1 | P a g e How to use LinkedIn for Social Selling – copyright InsideView 2011 – Social Selling University

2 | P a g e How to use LinkedIn for Social Selling – copyright InsideView 2011 – Social Selling University

Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Setting up Your LinkedIn profile.............................................................................................................................................. 4

LinkedIn Checklist ............................................................................................................................................................... 5

Customize your public profile ............................................................................................................................................. 6

Your LinkedIn Profile ........................................................................................................................................................... 7

Setup your LinkedIn profile to be discovered ..................................................................................................................... 9

Customize you LinkedIn headline ..................................................................................................................................... 10

Build a Search Engine Trifecta ........................................................................................................................................... 12

Plug-in applications for LinkedIn ........................................................................................................................................... 12

How to Use LinkedIn Events for Promotion and Lead Generation ................................................................................... 14

Building your network on LinkedIn ....................................................................................................................................... 17

Using your email for initial contacts ................................................................................................................................. 17

Connect with coworkers ................................................................................................................................................... 18

How large should your network be? ................................................................................................................................. 19

Finding valuable connections on LinkedIn. ....................................................................................................................... 19

LinkedIn Groups for Social Selling Excellence ................................................................................................................... 20

Connecting with people you may know. ........................................................................................................................... 22

New leads from profile views ........................................................................................................................................... 22

Marketing your business on LinkedIn ................................................................................................................................... 23

Conclusion ............................................................................................................................................................................. 23

3 | P a g e How to use LinkedIn for Social Selling – copyright InsideView 2011 – Social Selling University

Introduction Anyone in sales today knows about LinkedIn, the largest professional

social networking site boasting more than 101 million members in over

200 countries around the globe. 560,000 professionals visit the LinkedIn

homepage every day and, based on recent statistics, personal income

correlates strongly with LinkedIn usage.

The short story here is this: If you are a sales professional and you do not

have a LinkedIn account, stop reading. Go to www.linkedin.com now and

sign up!

Using social media as a sales tool can make a huge impact on your lead

generation on opportunity conversion rates. Social Selling University is

going to show you how.

The rest of this guide will

teach you how to

maximize this important

social network, and turn

LinkedIn into a lead

generation and

opportunity finder for any

sales professional.

4 | P a g e How to use LinkedIn for Social Selling – copyright InsideView 2011 – Social Selling University

Setting up Your LinkedIn profile After signing up for your account, the next step is filling in your profile to

make it as professional and complete as possible. You are working

towards having a 100% completed profile, and this will be indicated in

the right side of your profile page. Everyone on LinkedIn is working to put

their best foot forward, and you should, too.

On one hand, sales people use LinkedIn as a discovery tool on new leads to get more information than is available in a lead form. This is because everyone wants his or her LinkedIn profile to reflect them accurately and comprehensively, and are thus keeping it more up to date than any traditional source could possibly do. LinkedIn helps you find detailed employment history about a prospect, as well as how you are connected to him or her, so you can get a better idea of ‘who’ a prospect is. This is all pivotal information that completes the picture of your prospect and gives some initial talking points you can draw from. His or her profile, if completed, may be the best indication of his or her decision-making ability and background. Using this intelligence is a key Sales 2.0 tactic.

Similarly, just as sales people use LinkedIn to get a picture of their prospects, your prospects use LinkedIn to get a picture of you, and you should be hyperaware of what your LinkedIn profile says about you. Your LinkedIn profile needs to stand out. It’s going to be one of the first places your prospects go to find out about you. What does your LinkedIn profile say to your prospects? Are you a professional or just another sales person trying to meet your quarterly goals? Believe it or not, your LinkedIn profile will make an important impression on your prospect.

5 | P a g e How to use LinkedIn for Social Selling – copyright InsideView 2011 – Social Selling University

LinkedIn Checklist

Here are the things you will need to complete before having 100% profile completeness.

9 Upload a picture 9 Create an executive summary 9 Add in your education 9Add 3 recent positions 9 Add 3 Recommendations by

your network.