As of this writing, I’ve generated more than $600k in sales from LinkedIn in the past 2 years.

Without running paid ads.

And without torching my brand by spamming people.

In this week’s issue, I’m going to share five sources of LinkedIn traffic and sales opportunities I’ve used to consistently find exceptional consulting and coaching clients.

1: Views of my profile

One of LinkedIn’s unique features is that it lets you see who’s viewed your profile, and that’s a highly effective place to start conversations with strangers.

Here’s why:

In Marketing, you have different levels of engagement from prospects. I label mine Awareness, then Interest, then Intent.

The further along in the process someone is, the more likely they are to buy.

When someone views your profile, they are - by definition - at least Aware of who you are.

And since they visited your profile, they’ve provided a built-in icebreaker for you to start a conversation that’s more like a casual introduction than it is a cold conversation.

One word of caution: Don't assume that a view of your profile indicates Interest. You may be the prospect in this scenario, so keep that in mind with your messaging.

2: Engagement in my content.

If you are publishing content on LinkedIn, the engagement you receive can also be a terrific way to start a conversation with prospective clients.

You can do this by:

• Asking conversational questions in posts to generate comments and engage with answers.

• Using polls to strategically identify people’s problems or pains, then following up.

• Soliciting direct responses from people with “handraisers,” or posts that invite people to tell you they’re interested (e.g. “Comment ‘ME’ below to...”).

• Or simply starting a conversation in direct messages (DMs) by thanking people for engaging in your content and linking to it.

This obviously isn’t an exhaustive list, but there are a few proven ways to turn content that creates Awareness into marketing that generates revenue.

And the best part of these conversations is that you’re usually starting them from a stronger position of credibility than you otherwise would.

3: Inbound connection requests.

Another source of traffic you can leverage on LinkedIn is inbound connection requests.

People that are inviting you to connect may be trying to sell you something of course.

But, they may be people that have Interest in your content and want to see more of it.

Or, if your headline is strategically written, they may have some Interest in what you’re selling.

You can’t rely on buyers in the Interest phase to reach out and tell you that. That’s why engaging with those inbound connection requests can be a lucrative source of conversations.

And the best way to find out why someone is inviting you to connect is to simply ask them.

4: Outbound connection requests.

On the other side of connection requests are those you send to people as you’re building an audience.

Outbound connection requests can be a very productive tool to start a conversation if you know:

• Exactly who your ideal client is.

• The specific problem you solve for them.

Clarity on those two things allows you create messaging with the most important ingredient to marketing that works: relevancy.

Without clarity of those two things, you’re left with generic messaging that sounds more like spam than a solution.

To make this work well, I recommend promotion over “pitch slapping” people on the first message. In other words, be willing to date a little before you ask for marriage.

When you do this well, people respond favorably.

When you don’t, it goes more like this.

5: Leverage other people’s audiences.

The last, and possibly most powerful source of traffic, is leveraging OPA: other people’s audiences.

To give credit where credit is due, this approach was originally introduced to me by solopreneur and LinkedIn influencer, Justin Welsh.

Here’s how it works:

• Make sure the headline on your profile clearly communicates who your target market is and which problem you solve for them.

• Search for a handful of people with audiences larger than yours that are creating quality content for the same market you sell to.

• Find out when they post and make time to regularly engage with their content with comments and replies.

The goal of engaging is to add value to the posts while also building credibility with your audience on your subject matter.

The goal is not to hijack threads or obnoxiously sell your stuff in comments. That’s why it’s best to find a handful of people that are talking to the same market, but not necessarily a direct competitor.

There you have it: Five proven sources of traffic from LinkedIn you can start leveraging today, no matter how much content you are creating or how many followers you have.