How to spend less time on LinkedIn and start getting leads

Are you spending hours on LinkedIn each week?

Thanks to your efforts—commenting on posts, sending connection requests, and writing posts—your followers are creeping up, but you don't have leads to show for all this work.

I want to be clear: your goal on LinkedIn is to get leads, not to go viral.

To get leads on LinkedIn, you don't have to spend an hour a day on the platform.

Many of my clients come to me with this exact frustration. They're spending time on the platform (often 30+ minutes a day) and not seeing results outside of the occasional compliment.

They know LinkedIn is the right platform for their business because its the platform where their ideal clients spend time, look for inspiration, and search for service providers. Nonetheless, they feel incredibly frustrated by their lack of tangible results (i.e. inbound messages, discovery calls, and client contracts signed).

When you spend time on LinkedIn today, it might look like scrolling through your feed, engaging with some content (i.e., liking and commenting), sending a few connection requests, and perhaps posting some thoughts you had during your morning walk or shower.

Despite your efforts, your activities likely feel random and disconnected. That's because despite using the many features LinkedIn offers, you don’t have a clear strategy guiding you. Without a roadmap, LinkedIn can quickly become a time-suck rather than the lead-generating tool it can and should be for your small business.

Wasting time on LinkedIn causes other business issues

When you waste 30+ minutes a day on LinkedIn without getting leads, you will feel frustrated that you don't have a full client roster.

Further, focusing so much energy on LinkedIn means other key responsibilities, like client delivery, back-end systems, and finances, are taking a backseat. It’s a vicious cycle that adds stress to your workload and detracts from what matters most—running a profitable and impactful business.

On top of that, using LinkedIn without a clear strategy can make it feel like you’re throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something sticks. You might be trying different approaches—posting about your services one day, sending direct message pitches the next—but without getting tangible interest from potential clients, it’s hard to know where to focus.

The lack of results can be discouraging, leaving you second-guessing yourself and your time spent on the platform.

Your activities on LinkedIn should be strategic, not spontaneous

I want you to have a clear plan each time you log in to LinkedIn so you know exactly how to build meaningful connections and generate leads. Once you have a solid strategy, you’ll feel relieved knowing LinkedIn isn’t taking away from other important areas of your business. You can confidently execute your LinkedIn tasks in less time, allowing you to focus on delivering for your clients and growing your business.

You can finally say goodbye to committing "random acts of LinkedIn" for good.

Take my former client Chris, a small business owner who was spending hours on LinkedIn but wasn't getting any real traction. He had been initiating dozens of conversations, but they weren’t getting replies like he knew they should. After working together, he started sending thoughtful messages to his connections and getting replies.

As a result, he had more time to focus on her clients and grow her business. The stress of wondering if LinkedIn was worth it disappeared, replaced by confidence in her approach and a steady flow of new leads. 

Check out the transformation Chris experienced in his own words:

Strategy 1) Develop a lead list

Keeping track of your client inquiries, past conversations, and proposals can feel overwhelming. Many business owners rely on a haphazard list and their memory. Instead, I recommend keeping a simple and powerful lead list so you always know which leads are in your pipeline. This list will help you know exactly who to follow up with and when. 

In my coaching program Leads on LinkedIn, I provide comprehensive yet actionable training on how to set up and update this list and include my tested AirTable template so you can plug in your leads right away.

Strategy 2) Use templates

Instead of starting from scratch when you want to write posts or messages, leverage templates to quickly get the brainstorming process started and inspiration flowing. You don't have to (and often shouldn't!) follow the templates word-for-word. Instead, using them as a starting point so you're not staring at a blank screen.

In my coaching program, I provide dozens of templates for LinkedIn posts so you can write more high-quality posts in less time.

Strategy 3) Plan your content in advance

Instead of creating content in the morning the day you want to post, batch create and schedule your posts a month in advance so you don’t have to worry about posting throughout the month. Doing so takes the stress out of posting and allows you to focus your day-to-day time on LinkedIn on engagement, which is what leads to client inquiries.

By the way, scheduling content in advance doesn't mean you can't write on-the-fly posts. In fact, pre-scheduling content gives you room for these types of posts!

Strategy 4) Engage with intent

Instead of randomly liking or commenting, focus on interacting with posts from potential clients or key influencers in your industry.

In my coaching program, we define exactly who fits in your primary and secondary audience so you know which posts to engage with and which ones to ignore (or even "hide")!

Strategy 5) Set a daily or weekly time limit

Dedicate 15-30 minutes daily to taking strategic actions on LinkedIn, setting a timer to ensure you stay focused and don't get lost in your feed.

Spending hours on LinkedIn without seeing results can be frustrating, but it doesn’t have to be that way. By focusing your time on intentional, high-impact activities, you can see real progress without sacrificing other parts of your business.

(In this short post, I share how my Profile to Pipeline framework dictates what to do first in order to get results on LinkedIn. Going in the correct order is critical to having an effective LinkedIn lead generation engine.)

The next steps you can take to get leads on LinkedIn

I want you to spend less time on LinkedIn while still getting strong results from the platform. Here's how I can help you with that:

Step 1: When I start working with a small business owner, we always start with a Profile Optimization so that you clearly explain your credibility, who you serve, how you serve them, and what action the profile viewer should take.

This process takes about 3 weeks from start to finish, and provides you a profile that captures the attention of your ideal clients and gets them to take action.

Step 2: Once your profile is optimized, we then create your LinkedIn strategy so you can get visible to the right audience and attract more interest in your offerings through my coaching program Leads on LinkedIn.

This program takes two months. We focus on two main skills - LinkedIn posting and direct messaging. These skills bring the right clients into your orbit so you can consistently grow your business without relying on time-consuming strategies like video and expensive strategies like ads. 

Within just a month, you'll have identified and contacted 30 prospects for your business. You'll have the skills and systems to do it again whenever you want an influx of leads. And, this rinse-and-repeat process gets more effective every time you do it!

Step 3: After, we create a habit of LinkedIn marketing through my monthly coaching program so that you can count on ongoing leads for your business. We integrate LinkedIn with your other marketing strategies (e.g. email and in-person networking) to prevent duplicate work and create a marketing ecosystem that is both sustainable and effective.

Learn more and get started here.