LinkedIn has gained the reputation of being the social media of choice for business.  Yet I often hear salespeople say they aren’t active on Linkedln. With over 330 million business people on LinkedIn, it has the potential to be a viable tool to reach more people and build relationships.

A Forbes headline reads “Study: 78% of Salespeople Using Social Media Outsell Their Peers.” Also, multiple research sources indicate that prospects use online sources to facilitate their buying decision and have most of their decision made before even speaking with a salesperson.

Additional research states that LinkedIn links send nearly 4 times more people to a site than Facebook or Twitter (Ecoconsultancy). And when people are given links from LinkedIn, they spend an average of 133 minutes on that site (Factbrowser).    

Reputation and research come together to support that LinkedIn is a logical strategy to help salespeople and sales managers better serve their business relationships. 

With this in mind, let’s look at what you can do to improve your relationships using LinkedIn.

1. Take care of the LinkedIn essential basics  

There are certain basics on LinkedIn that if you don’t engage in them, others are less likely to accept your invite or interact with you. These basics include your photo and a clear headline. 

Yes, these are basics but it’s amazing how many people don’t include their picture or describe themselves clearly. The other day someone tried to connect with me with no picture and an odd description of themselves in their headline. I chose not to connect.

To avoid this, be sure you have a good head shot (one that looks like you) and a clear headline that describes what you do and your company. It will increase your response rate for invites to connect and it will allow others to find you.

Let me share something that Daniela Perciballi brought to my attention this past week. Remember that people not only review your picture and headline on their computers, they also review these on their mobile devices. 

Take a look at your LinkedIn profile on a smart phone and on a tablet. Make any adjustments accordingly.

2. Thank people for connecting with real value

When others connect with you, respond with a brief thank you. It can be as simple as “Thank you for connecting.” 

I’ve developed a habit of thanking people and providing them with a link to one of my recent posts that applies to their world. It typically reads something like this:

Thanks for connecting.

I genuinely believe in being helpful and providing value. With that in mind, here’s one of my recent LinkedIn posts you might find valuable.  Consider doing the same. 

If you haven’t written any posts, don’t let that stop you from providing value. Use the LinkedIn post search feature to look up other posts by author and/or topic. 

Then select the ones that best match the needs of your prospects. I continuously build a list of LinkedIn post links (written by myself and others) so they are ready to go at any time. This way I ensure I’m time-efficient.

Make a list of your prospects’ biggest issues. Then either write a post about each or search for posts written by others (don’t choose a competitor but rather someone with a similar target audience).  Develop an ongoing list of LinkedIn post links that address those needs.

3. Add media to your LinkedIn profile based on your ideal client’s issues/objections

Many companies miss the opportunity to encourage their salespeople to add content to the media section of their LinkedIn profile. LinkedIn allows you to add video, images, audio and slides loaded to other sites to your profile summary. This includes Youtube and SlideShare.

You can find it in the summary or under each position in your profile. When you click on the icon, you can then add the media you would like to display in your profile.

Media in your profile is a great opportunity to provide visibility for the products and/or services you sell. This is where the world of sales and marketing can come together well if they play their LinkedIn cards correctly.

My research indicates that the majority of people make 75% or more of their buying decision before they speak to a salesperson. With this in mind, not having media content in your LinkedIn profile can contribute to intentionally lengthening the time prospects take to make their buying decisions.  

Once you decide to add media to your profile, how do you decide what to include and what not to include?

I decide what media to load to my LinkedIn profile based on 3 criteria:

• The biggest challenges my prospects face
• The tools to help my prospects engage their other collaborative buyers in their decision making process
• An opportunity for others to get to know me in a professional manner

Take a deeper look at your prospects and what kind of media would be most helpful to them, and add to your profile accordingly.

4. Help others find jobs  

On my way home recently, I stopped in at my local tech store to speak with the store manager who takes care of my computer needs. I bought my last 3 computers from him. A demonstration that he’s good at what he does.

The company he works for is closing their doors. In our discussion, I discovered that he’s looking for a job. First, let me acknowledge that it was an oversight on my part that we hadn’t connected on LinkedIn earlier. (I’m human.)

As he and I spoke, it became clear that the industry he wanted to get into was one where I have a lot of LinkedIn contacts. 

Short version:  He and I connected on LinkedIn.  I briefly reviewed his profile, made some suggestions (including some links to some LinkedIn expert posts) and he’s now working on updating his LinkedIn profile. 

Once his profile is updated, I then have the ability to introduce him to Toronto leaders who share with me that they are looking for good people. This way I’m not only helping someone looking for a new job but I’m also helping someone looking to hire. Potentially a win-win for all three of us.   

LinkedIn can be your tool to building and maintaining strong business relationships. Consider using one of these 4 ways to improve your relationships on LinkedIn.

About the Author

Peri Shawn is a sales coaching thought leader who transforms the complexity of getting salespeople to perform better into the fewest number of action steps to help them sell more. Peri’s company, the Coaching and Sales Institute (CSI), has been in the sales coaching business for 25 years and is the sales training and coaching behind the launch of such products as the debit card and Blackberry in Canada. Peri has authored Sell More with Sales Coaching (Wiley, September 2013) as well as the three corporate guidebooks.

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