What To Do On LinkedIn When Business Gets Tough (Plus 15min Daily LinkedIn Plan)

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When business gets tough, most people panic, go quiet and cut back on LinkedIn,

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but in truth, that's the worst possible thing that you could do right now.

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When business gets tough, the tough get LinkedIning.

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G'Day everyone.

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It's Coach Michelle J Raymond, your trusted guide for building your

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brand and your business on LinkedIn.

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And shout out to the listeners that picked up on my dated reference in the intro.

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Do you remember the song "When the going gets Tough, the Tough Get Going?" Yep.

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I'm showing my age.

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Shout out to the Gen Xs and beyond.

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That is a song that really stood out for me when I was thinking about planning this

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episode because I appreciate right now that it feels really tough on LinkedIn.

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And I'm also hearing and experiencing for myself that it is tough in business.

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There aren't as many opportunities flying around for reasons that are probably

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well and truly out of our controls.

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And for me it has been a bit of a, a mind game to try and not want to throw in

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the towel and throw this whole LinkedIn thing away just like everybody else.

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Like I'm human at the end of the day.

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And the thing that kind of just keeps coming back to me is that I know deep

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in my heart that if I show up and do the work, then it is going to be me that is

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winning those opportunities out there.

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And there might be fewer available or reduced budgets, but I'm gonna

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be added onto those shortlists, not the person who becomes invisible.

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So if you are someone that has thrown your hands in the air, walked away and

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given up, then I really want you to listen all the way to the end of this episode.

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'cause we've gotta talk about this, especially if you have identified that

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your target audience is on LinkedIn.

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So we're going to go through what's going on right now and more importantly

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what do I think that you can be doing on LinkedIn to win the lion's share

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of opportunities that are out there?

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So we'll talk about this after a quick word from our podcast sponsors, Metricool.

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Let's have a quick reality check.

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The world is a pretty crazy place.

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Financially I think people are struggling in lots of different ways.

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There's a lot of uncertainty out in the world, and I think people are

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scaling back their teams or their budgets, and that's the reality that

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we're kind of living in right now.

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What I see then is a lot of people and clients that reach out to me are the

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people that are saying, you know what?

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I don't know that this is for me.

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I think LinkedIn's a waste of time.

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I'm not getting the opportunities like I used to.

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Therefore LinkedIn is broken and I actually don't think that it's LinkedIn

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is broken in this particular case.

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I think that there's just market conditions that are impacting

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what's going on on the platform.

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Now, I experience this in my own business.

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Typically what happens is while the rest of the world goes on their summer

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vacations, my inquiries drop off.

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'cause a lot of the work I do is with overseas markets in Europe and the US.

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And I expect that by this time of year, things normally pick up, and

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they're just not, not in the same way that they have historically.

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I have been seeing posts from people who have had their own business for

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quite some time who are now taking roles in corporate land so that

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they've got that comfort and security that comes with a regular paycheck.

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So I can see the market conditions are tough.

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But the thing that I want to remind people of is that LinkedIn is still the

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platform where people come to do business.

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We still have B2B buyers and decision makers, scrolling,

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researching, looking for information.

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And from that perspective, it's important that we stay top of mind

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so that they don't forget about us.

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Because as they create their short lists, remember, everyone in the world

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seems to have a list of three companies when they go to get quotes quite often.

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Are you going to be on that list of three?

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And if you're invisible or out of mind because people can't recall the last

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time that they ever saw you or heard from your brand, then you are not

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gonna make it onto that short list.

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So of course it becomes this self-fulfilling prophecy where you

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are out of mind, you don't get on the list, you then blame LinkedIn

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because your business isn't growing.

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When really what's happening is you've just disappeared out of people's

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minds and I actually think it's those that are willing to keep showing

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up and do the work consistently, regardless of the shakeup that's

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going on on LinkedIn or in the world.

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It's those people who are top of mind, who are being included in those buying

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decisions, who are being shortlisted on those lists of businesses that

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companies will potentially work with.

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And I actually think.

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That it's those people who are not necessarily the best at what they

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do, but they show up consistently that are winning more and more.

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So my question to you is, are you showing up enough on LinkedIn or are you hiding in

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the shadows, sitting on the bench, waiting for the world to change, the conditions

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of the markets to change, so that you'll then get active when times are easier?

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Now, even as I say that out loud, I'm sure that many of you're going,

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oh, Michelle, I don't really do that.

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Really?

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Because I have recently, I think there's a part of me that was almost

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convinced because of all the content that's out there on LinkedIn, that

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it's a time that it's all too hard.

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My content's not getting seen by as many people.

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It's all doom and gloom, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

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And I nearly bought into that.

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I've been doing this for such a long time on LinkedIn, I should know better.

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I had a career in B2B sales for 20 years where I have worked through

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times like this for other people, and I know the solution is to get

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up and keep going and be proactive and take things into my own hands.

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So after this break, I'm gonna come back and I'm gonna give you your

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tough times on LinkedIn Plan your habits that you're gonna build in 15

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minutes a day to make sure that you stay top of mind with the buyers that

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are out there right now, that do have opportunities so that your competitors

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don't steal them away from you.

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Let's get into your tough times on LinkedIn plan.

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I want you to give me 15 minutes a day.

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That is all I am asking for.

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This is not something where intensity and blowing out for hours and hours

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is going to give you better results, but with that 15 minutes, I want it

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in your calendar, making sure you set reminders and you keep yourself

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accountable to show up and do the work.

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Can we do that?

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Amazing.

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Now that you've got that there, what are you gonna do in those 15 minutes?

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You are going to be proactive and take steps one, to train the algorithm like

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we talked about in last week's episode, but number two, to make sure that the

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activity that you'll take aligns with your business goals, that it is getting

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you towards where you are headed and you are taking strategic actions.

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So what can you be doing?

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Obviously posting, commenting and sending direct messages are the three

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main things, and I did an episode on this recently on how to do them well

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and what proportions, so go back and listen to that if you want more detail.

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But the fun fact is the more you can comment, get a post done and send direct

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messages to stay top of mind that's kind of the trifecta of, of activities that

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you need to do within that 15 minutes.

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If you can smash it out and get more done, even better.

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There's no limits.

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For those of you who are going, but Michelle said, I can only do 15 minutes.

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You got more time, put it in.

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But I just don't want this to be something that is so overwhelming that

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you never get around to actually doing it.

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Repeat consistency will beat intensity, especially when what we're looking at is

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over the long term, not just something that you do for the next week or two.

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This is ongoing forever and ever and ever, and it is these growth habits

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that will have a bigger impact on your business growth on LinkedIn

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than any short bursts of activity.

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Being proactive, getting out there, getting active, taking things

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into your own hands and not just sitting on the sidelines is how

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you are going to win at LinkedIn, and I know it seems obvious, right?

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I talk about this stuff all the time on every podcast, pretty

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much, for the last few years.

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But I think right now, if your mindset is LinkedIn is broken,

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LinkedIn doesn't work for you.

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There's no opportunities out there.

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You need to flick that switch.

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Get your head back in the game and start winning those opportunities.

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Because when you take things into your own hands and don't give up, I

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know that this can happen for you.

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And if it is happening when you get back in there, please let

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me know about your successes.

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I wanna cheer you guys on, especially the people that listen to the episodes,

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take the action and get the wins.

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Will you share those with me?

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I look forward to hearing from you.

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Cheers.