By Tracey Fudge
The podcast currently has 15 episodes available.
00:01 So let's talk about the exact process of the method and let's sort of walk through that because it's interesting... When I get onto these demo calls, it's hard to demo. It's hard to "demo" what we do because it's not a product per se. So let's walk through it. The first thing I do, and I had to learn the hard way on this one...is to really interview my client before they even sign. So I want to learn what their style is and if they are okay, with being on LinkedIn and putting themselves "out there", because a lot of leaders are behind, you know, they were the engineers or something behind.Behind the business itself. And it's difficult for them to go and to be a Thought Leader and to put themselves out there. If that doesn't work and we can't find another right hand man or right hand woman to do that, then it won't work.
01:10 So I do do a lot more vetting than I did before. So if I understand, if all things are good and we understand expectations and that part of the interview process is done and they vetted me and I vetted them, then the next step and the very first thing we do is understand who do you want to go after with your message. And it's, it's not a one question, it's really an all encompassing question. And I like to look at it from a point of "painting a picture". So paint me a picture of who you want to go after and why. What makes you unique and what is that story? So we've got to make sure that the, the niche, well that's the other key part. If you're not willing to niche down and go after one segment, you can't help everybody, you've got to niche it down and we've got to go after a sub-segment of the, of the world with your solution and with your product.
02:16 So once we figure that out and we understand that they are on LinkedIn, because not everybody is on LinkedIn, then we figure out what your message looks like and what problem are you solving for? And once we do that, we do an asset audit or a content audit. Is there any content that's already been written around this? Can we re-purpose it? What does that look like? Are there articles, PDFs, are there previous webinars that we can look to? What does that content look like? So that we can map a buyer's journey. Because everybody's going to go through a journey, and you've probably heard this.... There is the, the world that's, that's probably aware, but they're not aware of you. That's a different message than someone who is aware of the problem and is aware of you and they are at that stage of actually evaluating you and maybe your competitor.
03:19 So that's a different message. So we map out the content to the buyers' journey and we figured out who that buyer target is that we're going to go after. And then we start looking at your database of your connections, the existing one. And either we analyze what you've, what you have currently or we look to build a new one or both. And sometimes those happen in parallel. You absolutely need Sales Navigator for any of those to work because we go in and we build a list(s) inside of sales navigator and we tag and we create a list for leads and lists for our accounts and we set up the news-feeds to appear certain ways so that we're engaging al the time in your news-feed on both platforms. That takes probably two to four weeks. That's a lot longer than you think! I've summarized it as quickly as I can.
04:18 So we've, we've decided on the target niche, we've decided on the message, we've decided on the journey that we're going to take them through and we've decided on that call to action, whether that call to action at the end, is to get on a phone call with you or attend a webinar or go to a workshop or something else. Then we start doing the invitations through LinkedIn and you start strategically inviting the
00:01 I think it's important for you to understand how the LinkedAuthority Method came about. That's the service is we're offering. So here's a little story. I w headed for law school and was siting in a bar. Imagine that? Having a beer with a friend of mine and I said, "Gosh, I really don't want to go to school anymore. I'm burned out!" And she looked over and she said, "Well, you should go sell this stuff called software" And said "what the hell is software?" She said, "I don't know. I think it goes on hardware". So that gives you an idea about how long ago that was. So I made a couple of calls the next day. I'm like, hell, you can make decent money doing the software stuff! And there's not a lot of girls selling it!
00:55 I'm going to go run, do that. And there I went. And I was in technology sales and went out to California, did the whole IPO. Actually did three IPOs and of course thought I was going to retire and was a humbled very quickly and cae crawling back to Atlanta years later. But the point that I, I've been in technology sales. I was in technology sales a long, long time in various roles, always responsible for revnue, bringing in new leads, bringing in logos and closing deals. And I was very good at closing actually. But fast forward...got married and had kids and got to a point where, you know, the big bang happens. And I think we all have our turn when that happens. And what happened was that I went through a divorce and three months after that got settled, I as diagnosed with breast cancer.
02:00 So the only reason I say that is that I was like, "Holy cow, I've got to do something!" You know, I was already sort of burned out anyway on corporate America. I had seen a lot of brilliant people do these startups and businesses and said "I want to go do that. I think I can go do that!" And I really needed a time to heal and do my own thing, so to speak. So I had always had these grand visions of a building. Well, I paint, so I'm an artist, so I've got this artistic side and I've got this science and math side, so both sides of my brain works. It was kinda crazy. But I had always had these great visions of designing these, these websites, and I thought, "Oh, I can start a business and I can, I can go and build websites and I can do this SEO stuff and this PPC stuff and I can do all that..."
02:53 And off I went and I realized "Oh my God, I don't, I don't have any clients; I don't know how I'm going to get clients." And I didn't have a lot of money or a lot of runway. So the, the, the point I'm trying to make is that the LinkedAuthority method was a method I came up with to survive, to grow my Thrive Ad Agency. Right. And, had put, I'd had this, I had a great database of LinkedIn connections, in the technology space and had a lot of leadership connections. And I thought "Well, I know those and I know about tech. Infusionsoft had just come out and I know about a little bit of this tool and a little bit of that tool. So I put it together and I created the method and the method has been improved.
03:43 Of course, I've, it's keeps getting better. You know, I stay up in the middle of the night, three o'clock in the morning thinking about how I can get it better. And it does, it keeps getting better, but it is a, a method to go out and say to the world, what you're doing and then nurture that relationship to the point to where when they're ready, they're going to think of you. And it is that, that's what we lead with. I actually don't sell website design or SEO or PPC, so I should change the name of the company to LinkedAuthority. But but that's the, that's the method. And that's what we sell. And that sort of the backstory. I don't know if that's, if that's interesting, but people do ask, you know, "how did you get into this
00:00 I get asked a lot about how we're different than what's being done internally at businesses. And I also get asked quite often how we are different than other providers out there proposing to do the same thing. There's a lot of noise out there offering to 10X revenue with lead gen....for 12 cents an hour or something crazy like that. So let's start with the internal efforts. Thought Leadership, social selling, the modern selling is an effort that is over a long period of time and it has to be sustained. It is something that the marketing and sales team don't do on a consistent basis, especially the sales team. Sales, and I am a recovering sales rep, so I can speak to this, sales gets burned out if they're doing too much education. They all want more inertia and the deal.
01:01 So ideally a sales rep is brought in once the prospect is leaning in and it's up to marketing's role to educate before that point. But what's missing is that the Thought Leader in the organization is the one that needs to deliver the information and build the messaging and build the relationships, because that's who prospects want. They want to know Founder of the company. They want to have that personal connection. They don't want to know how smart you are or how many other businesses that you've started. Prospects want to know that you care about them and that you understand their problems and you know how to solve them. And maybe that's a backstory to why you started the company. These are the critical areas. I think a lot of internal marketing teams, pop up Thought Leadership in a different, more generic way.
02:02 They will post fromthe person's profile, just an article. An article share on LinkedIn, a company article share or something like that. This is missing the mark altogether, because you're not building that one to one relationship on a one to many scale. That's a big difference. And the sales team isn't going to do that kind of effort on a consistent basis. This has to be a consistent effort to make it work. In terms of how we're different from all the other noise out there...and there's a lot, I compete with it every day. First, get on the phone with these people. Do they speak English? Are they college graduates? Do they focus on technology? Do they focus on the leadership? And what are the tactics? Is it just cold calling? Cold calling doesn't work. And is it just a list that they're calling from?
03:02 How targeted is that list? And they are trading time for money, that's a big red flag. And if you're trading a lead for money, that's a big red flag, because they're not going to take the time to do it right. So our approach is a Done-For-You campaign and we focus just on leadership and technology. Plus we are LinkedIn Certified Consultants. We do it the right way. We do it consistently. We have a weekly meetings and with that, you have 100% transparency in what we're doing. There's no smoke and mirrors. There's no wodering what we're doing and how we're spending our time. And that is a big, big difference. If any of that resonated or piqued your curiosity, I would love to speak with you. Just click the link below, answer some questions, and we can get on the phone and talk more. All right, take care. Bye.
https://calendly.com/thriveadagency/linkedauthority-30min-discovery
00:00 I would like to go over something that's pretty critical. As we all look at Sales and Marketing and even in leadership roles, we're all in the position of being very concerned about revenue and lead gen and opportunities. So there are three areas around this that I want to cover right now. One is that the selling paradigm, the selling process, the selling landscape - it has changed with the advent of the internet and social selling and how people consume information. It's all changed. Your prospects are going to do a lot more research behind the scenes long before they get involved with you. So the traditional role of the sales rep has changed. That is the one point I want to make. The second point is the sales rep is no longer the only vehicle to deliver information. The leadership of a company, and I'm not talking about the sales leadership or the marketing leadership, I'm talking about the the CEO, the Founder, the top person - is just as responsible for going and getting people interested in the business and the product and the service.
01:19 This is just as important as the marketing team is putting out a website or putting out marketing collateral. And the leadership is still just as important, if not more, of putting particular deals into the pipeline and driving those deals through the funnel all the way to closure. So that role, traditionally it was left up to sales. Marketing would send a lead to sales and sales would nurture them and close the deal. And then the leadership team was brought in at the 11th hour to kind of close the deal. That's all changed. The reality of today is that leadership is involved in the front end and the middlle and at the end. It is thought leadership that is driving the intrigue, driving the interest of the consumer, of the prospect and to the business. That's the second point. The third point I want to make, and it's really where our niche is, is that we feel like the technology industry, as compared to other industries, has a more difficult time of finding opportunities and lead generation because, it is more difficult to pinpoint the right message to the right target at the right time.
02:44 A lot of technology businesses are focused on industry disruption and finding those early adopters of the technology. This strategy is sustainable for a short period of time, but not over a long period of time. As an aside, I could go more into that. So those are the three areas. One, the selling paradigm has changed. Two, Leadership is involved now more than ever through the entire sales process. Third, that technology industry has a more difficult time. The last part to this is that in order to approach all that you need a systematic method to it all. And that doesn't mean bots and automation and things like that. It's just a one to many approach of driving a message strategically, a message to deliver people and push them through the pipeline. That's what the systematic approach is. And we find that that conversation is not had internally as much as it is externally.
03:51 A marketing team, for instance, our experience is that when we come in and we talk about it..."you need a systematic approach to build relationships and drive revenue and drive leads and opportunities" They respond, " Oh my gosh...no!" So we are a threat to them because well it's a new approach to it that will potentially compete with exactly what they are doing. When you talk about systems and methods and things like that, it's a threat many times. When we go out and we speak to leaders and technology organizations when we explain this, many times the light bulb goes off. And that's why these conversations aren't being had. So the truth is you do need a systematic approach to deliver your message as a Thought Leader to your audience, to make sure that you're hit
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You may have heard, we are launching the "Build & Monetize Your Thought Leadership Platform" 5 Day Challenge.
Everyone talks about WHAT this is, but no one shows HOW to build a solid platform or HOW to measure success from it.
The Challenge will guide you through an unprecedented transformation, a real game-changer for leaders and entrepreneurs.
It is the "Ultimate Growth Strategy For Serious Leaders"
We will unfold the exact steps to building, systematizing and monetizing your Thought Leadership!
Check it out HERE: https://www.thelinkedauthority.com/5-day-challenge
Talk Soon,
Tracey
Have an impact and reach your audience now in 5 easy steps. The real LinkedIn Cheat Sheet for Leaders & Entrepreneurs. No tech overwhelm.
The exact method that hundreds follow to create 30% more opportunities each and every month.
We are launching the LinkedAutomation Podcast where we will share with the audience the tactics & strategies around social selling and the LinkedIn platform.
This podcast has been requested a great deal by my clients and colleagues, and I'm super excited to share with you all exactly what we do in the LinkedAutomation Method. We are going to pull back the curtains and go through our exact process that we take our clients through.
The truth is….
Most people sell the “old fashioned” way. As a result, most sales pipelines are dry. Many leaders are very frustrated by the lack of consistency and predictability in their selling efforts.
The truth is….
Very few people know how to use LinkedIn. Very few people leverage it the right way. Most people are leaving potential opportunities on the table.
In this LinkedAutomation Podcast…
I promise you that no one will teach you what we will in such great detail. We will have very matter of fact discussions and cover very specific details as to tactics and strategies.
This podcast will be broken into weekly episodes on how to monetize your LinkedIn network the ‘social selling’ way, all without being sleazy or salesy.
Episode Topics will include:
People are stalking you on LinkedIn. Trust me. They are reading what you post, analyzing your thought leadership, comparing your authority and seeing what you are up to. All to determine....
IF THEY LIKE & TRUST YOU.
This all happens before they engage with you. It is happening now while you read this. It happens while you sleep.
Don't worry about it! Embrace it and let your authenticity shine through. Scars and flaws and all!
The podcast currently has 15 episodes available.