Episode 384: How to Prospect Your Industry Influencers’ Followers

Intro

0:00:18 – (Bob Woods): Welcome to the Making Sales Social podcast featuring the top voices in sales, marketing, and business. Join Brynne Tillman, me, and Bob Woods as we each bring you the best tips and strategies our guests teach their clients so you can leverage them for your own virtual and social selling. This episode of the Making Sales Social podcast is brought to you by Social Sales Link, the company that helps you start more trust-based conversations without being salesy through the power of LinkedIn and AI. Start your journey for free by joining our resource library. Welcome to the show.

00:00:54:11 – (Bob Woods): Hey, everybody. Good morning. Afternoon. Evening. Whatever it is for you. Welcome to Making Sales Social Live. Coming to you from the social sales link virtual studios and brought to you as always by Ask SSL Dot AI. I’m Bob Woods and I’m joined by my co-host Brynne Tillman and Stan Robinson Junior. How y’all doing today?

00:01:17:34 – (Brynne Tillman): Gentlemen, how are you? 

00:01:20:45 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Real good.

00:01:20:25 – (Bob Woods): Excellent. Excellent. So no matter what industry or industries you’re either in or you sell to, I can pretty much guarantee there are influencers within those industries. That’s why prospecting by utilizing those industry influencers and their followers is so important as businesses seek to create creative ways to engage potential clients. Learning to tap into those communities surrounding the key influencers.

00:01:55:24 – (Bob Woods): They can provide you valuable insights and especially connections. So today, we’re going to outline the essential steps in prospecting those people, and we’re going to share some strategies to engage, connect, and transform followers into loyal clients, which, I don’t know about you guys, but sounds like a great goal to me. 

00:02:18:65 – (Brynne Tillman): Yeah. Can I start? 

00:02:20:87 – (Bob Woods): You can always.

00:02:21:18 – (Brynne Tillman): Okay, so I know that Bob has his process and his questions and that we go through, which keeps us on track. Thank good. He’s a producer. Just say. However, I want to say one thing: As we’re looking at this topic, I want to think about this as these influencers are keynote speakers at conferences. Right. So the keynote is the author, the speaker and all the commenters are the people that came to see the speaker, right?

00:02:54:06 – (Brynne Tillman): The commenters are the fans. Now, the way we want to look at this is who are those people that attract the same people you want to engage with? This is the key, right? This is the magic here. So the other piece is when you’re doing this, make sure they’re are non competitor. It’s a little icky if you hop in there and you’re competing for the same business.

00:03:22:08 – (Brynne Tillman): But for example, one of the best places for me to show up is 8 am on Saturday mornings for Mark Hunter and Meredith Elliott Towers, Sales Logic Livestream Podcast. I have a very vibrant group of people that fit right into our target audience. So when I engage there, I get new connections that I can nurture over time, and they can potentially become prospects or good friends, or podcast guests for us, which has happened.

00:03:57:13 – (Brynne Tillman): Lots of things can come from it, but I love going there not just as Mark and Meredith are phenomenal and I love their content and I love engaging, but it’s like the best networking opportunity for me to do. And I’m still in my pajamas. Right? So it’s a really great it’s just a great opportunity. So as we go through this and and Bob is Bob goes through his very curated list of actionable things, which I love that the curate, the team’s curated list that follows happily run.

00:04:34:02 – (Brynne Tillman): I want you guys to think in the perspective of these influencers. Are the keynote speakers attracting the commenters? We want to engage both the influencer but primarily those commenters, so Bob, go into your magic please. 

00:04:53:13 – (Bob Woods): Sprinkle that are all on to say here. So yeah, first of all, you know, it’s easy to find those huge influencers, you know, like the Kardashians, Mr. Beast or whatever, because everyone knows them.

00:05:08:29 – (Bob Woods): We may not necessarily know who the influencers are that our prospects are engaging with. We need to find them. So how do we do that? So, if y’all don’t mind, I’m going to take this one quickly because there are four ways that we have to find. Number one is simply to check who your clients are engaging with.

00:05:32:26 – (Bob Woods): And this is easy to do on LinkedIn because you just go to their posts and you click on comments, and you see who they are engaging with. That was pretty simple. The second one is a little more nuanced, but find out what books your target audience is likely are what they’re reading. Essentially find them on, find them on Amazon, figure out what they’re writing about and things like that, and then find them on LinkedIn.

00:06:01:22 – (Bob Woods): And if they are posting on LinkedIn, which if they are authors, they should be posting on LinkedIn because they’re trying to sell books at that point, you have another potential place to find that, for lack of a better term, target-rich environment. And I put that in quotes because you’re obviously not targeting people, but you did. These are the people who you likely do want to be starting conversations with.

00:06:25:09 – (Bob Woods): Number three is using Google Search and you can use AI for this as well to find top blogs and podcasts in your target clients’ niche or industry. And from there again, you go on LinkedIn to find out if they’re posting on there or if they are not. You start engaging with people through there. And then number four is finding relevant hashtags.

00:06:46:26 – (Bob Woods): Your clients and prospects are following and then analyzing the posts to make sure that those hashtags, quite frankly, are working. If they are, you can click on those hashtags, especially on LinkedIn, and start engaging with the people. The influencers are using those hashtags and rinse and repeat everything that I’ve just said. 

00:07:10:52 – (Brynne Tillman): I have a five.

00:07:12:03  – (Bob Woods): You have a five. Let’s do a five.

00:07:13:22 – (Bob Woods): Absolutely. 

00:07:15:83 – (Brynne Tillman): No worries. Number five, listen to notes. I love this. Hop into Listennotes.com is the hub of every single podcast that’s publicly out there. And you can search by topic, by title.

00:07:32:27 – (Brynne Tillman): So if you know topics that your prospects care about, you are likely to find podcasts, interviews by some influencers. And even, you know, in our case, if you were looking to engage with people that are interested in sales AI LinkedIn, you go check out our stuff, right?

00:07:55:09 – (Brynne Tillman): And so you look at Making Sales Social on Listen Notes Dot Com. I was working with a bank on Friday, my last call on Friday with my this class cohort of bank it just love these guys they’re just amazing and outside of their bank influencers they didn’t know where to go but we took them in to listen notes. In this particular case, it was manufacturing in Texas was what they that this person was looking for and enlisted the notes.

00:08:29:24 – (Brynne Tillman): We found all these manufacturing companies, and then when we looked through a lot with the keyword Texas, we got a lot of people that were from Texas that were guests on the manufacturing podcast, like, it was amazing. And then we were able, as Bob said before, from Google AI search, jump into or Amazon jump into LinkedIn, and we would find them and long behold, they were attracting lots of people that the banker wanted to meet is really wonderful.

00:09:04:13 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Yeah. Wow. One quick side note. Awesome. Listen, notes. Yeah. Yes. 

00:09:10:75 – (Brynne Tillman): I love really. I interviewed her for the podcast, so you’ll get to know her soon. 

00:09:16:87 – (Bob Woods): Excellent. 

00:09:17:35 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Good deal. Yeah. Brynne, one quick side note. You mentioned in the 8 a.m. call on Saturday. Yes. One thing about finding an audience that’s serious is people who are showing up for an 8 a.m. call on Saturday morning are serious about them.

00:09:34:12 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Yeah. And that, automatically I love; that makes them a higher level audience. Now, I realize we’re talking about LinkedIn here, but the same thing is true of paid events in general, whether they’re online or offline. People who are willing to pay for an event are much more likely to be serious about what they’re doing and, therefore, better.

00:09:57:23 – (Brynne Tillman): That’s brilliant people Stan, and I love that. It’s huge. 

00:10:04:06 – (Bob Woods): In fact, she’s got a local event here in Lexington tomorrow. That’s that. That’s coming up tomorrow, late afternoon and in the evening that’s paid and it was 30 bucks. So I mean, you know, it’s not like it’s huge, but yet there are a lot of people out there who are going to look at that and go again, I’m going to blow that off.

00:10:20:26 – (Bob Woods): And those are, you know, more than likely not exclusively, but more and likely not that higher value type of person that you would want to connect with. So I think that’s brilliant. 

00:10:32:70 – (Brynne Tillman): All right. What do we have next on the news? 

00:10:36:69 – (Bob Woods): Yeah, Sue got in this a little bit already, and that’s just engaging on the content with the author and comments.

00:10:42:12 – (Bob Woods): So once you find all that stuff, you got to take things to the next step and the best way to do that is actively commenting and also being in that and value added mindset. You know, we mentioned the concept a lot of yes, and here which comes from improv comedy, agree and then add additional value to whatever is being said already.

00:11:08:02 – (Bob Woods): It’s a great mindset to have, especially when you’re commenting, and it works really well. 

00:11:15:98 – (Brynne Tillman): So I love to add to this. 

00:11:18:09 – (Bob Woods): Are you going to add Stan, Brynne? 

00:11:19:80 – (Brynne Tillman): Yes. And, Bob, I’d love to add to that. Yes, that is, yeah, I loved it. That is it. Yes. And that you can actually use that in your column.

00:11:28:16 – (Brynne Tillman): It says so. I love that. Absolutely. And one of the things I love to do in a comment from the influencer is quote, them because it tells them that you really consumed their content and that it was meaningful. So if you pull a quote from their piece and talk about why that resonates with you, not only will the influencer more likely engage with that, but the commenters are going to love that too, right?

00:12:00:08 – (Brynne Tillman): Because you’re continuing to talk about what that influencer talked about. So it is. Yes, ending them, right? Love this and even call it out. And then the end is, and this is why it inspired me, or this is what it made me think of, or this is right and really, really powerful. And I don’t want to jump ahead on the comment so I don’t have to spend weeks.

00:12:23:05 – (Brynne Tillman): But I think, you know, as we engage with these commenters, I want you to think in terms of if I were at this keynote and these commenters were in the room with me, how would I start a conversation with them? So actually I see that there were, Mike said, great tips. How do you suggest starting the conversation? And so we’ll dive into this a little bit more in a minute, but I want you to treat the person on the other side of the message the way you would if they were on the other side of the table.

00:13:00:24 – (Brynne Tillman): So this is a human being. I know we think of it as a profile or a lead. It’s all about me and what I want. I hear myself saying consider looking at this opportunity as networking first, not even though we’re calling it Prospecting and Prospect. If it starts with a conversation. So it’s really important that you don’t just jump in and start talking all about you.

00:13:32:10 – (Brynne Tillman): You right, But you’re talking about with Amy, right? 

00:13:40:34 – (Bob Woods): Yes, so now that Brynne has got to start in that, let’s go headlong into connecting with commenters using and this is specific here, additional content. So we do have ways to do that with people you’re already connected to as well as for second-degree connections.

00:13:58:26 – (Bob Woods): But overall, remember what I said about providing value so you can do the whole yes and thing, which is, which works really really well. I’ve done a lot. It works. You can also share additional relevant content when you’re going to that next step. So let’s say that you have already been conversing, conversing with someone in in the comments section, and you’re thinking, okay, I actually want to connect with this person for whatever reason.

00:14:32:03 – (Bob Woods): If they’re a potential networking partner, if they’re a potential prospect, if they’re just good people, no matter what, connecting using additional content is excellent because you’re again providing even more value than you’ve already done through the commenting that you’ve done within the comment section of the influencer.

00:14:57:21 – (Brynne Tillman): Stan, do you want to add to that? 

00:15:00:03 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Just going to say one thing you talk about all the time was using listen notes as a way of providing additional content that the commenter may be interested in, and you can include that in a LinkedIn invitation.

00:15:12:06 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): I basically say, I notice we’re both followers of Brynne Tillman, and if you haven’t heard it here is one or She and Bob Woods podcast that you may be of interested. Yep. Given that you might be interested in the nature of your comment. So it takes a little bit of research, but it is worth it. I love that I’m going to add that.

00:15:29:11 – (Brynne Tillman): I love that I’m going to add that. Yes. And that’s brilliant. When you listen to notes. Right. So let’s just say I’m going to stick with the Mark Hunter emeritus because I say that feels more natural to me. So, you know, so I’m engaging with these folks. And now let’s see, I see Natalie and I connect with Natalie. Really great engaging with you. You know, as we’re both fans of the Sales Logic podcast, I’m not sure if you heard this one that you went and found with Stan’s tip, right?

00:16:04:05 – (Brynne Tillman): And found that another podcast let’s connect. I’d be happy to send you the link is another way to do that to keep the conversation going. So I love that at that point you have a rapport going. Sending my link is great, but also keep it like that. The back and forth, like the tennis match is. Let’s connect it. I’ll send you the link so that we can connect.

00:16:27:05 – (Brynne Tillman): Yes, please send the link. You could even say, let’s connect. If you’re interested, let me know. Listen, we’re going to have to say yes, right? And this sparks that conversation. Now you’ve got and you’ve got that other link from listeners. That is a great, great idea. And now we love to send that back and forth. And then how do we kind of bridge that over?

00:16:51:19 – (Brynne Tillman): Well, you’re also going to look at what they do. You’re all you ask them maybe. Are there other people that you follow? Here are some other people that I follow. Hey, I’m curious. I would do this for myself. I’m not sure if a social selling tip is up your alley. But if it is, we have tons of free resources.

00:17:09:15 – (Brynne Tillman): Let me know. I’m happy to send some of that now. It’s a gift, not a push. Right after feedback and forums. So keep that in mind as you’re doing this. So the question I don’t know. I don’t see it on my phone, but I don’t see it coming up in the chat, which is interesting. But Mike, P I H O S H. Pihosh perhaps maybe Mike Pihosh that ask the question, how do we start conversations and just have a natural conversation by detaching from what the prospect is worth to you and attaching to what you are worth to them.

00:17:53:07 – (Brynne Tillman): Continue to bring value and insights that will continue the conversation moving. So I know I see it on my phone. I can show you. It’s really there. 

00:18:06:43 – (Bob Woods): Yeah, it’s weird because it’s not showing up in our platform, but I just access onLinkedIn. The broadcast and yeah, I see it there too. So that’s interesting. So, next, let’s focus on first degrees. 

00:18:24:24 – (Brynne Tillman): Stan interrupt me because I just take it so No go go for it. What’s right now and I have done this. So if you look, Mark Hunter has an insane amount of flowers in a good way, obscene in an enormous amount of hours I can search Mark Hunter followers and my first degree connections with other filters like VP of Sales or in specific industries.

00:18:50:26 – (Brynne Tillman): And so now I see that he has a I have 1200 first degree connections that meet my criteria that follow. Mark what of powerful way to re engage my first three and I’ve been ignoring Hey Stan, I see we’re both big fans of Mark Hunter recently came across a podcast and recognize you’ve already done the work to get that podcast straight.

00:19:18:23 – (Brynne Tillman): We’re just using it in another stat, right? So recently came across this podcast with some really great insights. If you’re interested, let me know. I’m happy to send you a link. And now he’s started a conversation with those first-degree connections in a trust-based way that’s not salesy. So, I just simply a lot of you might be saying, Well, how do I do that in free LinkedIn?

00:19:43:12 – (Brynne Tillman): Go up to the search bar and hit enter, go to all filters, click on first-degree connections, on people make sure you’re on people and then first-degree connections and then followers up? And by the way, you can put in the names of influencers that you’re not connected to so you can see who’s following Tony Robbins for Pretty Brown and Oprah Winfrey, right?

00:20:13:13 – (Brynne Tillman): You can find all of those followers, even if you’re not connected to that influencer that you are first-degree connected to. So really powerful. And now you’re recycling that wonderful podcast, this link. Yeah. 

00:20:34:68 – (Bob Woods): And then what’s really cool about that is also going to get us into second degree connections is that you can use the additional filters to really drawback down because especially when it comes to second grade connections, you’re going to come up by using what Brynne just said.

00:20:51:02 – (Bob Woods): So, so clicking that search bar, hitting at or making sure that you’re in people clicking on filters entering in. Mark Hunter When you click on second, like when I when I look at at my second degree, people who are following Mark Hunter because he’s an influencer, I get 18,000 results. Guess what? It’s a lot. So you can use the other filters that are in there, like locations, current company, if you want to pass company industry, especially industry, I think that that one probably the biggest one there and then you can use keywords as well especially the title one.

00:21:29:17 – (Bob Woods): If you’re looking for specific titles of people who are also following Mark Hunter who are second degree is, you can really drill down and this is all what the free LinkedIn to you can drill down and really get specific and find those exact people with whom you would like to start a conversation with. 

00:21:48:26 – (Brynne Tillman): Fabulous Boy, this is fun.

00:21:51:27 – (Bob Woods): This is, yeah, these are always fun. When do we not have fun? Yes, we always have fun. Yeah. 

00:22:02:94 – (Stan Robinson Jr.): Yep. Everything we talked about, you can do in the free version of LinkedIn. You don’t need a sales navigator to do any exact. 

00:22:10:96 – (Brynne Tillman): However, if you have it, you really draw into your exact browser, right?

00:22:18:26 – (Brynne Tillman): Yeah. You take that 1800 or 18,000; that’s when even 18,000. Ridiculous, right? So you go 18,000 and drill it down by actual rolls like as many as you sell to. There are other features in the sales navigator, like if they’ve shared content. Well, they’ve come, and they’ve shared content in the last 30 days or changed jobs in less than nine days, and that takes your outreach to a whole other level.

00:22:49:23 – (Bob Woods): Yeah, absolutely. So you have homework from this episode which, you know, let’s admit it, you usually have homework after every one of our episodes, but for today, it’s to go and find those influencers and authors on LinkedIn or other platforms who have you know, a large following or doesn’t even have to be large necessarily if if they have a smaller following.

00:23:13:18 – (Bob Woods): But it’s exactly the person that is exactly the people within that following that you’re trying to reach, the size doesn’t matter because they are reaching the exact people who you want to reach and then use everything that we’ve just taught you can definitely start more conversations with the people who you want to be talking to in the first place, which is always a good thing, right guys?

00:23:37:05 – (Brynne Tillman): Absolutely. 

00:23:38:93 – (Bob Woods): And so with that, we appreciate you making time for this episode of Making Sales Social Live sponsored by Ask SSL Dot AI. If you’re with us live on LinkedIn or YouTube right now, we do this every week. So, keep an eye out for those live sessions. If you’re listening to us on our podcast, hit that subscribe or follow button so you can have access to us all the time, and drop a like or comment if you’d like to as well.

00:24:06:00 – (Bob Woods): Or like in a comment, we’ll do either we do two shows weekly, this one and our Making Sales social interview series where we talk with leaders and experts in sales, marketing, business and many, many, many more areas. More info on our podcast is available at social sales link dot com slash podcast. So when you’re out and about this week and every week, be sure to make your sales so social, and we’ll get there someday. It’s getting better. Yeah, yep, that’s thanks, everybody. 

00:24:44:76 – (Brynne Tillman): Have a great side down if you’re listening live, go to Prompt Writing Made Easy and get on the waitlist for our book that’s coming out April 15th.

00:24:53:25 – (Brynne Tillman): We’re very, very, very excited. And if you’re listening in replay, it’s Prompt Writing Made Easy by the book. Bye, guys. 

00:25:04:43 – (Bob Woods): All right. Very excited. Yeah. One, two, three. We need more than three, but that’s okay. Next time I get like. Bye-bye.

Outro:

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