LINKEDIN, IT’S WHO YOU KNOW & WHO THEY KNOW

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 She asked me to join her network on LinkedIn.  However, I didn’t know who she was.  I reviewed her LinkedIn profile and saw we knew a lot of the same people.  She did healthcare sales and I thought maybe she wanted to connect with me to sell me something.  But I figured, what do I have to lose?  If she becomes a bother, I can always remove her from my network.  You see on LinkedIn or Facebook, if you drop someone from your network, no e-mail is sent saying David doesn’t like you.  Most people probably don’t remember who they are connected with, so there is very little downside.

 Well in any event, a couple of months later, I was trying to figure out how AmSher could sell our collection services to a major hospital chain headquartered in Nashville.  Through a search on LinkedIn, I found the name of the decision maker and noted that he was a second level connection—which is good news…because that means that I have a first level connection connected to him.  Do you want to guess who that first line connection was?   Yes, that’s right…it was the healthcare sales lady who I almost didn’t accept.

 Now my next step is to invite her to lunch to see if we can find some way we can help one another.  And…I almost missed out.

 See the lesson is it’s not just who you know…it’s also who your friends know.  When you turn down a LinkedIn invitation, you are also not connecting with all their friends. 

 You may be thinking, this doesn’t seem right; you may be taking advantage of your 1^st line connection?  Do you really think so?    Please remember, she invited me into her network.  She invited me for the express purpose of building her connections and could very easily need my help now or in the future.  That is what social media is all about.  That is what makes social media so powerful.

 This is David Sher, your e-Networking guy saying it’s not what you know, but who you know…and who they know.

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