, is their ideal client searchable? Is that the point of that tip?

Yakov Smart: 5:10
Exactly. Go out there and build a list and at least start with the right who.

Tom Poland: 5:14
Build a list. Okay. Thank you. So, question number six, just over two and a half minutes left, one valuable free resource that we could direct people to that’s going to help them even more.

Yakov Smart: 5:24
Yeah. LinkedLeads.us/resource, people can go, they can download actually a free digital copy of my book. That’ll get them a step in the right direction.

Tom Poland: 5:33
Fantastic. So that’s www.LinkedLeads.Us/resource. Yeah, LinkedLeads.Us/resource. Thank you. Lots of time left for question number seven, just over two minutes left. What’s the one question I should have asked you, but didn’t? And of course, the answer would be nice too, please.

Yakov Smart: 5:54
Yeah. So, the question you should have asked me would have been, what is it about LinkedIn profile that stands out, right? And what are the things to optimize that profile for two key areas, both increasing visibility, and say, looking at LinkedIn as a search engine, which happens to be a very powerful search engine within itself. But also, for credibility and establishing that authority positioning as that trusted advice. Okay. And the biggest things to look at, I’ll give you the three key answers, but I’ll give you the three pieces, I call it. Key number one is presence. So, it’s doing things like having the right keywords. It’s having all the sections filled in. It’s getting to 500 plus connections, like, connecting people from your warm network. So, you’re not limiting the visibility, it’s making sure that your profile is set to public, which some business owners, they’re restricting their visibility by so having set to private. Next thing is position. So, it’s having a compelling headline. Having your unique selling proposition. Having the right questions, the right challenges and addressing those, the conversation happening in your ideal client’s mind. And the third one, my personal favorite, persuasion. Having a clear and compelling call to action, and designing the entire LinkedIn strategy and profile to get the right person to take action.

Tom Poland: 7:06
Perfect. And 50 seconds to spare. Yakov, thanks so much for your time.

Yakov Smart: 7:10
Love it. Thanks for having me.

Tom Poland: 7:11
Cheers everyone.

Tom Poland: 7:13
Thanks for checking out our Marketing The Invisible podcast. If you like what we’re doing here please head over to iTunes to subscribe, rate us, and leave us a review. It’s very much appreciated. And if you want to generate five fresh leads in just five hours then check out www.fivehourchallenge.com.