Engaging in oversea customer development is already challenging, but finding the right procurement contacts can be even more daunting. For those venturing into unfamiliar territories, navigating through various obstacles under development pressure to swiftly promote products in new markets or secure substantial orders for new developments can be a major concern. “I-Power” is here to guide you on utilizing LinkedIn, a B2B social networking platform widely used by professionals, to find potential overseas clients.
What’s LinkedIn?
LinkedIn, established in 2003, stands as the world’s largest professional B2B social networking site, designed for business professionals to connect and expand their networks. With over 800 million users across 200+ countries (as of September 2021), LinkedIn focuses on enabling users to showcase their career experiences, seek collaboration opportunities, connect with professionals, and establish networks with renowned business leaders globally. Many multinational corporations and recruiters also utilize this platform to scout for local talents.
With this, it’s evident that LinkedIn holds significant importance for international business professionals.
(Read More: B2B Companies should Choose LinkedIn Ads or Google Ads? )
Crafting a professional LinkedIn profile
The first step in customer development is to create a professional and comprehensive profile that intrigues other professionals or peers in related industries to connect with you. A complete LinkedIn profile not only allows clients to fully understand you or your company’s offerings, building trust, but also enables LinkedIn to recommend more professionals with relevant industry like you.
Here are some tips for riching content in your profile:
1. Professional profile picture: Use a professional headshot instead of a selfie to maintain professionalism. 2. Promote company website: Ensure accurate and complete information about your company and its website in sections like “My Company” and “My Website.” 3. Highlight business core: Embed keywords representing your company’s products or services seamlessly into your profile or resume. 4. Comprehensive qualifications: Elaborate on job titles and work experiences to showcase professionalism. For example, highlight collaborations with renowned clients and how you’ve helped them solve problems to demonstrate your industry expertise and project execution capabilities. 5. Publicize personal information: Set your profile to display as “all public.” |
7 ways to find customer in LinkedIn
1. Utilize “contact imports” to expand existing networks:
By importing contacts and periodically updating them, LinkedIn uploads detailed contact information to its servers. Through imported contacts, you may unexpectedly discover many related clients in the same industry.
2. Utilize “other similar profiles”:
Based on personal data, educational background, resumes, industry, region, and joined communities or pages, LinkedIn recommends more relevant friends for you to add as contacts, facilitating proactive customer development.
▲LinkedIn –”other similar profiles”
3. Expand your network through“profile viewers”and “add to your feeds”:
Regularly monitor those who visit your profile and articles as they could be potential clients. Connect with friends and selectively add non-friends who might be potential clients. Publishing valuable posts relevant industry knowledge regularly can attract more potential client views. (*Refer to the red box on the left as below)
Adding others who work in the same industry might allow you to see the LinkedIn network that he is currently managing. LinkedIn sometimes automatically recommends contacts that you have not yet followed. These recommended data may randomly be recommended from the same industry contacts. (*Refer to the orange box on the right as below)
4. Use “people you may know” to find more related clients:
By selecting “My Network” → “Connections” → clicking on any client’s profile page, you can find potential clients listed on the right sidebar. This helps identify multiple clients’ LinkedIn networks or research whether they’re competitors.(*Refer to the orange box on the right as below)
5. Keyword search:
Enter keywords in the search box and filter categories such as members, dynamics, companies, groups, schools, events, or services to find potential clients. The more detailed and comprehensive the keywords, the better and more accurate the search results.
First, organize the “target customer keywords”, and try to think about the machinery, accessories manufacturers, regions, agents, distributors, or end users “product keywords” that their industry might use. Make an Excel list and search for them.
For example, keywords that might be used in potential customer personal data, potential customer’s job title, potential customer’s country, potential customer’s company name, etc. The more detailed and rich keywords can bring the best and most accurate search results.
Assuming you are selling “screw sorting machines” and want to find agents, you can enter keywords like “Optical Sorting Machine” or “Fastener Optical Sorting Machine” and select USA to find potential customers in the USA.
6. Utilize “boolean searches” for more precise results:
Utilize “Boolean Search” techniques, combining keywords using four logical operators: AND/OR/NOT, and double quotes, to find precise results.
- AND (Includes)
When searching, make good use of AND to find more precise results. For example, when you search: Supplier AND USA, only when both Supplier and USA are included will they appear in the search results. - OR (Either)
For example, when you search: Supplier OR USA, either of the two will appear in the search results. If you are unsure about a keyword when searching, you can use OR to enter all the keywords you can think of, not missing any potential customers! - NOT (Negates)
For example, when you search: Supplier NOT USA, it filters out the search results that have Supplier but excludes those with USA. The use of NOT is to exclude specific results, such as: excluding competitors, specific customer types, certain regions or product keywords, etc. - “” (Quotation Marks)
For example, when you search: “USA Supplier”, only the list that is fully in accordance with “USA Supplier” will appear in the search results. The search results must completely match the keyword, the keyword cannot be separate.
7. Send “messages” to help potential clients understand your services better:
Visit potential client pages on LinkedIn → Connect → Add a note.Then, you can send private messages to build relationships with them. Keep the introduction brief. For non-paying members, LinkedIn only allows 200 characters. Consider adding a company introduction video or website for clients to better understand your services.
However, free LinkedIn members have certain usage limits for search quantities, browsing ranges, and viewing other people’s profiles. Viewing non-contacts’ profiles, searching for members outside of your network, and browsing profiles in the “You may also want to see” section will all count towards the usage limit. You must upgrade to the paid version to use more features.
Business Development via Linkedin
Conclusion
LinkedIn offers a rapid and precise way to find decision-makers in a company. Compared to randomly calling a switchboard, LinkedIn offers a more accurate approach and unveils many job vacancies or past career experiences that are otherwise challenging to find. Utilizing the above 7 methods to identify precise target clients, establishing relationships (Connections), or directly messaging (InMail) clients are excellent customer development strategies, fostering long-term cooperative trust with clients.
One click to find the customer’s LinkedIn account and Email
LinkedIn is an excellent social platform that can precisely locate decision-makers. However, quickly finding the correct email is another challenge.
Taking advantage of the conveniences brought by the AI can save a lot of time and effort. The“Sales Automation Tool” from I-Power can search customer lists in 220 countries with one click and find the customer’s LinkedIn account. This efficient method saves time, allowing for more interaction with customers and securing more orders. For more information, feel free to Whatsapp or Email us.