Why adding prospects on LinkedIn is essential for your business

LinkedIn is a powerful platform for generating qualified prospects for your business; it’s much more than just a social network. You can connect with virtually anyone around the world and message them afterward. By adding the right prospects, you can turn your audience into a visibility, credibility, and business opportunities machine.

This strategy is particularly effective for entrepreneurs just starting on the platform who want to quickly reach their target audience.

Increasing your visibility and generating business opportunities will come from adding the right people.

In this article, we explain why this action is essential for your business and how to do it as effectively as possible for your prospect generation.

1. Increase your visibility and influence

Each new connection on LinkedIn is an opportunity to amplify your reach. When you add relevant prospects, your content is seen by a larger audience, thus increasing the chances of engagement (likes, comments, shares).

This increased visibility positions you as an expert in your field and enhances your influence, which naturally attracts other prospects interested in what you offer.

Even though LinkedIn may push your content to be seen by people outside your network, adding people to your network should organically increase your reach and visibility to your prospects.

2. Strengthen your social proof

Social proof is the idea that people rely on the actions of others to decide what to do. For example, having a lot of followers on LinkedIn boosts your credibility, which attracts more prospects and makes lead generation easier.

On LinkedIn, numbers speak. If you have a lot of followers, it shows that you’re active, connected, and credible in your field.

By adding prospects, you increase the number of your connections, which sends a positive signal to people who view your profile.

A profile with many connections generally inspires more trust, consciously or unconsciously, than a profile with few connections.

3. Add your ideal client to your network

Adding people to your network will allow you to target the right individuals, that is, your ideal clients.

You will therefore create a network that aligns with your expectations, consisting of people who already have an interest in your niche. These prospects are the ones most likely to be interested in your products or services.

LinkedIn lets you filter your audience by job title, industry, or location to find these ideal clients and start building a relationship with them.

You can do this with the free version of LinkedIn, but if you have a bit more budget, you can invest in LinkedIn’s paid version, Sales Navigator, which will allow for better prospect targeting and/or invest in tools that help you add people interested in your topic.

4. Increase shared connections to facilitate interactions

“Friends of my friends are my friends,” this saying also applies on LinkedIn.

Indeed, when you receive a connection request, the person’s name, title, and potentially their message are displayed, along with the number of mutual connections you share.

The more mutual connections there are, the higher the chances that the person will accept your request.

This is also a very effective way to break the ice during your first messages or your first meeting, mentioning mutual connections will bring you closer.

5. Close sales via DM with targeted prospecting

Finally, once you’ve added relevant prospects, LinkedIn becomes a powerful platform for starting conversations and closing sales through direct messages (DM).

This is the final stage of your LinkedIn Game, try to avoid a too-salesy approach right from the start.

Take the time to chat with the person, share relevant tips, or ask them questions. Once the relationship is established, you can offer a solution tailored to their needs or schedule a meeting.

You can find more information on how to prospect on LinkedIn on this blog using ultra-personalization.

Conclusion

Adding prospects on LinkedIn isn’t just about increasing your number of connections.

It’s a series of small actions that will increase your visibility, strengthen your social proof, and establish authentic relationships with your ideal client, ultimately leading to sales.

By targeting the right people and using LinkedIn as a targeting tool, you can turn each addition into a business opportunity.

Add people to your network with precise targeting and regularity to generate more prospects.