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LinkedIn or LinkedOut! It's time to get in!

Guest post by: Brian Sullivan

Article Overview: Gotta Do's to make LinkedIn a working source for building your business network.

LinkedIn or LinkedOut! It's time to get in!

March 2, 2011 "You are either LinkedIn or LinkedOut. It's time to get in!"

Three months ago I had no idea why I spent 20 minutes a day accepting LinkedIn invites. I now get it! Because when used correctly, LinkedIn can transform cold prospects into warm meetings. It can also give you "inside scoop" on your competition while keeping you informed of industry trends. This week I had LinkedIn author and expert Wayne Breitbarth on my radio show and he shared his LinkedIn "Gotta Do's." These tips helped me immediately, and they can help you too.

• Gotta use Advanced Search Functions by using keywords to search for names and titles of prospects. For example, looking for a list of CEOs, in the medical industry, in Kansas City? Click Advanced, put in a title and city and BAM, several names of perfect prospects pops up. Try to contain yourself when you easily find out that those Big Wigs have relationships with some of your closest friends. Two words...WARM INTRODUCTION.

• Gotta beef up your profile by including important keywords. This will help others find you instead of the competition.

• Gotta join LinkedIn Groups. This will allow you to learn from like-minded people as well as help expose you to new prospects. In fact, just last week I joined an industry group and it turned into three separate business meetings!

• Gotta get in or get out! Stop dabbling. Once you realize what a great sales tool it can be, you will have no problem dedicating between 10-15 minutes a day. Make it a habit and watch your USEFUL network grow.

For more detailed LinkedIn tips, listen to Brian's interview with author Wayne Breitbarth by going to his website. In 30 minutes you will know how to make LinkedIn one of your greatest prospecting and learning tools.

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Article Tags: medical sales training programs, sales and marketing training



Related Forum Posts
Re: On Which Social Media Sites Are You Most Active? - I'd be curious to hear how you guys use LinkedIn. I have close to 3,000 connections and never use it. I've been told the secret is to use groups (which I don't) so I'd love to hear how you guys are benefiting from LinkedIn.
Re: Twiiter an sales - [quote="soldlab":1ycb8vnm]I guess though LinkedIn is better for actual leag generation and personal contacts. What do you think?[/quote:1ycb8vnm] I've had a lot more success (thus far) with Twitter than LinkedIn or Facebook.
Re: Social Media Effectively? - Personally, I use social media to build my company brand in order to get awareness of the various franchises I work with. I am active on LinkedIn and Twitter (@DougSchadle), always posting information about the franchise opportunities I work with. I have started discussions and basically just try to get the word out there. Also, I turned one of my clients to social media as well. I work with Doctors Express, the first national urgent care franchise, expanding their franchise base. They are quickly spreading throughout the country and I told the founder to jump on to Twitter and LinkedIn as well. He just started a few weeks ago (Twitter handle @Doctors_Express) and tells me he is loving it. He is posting different medical issues he sees and is tweeting about Doctors Express. He is joining medical groups on LinkedIn and trying to connect to other doctors. So in short, I do think franchises can be very successful with social media, they just have to put in the time to do it.
Re: On Which Social Media Sites Are You Most Active? - [quote="Evan":35mqwg9h]I'd be curious to hear how you guys use LinkedIn. I have close to 3,000 connections and never use it. I've been told the secret is to use groups (which I don't) so I'd love to hear how you guys are benefiting from LinkedIn.[/quote:35mqwg9h] I have used linkedin for many years. It's a great place to meet and interact with high profile business people who may be reluctant to interact at other social platforms. Linkedin is fairly spam free, which is a big plus. Groups can become very popular particularly if the category and theme are appealing to a broad base. Another way to get to know some real high profile business people is to make intelligent comments at their posts. If they respond directly to your comment, it's a great time to send a friend/connect request. It's worked for me with some nationally recognizable personalities. Of course then the key is to respect their time and privacy, but on occasion I'll send a quick note relevant to their interests, business, etc. Sometimes when I'm promoting someone's affiliate program who I've connected with at LInkedin, I can usually get a response to a request for a short personal testimonial or even a JV. Yep, I like Linkin, but I would caution anyone from over using it in any self promotional way.
Re: 15 Ways You Can Look Amazing on LinkedIn - I agree with GT in that this advice can be applied to more than just LinkedIn. Excellent tips!


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