LinkedIn for Consultants

The Best LinkedIn Tips & Techniques for Consultants How to Gain 10 New Clients in 2011

Alex RomanovichMaterial in this seminar is for reference purposes only. This seminar is sold with the understanding that neither any of the authors nor the publisher are engaged in rendering legal, accounting, investment, medical or any other professional service directly through this seminar. Neither the publisher nor the authors assume any liability for any errors or omissions, or for how this seminar or its contents are used or interpreted, or for any consequences resulting directly or indirectly from the use of this seminar. For legal, financial, medical, strategic or any other type of advice, please personally consult the appropriate professional.

Material in this seminar is for reference purposes only. This seminar is sold with the understanding that neither any of the authors nor the publisher are engaged in rendering legal, accounting, investment, medical or any other professional service directly through this seminar. Neither the publisher nor the authors assume any liability for any errors or omissions, or for how this seminar or its contents are used or interpreted, or for any consequences resulting directly or indirectly from the use of this seminar. For legal, financial, medical, strategic or any other type of advice, please personally consult the appropriate professional.

About the Webinar Speaker• Alex Romanovich, Founder – Social2B, CMO –

EuroSpaClub International, Advisory Board Member – The CMO Club

• Unique blend of technology, marketing andbusiness development skills and experience (IBM, SGI, Bertelsmann AG, Unified Technologies, Global AdvertisingStrategies, Social2B, EuroSpaClub Intl.)

• Frequent speaker and advisor on topicsof International and Multi-Cultural Mktg. (CNBC, CNN International, Forbes, Crains, Voice of America, etc.), Social Media

• Social Media Marketing, Social ValueChain, and Social Media Scalability Expertise

• @social2B or [email protected] – 1-917-815-1151

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mailto:[email protected]

Overview

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The Best LinkedIn Tips & Techniques for ConsultantsAlex Romanovich

www.ExecSense.com © ExecSense, Inc.

• Why being on LinkedIn is important for Consultants

• (courtesy of SocialWare)

Overview• Why being on LinkedIn is

important for Consultants

• Relationships Matter. LinkedIn is the best Professional Relationship Building tool

• Scale – Over 75Million Connected Users and Profiles

• Powerful and effective way to build, promote, and enhance your professional profile – your reputation card

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What to Know• Five most important things to know about LinkedIn

• LinkedIn Basics – Your Profile is your ticket to more effective networking and relationship building

• Getting Connected and Growing Your Network – Start the snowball and make it valuable

• Finding Employees, Jobs and Offering Services using LinkedIn

• How to Market Yourself and Your Business using LinkedIn more effectively

• Using LinkedIn to increase your sales and other uses of LinkedIn

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What to Know - Basics• LinkedIn Basics

• You have to build your profile 100%

• List groups, memberships, affiliations

• Upload Presentations

• LinkedIn has a powerful SEARCH function – use it and optimize for it

• You are what you upload and promote on LinkedIn

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What to Know - Basics• LinkedIn Basics

• Your messages and your opinions will enhance the experience of your profile and will tell audience about who you are

• You can display applications, such as SlideShare Presentations, Creative Portfolio Display, Ratings, Polls, Blog Link, Events, Tweets, and many others

• Recommendation Management is important as well

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What to Know• Getting Connected to

Grow Your Network

Search twice, connect once

Sorting the results, searching by keyword, name, company, job title, etc.

Ability to export or save searches, depending on the LinkedIn account level

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Grow Your Network

InMail is a powerful way to reach out to a ‘searched’ contact with a meaningful message

Try to avoid anonymous communications – use a network of friends to connect to someone with a referral

Plan an introduction in advance – be honest in your intent – it’s ok to engage someone in a conversation

Be succinct, original in your approach, ready to ‘pay forward’

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Grow Your Network

Expand your network with your colleagues, friends, relatives

‘Mine’ your friends’ connections and suggest a 2nd degree connection

Ask for a referral and be prepared to send a message and to talk about your value proposition

Don’t use canned invitations – be different, engaging, etc.

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Grow Your Network – LinkedIn Answers

Incredible opportunity to ask questions and provide answers, showcasing your expertise

Find questions related to your industry, your expertise and your service offering

Ask questions which may lead to a connection with someone who is an expert or a potential buyer of service

Rank the answers, and be ready to be ranked as well

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What to Know• Finding Employees, Jobs,

and Offering Services

• If you are looking for employees, be prepared to recommend the existing employees or partners, friends, etc.

• Requesting recommendations is important as well – make sure you are very specific about what the recommendation you are asking for

• You can also create a recommendation process for your company, not just individual profile – but make sure you are also very specific about recommendation you are seeking

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• If you have vacancies, posting a Job Listing is a great way to be attractive not only to employees, but to potential clients

• Use LinkedIn to perform reference checks and do some background research

• Optimize your profile for candidates, as well as your own profile for specific keywords – optimization is key and Google likes that

• Use JobsInsider

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• Searching the Service Provider Database can be useful as a reference guide

• Power of recommendation – if you recommend a partner company, you can ask for the recommendation as well

• Use Ad Campaign Feature and Company Recommendation feature to promote your company and to ask for a company recommendation from an existing and former client

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What to Know• Marketing yourself

and Your Business(more tips)

• Join and Create Groups

• Provide and solicit recommendations, look for partners and co-branding opportunities

• Optimize your profile (keywords, phrases, posts, feeds, etc.)

• Encourage your employees, partners, and clients to promote you

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What to Know• Using LinkedIn to

Increase your Sales

• Getting leads with Advanced people Search and reaching out to them via InMail

• Researching decision makers and people who can be of assistance in closing the deal

• Finding partners who can help you seal the deal

• Get out there and use LinkedIn as your sales and reputation management tool

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Action Plan• List up to 10 steps that a consultant should take to be successful at using

LinkedIn to get new clients.

•

Number 1 - Complete your profile 100%, use keywords and optimize constantly based on changes

•

Number 2 - Reach out to your friends, family, partners and clients first – get their help to make initial impact

•

Number 3 - Use Search Function to learn who is out there (over 90Million) and how they promote themselves

•

Number 4 - Manage Introductions through InMail and referrals

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Number 5 - Use Recommendations and Answers to promote your company and your services

•

Number 6 - Find partners, employees, and other service providers to share and to learn

•

Number 7 - Ask for referrals as a company – new function from LinkedIn – get listed in the services directory

•

Number 8 - Add applications such as SlideShare, TripIt, Company Buzz, and others to enrich the experience

•

Number 9 - Be effective and original in your introductions and recommendations – always use keywords

•

Number 10 - Integrate LinkedIn with other social networks – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, SlideShare, Flickr

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Case Studies• List at least three case studies regarding your topic. Feel free to put each

case study on its own slide if you would like to elaborate further and we can handle formatting on our end.

• Case Study # 1 – Marketing and AdCampaign

• Case Study #2 – Friends and Partners’ Referral

• Case Study # 3 – App Integration

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FAQs• List the ten main questions/misconceptions consultants may have with

respect to this topic so that you can discuss the answers during your recording.

•

Number 1 - I don’t have to finish my profile – no time

•

Number 2 - I can use standard facility and texts from LinkedIn, to save time

•

Number 3 - I already use other social networks, using LinkedIn will only complicate matters

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Number 4 - If I share content, I will arm the competitors

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Number 5 - I strongly believe in face to face meetings – this digital marketing stuff is not as effective

•

Number 6 - LinkedIn Ads costs money – how do I know what my ROI is?

•

Number 7 - I have to constantly maintain the account – how much investment in time is it?

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Number 8 - I know everyone is doing it, but is everyone getting business?

•

Number 9 - Can I hire someone to do this for me? Would that be an issue?

•

Number 10 - What are the risks?

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Moderator Questions• List three questions you would like the moderator to ask you during the

Q&A section to help spur questions from other attendees:•

Number 1 - How much time does it take to maintain LinkedIn Account?

•

Number 2 - What is the difference between a personal profile and Company profile if I am alone

•

Number 3 – What types of businesses is LinkedIn good for? Which businesses should not use it?

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Supplemental Documents• (OPTIONAL) If you would like to add any supplemental documents or

materials, please list them on this slide and then attach them to the email with your PowerPoint when you send it back to your editorial contact at ExecSense.

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Conclusions• Please list the three most important points in conclusion that

you would like consultants to take away from your webinar.

• Point 1: LinkedIn is the best Professional Social Network out there. Be there!

• Point 2: List everything that you think can be of value to your clients. Share!

• Point 3: Pay Forward! Provide Answers! Manage your Profile!

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