#60 How to reach x20 ideal customers every day

For 3 years I wasted the best energy of my day at networking events.
As an introverted solopreneur, I detest face to face networking;

Waking up at 5am.
Driving across town.
Making small talk.

By the time I got home I needed to go sit in a dark cupboard for a few hours just to wind down.

All for what?

To eat stale sandwiches and collect business cards from an army of accountants that end up in my drawer?

Meanwhile, my ideal clients were right there on LinkedIn the whole time.

Why traditional networking SUCKS

Traditional networking is a time vampire.
You spend hours hoping to meet ONE person who might need your services someday.

And who decided these events should start at 6am?

By noon, my day is shot.
My energy is drained.
And I’ve collected zero qualified leads.

Traditional networking
Networking relys on hoping that the right person turns up at the right time, just when they need your services.
Advantage? It builds trust faster than outreach.

Virtual networking
Virtual nwtowrking takes longer per person to build trust.
But due to volume is more effective overall

Build a daily lead generation habit

I’ve developed a daily habit you can use to reach 20 of your ideal customers, every single day.
The process is simple:

▶️ Filter for decision makers in your target industry
▶️ Connect without pitching (just like at networking events)
▶️ Help don’t sell.
▶️ Optimize your profile to sell for you

Here’s the whole system step-by-step system for reaching x20 of your ideal clients every day.
This will make more sense in video format…

0:00 Identify your ideal client
0:20 why traditional networking SUCKS
0:35 my secret weapon to find your ideal customers
1:10 build a list of your ideal customers
1:20 play the long game – DON’T sell, offer to help and build your network.
2:30 Your offer, pitch and CTA
3:00 optimize your profile to sell for you instead
3:30 x20 new customers a day

Virtual networking on steroids.

There’s a better way to get leads than face to face networking.
Your ideal clients are already hanging out on LinkedIn.
All 500 million of them.

But most people use LinkedIn like a digital business card.
That’s like showing up to a party and standing in the corner hoping someone notices you.
Or worse, they are broadcasting at the top of their voices.

If someone needs your help, they will let you know.
And the ones who truly need help will appreciate you skipping the small-talk too.
But first you have to find the ones that actually need your help…

How to Identify your ideal client

Don’t skip this step.
Before you do anything else:
Who exactly are you trying to reach?

• Job title
• Industry
• Customer Niche
• Company size
• Location
• Pain points

Get specific.
Poor freelancers target everyone.
The richest freelancers target decision makers with specific problems an optimized offer

My secret weapon to find your ideal customers

You can target exactly who you want to speak to, and reach out to them to strike up a conversation,
Just as you would at a networking event, except without all the stale sandwiches, preamble and 6am wake-ups.

Use LinkedIn Boolean Search to find your ideal customers
LinkedIn’s Boolean search lets you create hyper-targeted searches using AND, OR, and NOT operators.

Example:

“Marketing Director” AND (SaaS OR “Software as a Service”) AND “Series B” AND “tech”

This search will find you Marketing Directors at Series B SaaS companies in the tech industry
Insane.

Build a list of your ideal customers

Once you’ve got your search dialed in:

• Bookmark it.
• Run it daily.
• Connect with 20 people.

That’s 100 new connections per week.
400 per month.
4,800 per year.

4,800 makers who match your exact criteria.

DON’T sell, offer to help

Face to face networking excels in just one area:
Trust.

Face to face encounters build trust faster than anything else.
You will sell in a face to face conversation X5 more often than a virtual meeting.
But…
They take X10 longer.

Virtual networking takes much longer mindset to build trust,
But the overall volume of virtual networking combined to make virtual networking much more effective overall

But it requires a longer mindset.

People are overwhelmed by all the offers and pitches these days.
Don’t be the person pitching,
Pitching doesn’t work anymore on social.

You aren’t going to sell your services on the first or even the tenth interaction.
Think months and years.

You can offer to help, but even this will be perceived as a pitch.
Better ibstead to just ask questions and build a relationship.

Never directly pitch your offer
(unless someone has specifically asked for it, or has asked you to DM them from a comment)
If someone wants your help, or is interetsed in what you’re selling they’ll visit your profile and get your pitch from there.

Play the long game.
Connecting alone isn’t enough.
The fastest way to kill a LinkedIn connection?
Pitching immediately after connecting.

Instead:

“Hey [Name], noticed you’re [relevant observation]. How’s {niche} business going these days?”

Start conversations, not sales pitches.

Find a way to (gently) steer the conversation towards a problem they have that you can solve.
This may take experimentation. be patient.
Then help them solve something, or provide something that helps them. for free.
Don’t ask for anything in return.

When they need your help again in 3 months, who they gonna call ?
Ghostbusters.
Then you.

Optimize your offer, pitch and CTA

Despite what the gurus tell you,
you don’t need to sell in the DMs if you don’t want to.

Your LinkedIn profile is your silent salesperson.
When someone gets your connection request, the first thing they do is check your profile.
Is yours selling for you?

Most people waste their banner image on a company logo.

Use that space to communicate:

• Who you help
• How you help them
• What they should do next

Optimize your profile to sell for you

Your profile should answer:

1. What problem do you solve?
2. Who do you solve it for?
3. How are you different?
4. What should they do next?

Don’t make people figure it out.
Tell them exactly what you do and how to take the next step.

Here’s my funnel…

When I connect I ask “how’s {niche} design life treating you?”
👇
If they are struggling with something I send them a free resource that can help.
👇
The free resource has a lead magnet with a more indepth resources
👇
When they subscribe they get offered a free freelancer audit

A habit to reach x20 new customers a day

15 minutes.
Every morning.
Before email.

• Identify your ideal customer
• Connect
  • Acknowledge, Compliment, Ask
• Personalize the message
• Comment
• Support

That’s all it takes to connect with 20 potential clients daily.

The math is simple:
15 min/day × 20 connections = 400 new ideal customers monthly

Compare that to a networking event:
3 hours × 5 connections = 5 potential customers

Which would you rather have?

___

This isn’t complicated.
It’s just a system most people are too distracted or lazy to implement.
While others are sleeping through networking breakfasts, you could be building a pipeline of perfect clients.

Here’s a video walkthrough you can follow in less than 5mins…

0:00 Identify your ideal client
0:20 why traditional networking SUCKS
0:35 my secret weapon to find your ideal customers
1:10 build a list of your ideal customers
1:20 play the long game – DON’T sell, offer to help and build your network.
2:30 Your offer, pitch and CTA
3:00 optimize your profile to sell for you instead
3:30 x20 new customers a day