If you want to have paying customers, you need to gather a reliable stream of leads.

That’s the bottom line.

But generating leads isn’t as easy as one might think. In fact, it requires quite a bit of finesse and a whole lot of time.

Reports show that 65% of businesses say generating traffic and leads is their top marketing challenge.

That doesn’t surprise me at all.

There is encouraging news though.

Marketers now have a lot more avenues to target potential customers. At the forefront of that is social media.

And if we’re talking about the highest-quality leads, LinkedIn is the clear winner.

It’s a bit shocking, I know.

You expect a giant like Facebook to be leading the pack.

Not in this case. More than 80% of B2B leads sourced from social media come from LinkedIn.

That goes to show the power of this platform.

Here’s the kicker though: many people are failing at using LinkedIn for lead generation.

They’re spending too much time in the process. And they do not see a return on that time investment.

That’s a frustrating problem to have, and I’ll show you how to fix it.

Here’s how you can generate leads on LinkedIn without wasting your time.

1. Target the decision makers

It’s imperative you consider the sales cycle when you’re generating leads.

I am referring to the entire process it takes for you to sell a product or a service.

It includes everything, i.e., generating a lead, nurturing that lead, and eventually making the sale.

Here’s a map of what a typical sales cycle can look like:

Some of us have the good fortune of being in a niche where it can take as little as a few minutes to close a sale.

For others, it can take months and even years.

Whatever camp you fall in, there is a simple solution to shorten the sales cycle.

Find the decision maker.

Here’s what I mean.

Unless you’re targeting a solopreneur, most businesses have select people who ultimately make the purchasing decisions.

Wouldn’t it be wise to direct your efforts at someone with authority to close the deal?

Of course, it would!

Now, the decision maker is not always the CEO. In fact, it’s rarely the case for most businesses.

I’m not saying you shouldn’t target CEOs.

It depends on what you’re selling, what business needs it will serve, and what your goals are.

Let’s say you’re a freelance writer looking for new clients.

The best people to target when prospecting would be marketing managers or someone in that field.

Anyone else would likely be a waste of your time.

The decision makers usually have the following positions:

• HR director
• Marketing director
• Sales director

These are mainly for B2B leads, but the premise doesn’t change when you’re targeting individual consumers.

There’s usually (not always) someone they have to consult with before making a purchasing decision.

Tailor your efforts and your messaging to take that fact into account.

2. Follow up with old leads before targeting new ones

I’m sure you’ve heard that lead generation is a numbers game.

Target enough people, and eventually you’ll land a sale.

That’s true in a sense.

But the quality of these leads is also important.

Many people collect a bunch of leads, initiate contact, and stop there.

Then, they restart the process.

The problem with that?

There’s no follow-up.

And if you know a thing or two about lead generation, you know the follow-up is crucial.

We know 80% of sales need five follow-ups, but almost 50% of people only send one.

Wires get crossed. Your message could be missed. Your prospect could get distracted.

Especially on a social media platform, it’s common for your message to get buried beneath all the noise.

If you don’t send a follow-up message, you miss out on a potential customer.

You also waste time and effort it took to generate those leads.

When is the right time to send a subsequent message?

In my experience, three days is ideal for the first follow-up. You should check in with your prospects several times.

It can even be automated.

If you’ve collected email addresses, you can set up an autoresponder series.

This way, it becomes a hands-off process.

Businesses who use marketing automation experience a 451% increase in qualified leads.

3. Put lead generation on autopilot with content marketing

One of the most powerful features on LinkedIn is its publishing platform.

You can publish content natively on LinkedIn Pulse, or you can republish posts from your business blog.

Either way, it’s one of the smartest strategies for generating leads.

For one, it allows you to demonstrate your expertise to potential customers.

There’s no better way to convert a customer than to show them how knowledgeable you are in your field.

It can also shorten the sales cycle.

Think about it.

If you’re consistently educating prospects and solving their problems with your free content, they’ll be easier to convert.

Doesn’t content marketing take time though?

It does, but here’s the thing.

You won’t find another audience as receptive as the network on LinkedIn.

The platform is filled with professionals waiting for you to educate them.

They are ready and willing to do business.

If you publish helpful content, your job is half done. You’ll be on your way to generating the kind of leads that turn into lifelong customers.

You can also repurpose content you’ve already published on your blog.

I’ve done this before, and it works exceptionally well.

Here’s some crucial advice for publishing content on LinkedIn:

• always leave a call to action and a link at the end of each article
• publish actionable content readers can implement to experience a quick win
• only create content that will serve your ideal prospect
• promote your LinkedIn articles on other platforms
• publish evergreen articles

4. Stop harvesting cold leads

This one takes the prize for time-wasters.

Here’s what many people’s idea of lead generation looks like:

1. obtain a list of email addresses of people who may or may not be their ideal prospects
2. send out emails or messages en masse

There are many things wrong with this approach.

The biggest is these people have not demonstrated an interest or a need for what you’re selling.

Your leads are not targeted enough, and they’re not qualified.

It means the chances of these leads converting to solid sales are slim.

The solution?

It’s a multi-step approach.

Step #1: Establish what you want your prospects to do

The first thing you need is a goal.

You’re generating leads, but what’s the purpose? What’s the next step?

You may want your prospects to download a free resource, schedule a free consultation, attend a webinar, hop on a call, or something of that sort.

Decide what your goal is before even starting the lead generation process.

Step #2: Create a hit list of hyper-targeted prospects

What’s the typical process for finding leads on LinkedIn?

You type in a job title in the search bar, hit enter, and get a plethora of results.

These become your targets, right?

That doesn’t work. You need to conduct a more focused search.

Here’s how.

First, click on the search bar and scroll to the bottom, where it says “search for people with filters.”

This will allow you to filter your results so you can focus on a targeted group of leads.

Your number of leads will be smaller, but their quality will be greater.

Here are some of the filters available:

Step #3: Initiate contact

After you’ve put your hit list together, you can connect and send a personal message.

When you hit “connect,” some of the options will prompt you to enter an email address.

If you connect as a “friend,” this isn’t necessary, so select that option.

Also, ensure your connection request has a message attached to it.

You only have 300 characters, but that’s more than enough to send a thoughtful message.

Don’t send the same generic message to every prospect.

You can still have a template to save time, but personalize it. I recommend going through the prospect’s profile so you have more information to go on.

Step #4: Build a relationship

It’s critical you continue to engage with your LinkedIn connections.

This could be by engaging with their content and sending them messages. That’s what’s going to set the stage for a sales conversion later on.

It’s only after you’ve gotten on your prospects radars that you can start thinking about selling to them.

Step #5: Funnel prospects to the top of your sales funnel outside of LinkedIn

LinkedIn should not be used to sell.

It’s a great prospecting tool. But you’ll sabotage your lead generation if you sell prematurely.

Use it to get prospects interested enough to join your permission marketing funnel. You can then take the sales process outside of the platform.

I know this sounds like a tedious and long road.

I promise you, this is way more effective than targeting a large list of unqualified leads.

You will get nowhere fast.

5. Go premium

If you’re serious about using LinkedIn as your primary lead-generation tool, a premium account can serve you well.

It can increase your efficiency and save you time.

You’ve got several options, depending on your goal.

You’ll benefit from the features such as InMail, advanced search, and access to information about people who viewed your profile.

Sure, the free account allows you to filter your searches. But with a premium account, you can conduct even more advanced searches.

With InMail, you can message people not in your network.

You can also look at all the people who’ve viewed your profile. This is a great way of gathering warm leads.

These profile views represent people who have showed some interest in you.

There are other features, but these three are particularly useful.

Now, I’m not saying this is a must.

It’s not a necessity to have a premium account to succeed with lead generation.

In fact, before you invest in a premium LinkedIn account, you should test the platform.

If you see promising results, and you want to amplify your lead-generation efforts, premium is a solid path to take.

6. Join groups where your ideal prospects hang out

LinkedIn groups are gold.

There’s no better way to quickly and easily find quality prospects.

You can also create your own group. But that requires a time investment—you need to build the group and then maintain it.

If you want to save time, I recommend joining an existing group.

You want to select groups relevant to your industry. It’s also important to have an idea of your ideal prospect.

This way, you can target people who will be receptive to your message and, eventually, your product.

Here are some other things you should consider:

• group size – you want to target groups with a decent number of people so you have a large enough prospect pool
• level of engagement – group members should be active: interacting with content, starting conversations, etc.
• group rules – most groups have rules of engagement; some are stricter than others and don’t tolerate any promotional content.

How do you find these groups?

Conduct a group search.

Type in your keyword in the search bar, and select “Groups.”

You can also click on the “Work” tab in your top menu and click on “Groups.”

Then, click on “Discover.”

LinkedIn will display a list of groups:

By default, they’re filtered according to your industry.

Since my field is marketing, I automatically get shown a bunch of groups relevant to that field (no search necessary).

Click on the individual groups that interest you.

Read the “about this group” section to get familiar with them and their rules.

Check out the admins and the mutual connections you share with the group. If it seems it fits with your goals, go ahead and connect.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is hands down one of the best platforms for lead generation.

If you know how to work it, you can end up with some quality prospects primed to become your paying customers.

But as fruitful as lead generation can be, it is also a time-consuming task.

If you don’t use the right strategies to target the right people, it is easy to spend months and see no result.

I’ve pinpointed some of the biggest time-wasters and ways you can go through this lead-generation process quickly.

Use the strategies, and you’ll see more leads of a higher quality, without a massive time investment.

What are your best tips for generating qualified leads on LinkedIn?

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