Are you the old-fashioned type of professional who still believes high net worth (HNW) clients need 100% person to person courtship, which includes unnecessary lunches followed by cigars and bourbon to talk about world peace in a haze of smoke?
Or are you saving your pennies to increase your child’s educational pedigree with an expensive enrolment just to mingle with movers and shakers at the next parent teacher evening?
Whilst I won’t disregard it’s validity and effectiveness, the outtake is clear; the world has changed.
And chances are you might be left behind.
If you work in the B2B sector, sell high ticket goods and services at $1000 or more per transaction or want access to HNW decision makers, you cannot afford to miss this digital wave.
Don’t take it from me, even PwC published a research paper confirming that HNW individuals are enthusiastic about adopting technology and disappointingly, they thought the finance followed by the property sector were among the slowest adopters of digital technology.
What this means is that if any business owner, entrepreneur or company wants to advance and survive, they require a new mindset.
There are now 590 million users on LinkedIn and it is seen as the most trusted social media platform.
Not to mention, 8 million Aussies are registered.
Interestingly, 70% of their users trust LinkedIn compared to Facebook (32% after it’s disastrous fake news scandal) and at times, it’s ranked even higher than Forbes.com and the Wall Street Journal!
Unbelievable, right?
I generate more opportunities from Email Direct Marketing and LinkedIn than any other marketing effort, hands down.
So, why should you start paying attention?
When 66% of HNW individuals use LinkedIn as a resource for investment decisions, the writing is on the wall.
As an ex-finance girl, you can see I LURVE numbers because data does not lie.
According to The Dubs report, the numbers are staggering and I’m squealing like a school girl:
• 36% of Affluent HNW users are on LinkedIn ($1M – $5M)
• 43% of Ultra Affluent HNW users are on LinkedIn ($5M – $25M)
• 31% of Uber Affluent HNW users are on LinkedIn ($25M+)
And of those numbers, see below that nearly 50% of key decision makers were influenced by LinkedIn presence when they decided who they wanted to do business with.
Still not convinced?
See below chart to see the importance of LinkedIn/social media in developing relationships amongst different user groups.
With the transfer of wealth from the old guard, Millennials and Generation X now control 50% of the world’s assets.
LinkedIn is the best equaliser of the world because if you want to solicit the attention of decision makers without going on a million empty coffees or be “gently” escorted out by security for trying to rock up unannounced, then I would invest in LinkedIn.
