Do you know that in five minutes the new LinkedIn can help you fill a virtual room with stopwatch time iconyour perfect prospects and then add new prospects each week?

And once you find them, their LinkedIn profiles will help you figure out the best way to meet them.

To quickly get your highly targeted prospect list, just follow these simple steps.

Let’s say you want to find the current managers of purchasing, procurement, etc. at three of the largest manufacturers in Milwaukee: Generac, Rockwell Automation, and SC Screen Shot 2017-04-19 at 1.53.50 PMJohnson.

1.  Enter manager + (purchasing OR procurement OR “supply chain” OR buyer) in the Search box on the left side of your top toolbar. Then click the magnifying glass next to the Search box.

2.  When the results are returned, click People from the choices on the line just below the top toolbar.Screen Shot 2017-04-19 at 1.52.32 PM

3.  In the right-hand filter column, click the +Add icon in the Locations- section and type Milwaukee. Then choose Greater Milwaukee.

4.  Next, in the right-hand filter column, click +Add in the Current Companies section. Then type Generac and choose the Generac company entry that you’re interested in. Repeat for Rockwell and SC Johnson.

You’ll then see a list of your perfect prospects at those three companies on your screen. And if you click Create Screen Shot 2017-04-19 at 1.53.05 PMsearch alert near the bottom of the right filter column, you’ll get a weekly email from LinkedIn with any new prospects at those three companies.

For the people on this list, you can:
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  • Check out their full profiles and see who in your network can introduce you to them.
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  • Look for conversation starters; e.g., similar interests, previous employers, schools attended, LinkedIn groups, community service involvement, etc.
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  • Send a direct LinkedIn message if you and your prospect are both members of the same LinkedIn group. If you have no similar groups, consider joining one of your prospect’s groups so you can send a free direct message.
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  • Send a customized LinkedIn connection invitation that includes information about how you might be able to help them.

No more cold calling and saying, May I speak with the purchasing manager, please. At a minimum, you’ll have the name of your prospect. But if you use your LinkedIn resources well, you’ll have a wealth of information about your prospect and perhaps even a personal introduction.