Could Linkedin Be better than cold calling in some cases?

I think one of the reasons a lot of people fail when first starting out, is because they're choosing the wrong niche. Lawyers, and doctors are the toughest to crack, but since everyone thinks they have tons of extra money to spare, they think its an easy sell. It isn't. You have to know how to reach them, talk to them, and be able to offer them something they need.

To answer your question, some niches are better to be targeted with other tactics. Direct mail is probably one of the best, unless you're very good on the phone and can get them hooked within 10 seconds. Direct mail, and trade journals or newsletter ads would be good. You're going for a tough niche though, I think you should find one a little less competitive. I know some people will disagree with me, but I don't think LinkedIn is the way to go with it either... Join a BNI and local chamber, that'll probably be much better.

The best advice: Test it. How long would it take you to actually test this method to see if it works for you? It is worth your time. If it works, you just revolutionized your method. If it doesn't, you wasted a day or two.

It's better than cold calling in ALL cases. Cold calling, even a moderately qualified list (which is extremely difficult without some other processes and filters to ensure the qualification of the lead) relies on: 1) already having a list; 2) an unreliable method of contact with minimal stickiness (do people respond to unsolicited voicemails?); 3) and pure chance that you're going to get the right aspect of a marketing message in front of the person at the right moment in their buying process. Not to say that it doesn't work, but cold calling generally works best in conjunction with some other marketing/lead gen processes.

I've personally cultivated a linkedin network of over 5500 people over the past 4 years and built a list of over 100,000 business owners and senior managers. It has been, hands down, one of the best lead gen tools for me, and I have created relationships and partnerships that have transcended the site.

It's all in your perspective and how you utilize the tool. If you're going to slam out a bunch of broadcast messages and spam the crap out of people, it's probably not going to work out very well for you. The mentality of a lot of marketers is to cast a giant, wide net... talk to everyone exactly the same way with a cookie cutter message... and play the pure numbers game on the conversions. But to be successful in social networking, you have to engage a person in a meaningful conversation... like on a real, 1:1 basis. That's kind of time consuming if you're selling a $50 product, so your return isn't going to be very high.

You can spot the amateurs on LinkedIn, that's for sure.

Don't be upset, but I am going to be a total party pooper here, but also inject my usual brand of brutal honesty.

I really don't believe anyone can "teach" you how to use LinkedIn or any other social networking "successfully".

That's like saying you can learn how to create a successful advertising campaign by reading a book.

There are so many variable in the mix, and every business, including yours, has some unique value proposition tuned to your unique market. So what works for me might not work for you, simply because we might be dealing in two different markets with different attributes.

What you need are the fundamentals at a layer beneath LinkedIn, which also transcend into all other aspects of your marketing.

That starts by connecting your value proposition directly to your target market and builds from there.