Show Interest to Build Relationships Via LinkedIn: 3 Steps to Success

Show Interest to Build Relationships Via LinkedIn: 3 Steps to Success

Winning people over hasn’t changed since the beginning of time. It’s how we do it and the ability to leverage newer tools that make all the difference today.

Dale Carnegie taught us that to be interesting, we had to be interested. Yes, showing interest in the other person is the best foundation for a new relationship. He stated, “Talk to someone about themselves, and they will listen for hours.” Everyone cares about themselves first. It’s just human nature. Dale Carnegie knew this and wrote the book How to Win Friends and Influence People.

Are you looking to go deeper with your current business relationships? Are you trying to uncover the best ways to start and develop a strong business relationship?

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First, always try to be in person with anyone you are truly interested in getting to know better. Grab coffee or lunch; plan a meeting, or even plan a time to take a walk. In advance of that in-person meeting and afterward, use LinkedIn to deepen your business relationship.

Use LinkedIn to learn about the other person and then follow up by showing genuine interest.


Step One: Check their LinkedIn Profile

The first step is to do some research, starting with the person’s LinkedIn profile. Now I realize that not all profiles are created equal, but these are the things I look at:

👉 Mutual connections to see if there are friends or acquaintances you share.

👉 Current Experience and Headline to get a sense of their main professional focus.

👉 About section, featured media, content, volunteering, and recommendations allow you to find out what they care about, their values, vision, perspective, and personality.

👉 Organizations, recommendations, groups, education, certifications, and connections help you to understand their overall network and industry better.

👉 Overall impression of profile. Does this prospect care about their brand? Is their profile relevant and current?

Also, be sure to complete your own profile so others can get to know you too. I had a new prospect at a large international company ask me about boating because it was mentioned in the “fun” section of my profile. Hmmm, now we are talking about boating and have a nice personal common interest.

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Step Two: Broader Digital Research

It usually makes sense to dig even deeper into your prospect’s digital presence. This is especially true if the personal profile is not complete or very strategic.

Start with a Google search of your prospect. You may find blog articles, YouTube videos, personal websites, online bios, or other super relevant sites.

Check out the LinkedIn company page and website of your prospect’s employer. Find out what the organization cares about, whom they sell to, and their vision, and values.


Step Three: Friendly Digital Engagement

I recommend engaging in a way that your prospect will WANT to engage. Read their content. Then begin commenting and liking their posts, articles, or videos. Make relevant and meaningful comments, not just a “check the box” type of comment. 

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Make regular commenting a daily habit. Find the people you are most interested in and ring their profile bell 🔔 to be notified of their new posts.

What about messages? I generally do NOT send LinkedIn messages to people I don’t know. I do like to send friendly personalized messages to people that are clients, prospects, and new acquaintances.

Make your messages about THEM, not about you. Show real interest. Ask a question. Everyone cares about themselves first!

I cringe when I receive cold pitches about products, services, or events in my LinkedIn mailbox as soon as we have connected. Seriously, this is the biggest LinkedIn error, but most of us experience this mistake every single day. I try to figure out who will do this in advance and don’t accept their connection invitations; or as soon as this affront happens, I am very likely to disconnect.

I suppose that these message offenders have only been taught that LinkedIn has a powerful messaging feature. Seems like such a waste of time and effort when they could instead use LinkedIn to build real relationships

I ignore pitch-type messages. But I always perk up when someone asks me a relevant question about my book or TEDx talk or boating. Why? Because I feel that they are interested in ME! They took the time to research me so I will now be looking at their LinkedIn profile too. It’s a good start.

So yes, be interested first. 

These friendly, positive actions are part of my “Be a Friend First” philosophy.  Your genuine interest in others will lead you to valuable conversations every day of the week.

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Learn more - Extend the conversation:

1.    Subscribe to this free newsletter called Sandra’s LinkedIn newsletter so that you will receive the subsequent editions! Find the subscribe button above ⬆️ or here.

2.    Follow (me) Sandra Long and Post Road Consulting for more LinkedIn ideas, strategies, and tips. And I hope you will ring the bell 🔔 at the top of my profile to receive individual notifications when I post.

3. Offer: Let us do a LinkedIn brand audit of your team! Find out if your team has opportunities to shine a bit brighter for clients, prospects, and candidates!

3.    Read my book: LinkedIn for Personal Branding: The Ultimate Guide. Here are a few Amazon links to make it easy. 🇺🇸 USA Amazon.com 🇨🇦 Canada Amazon.ca 🇬🇧 UK Amazon.co.uk 🇦🇺 Australia Amazon.com.au 🇮🇳India Amazon 🇮🇹 Italy Amazon.it

 Please connect with me to discuss opportunities at YOUR company. 

Marcus Alcalá

Helping you find your agency through entrepreneurship, leadership and coaching | Founder and Operator at The Juice Barista

1y

This article was helpful and provides food for thought. Thank you, Sandra Long. Steps 1. & 3. I use, step 2. I didn’t up till now. Will from now on.

Kimberly Renee Knowles

Multi-Passionate Super-Connector, Professional Brainstormer & Customer Success Manager. I empower clients to adapt, change, & grow with courage, curiosity & connections. | Higher Education Innovator & Mindset Coach

1y

I love this post! Just added your book to my Kindle. I especially appreciated your ideas for finding out more about a person virtually and the reminder to focus more on hearing what the connection has to share vs. sharing about yourself. Especially useful for extroverts like myself! I'm not very into boating but I have fond memories of spending time out on my grandpa's boat in Silver Lake, WI growing up!

Gwen Acton, PhD

CEO of Vivo Group | Innovation Leadership Expert for Science & Technology Industries

1y

Helping others is good general advice for successful careers. Thank you for the advice on how to use LinkedIn to do that Sandra Long.

Joyce Feustel

LinkedIn Trainer | Social Media Consultant | Baby Boomer Specialist | Business Owners | Job Seekers | Named the 2024 Solopreneur of the Year by West Metro Chamber of Commerce | Making LinkedIn Simple, Easy & Fun!

1y

Thank you SO much Sandra for this systematic, practical and warm-hearted approach to telling us how to show interest to build relationships through LinkedIn. The line that leapt out to me was: "I recommend engaging in a way that your prospect will WANT to engage." What struck me as I read through your article is that developing these relationships takes time and intention, and that investment of time and energy will pay off. Too often, people connect willy-nilly on LinkedIn, much like gathering business cards at an event. Everyone will benefit when we take the kind of approach you describe.

Tony Pisanelli

Career Transition Strategist | Career Change Coach | I advise executives and C-suite on how to avoid and recover from a career crisis, and help them develop a more profitable, powerful and purposeful life.

1y

What an interesting and valuable article. Brilliant share, Sandra Long!

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