This is the second of my front page articles to have appeared in the official newsletter of the Editorial Freelancers Association.

1. May–June 2017
Vol. 41, No. 5...FREELANCER
THE
(A follow-up to “Guerrilla marketing using
LinkedIn resources,” Vol. 40, No.1, of the
Freelancer)
Occasionally someone posts to
the EFA list who is wonder-
ing about lead generation. We
are all salespeople, like it or not. Gedo-
verit. And while I’m not going to reveal
GPS coordinates of my favorite fishin’
holes, I’m happy to discuss lures.
• General encouragement –
Plenty of books, websites, blogs and
YouTube videos are available to teach
anyone how to be a business networker.
Conceptually, you might gain some-
thing by reading Harvey Mackay’s
bestseller, Swim with the Sharks Without
Being Eaten Alive (check your local
library). Afterward, substitute LinkedIn
for Harvey’s analog Rolodex.
Before determining that I was
happier selling space (now even
happier filling it), I started my career
selling time. It was drudgery in the
backwoods market in which I found
myself. We would use business
directories in periodic dialing-for-
dollars campaigns, where one might
get a single “yes” for every 25 calls.
(Our goal was to collect as many paid,
10-second spots as possible to promote
the ever-glamorous trout, mushroom
or <fill-in-the-blank> annual festival
on the radio.)
It may have been author/speaker/
encourager Zig Ziglar who pointed
out that each “no” means you’re one
step closer to a “yes,” but it would be
a few more years before I was given a
copy of his See You at the Top. What a
difference that realization made!
• LinkedIn mining – Guerrilla
marketing requires being observant,
tenacious and proactive—as well as able
to look beyond potential leads that may
not be as obvious as responding to an
EFA Job List opportunity or LinkedIn
ProFinder query. One just never knows
how something may pan out.
For example, one of my California
clients recently bought a Michigan
startup funded by a Detroit venture
capital (VC) firm. I hail from that
region and casually follow the city’s
gradual reemergence from insolvency.
Sensing a potential opportunity to
have the VCs promote my work to the
remainder of their portfolio, I combed
their website to gather names of
principals.
I then cross-referenced them
against an online database maintained
Persistent, promiscuous prospecting
By Chris Morton, Isn’t That Right Business Communications, salt.morton@gmail.com
Continued on next page.

2. FREELANCER
THE
by the regional prep school I attended
and discovered two direct hits.
Bingo! I was equipped with
an instant “in” as I invited the two
partners to connect on LinkedIn.
There is more work to be done in
developing these relationships, of
course, but it always helps to have the
skids pre-greased.
Something similar happened as
I completed a project for another
client. Accolades in hand, I played
“follow the bouncing ball” afterward
to reach out through LinkedIn to
the company’s international base of
consultants (I intend to follow-up with
them individually, so ideally they might
promote me through word of mouth—
see Louise Harnby’s blog post).
That led to a trade magazine I
didn’t know existed (read: opportunity),
and a mega-title parent company in a
northern Detroit suburb (more so).
While the publisher hadn’t attended my
prep school, some quick ’net research
revealed he graduated from a nearby
high school with which I’m familiar.
Since people like to do business
with others like them, this kind of
information offers more commonality
for potential leverage.
I also watch the LinkedIn feed
most days. For one post, I read
that a person I didn’t yet know was
congratulating the outgoing co-
founder of a long-time client (found
within 30 days of my joining the
EFA, incidentally). She had previously
worked for my client and now heads
a PR/marketing team at another San
Francisco startup.
Examining her LinkedIn profile
informed me that we know several
people in common, a couple of
whom have provided me with written
LinkedIn and (self-produced) YouTube
recommendations. (Solid gold unto
themselves; you regularly solicit these,
right?).
Bam! (Pow! Shazam! Zowie!)
Instant paved inroad.
I forget exactly how I stumbled
across the current whereabouts of a
fellow I worked with four years ago at
a medical imaging/device company, but
it was through LinkedIn. Once I did, it
became easy to track down the person
in charge of publications. Leveraging
my prior relationship with the
company’s employee (who also wrote
me a LinkedIn recommendation back
when), it was easy to make my pitch.
I also notified my former associate
about what was going on, rather than
have him be surprised to possibly
hear my name again. Doing so also
provided positive intel that there was
forward motion on my behalf. This is
what networking is all about.
A similar story involves a person
who interviewed me by phone 10 years
ago to document API calls for a Left
Coast software company. We had hit
it off, but the timing wasn’t right back
then. Lo’ and behold, he popped up on
LinkedIn last week and now works for
an IBM affiliate. He was happy to hear
from me and entertained my pitch.
It happens the terms weren’t right
(nor do I really care to write about
databases), but the good news is he
didn’t bite my head off, nor call me a
string of #$@%^* names. The point
is that I didn’t die. And his response,
while chalked up in my “no” column,
means that I’m that much closer to
my next “yes.” (I suppose it’s a matter
of statistics, although I learned that a
good statistician can manipulate them
to tell almost any story.)
Late last year, I landed a Boston-
area client through LinkedIn
ProFinder. Over the next several
weeks, I gradually connected with
its key players on LinkedIn, in part
to help solidify my position as their
document go-to person. Subsequently,
I completed a large project for them
and determined I’d like more of the
same type of work to complement
the usual blog posts, white papers and
case studies that form the bulk of my
current business.
Here the trick is to observe the
groups to which each LinkedIn contact
belongs. In this instance, I noted
that one happens to be a statewide
association of similar companies, so
next, I visited the association’s website.
Jackpot! It turns out that one need
not be an association member to
have full access to their downloadable
database of companies and principal
contacts. One approach for following
through is to leverage the written
recommendations I’ve since obtained
from the first company, letting it be
known I’m available to perform similar
work for others in the association.
Biz journals – In moving from
Michigan to Arizona and then from
Northern California to Upstate New
York, I found local editions published
by American City Business Journals
In relation to LinkedIn gurus, I favor author/trainer Wayne Breitbarth’s
zero-pressure, down-home approach. Visit his powerformula.net site for free
tips and suggestions for getting much more out of LinkedIn. Although his
LinkedIn Success book needs updating in view of recent LinkedIn interface
changes, it remains a useful read.
Regarding LinkedIn, I had an e-chat with another EFA discussion
list member about the importance of a premium account. Yes, there is a
monthly charge, but it’s tax-deductible and is an investment in your career.
One of the things you get is the ability to send unlimited InMails per month
to anyone you can find on LinkedIn. Use ’em!
Prospecting,
continued
2/May–June 2017
Continued on next page.

3. FREELANCER
THE
Prospecting,
continued
to be quite useful in learning who’s
who. Every year, each locale publishes
a thick Book of Lists, which can serve
as lead central for anyone engaged
in nonfiction work. If you’re not a
subscriber, your library likely is.
I also use the journal’s On the Move
section to tell the world about every
thing of consequence pertaining to my
business (speaking engagements, client
wins; you name it). When it comes to
free advertising, the price is right.
Chris Morton will discuss making the
most of online resources at Communication
Central’s 2017 “Be a Better Freelancer”®
conference in September. n
May–June 2017/3