How This Magic LinkedIn Message Strategy Landed 100+ Email Addresses of High-Ticket Prospects (Without Making Me Feel Like a Salesy Slimeball…)
This article originally appeared on my blog here.
I know a lot of people who struggle with finding high-ticket B2B leads.
LinkedIn is the best place for B2B, but it often feels like running a gauntlet of overseas web developers trying to sell you their web services via connection requests, or business coaches trying to book you on a 15-minute Zoom call when you’ve just added them to your network.
They’re doing it wrong!
So, now when you log onto LinkedIn, you see the trite updates about hiring a worker that was a little rough around the edges but ended up being the best employee EVER. Moral of that post is: don’t judge a book by its cover. (Side note: check out Crap on LinkedIn Twitter account for the best of the best.)
In fact, out of LinkedIn’s 500 million+ members, 61 million LinkedIn users are senior level influencers and 40 million are in decision-making positions.
But what if there was a way to unlock high-ticket clients with just a few messages (and a little know how)?
I can tell you ﹘ LinkedIn is where the decision makers of companies really do hang out, and DO answer messages, if your message is compelling enough and answers their main business challenge.
In fact, I have the CEOs of many prominent companies answering my LinkedIn messages, and some are even in my email list.
How did I do it?
Let me show you.
Before we start: this was a full year of trial and error and trying different techniques and ideas.
This was the process I created that worked for me and I could consistently repeat and generate results (i.e. getting the email addresses of high-ticket prospects into something my business owns — my email list).
So I make it look simple because I’ve taken all the guesswork out to give you a proven, repeatable process.
OK, that’s the backstory, now let’s dive in.
Finding Prospects on LinkedIn
First up, you don’t need LinkedIn Premium or Sales Navigator for this. However, if you want access to 3rd+ connections or the option to message people without connecting with them, then it’s best to upgrade to Sales Navigator first. You’ll get 30 days free trial with a credit card.
For those using free or LinkedIn Premium, this is what we do:
Go to Search > People > All Filters
Scroll down this page and you’ll see countries, job titles, company names etc.
For this example, let’s say you’re targeting CEOs of car companies.
You type “CEO” in the job title box, and the industry is “Automotive”. Next type in the country (e.g. “United States”).
From there, you’ll get the results of your search.
And voila!
Here we have the Chairman and CEO at General Motors as one of the results. Pretty good. (We can’t add her in this example as she is a 3rd connection, but upgrading to Sales Navigator will fix that.)
Now you can see there are 100 pages of results. That’s a lot of people to add!
I use an automated tool (I can’t share the name here because it technically violates LinkedIn terms of service, but contact me via my Messenger chatbot and I will tell you what it is) that helps me collect these contacts and then I manually sort through them to see who the most targeted ones are. (If you have Sales Navigator, this process is easier, but you can’t use the automated tool.)
Next, I run the tool to send a connection request to the best contacts using my tried-and-tested message strategy.
Message 1 — Connection Request
Message #1 is the connection request, and I always use a personalised message. I say we should connect as we both seem to have a good knack for business, and I would love to learn from them.
In the connection request, I offer them an irresistible hook — I will share the #1 secret to help businesses generate leads & sales using Facebook Messenger.
(Keep in mind ﹘ the hook should allude to a free guide, whitepaper or eBook you’re offering in the next message.)
Now, some will not accept, while others will accept and decline your “hook” via a message. This is OK — if they are not interested in you or your services from the hook, that means they are not your ideal client.
But most times I found a lot will accept AND they will message you immediately to find out about your hook.
Keep in mind: YOU ARE NEVER SELLING! This is what so many people get wrong. You are offering a valuable business resource at each step of this conversation.
And don’t forget, IT IS a conversation. People will ask other questions, so be sure to answer those, too. You are a human, after all.
Here’s an example of one out of dozens I’ve received after they accepted my connection request.
Pretty amazing, right? One potential client from a single connection request.
Let’s see how we use the next 3 messages to message connections who haven’t reached out, and get their email address.
Message 2 — After a Prospect Accepts Your Connection Request, Offer Them Your Free Guide
After a prospect accepts your request but hasn’t reached out, you can send them a message expanding on your hook.
As I mentioned, your hook should allude to a free guide, whitepaper or eBook you’re offering. It must be free!
For me, I am offering a free guide on some ways to use Facebook Messenger in business.
I have changed this message up depending on the type of CEO I am targeting.
If it’s a startup or CEO where I think I can use less formal language, then I will use a message that says “I have a free, handy guide that will help you <list benefits>…”
If it’s a government or corporation CEO I am targeting, I’ll use “my agency is focused on Facebook Messenger for business, and I’ve illustrated the benefits in this guide that offers insights into <list benefits>…”
Tiny tweaks mean a big difference in response.
At the end of the message, I ask, “Would you like me to send you a copy of the guide?”
Now we wait for a response.
Again, some will reply; others won’t. Some will say no, and that’s cool.
It’s the yesses you want!
Now you might be wondering, “Why do you ask for their email address and not just send them to a landing page?”
I tried sending prospects to both a landing page and Messenger chatbot link.
The landing page didn’t convert a single person. And Messenger links don’t open in LinkedIn messages. (Prospects have to copy and paste them manually into a browser, which is really annoying.)
Message 3 — After a Prospect Says YES! to Your Hook/Offer, It’s Time to Ask for Their Email Address
So you’ve got a YES! And you feel like…
Now send your next message.
Message #3 praises them for taking action, and then tells them they’ll be ahead of their competition for making this smart move.
I use the same technique here that I used when rewriting dating expert Matthew Hussey’s landing and confirmation pages, which is praise them and reassure them that they are making a wise decision.
At the end of this message, I ask, “What’s the best email address to send the guide to you?”
Hold your breath…
About 99% of the time, if they have come this far, they will give their email address. No questions asked.
Sometimes, they give me the email address of their marketing person too. (Oftentimes, I’ve been added into LinkedIn group messages with their marketing person!)
Then I head over to MailChimp, fill in their details, and add them to my email automation, to deliver the guide to them.
This is the exact formula I used to capture 100+ email addresses in about 60 days from high-ticket prospects.
Yes, I know it’s a little cheeky, but in this time, I’ve had only 3 people unsubscribe, and 1 abuse complaint. And technically, they have given me permission to send an email.
And the ones who have unsubscribed are not my ideal clients, and are not going to use my services anyway.
My list is still small as it’s just 12 months old, but it’s grown by 100 contacts using this method, and now has a 36.8% open rate (where my industry average open rate is just 17.9%), and 64% of them engage with my emails often.
Message 4 — After You Have Delivered the Guide to Your Prospect Via Email
After you’ve sent your prospect the guide via email, head back into LinkedIn messages and thank them for giving their email address, and tell them that you’ve sent a copy of the guide to them via email.
Mention that if they have any questions, they can reach out to you on LinkedIn or via that email.
A lot of them will reply “thanks”, but the trick is to make sure you have an email automation set up to send emails after your initial email delivering your freebie. You can use the Fibonacci sequence if you wish.
Message 5 — Follow Up LinkedIn Message (This is Optional)
This may not be necessary if you have an email automation set up with a few emails, but if you like, you can follow up with your prospect on LinkedIn after 3–5 days.
Keep in mind if you are targeting decision makers they don’t always have time to read things right away, so you can leave it for a week (7 days).
In this message, you are asking them if they have any questions about the guide or eBook you sent over.
And then, offer them something else of value for free.
I always have a heap of articles on Medium that I can send to help ease objections with my services. So in this message, after I’ve asked them if they have any questions about the guide I sent over, I also add, “I wanted to drop by and give you this article… <URL to article>.”
I haven’t done this too much myself, as I do find a lot of prospects reply to my emails if they are interested.
But it’s definitely worth doing if you don’t have a lot of emails in your automation yet. (I have 21 emails for my automation sequence.
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So there you have it!
Now, you can go and try this for yourself, but if you would like my tried-and-tested messages that generated 100+ email addresses of high-value prospects on LinkedIn and bypass hundreds of hours of trial and error, keep reading...
I am giving you the exact scripts I honed over a year, coupled with my 10+ years of powerful conversion copywriting experience, so you are armed with what to say to get your prospects to hand over their email address no questions asked…
All you do is grab these 5 scripts, fill in the blanks, and plug and play into LinkedIn to instantly grow your email list (and use this untapped platform to grow your ROI) in as little as 60 days.
You can grab the Magic LinkedIn Message Strategy Scripts for a special price of just $7 for a limited time!
