September 28, 2025 • 13 mins
Buy the LinkedIn Prospecting Course
In this episode, I share the most common mistake B2B businesses make with LinkedIn prospecting: skipping the warming-up period before pitching offers. I provide a clip from my recent LinkedIn prospecting workshop that details my three-step approach to deepening connections and converting leads without feeling salesy.
• Most businesses fail by sending cold outreach without building relationships first
• The effective three-step LinkedIn DM approach: connection DM, problem exploration, and soft offer
• Problem exploration involves asking about specific challenges and relating to your experience
• The soft offer extends an invitation to connect further to discuss their challenges
• Consistency is key—just 15 minutes daily on LinkedIn can transform your prospecting results
• Warm leads by commenting on content before moving to DM conversations
• Have your "ask" and "give" prepared before connection calls to create natural follow-up opportunities
Want the full LinkedIn prospecting workshop with templates and scripts? Head to the show notes page to purchase the complete course. Follow me on LinkedIn (Sarah Noel Block) with any questions!
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:03):
Podcast that helps B2B service businesses do more
with less.
Learn lean, actionable, organicmarketing strategies you can
implement today.
No fluff, just powerful growthtactics at work.
Ready to scale smarter?
Hit that subscribe button andstart growing your business with
tiny marketing.
(00:24):
Hello everyone.
Welcome to episode 156.
I am sick.
I have my throat coat tea righthere, filled with like 50%
honey.
But we're gonna do this thing.
Today I am sharing a clip fromthe workshop that I had on
(00:46):
Monday on LinkedIn prospecting.
And I'm sharing it's about likefive to seven minutes of the
part that I see most people getwrong with LinkedIn prospecting.
So I thought that this would bethe most powerful thing to share
with you.
And then down in the show notes,you can find the link to
(01:06):
purchase the entire it's beenturned into a course.
So the entire course on LinkedInprospecting.
So let's talk a little bit aboutit.
I just had a call with a clientyesterday who has she has a
salesperson on her team who'ssending out 10,000 emails on her
(01:31):
offer.
She says, We're not gettinganywhere.
And I'm not really sure what theproblem is.
So I asked, are these cold orare we warming them up before we
start talking about our offer?
She's like, Yeah, they're cold.
They're we're finding them onlike Zoom info or we're finding
(01:53):
them on LinkedIn Navigator, andthen we're reaching out to them.
I was like, okay, so here's theproblem that is likely happening
here is you aren't using awarming up period to build a
relationship with them beforeyou say, hey, here's my thing,
purchase it.
(02:15):
You need to have a fairlysignificant warming period where
you build a relationship withthem.
You are commenting on theircontent, you're sliding into
their DMs and having genuineconversations before you start
talking about your offer.
So right off the heels of thatconversation, I thought that's
(02:40):
the perfect clip to pull fromthis LinkedIn prospecting
workshop.
How do we deepen relationshipsand convert them?
So that's what I'm sharingtoday.
And let me tell you a little bitwhy I'm feeling sick right now.
So my week was crazy.
Last weekend, my alter ego, myaward-winning contemporary
(03:03):
romance author ego, I had a booksigning right outside of
Indianapolis.
So that was an eight-hour roundtrip drive.
It sold out.
It was awesome.
It was so cool to meet readers,but it was also a lot.
And then the day I came back, Itaught this LinkedIn prospecting
(03:24):
workshop.
And then the day after that, Iteamed up with the community and
I taught them a gateway offerworkshop.
So it was just like boom, boom,boom, boom.
And now my body was like, Sarah,no, it's time to rest.
So here I am being forced torest.
(03:45):
So none of that really matters,but I thought I'd share it
anyway.
Enjoy this clip.
And if you want more, if youwant the full workshop, which
has been turned into a coursethat has templates and scripts
that you can use, then head tothe show notes page and the grab
(04:06):
the LinkedIn prospectingworkshop.
It's there for you.
All right.
Thank you all.
So rule number four is deepenthe connection and convert.
And this is the last rule.
So we're good.
So inside the LinkedIn playbook,you can find us there too in the
Tiny Marketing Club.
But there is a three-stepapproach to using DMs to move
(04:30):
warm leads into a call withoutit feeling sadsly and gross.
So the first one we've alreadylearned about.
So that's exciting.
You've already done this.
It's the connection DM, themagic DM.
It is it tells them exactly whatyou do and who you do it for.
Now the second one is a problemexploration one.
(04:54):
So you want to ask about theirspecific challenges and goals.
An easy way to do this would belike, what projects are you
working on right now?
So that's a nice and easy wayyou can do that.
So you ask them, hey, are youworking about on anything
exciting?
And then they'll tell you andsay, Oh, I've experienced that
(05:15):
before.
Did you run across this problemlike I did?
Or something like that.
Or one of my clients was doingthat too.
And they ran into this.
Did you experience that?
And then the third DM in thissequence is the soft offer.
So you want to extend aninvitation to connect and
discuss the challenge further.
(05:37):
So I use the same strategy inniche communities.
What I'll do, because in nichecommunities, people are asking
their questions publicly andpeople are answering them
publicly.
So I'll usually answer thempublicly and then I'll DM them
and ask if they want to connecton a call real quick so we can
(05:59):
brainstorm on how to solve thatproblem.
Or we can talk through myexplanation a little bit deeper.
But that's what you would do inthe soft offer version is you
would explore that problem andthen you can talk about how you
helped the client solve it.
And then you could say, if youwant, we can connect on a like
(06:21):
15-minute call and go over thatstrategy real quick.
And that is an easy way to moveinto a connection call that
usually converts into a salescall because you started it in
this value point of view.
I see the questions rolling in.
I will get to them.
(06:44):
Now I'll get to them now.
Okay.
After a connection call, I findthat I don't always have a
reason to follow up.
Any tips?
Okay.
So Annette for you, you could gointo just ping me and I will add
you to the lead waterfallbecause that is another easy way
(07:05):
to do it.
If you are hosting a workshop ora training, that's another,
that's an easy way you canfollow up.
I'm doing this on this date.
If you want to attend, here yougo.
But my go-to on those connectioncalls, like reasons to follow
up, is to have my ask and mygive already available and in my
(07:28):
head.
So whenever you're doing aconnection call, usually someone
is going to be like, How can Ihelp you?
What are you trying to look for?
Any specific resources, etcetera, et cetera.
So I go into that conversationalready having a give available
and an ask available.
So that will usually lead to afollow-up conversation based on
(07:51):
what that was.
So it might be I know about areally great niche community
that you'd be part of.
It's invitation only.
Let me connect with them andthen I'll reconnect with you.
So that's another easy way thatyou can have a reason to follow
up, is you're helping them withsomething.
And that's my favorite way to doit is doing it by serving.
(08:16):
And if you have a podcast or youhave a partner style workshop
where like it's two people thatare training, you usually have a
guest.
That's another great way you canfollow up because you can invite
them into your spotlight and youcan have them as a guest on your
podcast or in your training.
So those are a couple ways youcan do it.
(08:38):
Okay, Amy, if it's a coldLinkedIn connection, how soon
after connecting can you ask theproblem exploration?
A worry that I would still feeltoo cold for them to respond.
I agree with you, Amy.
What I would do is I would dothe connection request first.
And then I would do thosewarming up tactics that I talked
(09:01):
about first.
And then once you've had agenuine interaction with them
publicly, that's when I wouldmove into that DM conversation
once you've been warmed.
So connection request first withthat magic DM, then go into the
warming techniques that Itaught, and then go into that
problem exploration.
(09:23):
But it usually can happen reallyfast within a couple days.
Okay.
So we don't have time to craftyour problem exploration DM live
right now.
We had a lot of nice QAhappening, but I'm gonna have
this in the replay.
(09:44):
And you guys are invited to theoffice hours.
So what I do want you to do iscraft your problem exploration
DM in between this time and cometo the office hours and let's
talk through it to make surethat it hits and it's working.
And hopefully you'll have sometime to be able to explore and
practice and use it within thosetimes.
(10:06):
So our goal is to not have asales script, but to have a
friendly conversation with dreamclients.
And the biggest goal is to getthem on a 15-minute call so you
can have you can deepen thatconversation.
And if they are ready for asales call, they will raise
their hand at that point.
Some just reminders is triggerhand raisers by using CT CTA's
(10:32):
calls to action, like DM me ifyou want blah, blah, blah,
whatever your post is about, andmicrohabits, just having
15-minute daily timers so youcan comment on people's posts.
Our goal is to go from content,prospecting, engagement, and
(10:53):
calls and just be consistent.
Spend 15 minutes on LinkedIn perday.
That's all you really need isconsistency over perfection and
commit to using just like one ofthese habits and then adding the
next one and the next one so youcan start prospecting and
getting really warmconversations happening that can
(11:16):
convert into sales.
Hi, beauties.
I hope you enjoyed the snippetfrom the LinkedIn Prospecting
Workshop.
And if you want the wholereplay, it is in the show notes
page.
If you have any questions thatcome up, then make sure to
follow me over on LinkedIn.
(11:37):
I'm Sarah Noel Block there.
And you can DM me yourquestions.
I'm looking forward toconnecting with you.
And I'll see you next time.
Bye.
You love all things tinymarketing.
Head down to the show notes pageand sign up for the wait list to
(11:57):
join the Tiny Marketing Club,where you get to work one on one
with me with trainings,feedback, and pop up coaching
that will help you scale yourmarketing as a B2B service
business.
So I'll see you over in theclub.
Podcast that helps B2B service businesses do more
with less.
Learn lean, actionable, organicmarketing strategies you can
implement today.
No fluff, just powerful growthtactics at work.
Ready to scale smarter?
Hit that subscribe button andstart growing your business with
tiny marketing.
(00:24):
Hello everyone.
Welcome to episode 156.
I am sick.
I have my throat coat tea righthere, filled with like 50%
honey.
But we're gonna do this thing.
Today I am sharing a clip fromthe workshop that I had on
(00:46):
Monday on LinkedIn prospecting.
And I'm sharing it's about likefive to seven minutes of the
part that I see most people getwrong with LinkedIn prospecting.
So I thought that this would bethe most powerful thing to share
with you.
And then down in the show notes,you can find the link to
(01:06):
purchase the entire it's beenturned into a course.
So the entire course on LinkedInprospecting.
So let's talk a little bit aboutit.
I just had a call with a clientyesterday who has she has a
salesperson on her team who'ssending out 10,000 emails on her
(01:31):
offer.
She says, We're not gettinganywhere.
And I'm not really sure what theproblem is.
So I asked, are these cold orare we warming them up before we
start talking about our offer?
She's like, Yeah, they're cold.
They're we're finding them onlike Zoom info or we're finding
(01:53):
them on LinkedIn Navigator, andthen we're reaching out to them.
I was like, okay, so here's theproblem that is likely happening
here is you aren't using awarming up period to build a
relationship with them beforeyou say, hey, here's my thing,
purchase it.
(02:15):
You need to have a fairlysignificant warming period where
you build a relationship withthem.
You are commenting on theircontent, you're sliding into
their DMs and having genuineconversations before you start
talking about your offer.
So right off the heels of thatconversation, I thought that's
(02:40):
the perfect clip to pull fromthis LinkedIn prospecting
workshop.
How do we deepen relationshipsand convert them?
So that's what I'm sharingtoday.
And let me tell you a little bitwhy I'm feeling sick right now.
So my week was crazy.
Last weekend, my alter ego, myaward-winning contemporary
(03:03):
romance author ego, I had a booksigning right outside of
Indianapolis.
So that was an eight-hour roundtrip drive.
It sold out.
It was awesome.
It was so cool to meet readers,but it was also a lot.
And then the day I came back, Itaught this LinkedIn prospecting
(03:24):
workshop.
And then the day after that, Iteamed up with the community and
I taught them a gateway offerworkshop.
So it was just like boom, boom,boom, boom.
And now my body was like, Sarah,no, it's time to rest.
So here I am being forced torest.
(03:45):
So none of that really matters,but I thought I'd share it
anyway.
Enjoy this clip.
And if you want more, if youwant the full workshop, which
has been turned into a coursethat has templates and scripts
that you can use, then head tothe show notes page and the grab
(04:06):
the LinkedIn prospectingworkshop.
It's there for you.
All right.
Thank you all.
So rule number four is deepenthe connection and convert.
And this is the last rule.
So we're good.
So inside the LinkedIn playbook,you can find us there too in the
Tiny Marketing Club.
But there is a three-stepapproach to using DMs to move
(04:30):
warm leads into a call withoutit feeling sadsly and gross.
So the first one we've alreadylearned about.
So that's exciting.
You've already done this.
It's the connection DM, themagic DM.
It is it tells them exactly whatyou do and who you do it for.
Now the second one is a problemexploration one.
(04:54):
So you want to ask about theirspecific challenges and goals.
An easy way to do this would belike, what projects are you
working on right now?
So that's a nice and easy wayyou can do that.
So you ask them, hey, are youworking about on anything
exciting?
And then they'll tell you andsay, Oh, I've experienced that
(05:15):
before.
Did you run across this problemlike I did?
Or something like that.
Or one of my clients was doingthat too.
And they ran into this.
Did you experience that?
And then the third DM in thissequence is the soft offer.
So you want to extend aninvitation to connect and
discuss the challenge further.
(05:37):
So I use the same strategy inniche communities.
What I'll do, because in nichecommunities, people are asking
their questions publicly andpeople are answering them
publicly.
So I'll usually answer thempublicly and then I'll DM them
and ask if they want to connecton a call real quick so we can
(05:59):
brainstorm on how to solve thatproblem.
Or we can talk through myexplanation a little bit deeper.
But that's what you would do inthe soft offer version is you
would explore that problem andthen you can talk about how you
helped the client solve it.
And then you could say, if youwant, we can connect on a like
(06:21):
15-minute call and go over thatstrategy real quick.
And that is an easy way to moveinto a connection call that
usually converts into a salescall because you started it in
this value point of view.
I see the questions rolling in.
I will get to them.
(06:44):
Now I'll get to them now.
Okay.
After a connection call, I findthat I don't always have a
reason to follow up.
Any tips?
Okay.
So Annette for you, you could gointo just ping me and I will add
you to the lead waterfallbecause that is another easy way
(07:05):
to do it.
If you are hosting a workshop ora training, that's another,
that's an easy way you canfollow up.
I'm doing this on this date.
If you want to attend, here yougo.
But my go-to on those connectioncalls, like reasons to follow
up, is to have my ask and mygive already available and in my
(07:28):
head.
So whenever you're doing aconnection call, usually someone
is going to be like, How can Ihelp you?
What are you trying to look for?
Any specific resources, etcetera, et cetera.
So I go into that conversationalready having a give available
and an ask available.
So that will usually lead to afollow-up conversation based on
(07:51):
what that was.
So it might be I know about areally great niche community
that you'd be part of.
It's invitation only.
Let me connect with them andthen I'll reconnect with you.
So that's another easy way thatyou can have a reason to follow
up, is you're helping them withsomething.
And that's my favorite way to doit is doing it by serving.
(08:16):
And if you have a podcast or youhave a partner style workshop
where like it's two people thatare training, you usually have a
guest.
That's another great way you canfollow up because you can invite
them into your spotlight and youcan have them as a guest on your
podcast or in your training.
So those are a couple ways youcan do it.
(08:38):
Okay, Amy, if it's a coldLinkedIn connection, how soon
after connecting can you ask theproblem exploration?
A worry that I would still feeltoo cold for them to respond.
I agree with you, Amy.
What I would do is I would dothe connection request first.
And then I would do thosewarming up tactics that I talked
(09:01):
about first.
And then once you've had agenuine interaction with them
publicly, that's when I wouldmove into that DM conversation
once you've been warmed.
So connection request first withthat magic DM, then go into the
warming techniques that Itaught, and then go into that
problem exploration.
(09:23):
But it usually can happen reallyfast within a couple days.
Okay.
So we don't have time to craftyour problem exploration DM live
right now.
We had a lot of nice QAhappening, but I'm gonna have
this in the replay.
(09:44):
And you guys are invited to theoffice hours.
So what I do want you to do iscraft your problem exploration
DM in between this time and cometo the office hours and let's
talk through it to make surethat it hits and it's working.
And hopefully you'll have sometime to be able to explore and
practice and use it within thosetimes.
(10:06):
So our goal is to not have asales script, but to have a
friendly conversation with dreamclients.
And the biggest goal is to getthem on a 15-minute call so you
can have you can deepen thatconversation.
And if they are ready for asales call, they will raise
their hand at that point.
Some just reminders is triggerhand raisers by using CT CTA's
(10:32):
calls to action, like DM me ifyou want blah, blah, blah,
whatever your post is about, andmicrohabits, just having
15-minute daily timers so youcan comment on people's posts.
Our goal is to go from content,prospecting, engagement, and
(10:53):
calls and just be consistent.
Spend 15 minutes on LinkedIn perday.
That's all you really need isconsistency over perfection and
commit to using just like one ofthese habits and then adding the
next one and the next one so youcan start prospecting and
getting really warmconversations happening that can
(11:16):
convert into sales.
Hi, beauties.
I hope you enjoyed the snippetfrom the LinkedIn Prospecting
Workshop.
And if you want the wholereplay, it is in the show notes
page.
If you have any questions thatcome up, then make sure to
follow me over on LinkedIn.
(11:37):
I'm Sarah Noel Block there.
And you can DM me yourquestions.
I'm looking forward toconnecting with you.
And I'll see you next time.
Bye.
You love all things tinymarketing.
Head down to the show notes pageand sign up for the wait list to
(11:57):
join the Tiny Marketing Club,where you get to work one on one
with me with trainings,feedback, and pop up coaching
that will help you scale yourmarketing as a B2B service
business.
So I'll see you over in theclub.
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