Sales people and others responsible generating business for their organizations will find LinkedIn a valuable tool.  Unlike sites such as Facebook and MySpace, LinkedIn tends to attract those looking to develop business relationships, as opposed to friendships.

But while many of us are familiar with the basic features of LinkedIn, we don’t always know how to best leverage them to drive sales. Here are five tips you can use to create a Linked In profile that will motivate prospects to come to you–without your having to “sell” them.

1. Position yourself as a thought leader

People buy from those they know and trust.  Especially when it comes to important purchases, people also want to buy from experts that are ahead of the curve.  LinkedIn offers multiple tools, many of which are discussed below, that you can use to demonstrate thought leadership and reinforce their confidence in you as a trusted advisor.

2. Get and give recommendations

What impression do you suppose a prospect will have after reading glowing endorsements about you from former coworkers, bosses, and, especially, clients?  While they may suspect those clients likely did not volunteer to write those recommendations, they also know that clients would not agree to do so if they did not feel comfortable legitimately endorsing you.

Get started by writing one for someone else.  Doing so accomplishes three things: one, it clearly flatters the person you write it for; two, it helps him or her look better to people viewing his or her profile; and three, it creates a desire to reciprocate.

2. Use polls to engage interest

People like giving their opinion about issues that are relevant or important to them–and reading what others have to say about topics that matter to them. Every so often (once a quarter or so) use LinkedIn’s polling feature to take a poll.

Moreover, your name will appear on their status updates, reminding your connections you’re out there, and in so doing, keeping you top of mind.  When combined with your other LinkedIn activities, it will increase the likelihood, they’ll remember you when they’re ready to buy.

3. Find and share news that will help others

Each group has a news section that contains news articles other members post, and increasingly, blog entries.  You never know what interesting tidbit you might come across that the difficult-to-reach prospect would appreciate receiving (and reward you for sending with a return call).

4. Demonstrate your value

Adding your experienced-based comments to existing discussions in the groups to which your clients and prospects belong is an unobtrusive, but powerful, way to demonstrate your thought leadership and your willingness and ability to provide value.

For example, I contributed to a discussion in one of the Mergers and Acquisitions groups. The very next day, I received an email from a boutique M&A firm on Long Island saying they “would like to learn more about my firm and services as they may be beneficial to his prospects and client base.”

5. Post documents, presentations, share what you’re reading

While you may not sell people on LinkedIn, your marketing materials may.  Use LinkedIn Applications such as SlideShare Presentations, Google Presentations, Box.net Files, and Reading List to passively communicate about your company and yourself.

I’ve used this to post my standard sales presentation, which promotes what I offer, and a couple of books I’ve read and recommend.  This helps others get to know me better as a person, effectively building my personal brand.  Others use it to establish thought leadership by posting white papers their firms have authored.

Bonus: Search for status updates for trigger events

In addition to these ideas, there are a few I’d like to share courtesy of a fellow business owner.  David Leaver of Opus Partners recommends that his clients identify some trigger events—events that, when they occur, will create a need for a product one sells—among the weekly updates mentioned above.  For Leaver, who provides sales training services, one trigger is when a VP of Sales changes jobs; often he or she will want to bring in a sales or marketing consultant to evaluate the staff being inherited.

Premium LinkedIn Extra: Target your most promising prospects

Premium LinkedIn users have a host of additional benefits that are beyond the scope of this article.  One that I’ve found extremely valuable is the ability to search for contacts using premium-only demographic criteria, such as company size, function, and seniority level.  This provides me with a reduced, and more targeted, list of prospects.  I can then zero in on the exact person or persons I want to reach, in the size of organization I want.  This enables me to send a custom, targeted message to those prospects via InMail, or, if I don’t have a premium account, via a connection.

Share your LinkedIn sales and marketing tips

As we have seen, there are a plethora of easy-to-use tools available to you on LinkedIn that can help you improve your sales results.  Start by picking one or two, and use them for about a week, until they become second nature.  (Nigel Edelshain of Sales 2.0 disciplines himself to devote 15 to 30 minutes each and every day.)  Then, gradually start using the rest of the features presented here, until you find yourself becoming a bona fide LinkedIn maestro.

Do you have other LinkedIn tips for generating sales?  If so, please share them here.

Looking for other ways to generate sales?  Download 5 actions you can take today to get more sales-ready leads

Related posts:

1. Are discounts a good way to increase sales?
2. Maximizing Sales Productivity Depends on Meeting Marketing Requirements

This month, however, I had the pleasure of speaking with Tufts alumni on how to use social media marketing techniques to land their next position. I don’t know which was more exciting doing the actual presentation–or preparing for it.

Looking for a job is just another form of marketing

Now, I’ve spoken on searching for a job before, because it’s really just another form of marketing–only the job seeker is the “product”. The new wrinkle was figuring out when, where, and how to use social media to supplement conventional job search techniques.

I started by making a list of all the normal activities that one would do when looking for a job. Examples include researching the industry, conducting informational interviews to narrow the focus of the search, getting the word out that you’re looking, networking to identify promising companies and opportunities, and figuring out how to stand out from the competition.

Social media marketing accelerates the process

While making this list, I realized that getting a job is a very social activity–and that social media is ideally suited to accelerate the process. Where social media really excels is in quickly finding out what’s hot, showcasing your expertise to colleagues and strangers alike, and staying top of mind with those who may hear about job opportunities.

To help job seekers find out what’s hot, I recommended automated ongoing Twitter searches via Tweetdeck. For showcasing their expertise, I suggested using the status updates in Facebook, Linked In, and Twitter to raise awareness of their accomplishments and direct their network to information these individuals would find valuable.

I particularly recommended Twitter since it is searchable by everyone. Therefore, those that found their content helpful might choose to follow them and join the network of individuals that opt for direct communications.

First impressions count: but marketers say it takes 7 to make an impact

Marketers say that it takes 7 impressions to make an impact. When it comes to staying top of mind, nothing beats social media. That’s because it offers the opportunity to communicate regularly without being a pest.

Most people use social media to keep their finger on the pulse. Unlike email which they tend to use for mission-critical communications, people check social media when they want to know what’s going on in the work, in their industry, with their colleagues, and/or their friends. So, they expect to receive news that’s interesting but not necessarily essential. Of course, it’s incumbent on senders to deliver interesting content if they don’t want to risk being “unfollowed”, blocked, or worse yet, “unfriended”.

Using social media to research the presentation: The medium is the message

The topics I’ve covered thus far are the topics I anticipated discussing when I agreed to do the presentation. What made the preparation so interesting was some of the other things I learned on the way.

About a week before I set out to write the presentation, I created a Tweetdeck search on “job search”. Through that, I discovered that there was a hash tag for job search–so I altered my search.

Shortly thereafter, I stumbled upon some information sources that I never knew existed. Perhaps the most interesting was Glassdoor.com. This site provides the information everyone cares about most– what it will be like to actually work at the company with whom you’re interviewing. Visit it to view anonymous reviews about the pros and cons of working for various employers.

Finally, it came time to give the presentation. To my surprise, most of the people who came were fully-employed. Perhaps some were looking for their next opportunity, but most said they came to learn more about social media marketing. To see a copy of the presentation, please visit my LinkedIn profile and scroll down to the slideshow. Then, please let me know what you would add to improve upon this presentation.

Related posts:

1. The search and social media paradox
2. How search and social media will shorten the B2B sales cycle.
3. Social Media: So What?
4. Social media adoption: How will marketing spending patterns change?

Last night, I presented “Personal Branding: The Social Media Way” at a local job seekers’ group. Here are my answers to questions posed in a follow up email from one of the participants.

Why didn’t I discuss the one-to-one connections one can make on LinkedIn?

The talk focused on branding–which is generally accomplished using one-to-many (broadcast) communications. Nevertheless, as the questioner correctly points out everything you say or do affects your brand. Therefore, one-to-one communications are also fair game.

What’s the best use of this feature?

The short answer is that the best use of this feature is to build a network that will meet your objectives. That said everyone’s goals differ.

Another answer is to use it in a way that fosters, rather than hinders, relationships. This is especially important when communicating with people with whom you don’t already have a strong relationship.

For example, when you invite someone to join your network, consider writing a short note–rather than sending the default invitation. In it, describe the existing connection between you and why you hope the two of you will connect. In addition to being more thoughtful and courteous, a warm note will also increase your chance of acceptance.

When you decide not to connect with someone, consider just not accepting their invitation. That way, it’s less likely to feel like a rejection. Also, try to avoid checking the box that says you don’t know the other person—especially if there’s any chance that he or she thinks the two of you do know each other.

Loose links sink ships

The third question asked about how I use this feature. In general, I try to connect only to people with whom I have—or want to have—a relationship. As for the rest, we can link up and discuss mutual interests using the Group function of LinkedIn. My reasons follow.

One of the primary ways that people use LinkedIn is to contact third parties through others in their network. I want to make sure that I’d feel comfortable contacting everyone in my network to ask that favor of them.

Familiarity becomes even more important when someone in my network wants me to connect them with someone in my network. That’s because I’m only comfortable connecting two people when I feel it is likely that both will derive value from the connection.

Another reason that I limit my connections is that I sometimes send messages to everyone in my network. Examples include requests for information or news about my business. In either case, my goal is to send messages only to those who will be receptive—and I suspect those who don’t know me well may not be receptive. We all get too much mail.

Some would argue that anyone who requests or accepts a connection is tacitly indicating that they want to help out others in your network and are receptive to your messages. All I can say is that I’m not sure that’s true. But then, that’s why there are many perspectives on this issue.

This leads to two follow up questions. The questions and answers follow.

Do I do as I say?

I haven’t always adhered to my own policies. First of all, in the beginning I had a different policy. I wanted to protect the privacy of my connections. Therefore, I only accepted invitations from others—I didn’t extend any invitations—and accepted invitations from anyone who invited me.

Now, I only extend invitations to people with whom I want to have a relationship. By the same token, I accept invitations from those with whom I would like to have a relationship.

That leaves the small number of people who I would not have invited to join my network. Of these, I accept about half the invitations I receive.

The primary reason for this incongruity is that I don’t like to reject people. So, I add those I know and have a positive feeling about. Nevertheless, I view the relationship differently and hope they will understand if I’m not comfortable connecting with them someone they’d like to meet.

Avoiding invitations you’d rather not accept

I don’t respond to the remaining invitations—rather than rejecting them outright. The primary reason that I don’t accept these invitations is that I want to avoid the discomfort that may arise later if and when they ask for an introduction.

These are my policies. I believe they may also pertain to job seekers–since not everyone in your network is looking for a job. Those that are not, may not be as receptive to connections and too frequent updates.

Do you agree or disagree?

Everyone networks differently–and for different reasons. How do you use LinkedIn and what’s your rationale?  Want to learn more about using social media?  Download the social media primer.

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