#42 Creating a LinkedIn Ecosystem Designed for Sales Success

ABOUT THE GUEST: KENT LEWIS, PRESIDENT AND FOUNDER AT ANVIL MEDIA

As President and Founder of Anvil Media, Inc., Kent Lewis is responsible for managing operations, marketing and business development towards its purpose of creating meaningful impact for Anvil’s clients, community and its employees through creative problem-solving, making and leveraging connections and educating others. Under his leadership, Anvil has accumulated the following awards and recognition since inception in 2000:

• Inc. 5000: Fastest growing private companies in America
• Oregon Business Magazine: 100 Best Places to Work
• Portland Business Journal: Oregon’s Most Admired Companies
• Portland Business Journal: Fastest Growing Private 100 Companies
• Portland Business Journal: Corporate Philanthropy Awards winner
• Clutch: Top Pay-per-Click and SEO Agency in America

You can learn more about Kent at the Anvil Media web site here:
https://www.anvilmediainc.com/about/team/kent-lewis/

Find him on Twitter here:
https://twitter.com/kentjlewis

Or find him on LinkedIn here:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/kentlewis/


ABOUT THE EPISODE
You don’t have to go far to find people who will give you ALL kinds of advice about how to use LinkedIn to generate business. It’s such an over-discussed concept that I always resisted the idea of having a guest talk about it on this podcast, but then along came Kent. We were having a discussion, and he said the magic words. He said, “when I look at the lead source for new business every month - because we track that - the vast majority of the time it’s from LinkedIn”

So how does he do that? Kent was gracious enough to share his methodology and how that’s worked out for him over the years in this episode. It’s not the standard routine, and it’s probably not for everyone, but if you are serious about generating new business from LinkedIn, Kent is someone who has found a formula that works for him. Give a listen to the episode and see if some or all of his approach might work for you as well.


0:25 - What’s the best sales advice that Kent has ever received?

1:59 - What’s the worst advice that Kent has ever received?

4:00 - David sets up the episode theme about LinkedIn

5:06 - What categories of activity is Kent doing on LinkedIn that is leading him to convertible leads in his pipeline (hint, it’s not just one thing)?

9:35 - Kent explains how he got to 20,000 followers

15:37 - Kent explains how he stays within LinkedIns rules for connecting while maximizing outreach

17:45 - Kent describes his 3-6 month horizon for building trust before asking for a conversation with a potential prospect on LinkedIn

19:50 - Kent talks about how mindset has impacted success in business and how that same mindset impacts his approach to LinkedIn new business development

21:24 - Kent talks about what he does during the 3-6 months between the time he connects with a prospect and makes his first outreach effort

24:20 - Kent articulates the connection between content and pipeline

27:12 - Kent talks about how a focus area for content drives multiple exposures, pipeline, and a service offering in his new business development ecosystem

29:42 - Kent talks about how he incorporates outreach into his LinkedIn strategy

31:04 - Where (other than LinkedIn) is the best place to connect with Kent