3 Immediate Ways to Drive More Sales via Your LinkedIn Profile

How to Take Your LinkedIn Profile to the Next Level in Social Selling

So you joined LinkedIn and thought, "433 Mill+ members/200 countries/ 3 million Groups" " Selling here will be easy." I have heard this time and time again. But it really isn't and it isn't a short-term thing , either. It's Friday and I want to get really honest with you Sales professionals out there on what it takes to get your LinkedIn Profile to start selling for you.  B2B Networking on LinkedIn is not a one and done type of activity. It is a long-term, relationship-driven, thought-leadership committed focus that makes it work for any executive or sales team I have ever coached or trained on LinkedIn Selling and Social Sales. 

As a LinkedIn author, trainer, coach and keynote speaker, in other words, a LinkedIn junkie and a sales addict, I want to tell you, my dear LinkedIn followers and connects, the real deal with 3 actionable LinkedIn Sales tips.

LinkedIn Selling Tip #1: Have a real LinkedIn Sales Strategy, plan and focus.

Without these things, you will be out of luck when it comes to B2B Social Selling. Sure anybody can rewrite a profile or clean up some experience blocks, but if you don't have a true LinkedIn Strategy and then align your profile to meet that strategy, as we say in NYC, "Forget About It!". Your strategy needs to confirm

• Your Target Sales Profile
• Your Sales Messaging
• Your Unique Value
• Your Brand Keywords (I will get into online branding and online visibility in my next piece)
• Your rules for Connects/ Inmails /engaging in Groups, etc 

If you are looking to purchase real estate in Manhattan, you couldn't find a better Manhattan Real Estate Advisor, than a former LinkedIn Coaching client of mine Whitney Farber. Whitney was a breeze to work with and help because she understood the importance of planning for success.

LinkedIn Selling Tip #2: Uncover your Best LinkedIn Profile Assets

Take a look at your LinkedIn Profile after you read and share:) this post. Is everything up to date? Do you have stuff (as my favorite recent LinkedIn Coaching client Rodney Cotton would say) that is everywhere that needs to be organized, cleaned up, scanned, uploaded and edited for LinkedIn exposure?

LinkedIn Selling Tip #3: Have a LinkedIn Profile Written for Target Engagement

Is your LinkedIn profile telling the right story? In my LinkedIn Corporate Training programs, my trainees do on the spot Target Profiling. This is an important exercise to get to the point of crafting your right story in the right language to engage your exact audience. Do you know what Skills and keywords people are searching for on LinkedIn? Have you taken the time and effort to understand search behavior, client needs and interests? Knowing these upfront and then word-smithing or having someone else word-smith (like a LinkedIn Coach) your profile to suits these needs is an important step in raising your Social Selling Index score, as they say on LinkedIn. Even CEOs can benefit from having great LinkedIn Profiles. They can use theirs to support investor interest, thought-leadership and more. A former LinkedIn Coaching client of mine Fred Horowitz, understood this and is one of the more actionable CEOs I have come across in terms of Social Branding - very refreshing!!!!

So there you go. 3 LinkedIn Sales Tips. 3 Examples. Now go improve your profiles for better target engagement or feel free to click here and see my LinkedIn Individual Coaching Programs . Have a great weekend!