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Phil Byrne 0:00

Welcome to Digital Sparks, the podcast where you can improve your web marketing, enhance your online productivity, and spark your entrepreneurial spirit. All from the tips, tales and techniques, our guests come here to share

My name is Phil Byrne. And today I’m joined by Sarah Hughes, LinkedIn Lead generation expert, and founder of Prospect Builder. Hi Sarah, welcome to the podcast.

Sarah Hughes 0:37

Thank you Phil, I’m delighted to be here with you.

Phil Byrne 0:40

Likewise, it’s a pleasure to have your presence here on the digital airwaves that we’re speaking on. So for those of us who don’t know you, tell us who you are and what you do.

Sarah Hughes 0:53

Well, I’m regarded as the LinkedIn lead generation expert, Phil, and I equip global businesses such as Suez right through to solopreneurs, to leverage LinkedIn to grow their business. So to find the right prospects on LinkedIn, connect with them relationship builds, and that all important appointment setting.

Phil Byrne 1:17

So you know, many people don’t know how old LinkedIn is, it goes right back, I believe it’s actually the very first social media platform. And Sarah, we know a little bit about you, and you have various different marketing expertise. So what led you into LinkedIn? Specifically, how did you get there?

Sarah Hughes 1:34

Oh, that’s such a good question, Phil. It was in 2007, though let’s all cast our minds back to the cobwebs of time. And in 2007, I am a qualified marketer who specialises in sales psychology. And what was happening at that time in my marketing agency that I’d founded, a number of clients were saying to me, “oh, but there’s this LinkedIn thing, what should I do with it.” And at that time, LinkedIn wasn’t doing that much and not that many. So I said, well, for the moment, just get a presence on there, just start an individual unit, get your personal account set up and have an individual personal profile on LinkedIn. And then I kept a watching brief, and I noticed, LinkedIn was really beginning to change. And so in 2009, I launched a company that was dedicated to nothing other than leveraging LinkedIn to grow your business. And so for the past close to 10 years, that’s what I’ve run an entire business on, it’s just that, and LinkedIn is such an important part now, of the whole business to business marketing makes. So I just think for people that do market to other businesses, be the sole traders through to global companies. LinkedIn has got to be a central part of their marketing now. So but I got into it completely by recommending it to clients, and then thinking, Okay, it’s now doing something really useful. But when I spoke to clients then said, do more with LinkedIn now, they said to me, but do what? And that’s still, I think is a problem for people today Phil, that they might be on LinkedIn, and they might even have 1000s of connections, but they’re merely connection collectors. So few people know how to leverage their network and monetise it. And that’s where I come in.

Phil Byrne 3:51

What a wonderful place to come in. And what you just mentioned there Sarah, about leveraging any audience that we have, whether that’s on LinkedIn, or whether it’s on AdWords, which is one of my worlds or Facebook advertising, it’s the same thing, we can reach out, we can be present somewhere. But to turn that presence into something positive for our business, is the key trick. And that’s why it’s important to have someone like you around on LinkedIn. So you were talking there about how LinkedIn came into your life. And yeah, it almost feels to me like in the last year, LinkedIn has become so much more prominent, they’ve make quite a few changes to the news feed

Sarah Hughes 3:51

Thank Goodness.

Phil Byrne 3:52

And lots of people would say that, and it’s something that people talk about so much more now. So why do you think it’s so important for b2b sales in 2018? What position does it have?

Sarah Hughes 4:49

Well, I got some stats ready for you because we can all have a sense of a feeling of LinkedIn to becoming more prominent, and you’re right actually, since Microsoft purchased LinkedIn for $26,000,000,000, 2 years ago, and it’s been really changing and for the better in my view, but let me give you some actual facts about this. So first of all, there are more decision makers on LinkedIn and Twitter and Facebook. It’s 277% more effective for lead gen than Facebook, 74% of today’s B2B buyers conduct more than half of their research online, before making a purchase, 84% of CEOs and VPs use social media to make purchasing decisions. 25 million LinkedIn profiles viewed every day. And this is what was one of the outstanding facts for me that I was researching the other day, Phil, and let me share it with you. And that’s 57% of every buying decision is already made before any sales rep is involved. And so the fact of the matter is, if you love it, or you leave it, a social media is here to stay. b. it’s got a far more prominent role. And c. so many people, I was speaking at a conference this morning, and I asked the delegate to that conference, how many of you knowingly have one work directly via LinkedIn. And there are quite a few people that didn’t. And that’s because they don’t know how to leverage it. What I shared with them is even if you haven’t knowingly, one work by LinkedIn yet, what I would like you to consider his what work you’ve lost, because you haven’t optimised and leverage LinkedIn. Because your competitors are on LinkedIn, and your audience, your customers, your prospects, your employees, your candidates, they are using LinkedIn, and they’re making decisions on you without you even knowing. So that’s why it’s so crucial today, Phil.

Phil Byrne 7:14

It’s that 24-hour presence of the online world gives us isn’t it, it’s people can learn all about us when we’re sleeping.

Sarah Hughes 7:21

Oh, totally. And what’s really important now is because, especially with online businesses, which I believe lots of listeners to this awesome Digital Sparks podcast are that have online businesses, it really is that sense of someone getting up close and personal very quickly with you and your brand. And that’s what LinkedIn can be so phenomenal for a bearing in mind as well that there are now 550 million LinkedIn members spanning more than 200 countries. But it also for even a very regional business, it allows you to target your ideal prospects within 10 miles of a post or a zip code. So it keeps phenomenal pinpointing as well as, so you get depth as well as breadth of reach with LinkedIn.

Phil Byrne 8:16

All great reasons to be to be involved, as you’re suggesting. So Sarah, for you. LinkedIn has been part of your life for nearly 10 years, you were saying? So tell us a bit about your very first sale that came from LinkedIn, what happened? And what was that like for you?

Sarah Hughes 8:39

Casting my mind back because what I actually started out as is that, I saw a real niche in the market for equipping people to use LinkedIn. And that’s actually still there today Phil. So I started to offer LinkedIn workshops. And it was actually to feed my marketing business, because I would ask one question in a LinkedIn workshop that I knew would create demand for my marketing business. Now, would you like to know what that one question was?

Phil Byrne 9:10

I’m dying to know.

Sarah Hughes 9:12

Really? wow, rather than you expire. I will share it with you Phil? So that one question was, I believe in having fun with serious intent. And so that one question was, when we were filling in, there’s a LinkedIn it is called headline, but it’s that bit below your photograph in the top of your file that most people make the mistake of only putting their job title in their company in, instead of value of what they offer. And so I would ask the question on the LinkedIn workshop, could you describe in five words or less what’s the value of your offer? So why should someone use you rather than your competitor? Or what’s the essence of your offer or your differentiator? And I knew that when I asked that question, bear in mind, I am a marketer as well, and I run a marketing agencies still do alongside my LinkedIn business. I knew that the majority of people had not, and were not able to clearly define that.

Phil Byrne 10:27

And you see, as you said that, I began to think of five words, that’s pretty tough.

Sarah Hughes 10:31

It’s tough, isn’t it? I would say to our listeners, what would yours be in five words or less? Or maybe I’ll give you six? Like, I’ll be magnanimous in six words or less?

Phil Byrne 10:49

What a great question for everyone.

Sarah Hughes 10:55

As we know it anyway, that less is more that very few, I asked that question of a lawyer once. I set to ask that same, like, again six words or less. And after about five minutes of being rambling, I said, okay, that what would that be in six words or less rather than six minutes? And I knew because I offered things like brand blueprints, and all of those types of things where we look at what is your difference? How do you communicate your style? I knew that when I asked that question on the LinkedIn workshop, it would create opportunities for me and my marketing business, which it did beautifully,

Phil Byrne 11:39

I can imagine.

Sarah Hughes 11:41

So that’s how the first one started. It was actually the LinkedIn workshop. And then it’s just grown since then, and I know offers such a really wide range of services with the core focus on making LinkedIn work for you.

Phil Byrne 11:55

There we go. Great stuff. Um, can I try a five-word description of my business? On you live on the podcast? I will go for, Grow fast through online ads.

Sarah Hughes 12:15

Grow fast through online ads, I like that

Phil Byrne 12:20

It is great trying to put it into five words, because you just eliminate everything. And it’s such a great point you make is when you do say to people, what do you do at any networking event? You generally stood there listening for the next 10 minutes?

Sarah Hughes 12:38

It’s your elevator pitch, isn’t it?

Phil Byrne 12:40

Yeah, it is.

Sarah Hughes 12:42

And it has to be something that someone can repeat five minutes after?

Phil Byrne 12:47

Yes, you’re right.

Sarah Hughes 12:49

And that’s a really good test for it.

Phil Byrne 12:53

Great stuff, already a wonderful tip shared there, Sarah,

Sarah Hughes 12:56

Thank you so much for, glad to be of assistance.

Phil Byrne 13:00

So tell us more about those first sales, because I’m thinking in those 10 years, you’ll have changed quite a lot. Yeah, things would be very different now, what things did you change quickly right away.

Sarah Hughes 13:17

I actually didn’t change anything quickly right away. The reason being that LinkedIn was a lot more static then. So and some things have actually stayed the same. So one thing that stayed the same is to have a compelling offer, for example, and that’s for LinkedIn or anything else in your marketing. So some things have remained constant, I’ve been through different evolutions, because it has been nearly a decade that I’ve run this LinkedIn lead gen business, things that I did was, for example, I created and I had a total 3000 of them and an E Learning course on how to use LinkedIn, which was obviously very popular. The reason that I stopped doing that was the rate of change with LinkedIn has become so vast that the materials defunct the minute you make it now.

Phil Byrne 14:17

Which is the problem with most digital marketing, online courses, and maybe even more worrying digital marketing degrees. But that’s a whole different topic. But I understand what you’re saying there.

Sarah Hughes 14:30

Totally, and so I would say to anyone, if they’re considering an online course for LinkedIn, and this is why I don’t offer it anymore. All of my LinkedIn training now is all live online. So it’s literally banged up to the minute and I would say for anyone considering buying an online course on LinkedIn, when was it created? Because if it’s not been created in the last three months, it’s out of date. I mean, it’s out of date, even of last month. But majorly out of date, there’s been so many new rollouts over the last three to six months that a lot of what any course will give you is defunct now. So that’s the first thing. Another big change for me, happened two years ago, actually, Phil, I was running another LinkedIn workshop. And again, people loved it, they could see all the value to why invest their time in LinkedIn. And yet again, someone said to me, it was a wonderful guy called Chris Williams, I’ll name check him and see if he listens to the podcast. And Chris Williams said to me, he’s a great guy that does goal setting, goal getting based near Birmingham, in the UK. And he said to me, Sarah, I love the idea of what you’re proposing. But I don’t want to do it, can you do it all for me. And this was the point at which, as you and I both know, Phil in marketing, you either spend time or you spend money, or you spend both. And there’s no shortcuts around that. And so Chris had very wisely recognised the value in his time. And this isn’t just for sole traders. This is, for example, if you’ve got a business that say, a marketing team, and they’ve even got an inside sales team, where they’ve got numerous people doing sales, doing market intelligence, data gathering, it’s for both types of business. And they realise the value of their time and only doing in the words of Sir John Harvey Jones, only doing what only you can do. And so what I then did was start to create, done for your services. And that’s been the game changer for me is that we’re now able to, we optimise our clients LinkedIn personal profiles for them, we can create company pages for them. And also vitally, we now offer a connectivity outreach service, where we guarantee to connect them to between 250 and 500 of their ideal prospects every month, as well as an automated messaging service within LinkedIn. And that’s been the game changer, because it now frees people to really get the results that time and let’s face it, boredom. Who wants to sit there doing that menial, repetitive, click invite to connect, paste the text. And so on that activity that if you want to use LinkedIn, you’ve got to have the connections to be able to do that.

Phil Byrne 17:50

Two great points Sarah, and I can just see how that ‘done for you service’ became that game changer for you. Because there must have been so many people that came along to one of your workshops, and left with every intention of following that through and then we’re just too busy.

Sarah Hughes 18:09

Do you know what, that’s so right Phil and that’s why I thought that finally, I can now offer people both, with the workshops, or the coaching or the strategy days that I offer, they’ve got a choice, they can either be equipped with the knowledge, if they want to do it manually. If they don’t want to, and some people, it’s right for them to do it manually if you’ve got a really niche audience. You know, if we were to look on LinkedIn and identify a prospect base of 50 people, you should be doing that manually. There’s no point in going to an automated service. But for most people, their potential audiences are vastly larger than that. And in that case, are you really going to be doing that day in day out? mundane, repetitive, boring work? Most are even if there’s the will they don’t find a way.

Phil Byrne 19:08

Great point. And so I’m guessing, Sarah, as you know, my next question is going to be what tips would you give a new company setting out on LinkedIn? And that first one was be be honest about the time that you have?

Sarah Hughes 19:23

That’s such a good point. Yes, be honest about the time. And I would also say it’s something that I touched on very early, and that’s have a clear proposition. Because if you haven’t got a clear proposition, it doesn’t matter how well you do on LinkedIn. Because if your proposition is not clear and compelling, no one’s going to be buying from you anyway. So that’s just another part of it. I’ve also think it’s important to create your company page on LinkedIn so you secure that domain I would also advise defining who will lead your LinkedIn in activity. So who’s going to be the face of the company on LinkedIn, because whilst you can do ads on LinkedIn, and sponsored company updates, which are all have a place, a really good route to go with LinkedIn is the connectivity route. The reason being is that once someone who is a connection of you, so that’s like them being a friend on Facebook, you can export that data if you wish, they’ve got opportunities to see your status updates, you can message them within LinkedIn. And of course, LinkedIn is a GDPR exempt platform, because its members have signed up to receive marketing messages via it. So even if someone, we’ve all been going through the GDPR horror zone recently, and so even if your list hasn’t signed up to GDPR compliant email list, so you can’t potentially legally email them anymore. With a marketing message, the joy with LinkedIn is that you can still message them via LinkedIn.

Phil Byrne 21:15

It’s a great point. And you know, here we are talking in June, less than a month after the GDPR day. And any platform that allows that kind of approach, or once someone is a connection, as you say there, they’re there for you to communicate with, as you wish going forward, all communication and marketing as to be ethical and informative and a message that people want to receive. But you’re so right, making that connection is generating a bigger audience for your business, end of the day.

Sarah Hughes 21:47

Totally. And I did a blog that I’m about post, which is about the nine benefits of connectivity as a strategy on LinkedIn. And that whole ethos of birds that lie together buy together. So as soon as you get that connectivity with your target network, it brings all of those other, you know, marketing directors, sales directors, HR directors, managing directors, whoever else you want to target, they start to cluster around you anyway.

Phil Byrne 22:20

Absolutely. So Sarah, I’m just thinking now about that whole concept of going from that first connection through to finding a new customer somewhere in the collection of those new collections. And that is something lots of people find difficult as people find selling in general, difficult. So what what advice could you give there?

Sarah Hughes 22:44

This is such an important point, Phil, because I do feel that it’s an area that people maybe struggle with the most. And this is so true for those that have 1000s of connections. And it sorts of same to asking themselves, right, well, I’ve got 1000s of LinkedIn connections, or you could say the same for Twitter, you know, however many 1000s of followers or whatever else, how many of them are buying from me. So, what’s important to do with this is to first of all, ask yourself, how can you be valuable and of service to your LinkedIn connections? So for example, with myself, I will publish articles, I’ll publish regular status updates that provide information that I know my audience has a knowledge gap with. So the first thing is to understand where are my audience’s knowledge gaps that I have the expertise to fill? And from that, you could for example, if you’re not already doing so, I’m sure you are Phil, you might want to create, like an editorial calendar. So you can think about what can I share updates and insights on. And I also follow an 80/20 rule, which is that 80% of my content is purely added value, noncommercial, and 20%, then I will make it more commercial. So I might promote a new service that I’m offering. But the vast majority of the material I share is purely to add value to my audience, and to demonstrate so it’s always better to show rather than tell to demonstrate that I am the expert in my field. So I’d say the first thing is that and then going from that first contact, what I would say is that and there are a couple of little ways around it potentially but generally speaking on LinkedIn, when you invite someone to connect, and they do connect, resist the urge to sell because it’s like a slap in the face to that person and you haven’t yet created and it doesn’t take long to create. But that relationship the know like trust factor. Because if someone doesn’t know like or trust you, they won’t buy from you anyway. And if you go back with this first message after you’ve connected with someone that’s immediately I offer this, we do this, you’ve heard this in copywriting terms, which is winning all over the page. So the first message and in fact, I would say the first four or five messages should be or lightness of touch, no direct sale. Because if your profile is so well written, people when they look at your profile to decide if they wish to connect with you, a lot of them, I get this every day, a lot of them will contact me on the basis of my profile saying: yes, that’s a problem for me. You helped me. So, summary to your question Phil, is understand where your audience’s knowledge gaps are, how you can solve problems that they have in their role pertinent to your offer, and then lightness of touch send five touch points. So once you’ve connected five messages within LinkedIn, that deliver value to your audience, and then you can start to suggest maybe an online meeting. If this is you, then you might find, for example, a chat with me beneficial because. so that’s something that I would say it’s vital for you. And then bearing in mind, do you want to do the DIY route on that? Or do you want it done for you? Because again, you’ve got that whole? How long will it take to work out? Where if you’ve got a sequence of five messages? How are you going to work out if you’ve got hundreds or 1000s of connections where someone is in that sequence?

Phil Byrne 26:59

Very difficult.

Sarah Hughes 27:01

So it’s just the solution, which is a done for you service? So it’s just working out. How many of your connections would you want to receive per sequence? And how much time do you want to spend? Or would you rather if done for you, and that’s touching on the point you made earlier, which is a company’s got to ask itself? What is our resource to do this via LinkedIn or be any other type of marketing? And do we have yet to do it?

Phil Byrne 27:33

Absolutely. And Sarah, what you’re really describing there is the process, that LinkedIn marketing process, or whether it’s done by yourself and your company, or it’s done in house? And do you find that actually, where most companies go wrong? Is that the process either isn’t there? Or it breaks down? At some important point?

Sarah Hughes 27:55

Well, it’s just that I only laugh because I’d written plan to fail to plan. And A question for podcast listeners is, when we left home this morning, if we left home, left the house, did we walk out of the door without knowing what our destination was? And for example, if we would travel there on foot by car by bike, we didn’t, did we, we had an idea when we left the house this morning, where we were going, and how we were going to get there. And it’s exactly the same with your LinkedIn activity, or any marketing activity. It’s vital to have a destination and to have a route map. So it’s like having a sat nav, because without a sat nav, LinkedIn, along with other platforms, like Facebook is now a huge platform, how do you know what to do? Because otherwise, you can waste time going round in circles. And when I work with companies on their strategy for how to leverage LinkedIn, it comes down to two basic questions, which I’ll share with you, Phil. And that’s what’s the value? So what’s the lifetime value of your prospect or your customer? So how much is that organisation going to spend with you in total? Now, the higher the value, the more you put into getting them? And also, what’s the volume? So how many of those do you need to make your business a success? And those the first two questions that I would ask any company that I’m working with them on their LinkedIn strategy?

Phil Byrne 29:43

Great questions, and so important for every business to know, what’s your lifetime value? What can we afford to spend to acquire that customer? Really important? And so Sarah, all of this, really beautifully outlined How much is involved and how much time it could potentially take? What tools are out there in the world to help us do this?

Sarah Hughes 30:09

Well, I recommend, first of all LinkedIn own mobile apps, I think are very useful. Because you know, when you start where you stood there waiting for your kettle to boil, when I’m my cup of Earl Grey tea, Phil, what a great time to just have a little scan through, you know, who’s posting what, check your messages on LinkedIn. So I recommend LinkedIn, got it general LinkedIn mobile app. There’s also Sales Navigator, which is a sales platform that you buy within LinkedIn, but it’s got its own app buts, got similar limited functionality, but it’s still worth definitely getting. And also, of course, there’s a jobs app, I don’t really touch on the recruitment side, I’ve got an associate that does that. But for any one job seeking, there is a job open and I’d recommend those apps. And then and I have to sort of mention this because it is what we offer, prospect booster which is my LinkedIn lead gen done for you service. And with that we connect you to your ideal prospects, we optimise your LinkedIn profile and presence, we guarantee that you get between 250 and 500 of those ideal prospects in your pipeline every month. And what’s more, we now can relationship build with them for you with an automated messaging service within LinkedIn. So those are the ones that I primarily recommend.

Phil Byrne 31:42

Fantastic stuff. And for those of us who just heard you say those things about your own services, Sarah, where can we find you online?

Sarah Hughes 31:50

Oh, bless you Phil. Well, of course, people are really welcome to connect with me on LinkedIn. So you can either just put Sarah Hughes into LinkedIn and find me there. Or the URL is linkedin.com/sarahhughes My web address is boostbusinessgrowth.co.uk. And also what I want to offer to Digital Sparks listeners Phil, is the opportunity to have a free one on one with me. And for anyone that would like to apply for that the website to go to is www.lead-finder.live but I’m sure we can maybe put these links at the end of wherever the podcast is to be posted to make it easy for people as well.

Phil Byrne 32:53

We certainly can. And I would just say that I’ve had one of those one on ones with you, one of the best chats I’ve had this year. And that’s exactly why we’re doing this podcast. So I do recommend people are interested to go along and check Sarah out and book in some time with her.

Sarah Hughes 33:08

Thank you Phil.

Phil Byrne 33:09

It’s a pleasure. And so all these great tips you’ve given us all these things I’ve found myself writing down as you’ve been talking to any final message you want to give everybody.

Sarah Hughes 33:22

It’s just to get real insight on how to take fewest actions to give you the biggest gains with LinkedIn.

Phil Byrne 33:35

Great thought, fewest actions with the biggest gains. It’s actually a phrase we can use in every part of our business. And what a great one to end on. To Sarah, been a pleasure having you here. Thank you so much.

Sarah Hughes 33:47

My pleasure, Phil.

Phil Byrne 33:49

Have a great rest of the day.

Sarah Hughes 33:50

Thank you and I’ll just say Happy linking

Phil Byrne 33:59

My name is Phil Byrne. Thank you for listening. I hope you got something good to take away from our great guest today. This podcast is brought to you by Positive Sparks a multi-channel pay per click and web analytics agency. If you would like some more free help and promoting what you do, head on over and test our skills and your business https://positivesparks.com

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