How to Leverage LinkedIn for Business

Reader’s Questions: Linkedin

“Although I’ve been successfully selling $ 3 Million a year in my company’s services, I haven’t yet leveraged Linkedin. How can I get started with Linkedin to make my selling process quicker and easier?”

— Leonard Schmidt,
Senior Account Rep, Philadelphia.

Leonard, thanks for submitting your question. Even though Linkedin has been out for a long time now, there are still many business owners and sales people who have not integrated this great marketing tool. Here are my tips for you:

How to Get Started Using LinkedIn to Attract New Clients

If you’re not using Linkedin as a part of your sales & marketing strategy, you should be. With the power of social networking like Linkedin, there’s really no need anymore to have to cold call. Your batting ratio will always be depressingly lower by cold calling. Why not instead set yourself up with warm, pre-qualified strategic introductions to your target prospects?

Social networking is a great tool to leverage when you are looking to find new clients for business. But, some social networks are much more effective at helping you find new clients than others — LinkedIn for example. Unlike the odd bunch you find on Facebook, usually there to have fun and interact with their friends, LinkedIn is a business-oriented social network which people join in order to make business connections and find new opportunities in their fields of endeavour.

A brief look at the LinkedIn platform will show you people whose profiles are categorized according to:

Countries;
Industries and companies where they work;
Educational institutions they attended;
Their fields of specialty and if you are registered on the LinkedIn platform:
Who they possibly know that you might know within your network as well.

Here’s 5 quick actions you can take right now to start making Linkedin work for you:

1. Join 20+ interest groups. LinkedIn also has interest groups where people from a particular field or industry or people with common business interests participate in.

Using these details, you easily find out that you have access to the following information:

People with specific positions within a company or industry;
Target market of persons and companies for your products and services;
Related industries which might be interested in products and services you have to offer;
Affinity groups in which you can network to discover new clients.

By skimming through the posts in these interest groups you can also get a good sense of what the hot topics are, so you can make your message relevant to the specific issues your group members care about the most.

2. Consider advertising options. Another useful feature, which LinkedIn offers is the ability to market to members through the use of its in-platform advertising system. With this tool, instead of bothering yourself about making direct contact with other members or sending information, which may end up not being replied to, you can easily set up an add or a series of adds and list the parameters and the demographics you want these ads to target. After this, you can simply watch the new leads and clients come in, based on the effectiveness of your advertising campaign.

3. Look for targeted live events. You can also used LinkedIn to find out which events your connections, or at least people in your industry, are attending and how to attend these events to physically network with potential new clients within your industry. You can even market your products and services at such events. Such events provide you with the direction to know where your industry is headed and potential new developments you would otherwise be unaware of.

4. Search for your ideal customers. One simple tool, which people tend to overlook on the LinkedIn platform, is the search field, where you can search for People, Groups, Companies, Jobs as well as a number of other details. I’ve listed the People, Groups and Companies aspect, because these are the most important when seeking out new clients.

You can easily put in a search term for whatever product or service you’re selling and see the companies, people or groups dedicated to those interested in the product. The number of leads you get from this search activity depends on how creative you get in seeking out search terms which People, Groups or Companies may have included as part of their information on the platform and which would be an indication that they are interested in whatever you have to offer.

5. Build your expertise. The final great tool on LinkedIn, which will help with new client sourcing through the platform, is LinkedIn Answers. It can also be accessed via the search form as well as the “More” category option on the menu bar once logged into LinkedIn. Using LinkedIn Answers requires regular participation on the platform, as it is an area where members get to ask questions and other members get to answer them.

Using this tool, you can find your area of specialty on LinkedIn and answer questions by other members regularly with the aim of becoming an authority in your area of specialty on LinkedIn. This will improve your profile ranking on the website and also introduce you to new clients, who want further information based on the answers you may have provided or your recognized expertise within that industry. A lot of business owners have made use of this means to attract new business to their companies and profit from it immensely. In fact, I would have never gotten any of my international clients, who would have never heard about my business growth coaching practice in Philadelphia, if it wasn’t for them accessing my expertise through LinkedIn.

LinkedIn is a great tool for business and it goes beyond the simple listing of your personal profile and connections with people you have already done business with. Using the tips and tools offered here, you could leverage this business-oriented social network platform to provide you an ongoing supply of new clients.

About Yoon Cannon: Top business coach Yoon Cannon has helped thousands of small business owners, entrepreneurs, coaches, consultants and sales teams achieve dramatic results in growing your business. Over the past 20 years Yoon has started 4 successful companies and sold 3 of them. She offers fresh insights as a seasoned business growth expert. Yoon delivers proven process for your sales, marketing and management development. Grab free valuable gifts and resources at http://www.ParamountBusinessCoach.com To book Yoon to speak at your next event email: [email protected] To schedule a complimentary business coaching consultation call (215) 292-4947.