As business professionals, we know that LinkedIn is the happening spot to further your career, professional development, and growth of your business. Creating, optimizing, and updating your LinkedIn profile is the key to success. Once your LinkedIn profile is optimized, you are ready to connect with new clients. If you have yet to optimize your LinkedIn profile, head to my website to read a previous blog about optimizing your LinkedIn profile here. If your profile is already optimized, you are ready to learn about the 

According to Linkedin, its mission is to “connect the world's professionals to make them more productive and successful.” In this blog article let’s review ways to connect with potential new clients.

How to Connect with Potential Clients on LinkedIn

Finding Potential LinkedIn Clients by Job Title

If you go to your search bar on the Homepage of your LinkedIn profile, you will be able to click and search for ‘People’. You may have to search for a title like, ‘CEO’ and then click on the ‘People’ filter. You want to be searching for your ideal customer avatar (ICA). This way you will be able to grow your business by connecting with those related to your field of work. 

Depending on what will best suit your business, you may be looking for supervisors, CEOs, vice presidents, associates, etc. To broaden your search, you are able to search for more than one title. For example, you could search, ‘CEO AND president.’ This search will bring up users that have either of these titles. On the other hand, you can search, ‘CEO OR president. This will bring up one or the other, this way you have more specific options.

You may notice that next to each user’s name it’ll say 1st, 2nd or 3rd. This is in regard to how you are connected to that user. 

• 1st - This profile is someone you are already connected with.  
• 2nd - A user that is connected with one of your connections, it is similar to a mutual friend on Facebook. 
• 3rd - You have no connection to this profile. 

There are multiple filters that you can enable when searching for the perfect user to connect with. This is based on how specific your target audience is. You can filter items such as language, locations, industries, etc. 

Connecting via a simple search makes reaching out instantly less out of the blue. Focus on these potential connections while the iron is still hot! By connecting and reaching out to 25-50 users a day, you’ll be sure to connect with new clients in no time!

Joining LinkedIn Groups to Find Potential Clients

If you head back to the search bar, you are able to search for groups just as you do users. You can add a few additional filters to your search. The goal in joining groups on LinkedIn is to target your ICA, and determine which groups they might be hanging out in. Once you know which groups they are in, you are then able to (in a non-salesy way) marketing exactly what they are after. 

Searching for new clients on LinkedIn can be easily done through the use of LinkedIn groups, which are similar to Facebook groups. Joining groups that relate to your ICA is going to be a best practice to help grow your LinkedIn network! LinkedIn groups similar to where your ICA would be found, or other niche groups in your field will give you the most benefit. Joining a broad, competitive group won’t bring in new clients nearly as fast. 

LinkedIn is a goldmine for making new connections! Grow your network, and your client use by staying active on LinkedIn by connecting with your ICA via search, and groups. Don’t forget to post to your profile often, to inform and educate your new growing audience!

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