Friday: Understand 3 and 3
I can’t remember where I heard about this technique, but it’s a useful one for staying top of mind with your existing connections. I call it the 3 and 3 technique. It involves going through your list of connections, reaching out to three people you don’t know and three people you do know (who you haven’t talked to in a while), and sending them a simple message.
I know some of you will only be connected to people you know, and so just get rid of that second three. (By this I mean, don’t worry about reaching out to three people you don’t know, since you won’t have any first-level connections you don’t know.) Schedule the time to regularly reach out to three people you know, who you haven’t talked to in a while, and ask them how they’re doing through LinkedIn’s messages.
You have access to their profile, so you can look at their recent activity and comment on a post, comment on an answer or question, comment on a job change or promotion. That’s the great thing about LinkedIn. It provides you with the information you need to start a conversation.
I cannot tell you how many times I’ve used this technique and immediately heard back from a person who said, “I was just thinking about you.” That’s what I love. The synchronicity of social media. Even if we have to force the fact.
If you are not first-level connections, consider using introduction requests to get back in touch (and invite) people you know but haven’t talked to in a while, or people you know peripherally or casually. It’s a great way to generate “random” interactions and makes it less awkward if you need to ask for help later. Fill the funnel and stay in touch with people who can help your business before you actually need them!
I think it’s pretty obvious why you might want to reach out to someone you haven’t contacted in a while on LinkedIn, but why in the world would you send a message to a stranger? So you can get to know them! We don’t know who we don’t know who might make our next great employee, an excellent client, or a valuable referral partner. By simply going through your connections list and sending a quick message to someone you don’t know, you’re opening the lines for communication.
I usually write something like this:
I was just looking through my connections list on LinkedIn for people I’m connected to who I don’t really know. I’m making an effort to turn names into valuable connections. In this spirit, I was hoping you might tell me more about who you are, what you do and who makes a good referral to you.
I noticed in your profile that (you do this thing/you work for this company/you are interested in/you are skillful in).
I often (work with this industry/blog on this topic/need people with these skills). Can I use you as a referral?
Please feel free to write me back at any time and let me know a little bit more about yourself and what you do. I’m always trying to make my existing connections on LinkedIn more valuable and relevant.
Thanks for accepting my invitation and being in my network. I appreciate you.
None of these techniques is particularly sophisticated; it’s simple commonsense communications set to a regular schedule. As I mentioned at the beginning of this chapter, consistency is key.
Yes, this can be time-consuming, especially when you’re setting up your system. But once you have a system in place, your communications shouldn’t take you more than a couple minutes a day. And as you can see, much of this can be relegated to an assistant, a VA, a volunteer, or an intern.
In fact, in the next chapter, I will be sharing the checklist I use with my clients to keep them on task and on schedule.