Want a quick hack that will secure you tons of new business this year, if you apply it consistently? LinkedIn had removed this feature, then, probably due to all the hue and cry, they added it back in. It’s the “Who’s Viewed Your Profile” feature, and it’s my go-to method of getting new business for my consulting business.

Think about it for a moment. Who would potentially be more interested in you and what you do than someone who searched for you on LinkedIn and took a look at your profile? That right there is a ready-made source of potential prospects!

I’m not going to tell you how to get to the web page that tells you who’s viewed your profile. You can figure that out for yourself. Besides, LinkedIn moves things around. Just Google it, if you don’t see it right away. (Hint: go to your profile!) I do want to tell you a couple of things you should be doing with this, though.

First off, you need to monitor the number of profile views you get. In general, and over time, you want your profile views per unit time to grow. If you’re doing content marketing, or having someone like me do it for you, you should be getting more profile views. Profile views are one of the main metrics I use to determine if my content marketing strategy is working or not.

Second, you want to actually reach out to people who’ve viewed your profile. Even with a free account, you’ll see a few of these people. If you upgrade to one of LinkedIn’s premium accounts, you’ll get the whole thing unlocked, plus more useful analytics.

Exactly how do you reach out to these folks? Pretty simple, actually. Just message them and thank them for viewing your profile. Ask them if there’s anything you can help them with.

If the person is a first-tier connection, you can message them. If they’re a second-tier connection, or indirect connection, you’ll have to send them a connect request first.