Ask The Entrepreneurs is a regular series where members of the Young Entrepreneur Council are asked a single question that aims to help Lifehack readers level up their own lives, whether in a area of management, communication, business or life in general.
Here’s the question posed in this edition of Ask The Entrepreneurs:
What is one way that you’re actively using the new Linkedin Contacts feature to be a more effective entrepreneur?
1. Using TripIt
The new contacts feature is integrated with TripIt, which allows users to get reminders of contacts located in an area they’ll be visiting on an upcoming business trip. It even offers a form letter you can use to contact fellow members and let them know when you’ll be in town.
– Andrew Schrage, Money Crashers Personal Finance
2. Remembering to Stay in Contact
I try to stay in close contact with my connections, but it’s hard to remember to do so on my own. With the contacts feature, however, it’s easy for me to see when last I talked to a person. Whenever I have time, I scroll to the bottom of my contact list (the people who I haven’t contacted in the longest time) and start sending out messages.
– Thursday Bram, Hyper Modern Consulting
3. Reaching Out to Contacts When Expanding
When we consider expanding to a new city, I check my contacts in that city and set up a call with them to pick their brains on their views of the city, suburbs we should target, local universities or high schools we should know and any other information that could increase our success when we launch our tutoring services there. It gives you a reason to stay in touch with your contacts.
4. Connecting With Other Entrepreneurs
Whenever my company Seva Call launches in a new city, I check the city on LinkedIn for my closest contacts. Then I can talk to these contacts about what might benefit my launch in that city while also seeing what opportunities I can provide them. It’s a win-win and keeps me in touch with other entrepreneurs trying to expand.
5. Saving Time With the Daily Rollup Email
I love the daily rollup email I get from LinkedIn Contacts. By having my meetings and contacts emailed to me first thing in the morning, I save the time looking up contact information and meeting times. It isn’t a huge time saver, but it sure feels efficient.
6. Using ‘Warm Calling’
I love LinkedIn, and to me, it’s cold calling 2.0 or what I like to call “warm calling.” I reach out and request that someone connect with me. I would say this works 75 percent of the time. After they add me to their network, I follow up with an email I get from their vCard or another message through the site. I have won some very big deals starting from a simple message on LinkedIn.
– Jared Reitzin, MobileStorm Inc.
