Hi Community members,
As it goes without saying, your LinkedIn profile is one of your greatest assets to your personal branding toolkit and professional story. Read: It isn’t a resume; instead, it serves as an important representation of your digital persona. A well-crafted, detailed profile attracts more eyes than one that lacks content and personality. The correctly positioned profile provides more value and makes you easier to relate to, and as sellers, we all want our intended audience to engage with us. So now, let’s get into how to turn your LinkedIn profile from Expert to All Star level and how to use it to drive conversations with your targeted buyers.
First, take a look at this detailed presentation on how to Create an Effective Sales Profile on LinkedIn to make yourself stand out as an interesting, engaging, and resourceful seller. To summarize very briefly, here are the key sections you can brush up on:
- Custom URL
- Professional Photo
- Background Photo
- Headline
- Summary
- Experience
- Rich Media
- Recommendations
Next, be sure to check out these quick guidelines to drive more engagement from your prospects and leads:
1. Understand your goals and needs – If you don’t have a clear view of your goals and needs as a virtual seller, ask yourself questions like:
- What unique value can I bring to my prospects?
- How can I effectively deliver that value to a prospect or lead?
- What helpful information would I like from my lead? (i.e. insider knowledge or warm introductions to other stakeholders)
Knowing the answers to these questions will help you convey a stronger message and build a more powerful profile that attracts the eyes you want. Additionally, if your viewers can find the answers they’re looking for from just glancing at your profile, then it would increase the chances of them starting a conversation with you.
2. Learn about your audience – Understanding the needs and wants of your audience is halfway to delivering your value. Here are some helpful questions to get you started:
- What does this prospect or lead value in their role and line of business?
- In today’s evolving world of work due to COVID-19, how are your prospects affected and how are they reacting to it? How can you help?
- Is there anything on their LinkedIn profile that resonates with you? – Remember, having something in common adds to the warm outreach in prospecting.
The better you understand your audience and what they seek from you, the easier it is to communicate your professional story and value as a seller.
3. Gather inspiration to write your story – Now that you have a clear idea of your goals and your audience’s needs, let’s dive into the fun part of curating your professional narrative:
- If you aren’t familiar with personal branding, turn to like-minded peers and your network on LinkedIn for inspiration.
- Browse around to see which profiles interest you and spark your curiosity to learn more about them.
- Then, take different parts you like from multiple profiles (i.e. the tone, types of detail in each description, and their personality) to create a hybrid portfolio of your own.
Once you add your own flair to it, you, too, will have an informative, engaging profile infused with your personal brand.
Hopefully, these simple steps and additional guidelines are helpful in enhancing your LinkedIn profile, to inspire connection and engagement with your potential buyers. I’d also love to hear your best practices on polishing and presenting your LinkedIn profile. What extra tips do you have to elevate your profile and provide value to your LinkedIn network?
Happy personal branding, and I look forward to hearing your feedback!
Eva C.
