Previously, we spoke about how essential it is to ensure your LinkedIn profile is perfect if you want to attract new business leads. Now, you need to start ‘working the room’.
It’s essential to ‘work the room’ correctly if you want to generate business leads from LinkedIn.
The old fashioned ‘spray and pray’ approach isn’t working out there in the traditional advertising field anymore, so there’s no reason to assume it will work on any social media platform. And certainly not on LinkedIn! 45% of people on LinkedIn are the decision makers in their companies. They don’t have time to fiddle around looking for you. You need to be up-front and centre, easy to find and an attractive, if not essential, connection and business partner for them to acquire.
Here are the Top Three Essential ‘Working the Room’ Master Tips You Need to Implement Today to Generate New Business Opportunities on LinkedIn
Master Tip No 1 – Don’t be a Jack-of-all-Trades
You may genuinely have a large skill set, but when potential clients are looking for someone, they’re looking for someone to do something very specific. So, be specific. Always talk to your clients’ needs – who you are, who you help and how you can help them. They’ll be delighted, if you handle it correctly, to discover your richer skill set once they start talking to you about their specific needs.
Master Tip No 2 – Include websites
LinkedIn is one of the few, if not the only social media site, that allows you to add links to other sites, so take advantage of that. But don’t just put in the URL. How boring! Rather, reinforce the service you’re providing or something that the potential client can take away with them. www.joebloggscopy.com doesn’t really say much beyond the fact that Joe Blogs possibly writes copy. The Best Copywriter in Cape Town though says a lot more. As does Download Our Latest International Greenhouse Catalogue Here rather than www.greenhouses.com
Master Tip No 3 – Connect with people
This is what ‘working the room’ is all about. Making those all-important connections and then making them work for you. LinkedIn allows you to export your contacts, unlike other social media sites. And you should do that, for one very good reason – your database is your foundation and your future. It’s one of your most valuable business assets. Whether you choose to connect with all and sundry or whether you decide to connect only with people in your industry is up to you. Whichever way you go, remember – people know people who know people. So try and get recommended and introduced as often as possible. And then, follow up on those connections. If someone asks to be connected and you accept, follow up with a message and a call to action. Don’t collect connections as if you’re collecting stamps. LinkedIn connections are only of value when you convert them into clients.
Clients, not dates. LinkedIn is not a dating site. Don’t use it as one. It’s the quickest way to kill your professional image and any chance of being recommended or introduced.
The Updates
You need to stay in the top of your potential clients’ minds. The easiest way to do that is to update your status or profile. Any change you make will show up immediately on the home page of everyone in you contact list. And good updates will always include calls to action.
And speaking of that – now that you’ve got some ideas on using LinkedIn more to your advantage, download our e-book today and discover even more Master Tips on using this powerful social media tool to generate new leads and convert them into clients!
