#1 — How We Started Amplifind — a LinkedIn Prospecting & Lead Generation Service
I met Danny about a year and a half ago on LinkedIn when I was looking for a marketing technologist to help me on a couple of jobs I had lined up.
We had coffee at Workshop 17, in the V&A ( Cape Town) where a number of startups base themselves and where I meet with founders to talk about Sales.
Danny first came across as quite shy and introverted with Billy Idol glasses and a full head of hair, styled what can only be described as a 90’s brush-cut. I told him it must be fresh sea air affecting his senses.
We spoke about what we respectively were doing , he with his Content Marketing business, our different backgrounds, and soon realized since we’re both from Joburg, there was a certain hastiness in our speech…to get to the point of real interest — a potential partnership. We agreed to keep in touch.
After following him on Twitter for awhile, I saw he was tweeting and sharing very similar articles to mine in the SaaS Sales and Marketing space.
We then did a job together for an international investor conferencing company looking for delegates in the UK & London, and delivered to them a pretty accurate list from LinkedIn, which I then had to cold call post a text heavy email was sent by the chairman.
We suggested to them a sequence of LinkedIn messages that will have the most impact- be informative , interesting and educate their target audience of the importance and impact of the conference, of new laws, legislations etc, and will allow them to network with foreign dignitaries.
Danny had some tools and tricks he found to automate certain things and left the donkey work of phoning up to me.
I don’t mind cold calling (except for the fact that it doesn’t work anymore to convey information), yet phoning a London barrister or tax consultant with my South African accent and asking them a few qualifying questions wasn’t going to be easy to start off with, but I soon found my flow. Surprisingly enough a few many people actually answered their phones, or I was put through from reception, and people were very friendly and open to talk.
So we hit our target and established the groundwork of what we do now — almost a year later with a unique Prospecting & Lead Generation service called Amplifind.
Amplifind really only started in February when I called Danny when I saw he’d put up a one pager website called LinkedIn Lead Machine… I know right.. who thinks of such a name — The Americans that’s who;)
We used it until we realized it had to change. The AMP stands for Autonomy , Mastery and Purpose, the Li for LinkedIn, and FIND — it’s what we do — help people find Better Prospects and convert Better Leads.
Danny got married about two weeks ago. Stories were shared of how he and Sam met and how his friends used to hang out at their houses, and how his accent still baffles even his closest friends. He claims it’s from watching too much American TV in the 80's.
A few lessons stuck with me:
Giving comes first.
It’s not just a cultural thing, but something instilled by his parents and the teachings of unconditional love in a relationship that spills over into other areas of his life.
This simple but powerful credo have been taught in the Jewish culture for centuries and it becomes apparent that it’s should be business that imitates life, and not the other way around.
The second was the hora — the celebration dance — and what it embodies. It was a sober, boisterous and unbridled let loose of emotions. A celebration of their lives and the bonds formed over time.
The guests seem to have dropped their guards after that, and conversations were struck up just because the energy has changed. It was time for a beer to celebrate the evening.
The point I’m trying to make is that in order for people to really listen to you…a connection needs to be made. If you can’t do it with a song or a dance, try sharing what you think might be of value to them first and try and be genuine.
We touched on this in our first B2B Lead Generation Workshop with the UCT Graduate School of Business last week, where we had the pleasure of sharing with the team how we use LinkedIn in a way we think they will benefit most and grow their Sales pipeline effectively.
We had some great mentorship from Alexia Cox, and we have to give her a big shoutout. She helped us frame the course so it made sense and flowed nicely.
We aim to share what we do through our workshops (and other packages) with CEO’s/ Business Developers/ Sales & Marketing Leaders — looking to enable their teams with LinkedIn’s potential — as a platform to start conversations on.
andries@amplifind.co.za
