How to get clients on LinkedIn, in 5 proven steps
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You share your best LinkedIn content but your ideal clients never see it. Hours writing LinkedIn posts only for them to disappear with a handful of likes. Zero opportunities, zero enquiries, zero real connections. Meanwhile, others in your industry seem to win new business every single day. The difference isn’t talent or luck. It’s strategy.
Building a business on LinkedIn takes more than scheduling content and hoping. Your posts matter, but they’re only the start. Real success comes from genuine connection, from caring about the humans behind the profiles, from building relationships that last.
Let’s get you doing LinkedIn properly.
Get LinkedIn clients: your 5-step blueprint for success
Say thanks in private
Your LinkedIn inbox could become your biggest business asset. But if you’re like most people, you’re probably not using it to its full potential. You might be ignoring it completely, letting opportunities slip away. Or worse, sending those terrible automated messages that everyone hates. There’s a better way.
When someone shares or comments on your post, send them a quick note to say thanks. Start a conversation, ask what grabbed them, find out more about their world. Your dream clients want to know there’s a real person behind your profile, so show up as you. Skip the standard “let’s jump on a call” messages and focus on building real connections. One authentic chat beats a hundred cold pitches.
Know exactly who you serve
Without knowing your ideal customer, you’re just another voice in a busy (and endless) feed. Your perfect clients are right there on LinkedIn. They’re sharing their challenges in posts and comments. They’re asking questions you could answer. But you’ll miss these opportunities if you don’t know who you’re looking for.
Take time to define your dream customer in detail. Write down their job title, their company size, their biggest challenges. Study their LinkedIn headlines and notice the words they use to describe themselves. Save their profiles in your bookmarks folder.
The faster you can spot your ideal customer profile (ICP) on LinkedIn, the faster you make meaningful connections that turn into real opportunities. You can comment on their posts, request to connect, and turn strangers into contacts that lead to more work.
Accept strategically
Your LinkedIn network has a limit of 30,000 connections, which sounds like a lot, but every spot counts. Each connection request deserves proper consideration. When someone requests to connect with you, don’t waste the chance to find out more.
Ask how they found you, what caught their eye, what brought them to your profile. Check if they match your ideal customer profile before accepting, so you build a network that could turn into your client base. Then, show real interest in their work and their world. The best clients come from relationships that start with genuine curiosity.
Show up consistently
Random posting won’t grow your business. Neither will scheduling content then disappearing offline. Your ideal clients need to see you as someone they can rely on, someone who shows up properly, someone worth paying attention to. Make this part of your company strategy.
Think of your LinkedIn as a valuable business asset, because that’s exactly what it is. Get your team excited about growing it. Assign someone to take ownership of your LinkedIn success, tracking your metrics and suggesting improvements. Look through your content on other platforms and find pieces that could work on LinkedIn. Test different approaches, keep what works, and do more of that.
Organise your inbox
The real magic of LinkedIn happens in direct messages. Not with spammy sales pitches or AI-generated templates that make you cringe. Real conversations between real people who could help each other succeed. Your expertise has value, so share it freely and watch relationships grow naturally.
The first point was about thanking people for their comments, by using DMs. This is about getting strategic with your DM inbox as a customer relationship hub in itself. Create a system for messaging people every day, and have specific questions you’ll ask in turn. Make them good. Make them easy to answer. Aim to get your ICP talking. Build familiarity and understand their challenges before you put yourself forward as the person to solve them.
Stay organized with a LinkedIn inbox tool. Set up message snippets for common scenarios, but keep every conversation genuine. Your future clients can spot fake interest instantly, and it puts them off forever. Care about their success, show up authentically, and watch your opportunities multiply.
Level up your LinkedIn game: your business growth starts now
Building a client base on LinkedIn takes focused action. Take chats private, know exactly who you serve, choose your connections carefully, show up consistently, and make every conversation count. Your future clients are already on the platform, waiting to hear from someone just like you. Most people see zero results while others win big. The difference? Total commitment to doing it right.