6 Key LinkedIn Tips For Selling Your Services

"Crossing the Chasm" - Many professionals and business owners have told me that they hardly go on LinkedIn because they aren't looking for a job. This is understandable because most of us cannot look at new technology and instinctively know how to use or capitalize it - we are on the other side of "the chasm". In 1991, Geoffrey Moore wrote the Crossing the Chasm marketing book, about selling high tech products to mainstream people. Most people can't just look at a spreadsheet, for example, and immediately know how to use it to grow their businesses.

Extreme Leveraging - The first step in crossing the LinkedIn chasm is to think of it as a business networking program as a machine that generates extreme leverage for you. I used to say that LinkedIn can be viewed as networking on steroids, but got complaints that I was somehow normalizing the taking of the drug - go figure. A business person looking to grow their business through networking will grow much faster and larger than that generated by someone not using the LinkedIn steroids (there, I said it!).

1. Your Profile is a Brochure, Not a Resume - I review LinkedIn profiles on a daily basis - many of them written as if the person is trying to be hired by a company, although I know they're looking to grow their own business. They list their complete employment history, providing as much information on past experiences as their current one. They don't share their passion for helping people or companies in their summary, or review in their summary the first step to them providing that help. They don't differentiate themselves or their service/product in their current position. And they don't show how their prior experience enables them to help people or businesses today.

2. Feeding the "Networking Machine" - If LinkedIn is a networking machine, your connections are the fuel which feeds it. The more connections, the greater the possible networking leverage LinkedIn can allow you to achieve. This leverage isn't automatic, as it requires the remaining 4 Key LinkedIn Sales Tips for Selling Your Services. Some of this work can be done by outside services, but that is too expensive for most of us. If you can afford this outside help, knowing why and what they should be doing for you will make your selection of the right one that much easier.

3. Give them a Reason to Connect - LinkedIn is pass the stage where receiving a connection request is "cool" or viewed as a compliment. Therefore, a reason should be given for why that person should accept that connection request, using the personalized note option. Of course this reason should be focused on their benefit. Hint, just saying "we have lots of connections in common" means nothing to most people - those who have done this with me and are reading this article know who they are! Instead, "Connecting with me gives you easier access to my ...(insert benefit for them)... ideas postings, introductions, and other networking opportunities" is much more compelling.

4. Be a Thought Leader - Many times businesses tell me they are thought leaders, but they don't share their thoughts with their community or market. LinkedIn enables you to post and share as many updates and articles as you can handle (I recommend at least 6 a week). These postings should be made on your profile, your company page, and on LinkedIn groups. These postings, articles, and sharing of other postings/articles should be informative and not promotional. This is the groundwork for growing your network, and obtaining business from it.

5. Provide Free, No-Obligation Help - If you have a concerted effort for posting and networking, with goals and accountability, your network should grow on a daily basis. Record the key contact details of each new contact into your CRM on a daily basis - otherwise it is a huge pain - and how you can help them. Then email them to thank them for accepting your request, and offering them a free guide, brainstorming session, or networking event. Again, none of this should be promotional. For the email, keep it to 3 paragraphs, with one or two sentences for each paragraph. Have a set program to send a couple of short, informative, and non-promotional emails each week for two to three weeks. The email goal is to have a chat or participation in an activity, not for them to hire you.

6. Set Goals, Create Content, Track, & Improve - Most find it best to create a timeline to accomplish each of the above Key LinkedIn Tips For Selling Your Services. For example, for Week One your goal can be to improve your LinkedIn profile (with someone reviewing it and giving you tips) and create a program for the process and messaging behind growing your connections. Week two can be creating the first week of postings/articles and the emails for people who connect with you. Week three can have you executing a daily and weekly goal of X number of connection requests and postings/articles, with a review and enhancements.

"Mike, How Much Time Does this Take?" - This is a fair question. Fortunately the required time commitment isn't prohibitive. For the two setup weeks in my goals examples, it might take a couple of hours each week (hint, look at other people's profiles and postings, and do google searches, for ideas). Once you start executing your program, you could spend as little as 15 minutes up to an hour a day (you decide). The more you stick with this program, the more you will accomplish each day.

Graduating to LinkedIn Groups - I will have an review in the near future of the even greater networking leverage you can receive from LinkedIn Groups. But that is the second step after having a proficiency with this first step.

Please let me know if you have any questions or challenges through your personal note when connecting with me or in your email to me [email protected]