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Sending emails to warm lead and cold prospects is a great idea — but what if your prospects are currently saved in a variety of databases or platforms? Today, we'll show you how to export every connection you have in LinkedIn, so you can quickly and efficiently build up your contacts.

Build your database from LinkedIn contacts

We spend hours developing Facebook ads, but we tend to overlook LinkedIn as a potential source of business. And even more than that, we may not realize that every LinkedIn connection has entered in an email address that we have access to.

While you should be respectful of your connections and be sure not to add them to a drip email marketing campaign without their permission — remember, CAN SPAM laws apply to you — it's perfectly okay to connect with them one-on-one to discuss your specialty and their real estate needs.

Here are the four steps to exporting your connections from LinkedIn, then importing them into your CRM.

1) Log in, go to Connections

Start off by logging into your LinkedIn account. If it's been a while, be sure to review any new connection requests and check your inbox for pertinent messages. Then, from your home page, click on Your Connections:

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2) Begin the export

On the next screen, you'll see every connection you've made on LinkedIn. On the top right, click the button that reads Manage imported contacts:

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The next screen is where the magic begins! Under Advanced actions, select Export contacts:

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3) Wait for your export via email

Next, you'll get a screen showing that your connections are being exported and will be sent to email. Head on over to your email and wait for the inbound email, which will contain a .csv file.

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4) Import the .csv file to your CRM

Once you receive the .csv file, open it up to ensure that you have three important columns: First Name, Last Name and Email.

CSV files are the lifeblood of any CRM contact import, so you should have no trouble uploading LinkedIn's contacts file to your database of choice. In some cases, you may need to rename the column headers, but most CRMs should be able to map those headers to their own internal fields.

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5) Get in touch, one-by-one

Once your contacts are fully loaded into the CRM, you can begin contacting them one-by-one. Consider sending a warm email, saying that you recently came across their email and wanted to see if they had any upcoming real estate needs or questions about the local market. Tailor your outreach to the type of relationship you have — don't use the same approach with your first cousin and a former colleague you only interfaced with a few times.

If you know the contact is a current homeowner, consider sending them to your Market Snapshot® landing page so they can sign up for automated, relevant market updates on their local area. (Be sure not to auto-add all your contacts to receive a Market Snapshot® or other automated market report.)

Wondering why you can't just add all these contacts to your regular drip marketing campaigns? It may be time to brush up on how CAN-SPAM applies to real estate agents. Take this quiz from the NAR to get up to speed.

What other platforms are a gold mine of contacts?

Do you have other platforms that you use to find new email addresses and contacts? Tell us about them, or how you transition cold platform contacts into warm leads and prospects in the comments below.