Klassen Communications Blog

Not that long ago, I looked at my connections on LinkedIn and realized something rather embarrassing: I had no idea who half those people were.

I knew there was a reason I was connected to them because connections require permission from both parties. And I could guess that some I didn’t know were probably connections that came after interactions from LinkedIn’s Q&A section.

Just from my own completely unscientific poll, only a relative few people seem to use LinkedIn as a serious tool in terms of creating a meaningful relationship with their connections.

The rest of us really aren’t sure what we should do with the connections we’ve made. And there’s that small group who seem to just be playing a numbers game… get as many connections as possible just for the sake of it. Or use it as another way to spam people through the status update function.

Bottom line: For those of us in that “not sure what to do” category, there’s room for improvement.

So I’ve decided that I’m going to reach out to the connections I don’t really know and ask to talk by phone.

And let me be clear: This is not a sales call!

Personally, I love helping people connect. If you need a person who does X and I happen to know someone that does X, I get a lot of joy from connecting the two parties.

But how can I connect people if I really don’t know them that well? How can I find potential partners on projects if I don’t really know you or what you do? How can I be a fantastic trusted resource for my clients if I’m not constantly building and interacting with my connections.

The answer is, I can’t. Or at least I can’t do it well.

I’ve done a couple of these calls so far and plan to do a lot more in the new year.

So far, all calls have been great and showed me what a good idea this is.

I want to share with you how simple the process is. Then you can decide if you want to give it a try.

1. If it’s a brand new connection, I now tell them right off the top that I’d like to talk by phone. If it’s someone that’s been a connection for a long time and I’ve never really interacted with them, I’ll send them a note through LinkedIn and explain what I’m doing.

2. In that request to talk, I’m totally honest about why I’m doing this, and it’s the reason I’ve given above. I also make it clear that it’s not a sales call. Truthfully, I couldn’t care less if we talk about what I do. I simply want to know about the other person and his/her business.

3. Assuming they accept the invitation, we setup a time to talk either by phone or Skype. Skype is really handy to talk to people in other countries. While this hasn’t happened yet, if they have no desire to talk at all, either by phone or even e-mail, I think I’ve probably learned everything I need to know about them.

4. When the scheduled time/day arrives, I’m the one to make the call since I made the request. I don’t ask to talk, then expect them to call me.

5. I ask lots of questions, but I don’t have a rigid list. I don’t want it to feel like an interview, I want it to be a natural conversation. What do I ask? Great question. Glad you asked:

• I ask about what they do. Yes, their website probably says it, but there’s often more to it. Honestly, not everyone does a great job of explaining their passion on their site. Digging a little deeper helps me understand them better.
• I ask which keywords should make me think of them. For example, I know a lot of copywriters, but most have preferred areas they like to work in. Perhaps even more important is understanding what isn’t a good fit for them.
• I ask how they market themselves or their products. Since I don’t tend to connect with other designers, this question isn’t so I can gain some competitive edge. I mostly talk with other freelancers and we all deal with how best to market ourselves. So I’m curious to know what has and hasn’t work for them. And I’m also willing share my successes and failures if they’re interested.

And depending on how the conversation goes, there are any number of other questions that might spring to mind.

As they’re talking, I’m typing notes that I’ll put alongside their entry in my address book. And I tell them I’m doing that so they don’t hear the keyboard clicking and wonder if I’m chatting on Facebook while they’re talking.

6. If they want to know about what I do in the design, consulting and speaking realm, I’m happy to share whatever they want to know. And if that happens, we both begin to get a better picture of whether there might be some partnership opportunities between us down the road.

7. When we wrap up, I stress that they are free to contact me any time if they want to talk, bounce around some ideas, or update me on what they’re doing and their keywords.

I don’t put them on a mailing list or try to push off any of my free marketing materials on them. Not that there’s anything wrong with doing either if you think it’s beneficial and you’ve asked their permission. It’s just not my style.

In the calls I’ve done so far, I could tell there was genuine appreciation for the effort to reach out. And in all cases, I’ve shared different tips that I’ve picked up that they can apply to their own situations.

I’ve learned from them as well because I’ve found people genuinely like to engage and share what they know.

So as this year comes to a close, take a look at the connections you have, whether it’s on LinkedIn or some other site. How well do you know all of them? What might be the value of getting to know them better? What might that mean for growth and success of your business in the new year?