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To Do:

q When you have a prospect you
want to turn into a warm lead,
search career history on LinkedIn.

Review the last few tweets they’ve
Goodbye Cold Calls, common interests. Look for
sent to see if you share any
conversation starters.
Hello Warm Leads q Start with Twitter and LinkedIn for
prospect research, but don’t be
afraid to get creative. For example,
if a prospect has a Pinterest
5 account or a Tumblr, those will

give you a more personal look
than you would otherwise have.

No one likes cold calls. Salespeople don’t enjoy making them and
customers don’t like receiving them. But with social media, you can q Before reaching out to a new
lead, search LinkedIn to see if you
avoid cold calls altogether and engage in warm leads, simply by have a connection in common who
doing some research and picking the right time to reach out. could make an introduction.

Warm leads up
Instead of picking up the phone and calling a lead, only knowing name and phone number, you have to
prepare. Before you start dialing, go on LinkedIn to find professional information, like job history, and
you can search Facebook and Twitter to learn some personal details, like passions and hobbies. Don’t go
too far in your research and start the call by asking how his wife’s sister is holding up after her skiing
accident. It’s just good to know if you have some common connection that can get the conversation
rolling.

Leverage your network to find already warm leads
Look at the LinkedIn networks of your friends, coworkers, and customers to see if there are potential
opportunities and ask for introductions to specific people. When you’re referred to a prospect by
someone you know, there’s a better chance that you’ll actually connect, especially since you have
someone in common. It makes that initial conversation much smoother, and that can be a big hurdle in
converting a lead. Jump over that hurdle smoothly by finding that common connection.

Did you know?

• LinkedIn is considered the most important social network for B2B marketers (The Real Time Report)
• LinkedIn generates more leads than Facebook, Twitter, or blogging for B2B (Inside View)
• LinkedIn is the world’s largest professional network on the Internet with over 259 million users (LinkedIn)

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