Picture yourself a few minutes early for an appointment with a client or someone who might be able to help you get a great new job. You’re sitting in your car or hanging out in their lobby or waiting room.
What is the highest and best use of that few minutes prior to your meeting?
I suggest it’s using LinkedIn’s free and recently improved mobile app to check out the network of the person you’re meeting and look for people you’d like to get introduced to.
Here’s how it works.
Open your LinkedIn mobile app.
Type in the search box the title(s) of the people you’re most interested in finding. If you have multiple titles, you need to put an OR in between the titles, and the OR needs to be in all caps.
Once you receive your search results, choose People and then Filters.
Choose the Connections of filter option, and enter the name of the person you’re waiting to meet in the search box that appears.
Caveat: To do this, you have to be connected to the person you’re going to be meeting with.
Next, click the big, blue Apply button at the bottom of your screen, and LinkedIn will give you a list of that person’s connections who have the title you requested.
You can also go back to Filters and add additional filters to your existing search, including location, current companies, past companies, industries or schools.
Caveat: If your connection has chosen to hide their first-level network from their connections, you’ll only be able to see people to whom both of you are connected.
Scroll through the list and look for two or three of the most interesting people. Then mention those people at your upcoming meeting, and see if they’d be willing to introduce you to them.
This is like flipping through the person’s Rolodex (I’m dating myself), Outlook, or wherever they keep track of their friends prior to your meeting. I’m sure I don’t need to tell you just how valuable this could be.
So stop wasting time while waiting for people. Pull up your LinkedIn mobile app and start searching for people who can help you move your business and career forward.
You can find instructions for doing the same LinkedIn function on your desktop in this companion article.
SPECIAL OFFER: If you’d like to learn more valuable strategies and how you can implement them to grow your specific business, then take advantage of the $175 special I’m running.
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Here’s what a recent client said about her session:
“I highly recommend Wayne’s 1:1 LinkedIn coaching session. Per Wayne’s guidance, I reached out to the SVP of Client Success for a company I saw a suitable role. I used language Wayne provided in our 1:1 session to initiate the contact. The SVP responded within an hour, stating they are looking for someone in the Chicago market, that he liked my background, and that I should email him once I apply so he could ask the recruiter to reach out to me. Since then I’ve had an initial interview and interacted with the SVP multiple times, adding a valuable contact to my network. Wayne, thanks for giving me the tools I needed to move a little further outside my comfort zone and amp up my networking.”
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