Name Dropping Your Client on LinkedIn… the Right Way

Name dropping? That can be dangerous – but not if you do it the right way!

I talk a lot about utilizing LinkedIn to identify who you know that knows who you want to know and position yourself to get introduced. There is nothing more powerful than an introduction from a happy client. And, LinkedIn allows us the opportunity to proactively identify your client’s connections and leveraging those relationships to get warm introductions. This is a simple search on LinkedIn. From the search bar:

1. Click on People in the drop-down
2. Choose all filters
3. Choose 2nd degree connection
4. Type the name of your client in the connections filter
5. Add location, industry and title and BOOM – you have a list of your ideal prospects that your client knows.

Typically the conversation with your client would sound something like this:

“Ms. Client, we’ve been working together for some time and based on your feedback, you have been very happy with our work. I am not sure if you know this, but I have grown my business through warm introduction from my happy clients. I hope you don’t mind, but I noticed you are connected to 9 people that I’d really like to meet, can I run these names by you?”  You then have a conversation around the list and out of the 9 your client will recommend 2 or 3. 

While typically you could ask for introductions to these select people at this point, what happens when you have a list of 3 or more people your client knows that you want to meet, it can be a challenge to as for introductions for all of those prospects. Or, if you client is very busy and asking them to take the time to send individual emails just isn’t feasible. Well, if you position yourself correctly, name dropping can get you pretty good results.

The key is to, 100% of the time, ask your client permission to mention that you had this conversation with them and that they recommend you reach out. Then…

Send a connection request to your prospect with a little note:

PROSPECT, I just got off the phone with CLIENT, and your name came up in our conversation. He thought it made sense for me to reach out and connect with you, so kindly visit my profile and if you agree, let’s connect.

When they accept your connection request:

PROSPECT, Thanks for connecting. I’d love to jump on a call and loop you in on what CLIENT and I were discussing. Here is a LINK to my calendar, please pick a time that works best for you.

LinkedIn is a powerful social selling tool, and this is one way for business development professionals to maximize the power.

Questions about LinkedIn for social selling? Let’s chat! Here is a LINK to my calendar, please pick a time that works best for you.