LinkedIn is one heck of a business networking, sales prospecting, sales research goldmine of information. The problem is that many salespeople still aren’t leveraging it to its fullest capacity.

Beyond the value of connecting with people and networking, LinkedIn provides an incredible opportunity to “build your branded presence”, which is pretty important if you expect to be found when buyers are searching for information about the products and services you sell. While there is still a fair amount of resistance in the sales community about the value of social media, the reality is that buyers are buying differently. If salespeople don’t embrace this change and adapt their sales approach to it, they can expect that the savvy social sales competitor is poised to kick their butt.

How do you build your brand?

Simply put – great content. Content can include blog posts, status updates, group discussion contributions and more. It also includes the ability to leverage LinkedIn applications to further build buzz for what you are about. The beauty of using applications is that if you keep the content fresh and changing, your name and face is more visible to your LinkedIn network. Aside from the great visibility inside the LinkedIn world, you’ll also be creating some great personal SEO (search engine optimization) for yourself out on the worldwide web.

We have an app for that!

You might be thinking, what’s the big deal if I do not have content and applications on my LinkedIn profile that’s compelling. Consider what your prospect thinks when they come across your profile.

Does your summary SCREAM expert in your field? Is there enough information there to give him or her some reason to want to contact you? Come on, be honest with yourself. If your summary is barely there and you’ve not completed the experience areas, you have no white papers or case studies to share and no presentation to showcase your product/service capabilities, why would your prospect bother?

There are a host of LinkedIn applications to fit your needs – everything from creating polls, sharing your travel schedule, posting your blog posts, suggesting a business book worth reading, sharing presentations or rating lawyers.

For the sales professional looking to build their brand, here are 6 applications that I use and recommend. They are all free by the way and just waiting for you to take advantage of what they offer.

• SlideShare – Use the SlideShare app to host up to 4 presentations on your LinkedIn profile You can upload far more presentations than that to your SlideShare account, but 4 is the most you can show on your profile at any one time. Post a corporate presentation about your product and service capabilities. Share a presentation you delivered at last week’s conference or post an informational presentation about your business topics. For me, that might be sales coaching. You can post PowerPoint or PDF files.

 

• Google Presentations – you can use this app to host presentations as well. I just happen to have started with SlideShare and really like it. What I do love about Google Presentations is that it allows me to host my video, which can be played right from my LinkedIn profile. Video is one of THE most engaging ways to capture someone’s interest. Since posting my video, I have closed 4 pieces of new business and in addition to telling me that my profile rocked the competitors, they all mentioned the video.

 

• WordPress – If you blog, making sure that your blog post shows up on your LinkedIn profile is a must. I happen to use WordPress, but the Blog Link app lets you connect other blog platforms to your profile as well. Every time you blog, you profile is updated and your network knows that you’ve added new content.

 

• Amazon Book List – A key part of my visibility strategy is speaking at meetings and conferences. As an avid reader, I typically reference statistics and information from books that I’ve read. Adds to my credibility (hopefully) in terms of staying on top of my industry. People used to ask me to provide a book list after the event. Now, I send them to my LinkedIn profile to check out my list. You can add your comments about books you like and recommend them to others. Oh, and you can follow the book’s lists of others and they can follow yours.

 

• Twitter – Even if you don’t want to get into using Twitter per se, you should still set up an account, set up your profile and then use the Twitter LinkedIn application to share your Linkedin status updates. If you believe what I tell you – that being as visible as possible on the web to potential prospects is important – then you want to leverage the Twitter platform as another vehicle for being seen. Mind you, some companies might allow it, so check your corporate policies to be sure that this is OK. If it is – go for it. Post once and get twice the visibility.

 

• Events – hosting a business event? Be sure to use the Events application to promote your event. It is easy to set up and you can then share with people in your network. Use your event URL to post as a status update so that more people see it. You’ll want to be sure that the event is included on your profile, so when you set up the app simply check the box to make this happen.

Today’s buyer often starts the sales process without you! When they have business problems, they turn to the web for answers. Smart salespeople will leverage multiple platforms to stand out from the competition. If you are in B2B sales and are not utilizing LinkedIn applications to create a more compelling profile that sets you apart from your competition, I hope I just motivated you to get moving!

For 34 days I’ve had writer’s block. There are so many interesting things happening around me that it isn’t that I lack for good topics to focus my attention on, but for some reason getting the words onto the page just didn’t happen. Maybe the learning for me (and maybe you) is that sometimes we need to slow down or jump off the daily business treadmill, in order to recharge, refocus and re-evaluate our priorities. Like every other busy business professional, I find it hard sometimes to keep the blogging momentum going, so I can totally relate to those of you who tell me you just “don’t have time” to do it. Believe me, I get it. And, frankly, I’m a little jealous sometimes that several of my blogging hero’s – Chris Brogan, Seth Godin and Paul Castain – manage to post pretty much daily despite the fact that they have heavily scheduled business days themselves.

Barb, what’s up with you, girl? That’s the question I have been asking myself off and on over the past several weeks. I finally think that I know why I’ve had writers block. What I realize is that it is all about choosing, sticking to, AND scheduling our priorities.

Ban the To Do List

Colleague Kent Gregoire, who heads up Responsibility Centered Leadership and The Alternative Board of Metro Atlanta is also the thought leader behind Living in the Now®: The Overwhelm Solution, and Kent has convinced me that “to do” lists are a waste of time, and more importantly, they often cause more problems than they solve…like adding stress to your life that is truly unnecessary. Kent advocates that we banish our “to do” lists forevermore in favor of a more effective way to get those important priorities completed.

Crazy notion, right? Banning the “to do” list. I can hear you now…”Are they nuts? If I don’t have a get it done list, how will I accomplish anything?” Believe me, I understand the reaction. We have been trained as a society to make “lists” of items to work on each day and check off as we complete them. But in my own experience, I find that often there are items on the list that just seem to get transferred from one daily list to another. Come on’ be honest…this happens to you too, doesn’t it? What Kent shared with me is an approach that is both simple and utterly powerful in what it can do for you mentally and emotionally when you apply the technique to daily life.

It Is About Completeness

If you need to accomplish a particular task…could be going to the grocery store, writing that blog post, following up sales calls or washing your car, you need to “schedule it”. In other words, don’t write it on a list. Immediately block the time on your calendar to complete the action and move on. When the scheduled time comes, complete whatever it is and move on knowing that you never have to worry about it again.

I’m starting to get in a groove with the approach, and I already feel calmer about my day. Mental traffic about what I haven’t gotten done or angst about pending things that must happen is not walking me up in the early hours of the morning. Everything that matters and is important is “scheduled in time”, as Kent says. As I get better at the process, I will schedule things in advance or at the same time that I’m scheduling another activity, perhaps a sales meeting. I already know there will be follow up, so why not schedule the follow up time on the calendar at the moment that I book my sales meeting?

A list of to do items that remain separated from your calendar means there is a really good chance that lots of other daily, mindless, non-critical stuff will impede your ability to finish what you had intended. I had blogging on my list each day, but I didn’t make a formal commitment to block the time on my calendar each day to get it done. So guess what…it just didn’t happen.

Give it a try.

The next time you say to yourself, I need to get XYZ done, stop what you are doing, and evaluate your priorities, your currently scheduled activities and then “schedule” the appointment on your calendar to complete the action instead of writing it on a list.

The end result from taking this approach is that you’ll feel less stressed. You will also be living your life in the present – living now – instead of worrying about what you should have done or still need to do. I hope you’ll give it a go, and if you do, I’d love to hear from you.

Recently, colleague Scott Williford of My Interview Link helped me to create a series of video clips that talks about our business services. Scott offers a great service for the job seeker and/or the business professional looking for a professional way to showcase what they offer. When I showed up that morning to film my segments, I was impressed with the professional set up. Brent filmed the segments and did a nice job making me look good:). Check out the 5 vignettes here. At the end of the shoot, Scott asked me to film a couple of blog clips talking about social media. Enjoy the clip posted here.

On a recent webinar with Renee Walkup, we were discussing ways to get people to return our telephone calls. The answer is pretty simple really. Consistently get back on the telephone. Yet, surprisingly, many people will often give up after just one or two calls. I’ve met countless people who complain that they never receive a call back and when I dig deeper, I discover they called their prospect just once. Really? Frankly, it can take as many as 7, 10 or 15 calls just to connect with someone. Given how pressured people are in business these days, that makes sense. What doesn’t make sense to me is why people give up so easily.

Using the telephone as a component of your social sales process is often forgotten these days. In my opinion, too many people with something to sell are hiding behind email. Just this morning, I received a sales pitch from someone that I don’t know. We happen to share a LinkedIn group, but beyond that I have no idea who they are. Still, I’m receiving their sales pitch as the very first connection with me, not to mention that their message was all about them. So what? What’s in it for me? This spam approach is a surefire way to lose a sales opportunity before it even begins. I’m not sure if “phone phobia” is about fear of rejection or because someone thinks that sending a mass email is easier than picking up the phone. But in my experience, once you have a qualified lead (I emphasize qualified) in hand, using the telephone is a great way to move the sales process forward more quickly.

Let’s face it, sales success is about follow up and follow up is tough. As I write this post, I’m staring at a stack of business cards that are screaming at me to connect with the people I’ve met this last week who expressed interest in my services. So, I get it, especially if you are a smaller business where most of the hats are being worn by you.

Here are 3 things that you need to accept about the sales process; otherwise, you’ll drive yourself crazy.

1. People are busy. Your prospect has their own work to tend to. It’s not personal, and it is your job to stick with it. Follow up and remaining visible are critical.
2. You aren’t the only game in town. Hate to put it so bluntly, but all of us have competition and they are just as hungry for the deal as you are. Remember that you need to find ways to stand out – be memorable. By the way, your competitors are probably giving up pretty quickly themselves. If you don’t – you have the edge!
3. A sale rarely happens immediately after a first meeting. People buy from people that they know, like and trust. Building a relationship takes some time.

Let me put it into perspective…

In Dan McDade’s book, The Truth About Leads, he points out that 45% of “qualified” leads will close within a year. He goes on to say that:

• 10% will close in 3 months
• another 16% in 6 months
• another 19% within the year

That suggests a big sales problem if you are giving up after a couple of phone calls. I find that it’s a delicate balance between closing business now and nurturing the sales potential that won’t close until later down the road.

Look at it this way…if you give up too quickly, you are guaranteed not to close the sale. What have you got to lose by continuing to stay in touch?

Today, I’ve got my social sales evangelism hat on, because I sometimes forget that not everyone sees the value in using new technology to augment their sales process. Though by now it’s pretty obvious that social media is here to stay, there continues to be debate about whether or not the use of social media can actually have any impact on your sales. Many sales professionals still view the use of social media as either something that “the kids” are using, or they believe that the use of social media has no real role to play in the sales process. Unfortunately, these attitudes cause many folks to completely ignore the opportunity that social technologies offer them. That, in my opinion, is a shame.

Let’s do away with the first myth right now…that social media is just a kid’s thing.

As you might expect, this sentiment is most often expressed by the boomer generation who’ve not quite accepted that social goes way beyond their kid’s texting about the concert they attended last night. Yes, the younger set has grown up digital, so it’s more natural for them to use Facebook or Twitter to keep up with their social networks. But as evidenced by the skyrocketing growth of LinkedIn, more than 90 million business professionals are using LinkedIn as a viable medium for networking with potential buyers, referral partners and current customers. In fact, did you know that roughly 70% of those LinkedIn users are decision makers? In other words, these are the people who can buy your products and services. Now, it is true that far too many LinkedIn users aren’t using the technology as effectively as they could be, but that’s a subject for another post.

What about the mistaken belief that social media has no role to play in sales?

After hundreds of conversations with business owners and sales executives, I think one main reason many sales people resist using social technology is because they have unrealistic expectations about what social media can do for them. A LinkedIn profile today doesn’t mean an immediate sale tomorrow. Frankly, that’s just as unrealistic as thinking you’ll meet someone tonight at a networking event and by morning will have a deal. The value of social media is about increased exposure with a wider audience of people who can buy from you. I like to say that just because you have something to sell, it doesn’t mean that your prospect is ready to buy. If you aren’t visible in the social space, it’s not likely that your name will rise to the top of potential vendors when the time comes.

Remember…

Your prospects have far more options than ever before. They also spend a fair amount of time gathering information online. It’s cool if you don’t feel the need to have presence in the social space, but your savvy competitors are no doubt there. Are you sure that’s a risk you are willing to take?