A fast, easy, and effective way to leverage the power of LinkedIn is to use it to track down key contacts who you're trying to reach at particular companies.
For instance, if you're a software maker and you're seeking to get in touch with a potential customer, such as the name of the director of I. T at Company Y, it might not be possible to find out the details when you ring up Company Y's main number. A lot of times, receptionists have been instructed not to give out such employee data when calls come in.
To get around this hurdle, LinkedIn can be a useful solution.
Simply go to the search site of your preference and type in the following: "director of information technology" "Company Y" "LinkedIn.com". It's important that you include the quotation marks as indicated when doing your search. If you don't, your results will be too broad, and you may need to scroll through many choices to find what you're looking for. The quotation marks around your search terms tell the search engine that you're using that you only want to see the specific terms as indicated, and nothing else.
In most cases, the name of the specific person who you're looking for will be listed among the search results. When you click the link to your target's LinkedIn page, you'll also find a number of other potential contacts who are listed under the heading "Viewers of this profile also viewed..." which is on the right side of the page.
You now have a great choice of perfectly targeted selections to make contact with at Company Y, and when you ring up the main number and ask for the person's name that you've discovered, your call should immediately go through - and you can then make your connection.
For instance, if you're a software maker and you're seeking to get in touch with a potential customer, such as the name of the director of I. T at Company Y, it might not be possible to find out the details when you ring up Company Y's main number. A lot of times, receptionists have been instructed not to give out such employee data when calls come in.
To get around this hurdle, LinkedIn can be a useful solution.
Simply go to the search site of your preference and type in the following: "director of information technology" "Company Y" "LinkedIn.com". It's important that you include the quotation marks as indicated when doing your search. If you don't, your results will be too broad, and you may need to scroll through many choices to find what you're looking for. The quotation marks around your search terms tell the search engine that you're using that you only want to see the specific terms as indicated, and nothing else.
In most cases, the name of the specific person who you're looking for will be listed among the search results. When you click the link to your target's LinkedIn page, you'll also find a number of other potential contacts who are listed under the heading "Viewers of this profile also viewed..." which is on the right side of the page.
You now have a great choice of perfectly targeted selections to make contact with at Company Y, and when you ring up the main number and ask for the person's name that you've discovered, your call should immediately go through - and you can then make your connection.
About the Author:
Rafe Gomez is a principal at VC Inc. Marketing, a provider of business strategy, lead gen, sales support, p.r, and marketing communications services to companies . His work has been featured in a number of major media outlets, including Adweek, DM News, American Express OPEN Forum, Fox News Channel, MSNBC, PBS, CBS Radio, and The NY News. Follow him @vcincmarketing
