Ep 142: The Hand-Raiser Method: Transforming LinkedIn from Network to Sales Pipeline

Discovering potential clients doesn't have to feel like a wild goose chase. The secret? Learning to spot the people already raising their hands for your services on LinkedIn.

This special episode—our most requested content from five years of podcasting—unpacks proven strategies for B2B service founders looking to connect with ready-to-buy prospects. We break down six practical approaches that transform casual LinkedIn browsing into strategic client acquisition.

Learn how to interpret profile views as expressions of interest and respond with casual, non-creepy outreach. Discover the power of private DM prompts that identify interested parties without public pressure. Master the art of strategic connections by engaging with content creators who share your target audience, then connecting with their engaged followers. We also reveal a simple search hack to find people actively seeking your exact services and show you how to turn job postings into outsourcing opportunities.

For those ready to level up, we compare premium tools like LinkedIn Navigator with free alternatives like Apollo that help you filter for the perfect prospects based on company growth, new positions, and more. Throughout it all, we emphasize relationship-building over "pitch slapping" to create genuine connections that naturally lead to sales conversations.

Ready to stop chasing clients and start attracting the right ones? Listen now, then check out our comprehensive LinkedIn Playbook to implement these strategies for your business.

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Chapters

• 1:35 Introducing the Most Popular Episode
• 1:57 Finding Hand Raisers on LinkedIn
• 3:36 Profile Views and DM Strategies
• 4:25 Connecting with Your Target Audience
• 6:29 Finding "I Am Looking For" Posts
• 7:14 Job Postings as Opportunity Signals
• 8:08 Advanced Tools: Navigator and Apollo
• 9:27 Key Strategies and LinkedIn Playbook

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:48

I'm Sarah Noelle Block and this is the Uncut Summer Series from Tiny Marketing. Today I'm sharing the most popular episode from the last five years, and that is on LinkedIn and how to curate your feed with ready-to-buy people. Hey everyone, welcome back to the Tiny Marketing Pod. Today we're diving into an exciting topic. It is the third episode of the LinkedIn series and we are talking about how to find hand raisers on LinkedIn. So, for anybody who doesn't know what a hand raiser is, hand raisers are people who could potentially be interested in your service. If you're a B2B service founder looking to expand your reach and connect with potential clients, this episode is for you. I'll be walking you through several strategies, from profile views to using LinkedIn Navigator. So grab your coffee, get comfy I have my blanket over here and let's get started.

Speaker 1: 1:50

First up, let's talk about profile views. When someone views your profile, it's a clear sign they might be interested in what you're offering. Keep your profile updated and compelling. Think of it like your digital business card. When you notice your new profile views, don't hesitate to send a friendly DM Nothing like hey, I noticed you checked out my profile, because I think that's creepy and I hate when people do that. Something more along the lines of hey, I love what you're doing in X. I noticed that you were interacting with some of my content. Is there anything specific that you wanted to talk about or that you had questions about? Keep it really casual and friendly and not a hey, big brother's been watching you and I know that you've been looking at my profile. Something a little more casual than that Simple and direct. It can be open to. It's an opener for a deeper conversation.

Speaker 1: 2:49

Next, let's leverage DMs. Direct messaging is a powerful tool on LinkedIn. It's personal. It's more engaging than a comment or a like. A great strategy here is to trigger hand raisers with a call to action. You can post something like DM me the word XYZ and get ABC. For example, if you're offering a marketing service, you might say DM me the word growth to get our free ebook on scaling your business. It's straightforward, it works. People will DM you and they'll feel less put in the spotlight because you're not asking them to comment that word. You're asking them to DM, so it's still private.

Speaker 1: 3:35

Now let's move on to following or connecting with prospects. Start by following industry leaders and potential clients. One trick that I always use is anybody. I know that's within my world and doesn't offer the same service as me, but they share the same audience as me. I will go to their posts, I will comment and it needs to be something very valuable, very helpful, very demure, very mindful, and from there what I do this is the thing that other people don't do is I go to, I click on the likes, the people who have liked their post and I connect with all of them and I'll just say, hey, connecting from X's post, and it's usually a good way to start a conversation. I in fact have 10 unread DMs in my LinkedIn because I need to respond after I did this exact thing on Friday. So do that and engage with their content by liking and commenting and sharing.

Speaker 1: 4:42

So, after you've connected with this group of people, ring the bell, hit that bell notification so that you're alerted every time they post and you can start interacting with their content and building familiarity and relationship with them. This builds familiarity, it builds trust. Then when you send them a connection request, they are more likely to accept, since they recognize the name. They've seen your insightful contributions. So there's a couple ways to go about it. Go to people who share the same audience as you, comment there and start connecting with people that have liked or interacted with their post. And the other thing is find those industry leaders and potential clients and hit that notification bell so you can comment and like their content and then hit them up with a connection request. So it's warm, it's a warmer introduction. Hit them up with a connection request. So it's warm, it's a warmer introduction. Okay, another effective method is using I am looking for posts so these posts can attract the attention of people who are specifically looking for your services. For example, I am looking for a SaaS marketing expert can bring relevant prospects directly to your inbox. Check these posts regularly and respond promptly, showcasing how you can offer value. So you can do this by going to the search bar and look for and just search the words I am looking for and then what you do and all of the people who are needing your service immediately and wrote posts about it will come up in your feed. The search bar is like the best.

Speaker 1: 6:25

Now let's talk about job postings. Most companies post job openings for roles that could potentially be outsourced. They might not actually need a full-time person. So reach out to those companies and explain how outsourcing to you might be a better alternative. How it will save them time. It will save them money. How it will set a foundation for them to be able to hire someone full-time in a smaller role later. Highlight benefits like cost savings, flexibility, specialized expertise that an in-house team might not be able to provide. Craft a convincing message. Like I noticed you're hiring for a full-time person. Have you considered the benefits of outsourcing? We offer X roles that could save you time and money while providing top-notch quality. It never hurts to reach out and ask.

Speaker 1: 7:21

Finally, we have LinkedIn Navigator. It's expensive it's like I think it's like $100 a month but you get a ton of benefits from it too. It's a goldmine for B2B founders. Navigator helps you filter through LinkedIn's vast, vast network to help you find relevant prospects, because you can use so many different filters and additional filters that you can't from the search bar. You can use filters like headcount growth, new positions, companies using a specific software. This makes it easier to find businesses that might need your services. Spend time exploring these filters and you'll uncover valuable leads who are more likely to engage with you. And don't tell LinkedIn. But you could also do this with Apollo's free version. So Apollo AI allows you to use all of those same filters as LinkedIn Navigator and they have links to those profiles so you can filter them down to the right prospects in Apollo and then go over to LinkedIn and connect with them there.

Speaker 1: 8:30

To wrap things up, finding hand raisers on LinkedIn is all about making the most of the platform's features and being genuinely interested in building relationships with prospects. So don't hit them up with a pitch slap no. That's not what I want you to do. I want you to build genuine relationships with them that will lead to a conversation that could potentially be a sale. Update your profile, engage through DMs, follow industry leaders and people who could be clients of yours and engage with their content. Respond to job postings and utilize LinkedIn's Navigator or Apollo. With these strategies, you'll be well on your way to connecting with the right people. If you enjoyed what you learned in this episode, then you will love the LinkedIn playbook. The LinkedIn playbook will teach you how to optimize your profile, find those hand raisers. It has tons of frameworks for LinkedIn posts and how to close deals using LinkedIn. Thank you for joining me. If you enjoyed this episode, please like, share, subscribe and tell a friend. I'll see you next week.