LinkedIn: How To and Why?

PUBLISHED May 15, 2013 IN Growth

WRITTEN BY Myah Shein

LinkedIn: How To and Why? image

The Boston Globe published an article about a Brookline High School student, Bernie Zak, who, upon learning he was waitlisted to his first choice school UCLA, tweeted daily about why he should be admitted.  And it worked.

The Boston Globe published an article about a Brookline High School student, Bernie Zak, who, upon learning he was waitlisted to his first choice school UCLA, tweeted daily about why he should be admitted.  And it worked.

“Reason #34 @UCLA should accept @berniezak: he looks like @DavidHasselhoff when he runs down Santa ­Monica beach #AcceptBernie­UCLA.”

This story is astoundingly similar to mine.  For me it was BC or bust.  My strategy was decidedly lower-tech than Bernie’s given that it was the 1990s.  I sent a letter (via good old USPS) twice a week from December to April that included my most recent activities in volunteering, band, sports, or even a photo from a weekend of rock climbing.  My goals were to show that I was a qualified candidate and to show that I wanted to be at BC by making my file bigger than everyone else’s.

Bernie and I both took “deferred” to mean “show me you really want it” and we did.  Neither of us sat back and waited for the final decision.  We took action.  And it made all the difference.

This got me thinking, companies should do this with their prospects!  Yeah!  You should be creating a campaign of daily reminders about how much you want to win the prospect’s work. Time to get fired up!  Create a new hash tag #weloveclients and get the word out.

But wait…

I have so much in common with Bernie.  So why did his story bother me instead of inspire me?

Because Bernie’s approach was all style and no substance.

The tweets were meaningless.  If you were to read them, your life would not be improved.

But wait…

It worked.  He got what he wanted.

So what’s the flip side of this coin?

Perhaps UCLA saw that they are admitting a student who has shown that he wants to be there and nowhere else.  He has shown that he has good characteristics like determination to take action with the tools available to him and the follow-through to tweet every day for 50+ days.

Universities get exponentially more applicants than they can admit.  Similarly, prospective clients can only select one service provider of the many that submit RFP responses.   Chances are the vast majority of applicants and service providers are proficient and technically qualified.  So how is a school or company to choose?

Bernie and I both got what we wanted.  We attended the universities of our dreams.   We got there because we wanted it more.  My advice is to dig deep, find an approach that fits your firm’s personality and go for it 100%.  It will make all the difference.