Do you want to make sure your next lunch meeting with one of your LinkedIn connections is a home run?

This easy, five-minute trick may be so productive that you'll be happy to pick up the lunch tab.
.

Check out your lunch date's network

Go to your lunch date's profile and scroll down to his/her connections. When you click the magnifying glass, a keyword search box will appear. Type in any keywords (e.g., president) or series of keywords, following regular Boolean search logic rules, and LinkedIn will magically reveal to you all the people in your connection's network that have those keywords anywhere in their profile.

If you want to filter further, just click Advanced Search. This will take you to the always-helpful LinkedIn Advanced Search Page, but now you are only searching that one person's database.

Pretty cool, don't you think?
.

Review the most interesting profiles

Take along a list of the folks whom you feel could help you in some way, and be sure to bring them up during your lunch conversation. If your lunch date agrees to introduce you to some VIPs (potential customers, prospective employers, donors, etc.) or put in a good word for you, picking up the tab may be a small price to pay!

One caveat: If your lunch date has chosen to hide his/her first-level connections, your search will only provide people you have in common (shared connections). You will know the person has hidden his/her connections if you don't see the word All, followed by the number of first-level connections in the person's network (see screen shot).

This is just one of the many great tips I share in my online video-based LinkedIn course Explode Your Revenues Using LinkedIn. For a limited time, you can purchase the complete course for just $97 when you use the promo code SALES. Click here for details.