What if your next major donor or corporate partner is already in your LinkedIn inbox, and all you need is the right message to start the conversation?
Carson Heady is someone who's truly mastered the art of showing up online with purpose. He's a five times best selling author, podcast host, and one of the most insightful voices on social leadership. As the Managing Director at Microsoft Tech for Social Impact, Carson is here to share how nonprofit professionals can borrow proven strategies from the sales world to build genuine relationships, increase visibility, and spark fundraising opportunities - ALL through LinkedIn.
Thoughtful DMs are outperforming long emails!
You’ll learn how to send better connection requests, strategies for leveraging Sales Navigator for donor prospecting, and how to use the platform as a relationship engine rather than just a digital resume.
You’ll also hear how Carson personally raised $80,000 for a nonprofit through a targeted LinkedIn campaign and why he believes nonprofit leaders should embrace the title of "social fundraiser."
Resources & Links
Connect with Carson on LinkedIn and check out his podcast, Mastering Modern Selling. He also published a great article on LinkedIn, How I Became the #1 Social Seller in Tech - and How You Can Too.
Carson recommends Opus as his favorite AI video clipping tool.
This show is brought to you by iDonate. Your donation page is leaking donors, and iDonate's new pop-up donation form is here to fix that. See it in action. Launch the interactive demo here and experience how a well-timed form captures donors in the moment they care most.
Let's Connect!
- Send a DM on Instagram or LinkedIn and let us know what you think of the show!
- My book, The Monthly Giving Mastermind, is here! Grab a copy here and learn my framework to build, grow, and sustain subscriptions for good.
- Want to book Dana as a speaker for your event? Click here!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome back to Missions, to Movements.
I'm your host, Dana Snyder, andtoday's episode is all about
unlocking the power of LinkedIn,Not just for connections, but
for genuine conversions andconversations that move your
mission forward.
Now today's guest is someonewho's truly mastered the art of
showing up online with purpose.
Carson Heady is the America'sManaging Director for Microsoft
(00:24):
Tech for Social Impact, where hehelps nonprofits leverage
technology, innovation andstorytelling to scale their
impact.
He's been featured in the WallStreet Journal Forbes.
He's a five times bestsellingauthor, a podcast host and one
of the most insightful voices onsocial leadership in the sector
.
He also happens to be known asthe number one social seller in
(00:47):
tech, and after today's episode,he might just convince you that
you can become the number onesocial fundraiser Now.
In fact, that idea and titlehit me mid-conversation, because
Carson's approach to socialselling is so aligned with how
we should be thinking aboutbuilding trust, starting
conversations and inspiringaction in the nonprofit world.
(01:10):
So, yes, I'm officiallyembracing the title of a social
fundraiser, and I hope you willjoin me in that.
So today we talk all thingsLinkedIn how to use it for
thought leadership, how to buildrelationships that lead to
funding, and how to use toolslike Sales Navigator to connect
you with mission-alignedpartners without it ever feeling
transactional.
(01:31):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Don't oversell it or overdo it.
I think too.
Sometimes I'm one of thosepeople.
I used to write very longstream of consciousness emails
like throw in the kitchen sinkand then pat myself on the back
because I thought it soundedreally articulate.
But the reality is people havea lot going on.
There's a lot of noise in theworld.
Keep it to two to threesentences.
Try to earn the conversation.
Make it personal, explain whyit matters to you, but then also
(01:57):
explain why there could bevalue for the recipient and your
probability of getting thatconversation go way up.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Carson, when I was looking at your LinkedIn account
I was a little bit like nearly48,000 LinkedIn followers.
You have built an extremelystrong presence on the platform
as a thought leader on LinkedInso much so we were talking about
beforehand.
Linkedin asked you to do thisinterview with me when I was
(02:25):
asking them for who's a reallygood thought leader on the
platform, who can really talkabout this to my audience and
really break down some of thetools.
What originally really sparkedyour decision to be active on
the platform and show up?
And then how has that showingup on the platform?
Obviously, you didn't startwith 48,000 followers when you
(02:48):
began.
How has that really impactedyour career?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, no, dana, thanks so much for having me.
I'm honored.
Thank you for what you do fornonprofits that we mutually
serve, and always grateful forthe collaboration with LinkedIn
as well.
When it started for me, it wasyears ago and it was very
serendipitous.
I've been very fortunate notonly with my leveraging of the
platform, but also just kind ofwhere it's taken me, you know,
(03:13):
from a career, but mostly arelationships perspective,
because I think that's where itreally is at the heart.
So when I first startedleveraging LinkedIn, it was
years ago and, ironically or not, shortly after I was laid off
from a job a corporate job, backin 2010, but also as I had
written a book and my publisherstarted telling me leveraging
social will help you.
(03:34):
And then I also started workingfor a small consultant firm, and
the primary charter of that wasdeveloping C-level
relationships, and so I thoughtto myself these folks that I
want to connect with are onLinkedIn, so by doing so, it
will give me a higher viabilityor probability of having the
types of connections that I wantto have, and I've always tried
(03:55):
to focus on the next right step.
So getting a conversation hasbeen critical, and so for
everything that I've been insince then, whether it's been in
different sales or leadershiproles, having relationships and
doing meaningful connection viaLinkedIn has been super
impactful.
You asked also about just theimpact on my career as a whole.
One of the things that I had todo years ago was just be very
(04:18):
intentional about how I couldleverage the platform in a way
to express my experiences, myperspectives.
I tell everybody that I coachand train globally on this that
you know, hey, your perspectivematters Whether you're brand new
in your career or you're 20, 30years in.
What you have to say willresonate and matters to a group
(04:40):
of people that are either goingthrough what you're experiencing
or what you have experienced,so I took that to heart.
It was about progress overperfect for me, and I just
started speaking to the audiencein a way that would hopefully
start conversations, andthankfully it did.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
This is one of those very serendipitous moments.
In the past 30 seconds, youhave said two things that I say
almost exactly during one of mykeynotes.
I love that.
Wow, then for us to meetliterally the progress over
perfection and the fact thatshowing up in your messy middle
regardless if you are juststarting your career or ready to
give consulting advice thatit's all applicable to the
(05:19):
platform.
And something that I want todive into that I think is really
interesting listeners, is thefact that, carson, you just said
you are connecting with C-suitelevel people on the platform to
build relationships.
Now I want to.
This is a very detailed kind ofnitty gritty question, but the
connection request when you areconnecting with people at a
(05:44):
C-suite because I'm picturingthis leader that's listening
right now you're trying to reachout to a C-suite at a potential
company that you want to do apartnership with.
You're trying to reach out to apotential donor that could be
an affluent businessprofessional on the platform.
So this is context right, wouldyou just connect?
Did you write a message in theconnection?
Can you kind of walk throughwhat was your process?
(06:07):
I'm sure, because you've donethis now for years what works?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I've evolved my practice in many, many ways to
put the people that I'm tryingto connect with at the heart of
my process.
That said, I always send amessage along with the
connection.
Some people will say don't senda message with the connection?
Some people will say, do Ialways do, and here's why?
Because here's the thing.
What are you ultimately tryingto do?
Granted, you might want thatperson.
If you're at a nonprofitorganization, you may want that
person to be a donor.
(06:46):
You may want that person to bea volunteer.
You may want that person toengage with you in some
meaningful way, but you can'talso put the cart before the
horse.
None of that happens unless youstart a conversation, and I
always have to think veryintentionally about what is the
unique value differentiator thatI can present to this person.
Now, a lot of my outreach in thelast 11 years since I've been
(07:07):
at Microsoft has been based onbeing a part of their Microsoft
leadership team, and the biggestchallenge that Microsoft
sellers have is that typically,we fall into just IT and
procurement, and while thoserelationships are of critical
importance, we're not going tohave meaningful transformation
unless we also engage theC-level, the board, chief data,
(07:29):
chief strategy, chief securityCFO, etc.
So my point in saying all thatis it's not lost on me that our
customers have a lot of choices.
Why would they want to have aconversation with me?
Well, first off, I'm part oftheir leadership account team.
I know that they haveopportunities and options and a
lot of times customers see us aswe pay you a lot of money, we
(07:50):
don't want to just buy more.
And where I think salespeoplego wrong is they mention widgets
and products and names ofsolutions.
The reality is people view anychange as a risk.
And so if I reach out and Ialways reach out saying hey, I
want to talk to you aboutresources that you're entitled
to as part of your existinginvestment, the likelihood of me
(08:11):
getting the meeting is very,very high.
And, believe me, there areconversations where I engage and
I don't see a path forward andI will say that like, hey, it
sounds like you're good, you'reoptimized, you're doing
everything.
Hey, congratulations please, I'mavailable, I'm here, but there
are oftentimes where I'll comeinto situations and it's there
are challenges that they'restruggling with, or there are
(08:32):
goals that they have, or it's anew executive and I asked them
like what legacy do you want toleave with this organization?
Why did you join thisorganization?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
How can I?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
be able to demystify the investments that they make
with my company.
How can I empower and enablethat to happen?
So my long story, short to sumup, dana, is I think the key
element is yes, I always send aconnection request message and
it's very much geared toward thevalue that I believe that I can
bring.
Let's be real the value that alot of nonprofits can bring is
far superior to what I can bringas a sales leader.
(09:03):
Often it is going to be more oflife-changing or where we can
influence research together orwhere we need to even bring a
serious amount of fulfillmentfor the person that receives
that connection request.
So I think you've got to thinkvery intentionally about what's
the value that I bring and myorganization brings, and that's
got to be in your introductionas you try to earn that meeting.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Absolutely.
And then, naturally, what I dowhen I see that connection is a
lot of times I go to the profileand I see what have they posted
about recently outside of justlike the job title that they
have.
So if listeners are justworking on building up that
profile, that presence, becausethat's really important, if
somebody's going to say yes orno to this connection, like, is
(09:47):
this a relevant relationshipthat I want to establish, what
is a good starting point forpositioning them as a trusted
source and voice on LinkedIn?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Amazing question.
Everyone has their uniqueperspective, but you also have
your preferred or viable mediums, and what I mean by that is
like, for instance, when Istarted years ago, I was
creating and posting content.
I got out on several sites.
My publisher at the time waslike open a Twitter, open a
(10:20):
Facebook for business orwhatever the case may be.
Think about where your audienceis and where it's most viable to
meet them where they are.
I love LinkedIn because a lotof the relationships that I'm
trying to create are businessprofessionals and that's where
they likely sit.
I also have a lot of followerson Twitter over 250,000.
That's where I've sold apreponderance of my books,
(10:42):
actually.
But thinking about thedifferent ways that you can
touch your audience and what'samazing too, dana, like I think
about this I became, I would say, a reluctant or accidental
podcast host about five yearsago.
I have a show called MasteringModern Selling with two of my
colleagues and what's amazing islike it all started in the
pandemic, where I was thinkingto myself you know, I really
(11:03):
miss talking around and sittingaround talking about sales and
company culture and leadershipand then I realized I could do
that with anybody at any time inthe world.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, you and the guys at SmartList had the same
idea.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
There you go, there you go.
I love that.
You know it's like it's funnythat we have this ability that
we can talk to anybody at anytime, and I think, nonprofit
leaders like out thereeverywhere.
You're empowered and enabledright now to go out and create
this perspective and, you know,create a short video or a
podcast, or you know, write ablog or creating content on
(11:34):
multiple sites and meeting youraudience where they are.
There's no silver bullet, and Ithink that's what I've really
realized.
Linkedin is a great area ofcollaboration, but there's
others as well, and even theleverage how you can leverage
LinkedIn to become a thoughtleader.
These things are of criticalimportance.
But you know what's amazing too, dana, I go to conferences and
conventions a lot and I'll havepeople come up to me and say,
(11:57):
you know, I'm planning a youknow kind of a LinkedIn strategy
and I'm going to go out in acouple of weeks and start this
and I'm like, why not today?
You know, because, again, goingback to that, progress over
perfect, I likely and, to bevery candid, a lot of the posts
and the articles that I write,the things that I have to tell
myself or remind myself, arethings that I might've learned
the hard way.
Think about the depth of wisdomand knowledge that you've
(12:19):
accumulated at this stage ofyour life and career and just
try to start a conversationthat's it with your ideal
candidate.
You know, sharing experiencesthat you're having.
I mean there are a lot offulfilling and rewarding
experiences that you can have asa nonprofit and as a nonprofit
leader.
I think of some of theexecutives that I work with in
the nonprofit space and somethat are very prolific and some
(12:41):
that are very inspiring.
There's one that travels tolocations that are within
prolific and some that are veryinspiring.
There's one that travels tolocations that are within their
jurisdiction and post a video ofthem at every one of these
locations.
Out changing the world and justhaving that video out there and
posting how important theirmission is to them.
That is powerful.
And not only that, but thatability for them to do that
(13:05):
caught my attention and ithelped me parlay that into me
getting them on stage at asummit 2,000 nonprofits earlier
in the year.
So my point is you never knowwhere these investments are
going to go.
Heck.
I had an article that I wrote10 years ago.
Dana, just get picked up by theWall Street Journal.
They reached out to me, wantedto interview me.
I was in an issue earlier thisyear.
(13:26):
My point in saying all this isyou get to choose where you make
deposits in your time, yourenergy, your relationships, and
I strongly encourage you to makedeposits into starting
conversations on socialplatforms globally, where your
audience is.
It will pay dividends.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I love that and I love the example you shared
about a couple of differentexamples of posting something
here therefore gave me the ideaof an event that I have and
wanting to put you on stagethere, and I think there's
nothing more beautiful thanbeing able to be in person in
real life with people, and sothat digital asset then turned
(14:07):
into a real life experience andit's interesting.
So before we started recordingI was telling you about I was on
a local CBS affiliate thismorning talking about monthly
giving, which is all about whatI teach, and on LinkedIn I
shared afterwards not just aboutthe segment that I was talking
about Recurrent Giving.
Linkedin I shared afterwards,not just about the segment and
that I was talking aboutrecurrent giving.
Cool, but it was reallyinteresting.
There happened to be a segmentright before me, so in their set
(14:31):
there was like three differentset areas and the hosts are
magicians where they literallyare like walking between sets as
they're talking and there'ssomething on the screen for
B-roll.
And the woman right before mewas a financial advisor and she
was talking all about summerspending and how you can be more
budget conscious.
Now, I did not know anythingabout what she was going to say.
(14:52):
But I was like, oh my gosh,this is literally perfect.
I'm talking about monthlygiving and how it's easier on
your wallet and you can stillgive to the organizations that
you care about.
And so I tied those thingstogether in my segment.
I had no idea her name was Abby, that she was going to be there
, that she was going to say thatit tied perfectly.
So in my LinkedIn post I talkedabout capturing the moments of
(15:15):
relevancy, of where you are andbeing able to think quickly on
your feet for an instance likethat, to tie things together and
always be prepared to tell yourstory and how it can integrate.
So the LinkedIn post was avideo of credibility Obviously
it's me on a news set but thenalso a teaching moment of the
kind of a behind the scenesexperience of what I was
(15:36):
experiencing.
So I think we sometimes think Ihave to have it all kind of
your point figured out and it'sat the end, but no, it's just
like in the moment this happened.
I'm going to share kind of abehind the scenes moment of it.
Where do you really see fornonprofit professionals and you
gave that one brilliant examplewhen do you see LinkedIn content
(15:58):
that can help with building,attracting donors and
specifically, maybe corporatepartners too.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, that's an awesome question, I think, when
you think about it again, Ialways boil it down to the
relationships and I think aboutwhat are the relationships that
I'm gonna want or need to createin order to cultivate the
desired outcome.
And so when I'm thinking aboutdonors or when I'm thinking
about corporate sponsorships andpartnerships and again I always
start with my existing networkI think about things from a
(16:26):
probability and viabilitystandpoint.
So I think about you know whoare some of the existing
relationships that I have, andyou know what's the messaging
that could conceivably get methat meeting to discuss.
You know how do I make it aboutthem as well.
You know there's so manybenefits now to you know, to
finding significant space forgiving, and I was able to find
(16:48):
and secure some partnershipdollars recently because we're
coming up on the end of ourfiscal year and it's all about
timeliness and meeting somebodyat the right time.
Just because maybe they didn'ttalk to you last year when you
tried the attempt doesn't meanthat the planets won't align
this time, because you neverknow when and how the message
will reach them.
And so the other thing I'd beremiss not to add is that
(17:09):
there's two things that I reallydouble down on right now
because they help me so much,because we're in such a digital
age lean into that.
Look, I've been doing this along time.
I have to really stay ahead ofthe curve.
You know be even more valuableor invaluable in this space
because, a lot is enabled bytechnology and artificial
(17:31):
intelligence, and so the abilityto leverage things like Sales
Navigator to create a verycultivated feed of the people
that I want to engage with,based on geography or title or
seniority or whatever the casemay be, and, on the flip side,
the ability to leverage AI tohelp me write prompts when I
might get stuck, those types ofthings help me.
So if I can post a prompt orwrite a prompt of you know, help
(17:54):
me write two to three sentences, that will help me earn a
meeting with someone to talkabout corporate sponsorship
possibilities.
Those types of things help metremendously because sometimes,
you know, believe it or not, Ifumble for words regularly,
especially with my wife.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, I'll do.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, especially with my wife, just ask her.
But I think the key element islike finding the right way to
ask the question so that because, again, don't put the cart
before the horse You're justtrying to have an exploratory
meeting and, frankly, they mayalso be able to introduce you to
others that could help you onthat pursuit.
So lean into the technology,look for ways that you can help
(18:28):
find the right people, but alsofinding the right way of wording
what you're looking to do.
I recently did a campaign for avery prominent nonprofit.
I leveraged LinkedIn, Ileveraged messaging with
LinkedIn and in fact, last yearI generated over $80,000 for a
nonprofit that's near and dearto my heart through the exact
(18:48):
same campaign style, just byleveraging LinkedIn, sending a
couple of sentences telling itwhy it mattered to me, why it
was personal, but also outliningthe opportunity and offering to
have a conversation, and so Ithink the key is don't oversell
it or overdo it.
I think too, sometimes, like I'mone of those people.
I used to write very longstream of consciousness emails,
(19:10):
like you know, throw in thekitchen sink and then pat myself
on the back because I thoughtit sounded really articulate.
But the reality is people havea lot going on.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
There's a lot of noise in the world.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Keep it to two to three sentences.
Try to earn the conversation.
Make it personal, explain whyit matters to you, but then also
explain why there could bevalue for the recipient and your
probability of getting thatconversation go way up.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
So good.
You wrote a great article and Iknow it was structured in the
sales vein, but for nonprofitlisteners I will link to it in
the show notes.
It just came out at the end ofMay how I became the number one
social seller, which I lovesocial seller.
How can you become the numberone social fundraiser yeah, the
number one social fundraiser intech, and how you can too.
(19:55):
And all of your tips in hereare spot on and can be done in
the nonprofit space too.
And what you just talked aboutis creating value and really
investing in them.
First, building genuineconnections, and so I think
that's really important.
There's so much power.
I always say in the DMs, in thedirect messages that take place
(20:16):
.
I have booked so many podcastguests.
A lot of my monthly givingsummit speakers are through
LinkedIn messages.
You have no idea the powerthat's in them, especially
because they become a pushnotification to your phone over
sometimes, where emails get lost.
So they are also way morevisible to you as an individual
(20:37):
and you can see that.
So I love that, keeping itshort and sweet and really
thinking about the connectionpoint.
Okay, so you brought up LinkedInSales Navigator and there's a
couple questions I have on this.
Traditionally, it's been viewedas a B2B sales tool.
Just two months ago, gosh, Ican't believe April has been two
months ago.
You're telling me LinkedIn fornonprofits provided I think it
(21:00):
was for 2,000 nonprofits sixmonths free of Sales Navigator.
So I hope you're one of thenonprofits that got that.
There's so much potential touse it to create fundraising
pipelines For an organizationthat might be just be starting.
Maybe they got that six months.
They're on month Beginning ofmonth two.
(21:22):
What filters, what strategies,what habits would you recommend
they put into place to use SalesNavigator to its fullest
potential?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I love this topic, dana.
I've sat down with multipleCEOs and chief marketing
officers at nonprofits just evenover the last six months and
started the dialogue but thenalso seen it through of
different ways thatorganizations can leverage
LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
Of different ways thatorganizations can leverage
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Whetheryou're recruiting, looking to
fill roles, looking to fillboard spots, whether you're
(21:59):
looking for fundraisers, whetheryou're looking for volunteers.
There's so many practical usecases.
I was sitting down with a veryprominent CEO recently and this
is an area where we're helpingthem.
We're embarking on a projectbecause here's the thing I work
for Microsoft Customers can buycloud anywhere.
The differentiator is going tobe where can I and my company
uniquely help them as opposed toour competition?
And I think we're uniquelypoised because of how we show up
(22:22):
and how we invest in nonprofits.
But it's also incumbent upon meto evangelize that and really
help them see like unique waysthat we can partner and
collaborate.
And one of the biggestchallenges that a lot of
organizations have had infinding volunteers post pandemic
is, you know, for instance,this particular one was sending
volunteers into schools, andwhat we were looking at is when
(22:43):
it was possible for thesebusiness professionals to pop on
online.
Those are easy for them.
They could do that fromanywhere, but they were wanting
to get back into sendingphysical people into physical
locations and so it was becomingmore challenging.
Their volunteerism was down.
So where we're helping thisorganization is looking at, okay
, the type of you know the mold,the model of that volunteer is
(23:04):
out on LinkedIn.
Let's find the geography, let'scast a wide net, let's create a
messaging or an outreachcampaign via in-mail or direct
message that can go directly tosome of these folks.
And again, it's a probabilitygame.
But if you reach out with theright message and I'm a business
professional, somebody if anonprofit reached out to me and
asked me to go into a schoolonce a month or once a quarter,
(23:27):
I'd say absolutely yes, sign meup, please sign me up, yeah,
yeah, you know, coming from aplace of, I'm not
inconveniencing anyone and I cango out and I can find someone
who fits the exact profilegeography, wise, professional,
wise, years of experience, youknow, being able to find by
title, you can literally findwhatever you're looking for.
And so let's say I'm anonprofit and I want to connect
(23:49):
with the school or I want toconnect with some other
organizations that I seek toserve and I want to send the
perfect volunteer their way.
It just gives me a much largersea in which to fish, and so I
think that's the key element isit really comes down to being
able to find that perfect model?
Furthermore, filtering thefiltering.
And then, same token, dana onyou know we were talking about
(24:09):
this in the green room before wehopped on.
Think about, like finding aboard member.
You can find very similar.
You know, I want to find maybesomebody who's been on other
nonprofit boards, or I work inhealthcare or I work in mental
health, and I want to findsomebody who has this passion
area or these key words that areon their profile.
Sales navigator will do allthat for you.
And lastly, same thing from arecruiting perspective.
(24:31):
You can go out and find veryspecific people that have done
titles or jobs before, but theymay have interests or
affiliation with nonprofits ontheir profile.
All of these things can be foundthrough Sales Navigator, and
that is why it is invaluable.
I use it literally every day.
The last thing I will mentionon this is we were talking about
this too before we hopped onthe ability that you have to
(24:53):
even take Excel documents andput it in of like target
organizations or target peoplethat you want to reach out to.
What's great is, you can createa cultivated feed.
Your sales navigator feed andyour LinkedIn feed are different
, right, so you can create aseparate feed for Sales
Navigator for just those targetorganizations or people that
perhaps you want to be following.
(25:15):
You can even create links.
You can embed links.
You could send your podcast oryou could send your newsletter
out via this smart link that ispart of Sales Navigator and you
can see exactly who you are.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Wow, I didn't know that.
So much power in SalesNavigator and you can see
exactly who you are Wow, Ididn't know that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So much power in Sales Navigator.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Okay, so literally that, just Pause, rewind,
re-listen to what Carson justsaid.
Go back I think it's either in15 or 30 second chunks when you
listen to it on a podcast,rewind.
Think about the feed curation.
I think sometimes on LinkedInit can become a bit of an echo
(25:52):
chamber of you see the samepeople in your feed.
However, with this salesnavigator tool, you can create
these custom lists to make surethat you are engaging, checking
in with seeing the updates ofspecific people that you want to
be working with, building thoserelationships over time, and
that also helps your time, liketime management perspective.
(26:15):
You're not going in, you're notsearching for each individual
person.
You're able to keep like a nicediligent case, like pace, on
finding all those people.
That's huge.
I will say I have a previousepisode with Ariana Unai she's
the head of LinkedIn fornonprofits where we talk about
some of these things on episode178 with Arianna Unai.
This came out in April, thevery beginning of April.
(26:36):
That is huge, okay.
So examples Are there any fromyour perspective?
Microsoft Tech for socialimpact I'm sure you work with a
lot of different organizations.
Are there some leaders, someorganizations that you've seen
really excel at this, whetherit's funding or visibility in a
really meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Oh yeah, when I think about it, it's, first and
foremost how you show up as aleader.
You know from the C-level, fromthe board level.
You're an ambassador of yourorganization and what I think is
amazing is when there's nobetter story to tell than a
nonprofit story, in my opinion,and what I think is really
(27:19):
powerful is when you, as aleader, are able to speak from
the heart about very specificstories, highlighting and
amplifying your team, amplifyingyour constituents and those you
serve, and then alsohighlighting and amplifying
opportunities to find out moreor do more with your
organization.
What's great about LinkedIn andSales Navigator?
(27:40):
You can use these tools in ameaningful way every day, and it
can look different every day.
I have no agenda.
When I even approach my ownLinkedIn.
I have no idea what I'll postthis afternoon.
I have no idea what I'll posttomorrow.
It doesn't matter, it will cometo me.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I love that you just said there's no plan.
Sometimes there's just no plan.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
No plan.
Well, because life can take youin a different direction
Totally.
We all know and I think that'sthe key element, dana is, when I
think about it also beintentional about how you're
leveraging your content.
We could do a podcast, we coulddo a story, we could do a blog.
I did a podcast last week andit was published to YouTube.
(28:17):
And I have a service called OpusAI which is out there.
It's called Opus Clip.
You can find it very easily.
It will slice and dice30-minute hour-long video into
30 second minute long clips.
You can turn one piece of a 30minute hour long content into 30
LinkedIn posts.
You know just, and you could doa different one for each day of
(28:38):
the week.
You can take a transcript of ashow you were on or something
that you said on a team meetinginternally and you could
literally feed that into ChatGPTor Microsoft ProPilot and turn
it into your next post or yournext story.
So be intentional about how youcan leverage content that
you've created today intomultiple new avenues.
(28:58):
And then, at the heart of it,I've always had this one
fundamental Look, I was an oldadvertising and
telecommunications sales guy.
There was really no reasonwhatsoever why I should have
been successful at Microsoft,the biggest tech company in the
world.
I've always tried to buildcommunity around what we do and
around what I do, and I'vealways been very transparent and
(29:19):
candid with the people I'veworked with.
But I'm also very proactive andresponsive and communicative
and those things have served mewell.
But I think, when you thinkabout how organizations are
using it and using it well,they're leveraging all the ways
that they can to build community, build groups.
I've seen people have Facebookgroups.
I've seen people have LinkedIngroups specifically for their
(29:39):
nonprofit and posting, you knowmaking articles or you know
almost daily notes to their feed, like amplifying their team or
showing where they are in theworld and what they're doing and
what's happening on the ground.
And you know the things thatmake it personal and the things
that show the people thatinteract or engage with that
(30:01):
content the opportunity thatthey have to make a difference.
That's the stuff that reachesout and grabs folks.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
So good.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And so that's what I'm seeing the great non-profits
and the great non-profitleaders do again.
There's no silver bullet.
There's no right or wronganswer.
Pick the mediums that you wantto play in and, believe me, I
like I've been pulled into somemediums that I never would have
anticipated, like tiktok, to mydaughter's chagrin.
But my point in saying that islike there's people out there
everywhere that you can engagewith.
(30:31):
I mean, I have profiles that Ipost content to on YouTube,
facebook, twitter, tiktok,wordpress.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's a free website and with all of those I do want
to say do what feels manageableto you.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Pick one and what I would say is be consistent.
There are many tools, likeCarson, just mentioned, from AI,
that can help you to haveplatform-specific content on all
of those that meet the needs.
But start with one, start withtwo that serve you the best that
you can be consistent on, anddon't be discouraged when you're
(31:04):
just starting earlier on, if itjust feels like crickets.
You say this all the time and Ipromise you there are more
impressions than there areengagements, which means people
are seeing it, even if they'renot responding right now, but
they're seeing it.
Carson, it has been a pleasure.
Thank you so much for coming onwith your busy, busy, busy day.
(31:26):
We appreciate you and thank youfor all that you do.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Dana, thank you.
I appreciate the important workthat you do for our nonprofits
as well, and hopefully this wasvaluable to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yes, very, and everyone, please go check out
the LinkedIn article.
I'm so excited about this newterm.
I'm just creating the socialfundraiser.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I love it, it's happening.
Trademark it today, daniel.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Thanks, Carson.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of
Missions to Movements.
If you enjoyed our conversationand found it helpful, I would
love for you to take a moment toleave a review.
Wherever you're listening, yourfeedback helps us reach more
change makers like you andcontinue bringing impactful
stories and strategies to theshow.
(32:13):
Don't forget to hit thatsubscribe button, too, so you'll
never miss an episode.
And until next time, keepturning your mission into a
movement.
Welcome back to Missions, to Movements.
I'm your host, Dana Snyder, andtoday's episode is all about
unlocking the power of LinkedIn,Not just for connections, but
for genuine conversions andconversations that move your
mission forward.
Now today's guest is someonewho's truly mastered the art of
showing up online with purpose.
Carson Heady is the America'sManaging Director for Microsoft
(00:24):
Tech for Social Impact, where hehelps nonprofits leverage
technology, innovation andstorytelling to scale their
impact.
He's been featured in the WallStreet Journal Forbes.
He's a five times bestsellingauthor, a podcast host and one
of the most insightful voices onsocial leadership in the sector
.
He also happens to be known asthe number one social seller in
(00:47):
tech, and after today's episode,he might just convince you that
you can become the number onesocial fundraiser Now.
In fact, that idea and titlehit me mid-conversation, because
Carson's approach to socialselling is so aligned with how
we should be thinking aboutbuilding trust, starting
conversations and inspiringaction in the nonprofit world.
(01:10):
So, yes, I'm officiallyembracing the title of a social
fundraiser, and I hope you willjoin me in that.
So today we talk all thingsLinkedIn how to use it for
thought leadership, how to buildrelationships that lead to
funding, and how to use toolslike Sales Navigator to connect
you with mission-alignedpartners without it ever feeling
transactional.
(01:31):
Let's get into it.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
Don't oversell it or overdo it.
I think too.
Sometimes I'm one of thosepeople.
I used to write very longstream of consciousness emails
like throw in the kitchen sinkand then pat myself on the back
because I thought it soundedreally articulate.
But the reality is people havea lot going on.
There's a lot of noise in theworld.
Keep it to two to threesentences.
Try to earn the conversation.
Make it personal, explain whyit matters to you, but then also
(01:57):
explain why there could bevalue for the recipient and your
probability of getting thatconversation go way up.
Speaker 1 (02:04):
Carson, when I was looking at your LinkedIn account
I was a little bit like nearly48,000 LinkedIn followers.
You have built an extremelystrong presence on the platform
as a thought leader on LinkedInso much so we were talking about
beforehand.
Linkedin asked you to do thisinterview with me when I was
(02:25):
asking them for who's a reallygood thought leader on the
platform, who can really talkabout this to my audience and
really break down some of thetools.
What originally really sparkedyour decision to be active on
the platform and show up?
And then how has that showingup on the platform?
Obviously, you didn't startwith 48,000 followers when you
(02:48):
began.
How has that really impactedyour career?
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, no, dana, thanks so much for having me.
I'm honored.
Thank you for what you do fornonprofits that we mutually
serve, and always grateful forthe collaboration with LinkedIn
as well.
When it started for me, it wasyears ago and it was very
serendipitous.
I've been very fortunate notonly with my leveraging of the
platform, but also just kind ofwhere it's taken me, you know,
(03:13):
from a career, but mostly arelationships perspective,
because I think that's where itreally is at the heart.
So when I first startedleveraging LinkedIn, it was
years ago and, ironically or not, shortly after I was laid off
from a job a corporate job, backin 2010, but also as I had
written a book and my publisherstarted telling me leveraging
social will help you.
(03:34):
And then I also started workingfor a small consultant firm, and
the primary charter of that wasdeveloping C-level
relationships, and so I thoughtto myself these folks that I
want to connect with are onLinkedIn, so by doing so, it
will give me a higher viabilityor probability of having the
types of connections that I wantto have, and I've always tried
(03:55):
to focus on the next right step.
So getting a conversation hasbeen critical, and so for
everything that I've been insince then, whether it's been in
different sales or leadershiproles, having relationships and
doing meaningful connection viaLinkedIn has been super
impactful.
You asked also about just theimpact on my career as a whole.
One of the things that I had todo years ago was just be very
(04:18):
intentional about how I couldleverage the platform in a way
to express my experiences, myperspectives.
I tell everybody that I coachand train globally on this that
you know, hey, your perspectivematters Whether you're brand new
in your career or you're 20, 30years in.
What you have to say willresonate and matters to a group
(04:40):
of people that are either goingthrough what you're experiencing
or what you have experienced,so I took that to heart.
It was about progress overperfect for me, and I just
started speaking to the audiencein a way that would hopefully
start conversations, andthankfully it did.
Speaker 1 (04:55):
This is one of those very serendipitous moments.
In the past 30 seconds, youhave said two things that I say
almost exactly during one of mykeynotes.
I love that.
Wow, then for us to meetliterally the progress over
perfection and the fact thatshowing up in your messy middle
regardless if you are juststarting your career or ready to
give consulting advice thatit's all applicable to the
(05:19):
platform.
And something that I want todive into that I think is really
interesting listeners, is thefact that, carson, you just said
you are connecting with C-suitelevel people on the platform to
build relationships.
Now I want to.
This is a very detailed kind ofnitty gritty question, but the
connection request when you areconnecting with people at a
(05:44):
C-suite because I'm picturingthis leader that's listening
right now you're trying to reachout to a C-suite at a potential
company that you want to do apartnership with.
You're trying to reach out to apotential donor that could be
an affluent businessprofessional on the platform.
So this is context right, wouldyou just connect?
Did you write a message in theconnection?
Can you kind of walk throughwhat was your process?
(06:07):
I'm sure, because you've donethis now for years what works?
Speaker 2 (06:25):
I've evolved my practice in many, many ways to
put the people that I'm tryingto connect with at the heart of
my process.
That said, I always send amessage along with the
connection.
Some people will say don't senda message with the connection?
Some people will say, do Ialways do, and here's why?
Because here's the thing.
What are you ultimately tryingto do?
Granted, you might want thatperson.
If you're at a nonprofitorganization, you may want that
person to be a donor.
(06:46):
You may want that person to bea volunteer.
You may want that person toengage with you in some
meaningful way, but you can'talso put the cart before the
horse.
None of that happens unless youstart a conversation, and I
always have to think veryintentionally about what is the
unique value differentiator thatI can present to this person.
Now, a lot of my outreach in thelast 11 years since I've been
(07:07):
at Microsoft has been based onbeing a part of their Microsoft
leadership team, and the biggestchallenge that Microsoft
sellers have is that typically,we fall into just IT and
procurement, and while thoserelationships are of critical
importance, we're not going tohave meaningful transformation
unless we also engage theC-level, the board, chief data,
(07:29):
chief strategy, chief securityCFO, etc.
So my point in saying all thatis it's not lost on me that our
customers have a lot of choices.
Why would they want to have aconversation with me?
Well, first off, I'm part oftheir leadership account team.
I know that they haveopportunities and options and a
lot of times customers see us aswe pay you a lot of money, we
(07:50):
don't want to just buy more.
And where I think salespeoplego wrong is they mention widgets
and products and names ofsolutions.
The reality is people view anychange as a risk.
And so if I reach out and Ialways reach out saying hey, I
want to talk to you aboutresources that you're entitled
to as part of your existinginvestment, the likelihood of me
(08:11):
getting the meeting is very,very high.
And, believe me, there areconversations where I engage and
I don't see a path forward andI will say that like, hey, it
sounds like you're good, you'reoptimized, you're doing
everything.
Hey, congratulations please, I'mavailable, I'm here, but there
are oftentimes where I'll comeinto situations and it's there
are challenges that they'restruggling with, or there are
(08:32):
goals that they have, or it's anew executive and I asked them
like what legacy do you want toleave with this organization?
Why did you join thisorganization?
Speaker 1 (08:38):
How can I?
Speaker 2 (08:40):
be able to demystify the investments that they make
with my company.
How can I empower and enablethat to happen?
So my long story, short to sumup, dana, is I think the key
element is yes, I always send aconnection request message and
it's very much geared toward thevalue that I believe that I can
bring.
Let's be real the value that alot of nonprofits can bring is
far superior to what I can bringas a sales leader.
(09:03):
Often it is going to be more oflife-changing or where we can
influence research together orwhere we need to even bring a
serious amount of fulfillmentfor the person that receives
that connection request.
So I think you've got to thinkvery intentionally about what's
the value that I bring and myorganization brings, and that's
got to be in your introductionas you try to earn that meeting.
Speaker 1 (09:26):
Absolutely.
And then, naturally, what I dowhen I see that connection is a
lot of times I go to the profileand I see what have they posted
about recently outside of justlike the job title that they
have.
So if listeners are justworking on building up that
profile, that presence, becausethat's really important, if
somebody's going to say yes orno to this connection, like, is
(09:47):
this a relevant relationshipthat I want to establish, what
is a good starting point forpositioning them as a trusted
source and voice on LinkedIn?
Speaker 2 (09:58):
Amazing question.
Everyone has their uniqueperspective, but you also have
your preferred or viable mediums, and what I mean by that is
like, for instance, when Istarted years ago, I was
creating and posting content.
I got out on several sites.
My publisher at the time waslike open a Twitter, open a
(10:20):
Facebook for business orwhatever the case may be.
Think about where your audienceis and where it's most viable to
meet them where they are.
I love LinkedIn because a lotof the relationships that I'm
trying to create are businessprofessionals and that's where
they likely sit.
I also have a lot of followerson Twitter over 250,000.
That's where I've sold apreponderance of my books,
(10:42):
actually.
But thinking about thedifferent ways that you can
touch your audience and what'samazing too, dana, like I think
about this I became, I would say, a reluctant or accidental
podcast host about five yearsago.
I have a show called MasteringModern Selling with two of my
colleagues and what's amazing islike it all started in the
pandemic, where I was thinkingto myself you know, I really
(11:03):
miss talking around and sittingaround talking about sales and
company culture and leadershipand then I realized I could do
that with anybody at any time inthe world.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Yeah, you and the guys at SmartList had the same
idea.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
There you go, there you go.
I love that.
You know it's like it's funnythat we have this ability that
we can talk to anybody at anytime, and I think, nonprofit
leaders like out thereeverywhere.
You're empowered and enabledright now to go out and create
this perspective and, you know,create a short video or a
podcast, or you know, write ablog or creating content on
(11:34):
multiple sites and meeting youraudience where they are.
There's no silver bullet, and Ithink that's what I've really
realized.
Linkedin is a great area ofcollaboration, but there's
others as well, and even theleverage how you can leverage
LinkedIn to become a thoughtleader.
These things are of criticalimportance.
But you know what's amazing too, dana, I go to conferences and
conventions a lot and I'll havepeople come up to me and say,
(11:57):
you know, I'm planning a youknow kind of a LinkedIn strategy
and I'm going to go out in acouple of weeks and start this
and I'm like, why not today?
You know, because, again, goingback to that, progress over
perfect, I likely and, to bevery candid, a lot of the posts
and the articles that I write,the things that I have to tell
myself or remind myself, arethings that I might've learned
the hard way.
Think about the depth of wisdomand knowledge that you've
(12:19):
accumulated at this stage ofyour life and career and just
try to start a conversationthat's it with your ideal
candidate.
You know, sharing experiencesthat you're having.
I mean there are a lot offulfilling and rewarding
experiences that you can have asa nonprofit and as a nonprofit
leader.
I think of some of theexecutives that I work with in
the nonprofit space and somethat are very prolific and some
(12:41):
that are very inspiring.
There's one that travels tolocations that are within
prolific and some that are veryinspiring.
There's one that travels tolocations that are within their
jurisdiction and post a video ofthem at every one of these
locations.
Out changing the world and justhaving that video out there and
posting how important theirmission is to them.
That is powerful.
And not only that, but thatability for them to do that
(13:05):
caught my attention and ithelped me parlay that into me
getting them on stage at asummit 2,000 nonprofits earlier
in the year.
So my point is you never knowwhere these investments are
going to go.
Heck.
I had an article that I wrote10 years ago.
Dana, just get picked up by theWall Street Journal.
They reached out to me, wantedto interview me.
I was in an issue earlier thisyear.
(13:26):
My point in saying all this isyou get to choose where you make
deposits in your time, yourenergy, your relationships, and
I strongly encourage you to makedeposits into starting
conversations on socialplatforms globally, where your
audience is.
It will pay dividends.
Speaker 1 (13:47):
I love that and I love the example you shared
about a couple of differentexamples of posting something
here therefore gave me the ideaof an event that I have and
wanting to put you on stagethere, and I think there's
nothing more beautiful thanbeing able to be in person in
real life with people, and sothat digital asset then turned
(14:07):
into a real life experience andit's interesting.
So before we started recordingI was telling you about I was on
a local CBS affiliate thismorning talking about monthly
giving, which is all about whatI teach, and on LinkedIn I
shared afterwards not just aboutthe segment that I was talking
about Recurrent Giving.
Linkedin I shared afterwards,not just about the segment and
that I was talking aboutrecurrent giving.
Cool, but it was reallyinteresting.
There happened to be a segmentright before me, so in their set
(14:31):
there was like three differentset areas and the hosts are
magicians where they literallyare like walking between sets as
they're talking and there'ssomething on the screen for
B-roll.
And the woman right before mewas a financial advisor and she
was talking all about summerspending and how you can be more
budget conscious.
Now, I did not know anythingabout what she was going to say.
(14:52):
But I was like, oh my gosh,this is literally perfect.
I'm talking about monthlygiving and how it's easier on
your wallet and you can stillgive to the organizations that
you care about.
And so I tied those thingstogether in my segment.
I had no idea her name was Abby, that she was going to be there
, that she was going to say thatit tied perfectly.
So in my LinkedIn post I talkedabout capturing the moments of
(15:15):
relevancy, of where you are andbeing able to think quickly on
your feet for an instance likethat, to tie things together and
always be prepared to tell yourstory and how it can integrate.
So the LinkedIn post was avideo of credibility Obviously
it's me on a news set but thenalso a teaching moment of the
kind of a behind the scenesexperience of what I was
(15:36):
experiencing.
So I think we sometimes think Ihave to have it all kind of
your point figured out and it'sat the end, but no, it's just
like in the moment this happened.
I'm going to share kind of abehind the scenes moment of it.
Where do you really see fornonprofit professionals and you
gave that one brilliant examplewhen do you see LinkedIn content
(15:58):
that can help with building,attracting donors and
specifically, maybe corporatepartners too.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
Yeah, that's an awesome question, I think, when
you think about it again, Ialways boil it down to the
relationships and I think aboutwhat are the relationships that
I'm gonna want or need to createin order to cultivate the
desired outcome.
And so when I'm thinking aboutdonors or when I'm thinking
about corporate sponsorships andpartnerships and again I always
start with my existing networkI think about things from a
(16:26):
probability and viabilitystandpoint.
So I think about you know whoare some of the existing
relationships that I have, andyou know what's the messaging
that could conceivably get methat meeting to discuss.
You know how do I make it aboutthem as well.
You know there's so manybenefits now to you know, to
finding significant space forgiving, and I was able to find
(16:48):
and secure some partnershipdollars recently because we're
coming up on the end of ourfiscal year and it's all about
timeliness and meeting somebodyat the right time.
Just because maybe they didn'ttalk to you last year when you
tried the attempt doesn't meanthat the planets won't align
this time, because you neverknow when and how the message
will reach them.
And so the other thing I'd beremiss not to add is that
(17:09):
there's two things that I reallydouble down on right now
because they help me so much,because we're in such a digital
age lean into that.
Look, I've been doing this along time.
I have to really stay ahead ofthe curve.
You know be even more valuableor invaluable in this space
because, a lot is enabled bytechnology and artificial
(17:31):
intelligence, and so the abilityto leverage things like Sales
Navigator to create a verycultivated feed of the people
that I want to engage with,based on geography or title or
seniority or whatever the casemay be, and, on the flip side,
the ability to leverage AI tohelp me write prompts when I
might get stuck, those types ofthings help me.
So if I can post a prompt orwrite a prompt of you know, help
(17:54):
me write two to three sentences, that will help me earn a
meeting with someone to talkabout corporate sponsorship
possibilities.
Those types of things help metremendously because sometimes,
you know, believe it or not, Ifumble for words regularly,
especially with my wife.
Speaker 1 (18:07):
Yeah, I'll do.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
Yeah, especially with my wife, just ask her.
But I think the key element islike finding the right way to
ask the question so that because, again, don't put the cart
before the horse You're justtrying to have an exploratory
meeting and, frankly, they mayalso be able to introduce you to
others that could help you onthat pursuit.
So lean into the technology,look for ways that you can help
(18:28):
find the right people, but alsofinding the right way of wording
what you're looking to do.
I recently did a campaign for avery prominent nonprofit.
I leveraged LinkedIn, Ileveraged messaging with
LinkedIn and in fact, last yearI generated over $80,000 for a
nonprofit that's near and dearto my heart through the exact
(18:48):
same campaign style, just byleveraging LinkedIn, sending a
couple of sentences telling itwhy it mattered to me, why it
was personal, but also outliningthe opportunity and offering to
have a conversation, and so Ithink the key is don't oversell
it or overdo it.
I think too, sometimes, like I'mone of those people.
I used to write very longstream of consciousness emails,
(19:10):
like you know, throw in thekitchen sink and then pat myself
on the back because I thoughtit sounded really articulate.
But the reality is people havea lot going on.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
There's a lot of noise in the world.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Keep it to two to three sentences.
Try to earn the conversation.
Make it personal, explain whyit matters to you, but then also
explain why there could bevalue for the recipient and your
probability of getting thatconversation go way up.
Speaker 1 (19:32):
So good.
You wrote a great article and Iknow it was structured in the
sales vein, but for nonprofitlisteners I will link to it in
the show notes.
It just came out at the end ofMay how I became the number one
social seller, which I lovesocial seller.
How can you become the numberone social fundraiser yeah, the
number one social fundraiser intech, and how you can too.
(19:55):
And all of your tips in hereare spot on and can be done in
the nonprofit space too.
And what you just talked aboutis creating value and really
investing in them.
First, building genuineconnections, and so I think
that's really important.
There's so much power.
I always say in the DMs, in thedirect messages that take place
(20:16):
.
I have booked so many podcastguests.
A lot of my monthly givingsummit speakers are through
LinkedIn messages.
You have no idea the powerthat's in them, especially
because they become a pushnotification to your phone over
sometimes, where emails get lost.
So they are also way morevisible to you as an individual
(20:37):
and you can see that.
So I love that, keeping itshort and sweet and really
thinking about the connectionpoint.
Okay, so you brought up LinkedInSales Navigator and there's a
couple questions I have on this.
Traditionally, it's been viewedas a B2B sales tool.
Just two months ago, gosh, Ican't believe April has been two
months ago.
You're telling me LinkedIn fornonprofits provided I think it
(21:00):
was for 2,000 nonprofits sixmonths free of Sales Navigator.
So I hope you're one of thenonprofits that got that.
There's so much potential touse it to create fundraising
pipelines For an organizationthat might be just be starting.
Maybe they got that six months.
They're on month Beginning ofmonth two.
(21:22):
What filters, what strategies,what habits would you recommend
they put into place to use SalesNavigator to its fullest
potential?
Speaker 2 (21:33):
I love this topic, dana.
I've sat down with multipleCEOs and chief marketing
officers at nonprofits just evenover the last six months and
started the dialogue but thenalso seen it through of
different ways thatorganizations can leverage
LinkedIn Sales Navigator.
Of different ways thatorganizations can leverage
LinkedIn Sales Navigator Whetheryou're recruiting, looking to
fill roles, looking to fillboard spots, whether you're
(21:59):
looking for fundraisers, whetheryou're looking for volunteers.
There's so many practical usecases.
I was sitting down with a veryprominent CEO recently and this
is an area where we're helpingthem.
We're embarking on a projectbecause here's the thing I work
for Microsoft Customers can buycloud anywhere.
The differentiator is going tobe where can I and my company
uniquely help them as opposed toour competition?
And I think we're uniquelypoised because of how we show up
(22:22):
and how we invest in nonprofits.
But it's also incumbent upon meto evangelize that and really
help them see like unique waysthat we can partner and
collaborate.
And one of the biggestchallenges that a lot of
organizations have had infinding volunteers post pandemic
is, you know, for instance,this particular one was sending
volunteers into schools, andwhat we were looking at is when
(22:43):
it was possible for thesebusiness professionals to pop on
online.
Those are easy for them.
They could do that fromanywhere, but they were wanting
to get back into sendingphysical people into physical
locations and so it was becomingmore challenging.
Their volunteerism was down.
So where we're helping thisorganization is looking at, okay
, the type of you know the mold,the model of that volunteer is
(23:04):
out on LinkedIn.
Let's find the geography, let'scast a wide net, let's create a
messaging or an outreachcampaign via in-mail or direct
message that can go directly tosome of these folks.
And again, it's a probabilitygame.
But if you reach out with theright message and I'm a business
professional, somebody if anonprofit reached out to me and
asked me to go into a schoolonce a month or once a quarter,
(23:27):
I'd say absolutely yes, sign meup, please sign me up, yeah,
yeah, you know, coming from aplace of, I'm not
inconveniencing anyone and I cango out and I can find someone
who fits the exact profilegeography, wise, professional,
wise, years of experience, youknow, being able to find by
title, you can literally findwhatever you're looking for.
And so let's say I'm anonprofit and I want to connect
(23:49):
with the school or I want toconnect with some other
organizations that I seek toserve and I want to send the
perfect volunteer their way.
It just gives me a much largersea in which to fish, and so I
think that's the key element isit really comes down to being
able to find that perfect model?
Furthermore, filtering thefiltering.
And then, same token, dana onyou know we were talking about
(24:09):
this in the green room before wehopped on.
Think about, like finding aboard member.
You can find very similar.
You know, I want to find maybesomebody who's been on other
nonprofit boards, or I work inhealthcare or I work in mental
health, and I want to findsomebody who has this passion
area or these key words that areon their profile.
Sales navigator will do allthat for you.
And lastly, same thing from arecruiting perspective.
(24:31):
You can go out and find veryspecific people that have done
titles or jobs before, but theymay have interests or
affiliation with nonprofits ontheir profile.
All of these things can be foundthrough Sales Navigator, and
that is why it is invaluable.
I use it literally every day.
The last thing I will mentionon this is we were talking about
this too before we hopped onthe ability that you have to
(24:53):
even take Excel documents andput it in of like target
organizations or target peoplethat you want to reach out to.
What's great is, you can createa cultivated feed.
Your sales navigator feed andyour LinkedIn feed are different
, right, so you can create aseparate feed for Sales
Navigator for just those targetorganizations or people that
perhaps you want to be following.
(25:15):
You can even create links.
You can embed links.
You could send your podcast oryou could send your newsletter
out via this smart link that ispart of Sales Navigator and you
can see exactly who you are.
Speaker 1 (25:26):
Wow, I didn't know that.
So much power in SalesNavigator and you can see
exactly who you are Wow, Ididn't know that.
Speaker 2 (25:30):
So much power in Sales Navigator.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
Okay, so literally that, just Pause, rewind,
re-listen to what Carson justsaid.
Go back I think it's either in15 or 30 second chunks when you
listen to it on a podcast,rewind.
Think about the feed curation.
I think sometimes on LinkedInit can become a bit of an echo
(25:52):
chamber of you see the samepeople in your feed.
However, with this salesnavigator tool, you can create
these custom lists to make surethat you are engaging, checking
in with seeing the updates ofspecific people that you want to
be working with, building thoserelationships over time, and
that also helps your time, liketime management perspective.
(26:15):
You're not going in, you're notsearching for each individual
person.
You're able to keep like a nicediligent case, like pace, on
finding all those people.
That's huge.
I will say I have a previousepisode with Ariana Unai she's
the head of LinkedIn fornonprofits where we talk about
some of these things on episode178 with Arianna Unai.
This came out in April, thevery beginning of April.
(26:36):
That is huge, okay.
So examples Are there any fromyour perspective?
Microsoft Tech for socialimpact I'm sure you work with a
lot of different organizations.
Are there some leaders, someorganizations that you've seen
really excel at this, whetherit's funding or visibility in a
really meaningful way.
Speaker 2 (26:56):
Oh yeah, when I think about it, it's, first and
foremost how you show up as aleader.
You know from the C-level, fromthe board level.
You're an ambassador of yourorganization and what I think is
amazing is when there's nobetter story to tell than a
nonprofit story, in my opinion,and what I think is really
(27:19):
powerful is when you, as aleader, are able to speak from
the heart about very specificstories, highlighting and
amplifying your team, amplifyingyour constituents and those you
serve, and then alsohighlighting and amplifying
opportunities to find out moreor do more with your
organization.
What's great about LinkedIn andSales Navigator?
(27:40):
You can use these tools in ameaningful way every day, and it
can look different every day.
I have no agenda.
When I even approach my ownLinkedIn.
I have no idea what I'll postthis afternoon.
I have no idea what I'll posttomorrow.
It doesn't matter, it will cometo me.
Speaker 1 (27:53):
I love that you just said there's no plan.
Sometimes there's just no plan.
Speaker 2 (27:56):
No plan.
Well, because life can take youin a different direction
Totally.
We all know and I think that'sthe key element, dana is, when I
think about it also beintentional about how you're
leveraging your content.
We could do a podcast, we coulddo a story, we could do a blog.
I did a podcast last week andit was published to YouTube.
(28:17):
And I have a service called OpusAI which is out there.
It's called Opus Clip.
You can find it very easily.
It will slice and dice30-minute hour-long video into
30 second minute long clips.
You can turn one piece of a 30minute hour long content into 30
LinkedIn posts.
You know just, and you could doa different one for each day of
(28:38):
the week.
You can take a transcript of ashow you were on or something
that you said on a team meetinginternally and you could
literally feed that into ChatGPTor Microsoft ProPilot and turn
it into your next post or yournext story.
So be intentional about how youcan leverage content that
you've created today intomultiple new avenues.
(28:58):
And then, at the heart of it,I've always had this one
fundamental Look, I was an oldadvertising and
telecommunications sales guy.
There was really no reasonwhatsoever why I should have
been successful at Microsoft,the biggest tech company in the
world.
I've always tried to buildcommunity around what we do and
around what I do, and I'vealways been very transparent and
(29:19):
candid with the people I'veworked with.
But I'm also very proactive andresponsive and communicative
and those things have served mewell.
But I think, when you thinkabout how organizations are
using it and using it well,they're leveraging all the ways
that they can to build community, build groups.
I've seen people have Facebookgroups.
I've seen people have LinkedIngroups specifically for their
(29:39):
nonprofit and posting, you knowmaking articles or you know
almost daily notes to their feed, like amplifying their team or
showing where they are in theworld and what they're doing and
what's happening on the ground.
And you know the things thatmake it personal and the things
that show the people thatinteract or engage with that
(30:01):
content the opportunity thatthey have to make a difference.
That's the stuff that reachesout and grabs folks.
Speaker 1 (30:07):
So good.
Speaker 2 (30:10):
And so that's what I'm seeing the great non-profits
and the great non-profitleaders do again.
There's no silver bullet.
There's no right or wronganswer.
Pick the mediums that you wantto play in and, believe me, I
like I've been pulled into somemediums that I never would have
anticipated, like tiktok, to mydaughter's chagrin.
But my point in saying that islike there's people out there
everywhere that you can engagewith.
(30:31):
I mean, I have profiles that Ipost content to on YouTube,
facebook, twitter, tiktok,wordpress.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
It's a free website and with all of those I do want
to say do what feels manageableto you.
Speaker 2 (30:43):
Yes.
Speaker 1 (30:44):
Pick one and what I would say is be consistent.
There are many tools, likeCarson, just mentioned, from AI,
that can help you to haveplatform-specific content on all
of those that meet the needs.
But start with one, start withtwo that serve you the best that
you can be consistent on, anddon't be discouraged when you're
(31:04):
just starting earlier on, if itjust feels like crickets.
You say this all the time and Ipromise you there are more
impressions than there areengagements, which means people
are seeing it, even if they'renot responding right now, but
they're seeing it.
Carson, it has been a pleasure.
Thank you so much for coming onwith your busy, busy, busy day.
(31:26):
We appreciate you and thank youfor all that you do.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
Dana, thank you.
I appreciate the important workthat you do for our nonprofits
as well, and hopefully this wasvaluable to your listeners.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Yes, very, and everyone, please go check out
the LinkedIn article.
I'm so excited about this newterm.
I'm just creating the socialfundraiser.
Speaker 2 (31:46):
I love it, it's happening.
Trademark it today, daniel.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Thanks, Carson.
Speaker 2 (31:51):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (31:53):
Thank you so much for tuning into today's episode of
Missions to Movements.
If you enjoyed our conversationand found it helpful, I would
love for you to take a moment toleave a review.
Wherever you're listening, yourfeedback helps us reach more
change makers like you andcontinue bringing impactful
stories and strategies to theshow.
(32:13):
Don't forget to hit thatsubscribe button, too, so you'll
never miss an episode.
And until next time, keepturning your mission into a
movement.
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