Podcast Episode 17: How to use LinkedIn to create an automated funnel for your consultancy

To get new clients, grow your consultancy and feed your funnel, there's two types of marketing that you should be doing.

Some people call this hunter farmer marketing but I find that a bit cringe.

So, I like to call it push pull marketing.

Pull is when you put stuff out there in the hopes to pull people in.

This is your brand awareness stuff like your monthly newsletter, LinkedIn content and weekly email.

And push is when you actively reach out to people and push your brand infront of them, which I like to call direct marketing.

Most consultants I know are doing a bit of pull marketing.

But they aren't doing any push marketing and this is really important.

So in today's main event, we're going to talk about a very simple push campaign you could be doing on LinkedIn to feed your funnel.

And most importantly, I want you to use software to do this so that it's completely automated.

Before we start, let's talk about your funnel.

You've probably heard loads of people bang on about marketing and sales funnels and how important they are.

And to be honest, they're right.

You really should have some sort of set funnel that you want people to move through.

But it can seem overtly complicated which is why most people shy away from creating one.

So let me make it simple for you.

If you've been following me for a while now, you would have heard me talk about my 3 step lead generation system.

Step 1 is to grow multiple audiences like your LinkedIn connections and email marketing list.

Step 2 is to build a relationship with those people.

And step 3 is to convert the relationship.

These steps make up the different stages of your funnel.

And this is what your consultancy's funnel should look like in it's simplest form.

And the automated LinkedIn campaign we're going to do will help you feed this funnel.

***

So I've taken the opportunity to review my own funnel recently.

And getting this right is my number 1 focus for the rest of the year.

Maybe it could be yours too, or your focus in 2025.

So what i'm going to do is share what I'm currently doing...

So you get the idea...

And then I'm going to give you an example funnel and campaign you could try out for yourself.

So one of my big goals is to get more US HR consultants signed up to the HR Marketing Box and my VA service.

It's subscription based and this is where I make the most money.

In order to do this, I've asked myself what's the best way for consultants to get there.

And I've decided to lead with my video programme: How to package up and sell HR to make more money.

I've decided to lead with this because I think the way you package up and sell your services is a bigger problem in your mind than what marketing is.

So in terms of feeding my funnel, I think focusing on the video programme will get me better results.

And then as people pass through my funnel, I can find opportunities to sell them the HR Marketing Box and VA service to them.

You'll maybe need to think about your funnel's journey and destination in the same way which we'll come on to in just a second.

So what does my campaign look like?

Well, first of all I'm using software called Meet Alfred to automatically connect with US based consultants on LinkedIn.

I haven't got any fancy filtering options.

I'm just looking for people that have fractional HR mentioned somewhere on their profile.

And when connecting with them, I'm sending a nice message that says:

Hey Sharron,

I'd love to get connected on here and look forward to reading and liking your posts in the future 🙂

Best Wishes,
James

If I look at the stats, this is getting a 35% connection conversion rate, which is what I'd usually expect.

And a lot of people are replying to this with a "good to be connected too" type vibe which is quite nice too.

***

Then a day after they've connected with me, I've asked Meet Alfred to engage with their profile.

So I follow their personal and business page and like a few of their last posts, which backs up what I say I'm going to do in the initial connection message.

I think this is a nice touch that builds trust.

***

Then a day after that, I send them a nice message that answers an immediate problem for you and gives you something of big value for free.

Commonly known as a lead magnet.

So remember I want people to buy my flagship video programme first...

To help people buy the video programme, I've decided to create a free quick guide to it.

This touches on the key points of the video programme and explains what they need to do without giving all of my secrets away.

So this is my first stepping stone in my entire funnel.

And this is how I'm positioning it in a follow up message:

***

Hi NAME,

That's why I've created a FREE quick guide to help you package up and sell HR to make more recurring revenue and free yourself from client delivery.

It's taken from my flagship video programme and explains the new framework I've created called the HR Service Pyramid.

I think this is a nice follow up message.

It introduces me.

It addresses a key problem that you have.

And I'm offering a free solution to it.

Which also enables me to grow my email marketing list at the same time.

So if someone says yes to receiving the guide, I just ping them a quick email and create a contact for them in my CRM.

So if we go back to the funnel and my 3 step system.

Step 1 is to grow multiple audiences.

I've used Meet Alfred and my lead magnet to connect with people and get their contact details in an automated way.

And this is how I'm feeding my funnel.

Once someone has requested the quick guide and I've added them to my email marketing list, I want them to do three things.

First of all, I want them to actually buy the paid version of the video programme.

Secondly, I want them to sign up to the HR Marketing Box.

And then thirdly, I I want them to sign up to our VA service.

But I understand that this might take a bit of time to get there.

So I'm going to take baby steps and focus on the selling the video programme first.

To do this, I'm going to send them an email that offers them a discount to the paid version of the video programme that lasts 1 week.

And then my sister Becky who does all of my Business Development for me, will  give them a quick call and see how they feel about the offer.

***

Once this week is done and whether they buy or not, I'll then send them an introductory email sequence that plugs the other ways that I can help them.

Including the HR Marketing Box and VA service.

The CTA of these emails will be to book in a free demo with me or a member of my team.

And if they don't buy now, that's okay

Because I'll send a weekly email  and will likely reach out in other ways to keep the relationship ticking over until they're ready to buy from me.

So this is how I'm answering step 2 and step 3 of the funnel and that's to grow a relationship and convert the relationship as quickly as possible.

So this is what I'm working on at the moment.

And I think the key thing to remember is that the journey and destination of your funnel may look completely different.

My end goal is to sell the HR Marketing Box and VA service but this is quite a big commitment.

So I've decided to start my funnel with a subject that will probably get more attention and requires much less commitment to get started with.

And you should be thinking about your funnel in the same way.

So hopefully that all makes sense.

And now it's time to look at what your funnel and automated lead generation system could look like.

***

So if you've listened to this podcast before or you've signed up to the video programme I keep banging on about, you would have heard me talk about the HR service pyramid.

So think of a pyramid for a second.

And think about your services through the eyes of a business owner.

Not how you might deliver the services internally.

So At the bottom we have HR Admin

This could include HR software, starters and leavers, all the general admin stuff and payroll.

On the next level, you have HR advisory which is there to answer the first line day to day questions that business owners have.

So this is your advisory helpline.

You then have HR management which is a little more involved and proactive and would include stuff like performance management, absence management and stuff like that.

You then have HR Director level – so this would include making strategic decisions on behalf or along-side the senior management team.

You then have HR specialist level –  this will include more specialist project work.

So before creating your funnel, it's important for you to understand how HR can be broken down, organised and escalated using the HR Service pyramid.

I then advise that you can flip the pyramid and this becomes your funnel.

So you start off my selling HR admin which is basically HR software.

You then try and sell them your peace of mind subscription based package which combines HR admin and HR advisory levels.

And then you should sell an HR Audit or discovery piece.

Which is your gateway, and theirs, to getting customised support at management, director and specialist level.

This is what I think your funnel should look like.

And to summarise I think we have two priorities.

The first is to sell your subscription based Peace of mind service.

This is recurring revenue for you which is really important.

And the second is to then sell a paid HR audit.

As this is your gateway to work with them on a time and project basis in lots of different ways, depending on what's going on in their business.

And as per the HR Service Pyramid, your stepping stone to get their is likely HR software.

So now we need to build an automated campaign on LinkedIn to help make this happen.

First of all, I would highly recommend choosing a target industry at a time to focus on to keep things simple and to make our messaging highly relevant.

For the sake of this podcast, let's just pick insurance companies as an example.

And if you need some help picking a target industry for yourself, have a listen to last week's podcast episode as I talk all about that then.

What we need to do now is use software like Meet Alfred to connect with Insurance company owners or decision makers.

And send a nice connection message which says something similar to mine:

Hey NAME,

I'd love to get connected with you on here and look forward to reading and liking your posts in the future 🙂

Once they've connected, you can then get Meet Alfred to engage with their profile by following their personal and business page and liking a few of their last posts.

And then a few days later you can go in with your first initial message.

Which could sound something like this:

Hi NAME,

Just wanted to say hello and let you know that I'm here to help you with any of your HR problems.

HR Admin is a huge hidden cost for any business and that's why we highly recommend using HR software to help save you time, money and hassle.

So quick question...are you using HR software at the moment?

If you aren't, I'd love to send you our introductory guide to HR software that lists all of the different ways you could use it to make your business more efficient.

And if you are, I'd love to send you our more advanced guide that's full of advice on how to get the very best out of your software.

Please let me know which guide you'd like and I'll happily send a free copy over 🙂

Now with any type of marketing, it's always an experiment.

One lead magnet will work better than others.

And other messages will work better than others.

But this is what I'd like you to get started with and see how it goes for you.

So let's round this section of the podcast up by summarising what I'd like you to do on LinkedIn to create an automated funnel.

First of all, I want you to focus on one target industry at a time.

Next, I'd like you to set up a meet alfred account or use something similar.

And then I'd like you to set up a campaign that automatically connects with business owners in your chosen industry.

Once they've connected with you, I'd like you to set up an automation that engages with their profile.

And then a few days later, I'd like you to send an initial message offering them a version of your HR software guide.

I'd like you to then review how many people are requesting this guide and whether this is helping you to generate leads in the new year.

In 2025, I'm going to be creating a service that helps you do this and I'm looking for beta testers to work with me on this.

So if you'd like to set up an automated funnel in your business and you'd like to work with me to do this, then please get in touch and I'll add you to my list.