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5 Ways Sales Professionals Leave Money on the Table by Not Using Linkedin by Martin Brossman

For years I have been coaching sales professionals, discovering that they used to pay for similar information with less quality than the data that Linkedin is providing now at the free level. More importantly, all sales professionals that I have personally coached have gained clear value and closed more sales when they began using Linkedin correctly. However, I realize that there are many sales executives who are obviously not using Linkedin effectively, i.e., potentially leaving money on the table. I hope this list of 5 Linkedin omissions gets the attention of all honest hardworking sales pros and spurs you into action.

1. Their profile is so poorly filled out that when I ask them if they would buy from or trust “this person” (looking at their own profile) they say, “I really need to spend some time and clean up my profile.” Which translates to “no, I wouldn’t trust this person.” Some examples of items that might need clean-up are: outdated information, no business phone number, inappropriate photo for what they do, and using terms understandable to their peers and competition but not their customer. Their profile is not optimized for their customer to find them. Some don’t even have a picture and don’t realize how important it is for their professional presence.

2. They don’t even look up prospects and their company before meeting. In coaching sessions I will take several key current prospects that a client is pursuing and look them up, using the correct search tools. I will say, “Would it have been useful to know X,Y and Z about your client before you called?” The reply is, “I didn’t know X,Y or Z about their X,Y or Z. Of course that would have been of value.”

3. Their recommendations are none to poor. Often they just give buddies recommendations to get reciprocal ones, which are usually so transparent they could hurt their reputation. One company with 9 employees had everyone in the company give each other recommendations; there were no other recommendations, with the exception of one employee who had one additional valid recommendation.. That was over a year ago, and the one employee with the real recommendation is the only one who still works for thecompany −all others were laid off. Of course not just because of that, but I can tell you from my experience that this individual was the most productive, competent and loyal employee of all of the staff.

4. They don’t realize how bad they look to Google. They don’t know that their profile can be fully visible to Google, and that it just looks poor, as though they have little experience and qualifications. Sometimes they spend a lot of time on their profile, but do not even have their public profile set up so they can be found outside ofLinkedin. This creates a bad reflection on them and their company. They don’t understand how, with Google, sites like Linkedin are becoming as important, if not more than, their company web site for building a positive image and reputation.

5. They are not building a network that is relevant to the contacts they need. They don’t understand that the more relevant and trusted allies they connect to, the greater their reach in Linkedin. They haven’t figured out that people they know and trust are often connected to more people who could help them than they realize. By being onLinkedin you can discover who your contacts are connected to and how you can help each other. For example, there are referral groups who meet every single week whose members are not connected onLinkedin. They are missing out on the hundreds of connections that may already exist which could be accessed through the Linkedin network.

If you find yourself in any of the 5 points, stop and either do something yourself or get help to get this handled. Better yet, call me! If you find this useful, pass it on to someone in Sales that you care about.

Martin Brossman – 919 847-4757 – www.ProNetworkingOnline.com Martin@CoachingSupport.com

See Linking Into Sales :  www.linkingintosales.com with Martin Brossman and Greg Hyer

Free info you can use

I have been coaching high-quota Sales Professionals for many years and believe LinkedIn is one of the most important free sales tools available today.

Remember, LinkedIn is a professional tool for solving tasks.  It is not a cold calling list or directory of your target clients.  It IS a first place to check for current and future contacts and business, due to the high quality of the data when it is present. Since each profile is about an individual, automatic self-interest is generated for being well-represented on the web.

If you look at a person’s profile, you will get all the information they choose to make available, and also you can get a sense of how much they use LinkedIn.  For example, you can note whether their Public Profile consists of their name vs. the pre-assigned random numbers and letters.  If they have personalized it they are likely using LinkedIn frequently.  Next, notice how many recommendations they have, how many connections they have, if they have a picture, and whether they filled out their profile. These factors all point to how comfortable they are with using LinkedIn, and possibly how receptive they will be in accepting your introduction.
Know your target clients and businesses and observe how close you are to them through LinkedIn connections.   Who do you your ideal clients trust and how well connected are they to you?  You want to keep building your connections closer to your clients and that is done by relating to them and building their trust, not just by sending them an invite to connect.   Are there a few people that seem to be more connected to your ideal clients than others?  If so, these people need to be a higher priority for building and maintaining relationships.

It’s important to understand that this is a dynamic process which still involves building trust and connections, just like traditional networking has all along–which means investing in quality people who are on the path to where you want to be.
If you are a sales professional, LinkedIn is not only a big asset to your own career but also to the company you work for.  If you set up your web link back to the company web site (using the Other option) and use the right keywords in your profile that your customers use, you will enhance the web presence of your company and yourself. A true win-win.  This also makes it easier for your contacts to refer YOU to other members of their company by just referring people to your public profile.
That last tip I want to share today about your LinkedIn profile is: make sure to clearly have your contact information easy to find, especially your phone number. Make sure to first include it in the Contact Settings area at the bottom of your profile, but if you are in sales I would also add it at the top in your Summary area.

Last, when should you upgrade your LinkedIn profile to the paid version? When you keep running up against the notice that says you need to upgrade to get the information you need.  LinkedIn is very generous in giving a lot for the free service, so use all of it.
Since LinkedIn does such a great organic job of enhancing the brand of a business by having all their key people correctly listed on LinkedIn, you could add more value to your customers by offering resources for them to be on LinkedIn. That may be you or someone who provides LinkedIn training.
Martin Brossman can be reached at Martin@CoachingSupport.com This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it (919) 847-4757 – ProNetworkingOnLine.com and see his LinkedIn resources http://usinglinkedin.wordpress.com/ or on Twitter: http://twitter.com/Usinglinkedin

Reprinted from www.LinkingRaleighNC.com – Greg Hyer

Look up your next contact on Linkedin

Last week I convinced my friend Bob of the value of using Linkedin for sales. It happened right after I saw him having lunch with John, another friend of mine. When Bob called me later to let me know that he was doing well in his new position and to make an appointment with me for continued sales coaching, I mentioned that I knew John well. I asked him if he had used Linkedin before he talked to John. Bob said no, he hadn’t. I was sitting at my computer at the time. I asked, “Did you talk about the fact that you are both big Hurricanes fans? “No, I didn’t know that,” Bob replied. Then I asked him, “Did you discuss that you both did your undergraduate work at North Carolina State University?” Again, Bob said no.”Did you tell Bob he knows your best customer, Richard Jones? Bob replied, “No, that would have been great to know, but it didn’t come up–how did you know this?” I told him I knew it because I had looked at John’s LinkedIn profile. “If you had just taken a moment before you met John to look up his Linkedin profile,” I explained to Bob, “you would know all this information and more. Also, since John posted his profile on Linkedin, it is information that he is clearly comfortable having others know, so it’s okay to mention. You could have said, ‘I looked you up on Linkedin and noticed that you are a Hurricanes Fan, or that we both went to NC State.”"Now, on the other hand,” I continued, “if he looked you up on Linkedin, he would see that you had 15 connections, that your profile says you still work at the company you left two years ago, and that you don’t have a single recommendation.” “Bob,” I said, “you’ve done your best to always sell top-quality products with a personal commitment to give the best quality support to your customers. Would you want an easy way for potential customers to see your years of experience and be able to check you out before you meet? I know you have a large number of customers that would be pleased to give you a recommendation on Linkedin if you simply asked. Bob replied, “Can we include some Linkedin training along with regular sales coaching-as soon as possible?I told him to start immediately by making sure his Linkedin profile was fully filled out and to start looking up customers before meeting them. And I noted that there’s also a large amount of information available by looking up the company that many people aren’t even using, which gives info which would have traditionally cost money or a lot of research. Several key things for a sales professional about Linkedin: Start looking up companies you are involved with, including your own. Before you meet with someone see if they are on Linkedin and review their profile. Make sure that when your future customers look you up on Linkedin, current information is there that enhances understanding and trust of you. Linkedin is a valuable tool for a successful Sales Professional and offers a great deal at the free service level.

—Martin Brossman: Success Coaching & Trainer offering Social Media, Personal Branding and Linkedin training since 2006. www.ProNetworkingOnLine.com -Martin@CoachingSupport.com (919) 847-4757 (Article re-printed from www.LinkingRaleighNC.com )