What to Say After Connecting on LinkedIn — The Warm Open

Somebody you know is in a room right now. A board meeting, a group text, a conference hallway. And somebody just asked, "Do you know anyone who..." and described exactly what you do. Your friend has five seconds and no notes. What comes out of her mouth decides whether you get the call. This week we sort what people actually say about you when you're not there, and build the one sentence that gets your name said with a reason attached. Last week the buyer at least had your headline in front of her. This week she's never heard of you, and everything depends on what somebody else can say about you from memory. In this episode: - The five rooms where referrals really happen (and the newest one, with nobody in it) - The four piles: label, compliment, call, old job, and why your biggest pile is probably the least useful - Why nobody has ever asked "who do you know that's phenomenal?" - The three-step build: steal their words, put them in the frame, test it - Four places your sentence goes this week, including the intro everybody skips Homework: one text to three well-connected people. "This is what I'm telling people now: [your sentence]. Who's one person who should hear it?" Resources mentioned: Episode 394, the buyer's-chair game: www.karenyankovich.com/394?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_content=395 Episode 388, getting found when someone looks you up: https://karenyankovich.com/optimize-linkedin-profile-google-search/?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_content=395 Once you've got your sentence, the next question is how to get it into bigger rooms. That's the free Borrow the Stage masterclass, on demand: https://sheslinkedup.com/masterclass?utm_source=podcast&utm_medium=shownotes&utm_content=395

You have twenty-two years of experience. She has eight. She got the engagement, and it took the client about four seconds to decide.

She leans in and asks, "So, what do you charge?" You say a number lower than the one you practiced in the car. Then, before she's said a word, you add, "But I'm flexible." Nobody asked you to be flexible. In this episode Karen Yankovich explains why that flinch is a hallway problem: it comes from what the prospect saw about you before the call ever started. You'll get the exact sentence for stating your rate, what to do with the silence after it, and what to say when someone tells you it's too expensive. In this episode: - Why women who negotiated budgets for 20 years still discount their own rate - The hallway: what a prospect looks at in the ten minutes before your call, and how it puts a number in her head - The three things on your hallway walls: your profile, your borrowed stages, and visible respect from your peers - The rate sentence: the number, what it includes, then silence - Why you move the scope when someone needs flexibility, and never the price alone Your homework: open an incognito window, search your name, click through to your LinkedIn profile, and spend ten minutes walking your own hallway the way a prospect would. Write down the number that hallway supports and the one thing you'd fix on your profile to raise it. Then post it on LinkedIn and tell Karen.

She said, "This was so helpful." You said, "So glad." Three weeks later she announced she'd hired someone else, and that person isn't better at the work than you are. You didn't get outsold. You paid the Good Girl Tax, the old rule that says you can be as helpful as you like as long as you're never the one who brings up money. In this episode Karen Yankovich gives you the exact sentence to say the moment someone tells you "this was so helpful," plus the message that revives a conversation that already went quiet. Neither one has a price in it, and neither one is a pitch. In this episode: Why goodness is never the problem, and what the Good Girl Tax really is Why Chosen is the one rung of Seen, Known, Chosen where the tax shows up Why the more accomplished you are, the more every free hour costs you The restaurant check: a better picture of what the ask is The sentence for the live call and the revival message for the quiet thread Your homework: find one conversation from the last 90 days where someone said some version of "this was so helpful" and money never came up. Send the revival message this week. One message, one person. Then tell us you sent it in the LinkedIn for Women Community.

Somebody told you never to speak for free. Know your worth, exposure doesn't pay the mortgage - and it sounds like respect. But that rule is written for people who already have a fee. In 2019, Karen spoke at a conference for free - a breakout room, about 40 women - and that one free session turned into four paid speaking gigs. Seven years later, a woman from one of those audiences just messaged her on LinkedIn asking her to speak again. In this episode, Karen breaks down the plan that makes a free stage pay: who actually books you next (it's not the organizer), the one-sentence test that gets you recommended, and exactly what to say when someone asks your fee. In this episode: Why "never speak for free" is incomplete advice, and who it actually protects Row six: the person who books you next is almost never the person who booked you The one-sentence test - could a stranger repeat what you do to someone with a budget? What to say when they ask your fee: ask your questions, say a number, stop talking "We don't have a budget" is the start of a negotiation - recordings, introductions, attendee access Your homework: write your sentence - under 15 words, with a verb, repeatable by a stranger to someone with a budget. Post it on LinkedIn, tag Karen or DM her the link. Want help with it? Bring it into the LinkedIn for Women community