Now that you have the list of what your ideal client/ employer looks like, now we have to find them on Linkedin.
Go into the Linkedin app and click on the “Search” element in the top left menu
You’ll then get presented with a page that looks something like this
Click on “Companies” and you’ll get a access to all of the companies listed on Linkedin – at the time of writing this, 58.7m of them!!
I’m sure that you can find those organisations that you feel you can add value to from a list of 58.7m, don’t you?
In the basic free Linkedin version, you have a small number of filters that can help you break this long list down into a much more manageable number. If you have access to Sales Navigator, the number of filters are significantly more.
However, for the purposes of this session, the basic Linkedin is sufficient.
So, let’s assume that you believe that you are most suited to the larger UK based Utilities companies. In this example, I have filtered down to Location = United Kingdom, Industry = Utilities and Company Size = 501-1000, 1001-5000, 5001-10,000 & 10000+ employees
As you can see, this filtered the 58.7m organisations down to a much more accessible 162.
At this stage, you now have a defined list of 162 organisations that meet your high level assessment of the type of organisation that you can add value to, now what?
At this stage, it is best practice to extract this list into an Excel spreadsheet/ Google Sheet so that you can keep track of your upcoming activities
Within the listing shown, you’ll notice a couple of really interesting ‘links’. Always ‘right-click’ on the link to open in a new Tab so as to not lose your filtered list.
These are;
- X Connections work here
- Y Jobs
Why are these of interest?
Well, where you have existing connections working within the organisation, you have a way to build a better understanding of who the most appropriate person is for you to approach and these connections may even be able to ‘introduce’ you – a much more effective approach than a ‘cold’ connection request/ message.
Secondly, understanding the type of roles that the organisation is looking to recruit can provide some insight into what they are prioritising along with their strategic intent.
Also, from this list, you can easily access their ‘Company’ Page which in many instances opens up a significant amount of data/ information – all useful to ensure that when you make your approach, you can ‘stand out from the crowd’.
From my list, I’ve clicked on Electricity North West and have been presented with this;
From here you can discover so many elements of the organisation and it is worth spending some time researching the organisation before making any direct approach so that you can identify specific topics of conversation that may trigger an interest in your ‘target’ individual(s).
To help you identify the relevant people within the organisation, (based upon your ideal ‘avatar’) you have two options.
You can click on the ‘People’ tab and get access to more data about the people employed by the organisation, along with a list of people connected to the organisation or you can click on the xxx employees link.
I tend to utilise the employee link as I find it more accessible and easier to work through.
Also, with this option, you can utilise the search button again to narrow down your ‘people’ search.
So, in the Electricity North West example, I’ve included the term Programme Director into the top Search bar and have been presented with the following 39 results (down from around 1000 previously).
You also now have access to more filters which can reduce this list down still further.
Now that you have a list of relevant people within the organisation, copy these over to your Excel/ Google Sheet.
Although this may seem like a lot of work to do when you still don’t know whether there will be any opportunities within the organisation for you to assist with, it is worth undertaking as it is the bedrock of everything that we cover within #TLH.
It allows you to become the ‘sniper’ targeting those people that you have identified as being your ideal client/ employer. Now that you have identified them, you can position yourself with them in the most appropriate way and by doing so, you’ll immediately differentiate yourself from the majority of people on Linkedin.