When I begin a LinkedIn consulting engagement, the first thing I typically ask is “Who do you want to meet?” After all, LinkedIn at its core is the largest database of business professionals ever assembled, and Business group having a partyfinding the right folks for you to meet, no matter the purpose, is one of its strong suits.

I recently discovered a new, more effective way to find more of the right people on LinkedIn. The Advanced People Search and People Similar To features are good on their own, but I’ve learned they’re much better when used in tandem.

In short, it’s like LinkedIn is throwing a party just for you, and they handpick the attendees. They find people who are very similar to the people you’re already having success with.

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How to Get the Party Started

1.  Perform an Advanced People Search for your perfect target. If you need help with this, read “Create a Targeted Prospect List on LinkedIn in Five Minutes or Less.”

2.  You will normally see people near the top of the search results that you are already connected to (first degree) as well as others who have a very high relevancy to you based on LinkedIn’s relevancy formula.

Pick someone from the list who is already important to you (e.g., current client) or looks interesting to you (maybe you’d like to meet lots of people like him/her). Screen Shot 2014-07-19 at 8.29.47 AMThen click the word “Similar.”

3.  You will then be given a list of 99 people who are similar to that person.

4.  Scroll through this LinkedIn-generated “special party attendee list” and get busy connecting with a few of the best people on the list. Now, that’s what I call an “A List” party.

Don’t forget to follow the important rules for inviting them to join your network by reading “Are You Making this BIG LinkedIn Mistake?”

5.   Repeat this procedure for other targeted search criteria.

Trust me, once you have followed these simple steps a few times, you’re going to attend this party often and leave with new relationships that will lead to drastically improved results on LinkedIn.