We all have it in us to be amazing. But sometimes we need someone else to inspire us to tap into our own potential. Someone who has made it – to show us the way they got there in order for us to create our own unique path. That’s what Jeff Haden did for me!
Jeff Haden
For those of you who don’t know me… I’m a freelance writer, a lover of words and a Starting Customer Conversations Specialist. I frequently post on LinkedIn and have always seemed to get roughly the same amount of views anything from 300-3,000 per blog. Note one of my top performing blogs Top 10 Cold Calling Myths Demystified has now reached over 4,400 views.
But, something extraordinary happened last year which made me realise the power of blogging. I decided to follow my own advice which I had published in an article previously. That advice was that I believe those people in life who have more Chutzpah succeed greater than those who don’t. Chutzpah is a self-belief not an arrogance and it pushes you to reach out to people you normally wouldn’t. So I reached out to Jeff Haden via email. I casually introduced myself and included the link to my latest post 3 Good Reasons Start with Heart.
Who is Jeff Haden? Jeff is a Ghostwriter, Speaker, Inc. Magazine Contributing Editor and a really nice guy. He happens to have 870,457 followers and has written a wonderful book called Transform. I am a big fan. Back to the story.
Within 48 hours of my post going live, I had 492 opens, 25 likes, and 16 comments. I was fairly happy with that. Then Jeff put this simple comment on my post, “Really good approach to dealing with a problem... or making a good situation even better.” WOW, Kaboom within a few hours my post had gone up to 2,612 opens, 337 likes, and 80 comments. Whilst, I would like to believe in my heart that the reason it gained so many extra opens is because of the great content I know the reason was being exposed to Jeff’s massive network. Hence, I picked up in 24 hours 410 followers. Therefore, what have I learnt from this experience that I want to share with you:
• Surround yourself with people who are Influencers – learn from them and leverage off their authority.
• Don’t be afraid to ask for help – if I hadn’t introduced myself to Jeff Haden he would have never made the comment on my blog.
• Back yourself 100%, believe with every thread of your being that what you do is great and you deserve the recognition to succeed. If you don’t back yourself 100% why should anyone else?
• Content is King – if the blog had been rubbish the response would have been the same!
• Start with Heart – nothing in this world is more important than the way we make others feel – let your heart do the talking!
I then went back to Jeff Haden and said, “How can I get on Pulse Influencers – up the top of the LinkedIn newsfeed where the big boys and girls play?” How does an unknown writer break into that huge social media platform? This was his kind reply filled with gems of rich advice:
“It takes time. Occasionally one of the LinkedIn editors will notice a non-influencer post and "promote" it, but generally speaking, the system is algorithm driven: the more shares, the more views, the more likely your post will end up in a Pulse feed. Generally speaking, what succeeds is success: the more people that read a post, the more that share it... the more people will see it. And in time, you'll end up on more peoples' radar.
The biggest thing to remember about LinkedIn is that the audience is very broad, so try to find ways to take what you know and expand it to that broader audience.
LinkedIn readers also love stories, especially stories where you maybe don't come off so well (but you do learn something from it.) My "story" stuff does a lot better than straight advice, tips, etc posts. (For the most part.) You've met lots of interesting people, done some interesting things... you have plenty of material I'm sure.
And never forget the importance of the headline. I once did a post about resumes; could have called it "The Problem With Resumes" or something like that, but that's boring. I went with "Your Resume Will Never Get You The Job You Want" and it did really well. Asked an implicit question ("why won't my resume get me the job I want?") and addressed a real problem people encounter ("I've sent out dozens of resumes and no one even responds...")
Most importantly, though, it takes time. A long time. A lot of people write to me and complain about not having followers and say that if they just had my Influencer platform they'd be doing as well as me (which may very well be true), and I always want to say, "But I didn't get here over-freaking-night. I started from zero and worked my way up to this. You can too... but it starts with creating a lot of good content. That's the only thing you can totally control, and ultimately is the one thing that will get you somewhere.
So keep on chugging. Check out other peoples' posts that do well, analyse them, try to see how you can adopt some of those approaches (while still staying true to yourself), but most of all keep trying. It takes time.”
Thank you Jeff Haden – this act of kindness taught me so much. As the late Stephen R Covey said, "We want to live, love, learn and leave a legacy." I couldn't agree more with his words of wisdom.
About Odile Faludi
Odile Faludi, Starting Customer Conversations Specialist
Odile has worked in the not-for-profit, real estate, and the management consultancy space for the last thirteen years. She has a proven track record of opening doors of C-suite level executives in the top 200 companies in Australia. In 2011, with her fearless and friendly approach she successfully facilitated a small team of management consultancy experts to secure a million dollar plus deal with a large Australian financial organisation. Her initial entry point was a cold call.
Odile is trained in "Crucial Conversations" through VitalSmarts. They have helped 300 of the Fortune 500 realise significant results using a proven method for driving rapid, sustainable, and measurable change in behaviours.
Odile runs workshops in Australia, teaching Business Development Managers, Start-up Entrepreneurs' and Sales teams' how to initiate client conversations. The aim is to widen their business net to make more money now and in the future.
Check out Workshop course outline click here.
Email: odile@odilefaludi.com.au for any queries or book on-line or secure an in-house corporate session.
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