Skip to main content

Take Advantage Of LinkedIn During the Virus Part 2

In the previous post we went over why you need to be using LinkedIn. With the Coronavirus keeping salespeople from meeting prospects in person, any resource you have at your disposal should be utilized, and LinkedIn is a great one. Especially if you're going to be working from home for a while.

There are some great ways to maximize your time and efforts on LinkedIn and I thought it would be great to go over a few things to help you get your message to prospects and influencers in your network. Here is a short list to get you started.


  • Have a professional looking profile picture. As I stated in the last post, this is super important. If you can't afford a professional headshot by a real photographer, no worries. You can get away with a photo in business casual. I've seen some pictures from recent college graduates with a golf shirt and khakis that were very good. On the other hand, the worst thing you can do is leave the default avatar as your picture. I refuse to accept connection requests from people who do not have a picture.
  • Post stuff. I enjoy posting articles that are industry specific as well as general business information. If you are in sales, your clients can come from any industry, so just because you are a realtor, that doesn't mean everyone wants to read about the latest real estate trends. A news article on the local economy can be good too. By posting often (once a day), you keep your name and brand top of mind.
  • Join groups. If you don't have a lot of connections this is a great way to find some. And the groups aren't just industry specific. As an insurance agent, I am a member of several of LinkedIn's insurance groups, but I'm also in a group for my college's alumni and local networkers in my area. 
  • Click on the profiles of people you would like to connect with. If someone takes a look at your profile, which you want by the way, LinkedIn notifies you. With this logic, wouldn't you want certain people to know that you're interested in them? And if they see that you're checking them out, they may send you a connection request. 


 When trying to network on LinkedIn, remember that it's a professional networking site and not Facebook or Twitter. No one really cares about your political views or wants to see pictures of your kids on vacation. The users of LinkedIn are looking for business prospects, job opportunities and general networking. Another key point is that LinkedIn doesn't want you to randomly send out connection request to anyone and everyone. Start off with people you actually know and expand from there. As I mentioned before, the groups feature is a great way to find new people to meet and network with.

Keep plugging away and you'll find that your time on the site was well worth it. And if you have any other suggestions to share put them in the comments section. 

Chris Castanes is a professional speaker who helps sales people succeed through workshops and humorous presentations. For booking information, click here. He's also the president of Surf Financial Brokers selling life and disability insurance in several states.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introducing the "You're Going To Be Great At This!" Podcast

I was pretty surprised when I saw that my last blog post was several months ago. Time really does fly when you're having fun, or in my case, just having a busy workload. In the last few months I've been on the road for an approximate total of 9 weeks. Needless to say I get less than motivated to work in a hotel room after selling insurance for 8 hours, so blogging isn't on my "to do" list. While driving in my car during these trips I try to make my time productive my listening to podcasts on business and marketing. I'm not sure if someone was trying to tell me something but over the course of a week or so, I heard 4 episodes on how starting a podcast can help boost your business. After mulling this over and considering my options, I decided to take the plunge and start one myself. I've had a YouTube channel for a while which is fine, but I wanted to do something a little different. So I decided to start the "You're Going To Be Great At This!"...
Post a Comment
Read more

Changing My Scheduling Calendar For 2025

This blog usually has actionable sales tips and advice to help you succeed in your business. This time, I wanted to take a look at another part of your business, which is scheduling appointments or sales calls or whatever you need to schedule.  Having a scheduling calendar that your prospects can make your job so much easier. Instead of calling back and forth to pin a time to meet down, you can let your prospect/client pick their own time. According to FinancesOnline.com, online scheduling can lead to 26% more customers, so sharing your calendar is a real no-brainer. I have a Google calendar that I use to book appointments, but I have also been using Calendly and sharing it on my website and social media. The two calendars are supposed to sync up to avoid double bookings, but recently I discovered an issue.  I had blocked out a couple of days on my Google calendar for a business conference, but Calendly was still showing those days as available. After trying to find a way to f...
Post a Comment
Read more

Your Sales Call Autopsy

A friend of mine recently did some contract work for a company. The project took several weeks and the work was much more detailed than my friend anticipated. Not only was the work itself difficult, but so were the other people who he had to deal with while completing the designs and other specifications.  When he was done he did something very important. He waited a few days and then took an objective look at the entire process, where he discovered what worked well, what didn't work well and the lessons he learned in the process. He even posted all of this information in a "bullet point" style on social media. With that information, his future projects will be somewhat easier if he runs into the same issues. Many people in sales and marketing fail to do this. If something works well, they just move on to the next deal. But if they hit a snag and fail to get the sale, they complain about something, usually the client or the working conditions, without having an honest ass...
Post a Comment
Read more