Have an exciting idea for a business? Here are step-by-step instructions for using LinkedIn to set up interviews with prospective customers, get feedback, and discover if your idea is viable.

1. MARKET RESEARCH
FOR STARTUPS:
How to do
Customer Validation
Judy Schramm, CEO
ProResource, Inc.
November 26, 2013

2. “Every
entrepreneur
thinks they’ve
invented
teleportation.”
“Not everyone has.”
Eric Ries, Author
The Lean Startup

3. How do you
find out if your
idea is really
great?
Talk to 30-50
customers!
(or 30-50 people who know lots of
customers)

4. Where do you find them?
259 million members
“World’s largest professional network”

5. Search tricks:
title: marketing
“cloud computing” NOT “open source”
“financial adviser” OR “financial advisor”
(cloud OR saas) AND (“health care” OR medical)

6. Join up to 50 groups –
the more groups you join,
the more people you can
connect with

7. Follow the Trail
People know people like themselves

8. How to Introduce Yourself with a
Connect Request
Restrictions:
• 300 characters
• No email, phone or URL
• Need to be in the same
group or have their email
Include:
 Why them
 What you have to offer
(why you are contacting them)
 What you want from them

9. How to Introduce Yourself with a
Message
 Must be in the same group
 Need a subject line
 Can include an email, URL
and phone
 Keep it short
You don’t have to be connected!

10. How to Introduce
Yourself with an
OpenLink
Message or
InMail




No cost for OpenLink
Limited # of InMails/month
Extra InMails cost ~$10
Unaccepted InMails are
returned and credited

11. Why Connect Requests are Better
The more people you are connected with,
the more you can connect to
Once connected,
you have a way
to stay in touch
Average connect
acceptance rate
25-60%
But… accepting a connect request ≠ Yes
You need a follow-up message with the ask.

12. When Messages are Better
When you need more than 300 characters to tell your story
When you want to include a call to action
with a URL, email or phone
When you have a really
compelling subject line
When you have received too many “I Don’t Know” responses –
this can happen to very active users of LinkedIn.
LinkedIn may require that you enter the recipient’s email
before you can connect with them.

13. How many people to contact?
Average response rate
5%
If you want
50 conversations…
1000

14. Run Experiments – Make it a Game
Message
#1
Message
#2
Message
#3
Message
#4
Message
#5
Try different
benefits
Use different
words
Target
#1
Target
#2
Target
#3
 You need at least 50 per cell
 Tag them so you know who was in each group
(and you don’t contact anyone twice)
 Track results!
Test different job titles, company size, keywords

15. Have Someone Else Do the Work!
 You design the experiments.
 Have an intern or assistant do the searches
and send out messages.

16. When You Talk to People
 Ask for 10 minutes
• Take 2-3 minutes to
explain your idea
• “Can you tell me why it
wouldn’t work?”
 If they say:
• “That’s a good idea.”
≠ GOOD
• “I know someone who
might be interested.”
= GOOD
 Ask if you can stay in
touch as you progress

17. Before You Start
• It’s worth upgrading to Premium
($24.95/month)
• Update your profile (see checklist)
– Photo
– Summary
– Current job?
– Endorsements
• Expand your connections (LIONs), OpenLink

18. Contact
Judy Schramm
ProResource, Inc.
703-824-8482
jschramm@proresource.com
www.MarketingIdeasYouCanCopy.com
www.linkedin.com/in/judyschramm
@proresource
We design LinkedIn
lead generation programs
for B2B tech firms.