10 Ways to Get More Sales Using LinkedIn
Have you earned new business through LinkedIn yet?

People are doing it every day.

If you haven’t seen any sales ROI from your time on LinkedIn, or you want to know what you could be doing better – follow these 10 tips.

1. Fill out your entire profile

I know it sounds boring… but if your profile is half full, you’re only getting half the results. Here’s why.

People search for other people on LinkedIn. When they look for experts in their network, they type keywords into the search bar.

This is your sales profile. It’s a website for your personal brand. It’s what most likely shows up when people google your name. Make it good. Get endorsements, upload videos, attach publications, collect recommendations from customers. Make your profile 98% perfect.

2. Get ranked in the LinkedIn search engine — it’s so easy.

Just by targeting one specific keyword or phrase with the text in your profile, you can show up more often in search results. Use it in all major parts of your profile including the tagline, summary, work experience, expertise, and interests.

Your keyword or phrase should be related to your role in business. For example, mine is “association marketing”.

The more times you use the keyword, the higher you rank in it’s search results. It’s like the primitive days of google. There’s no lengthy indexing process – when you add keywords to your profile you’ll see the results immediately.

3. Write a clear headline

You want people to know who you are immediately. Make sure your title is clear by including these 3 things:

What you do, who you do it for, and how you do it.

Example: Marketing specialist helping associations and startups increase engagement through strategic programs and online solutions

Get a birds eye view of your network with LinkedIn maps.

4. Post to groups

Leverage your entire network to spread your messages.

Share a link on your profile page. Then, click “share” under the post and select the “share to groups” option. Sharing to group allows you to post in front of thousands of people at once – dramatically increasing your reach.

5. Connect with everyone

I know LinkedIn treats you like you should know people before you connect with them, but seriously? Expand your network by connecting with anyone who wants to connect. Those people are all potential relationships — partners, customers, suppliers, and future sales.

6. Connect with the best through the new skills section

LinkedIn’s new Skills & Expertise section (under the ‘more’ tab) allows you to see which skills are increasing in demand. When people search specific skills they find the best people, companies, and groups related to that skill. Following and studying these skill-leaders is your first step to becoming one yourself.

See how the new LinkedIn Skills and Expertise section works.

7. Start building relationships softly by engaging

Use LinkedIn to softly begin and solidify relationships. Go and like people’s posts, congratulate them on new job titles, and endorse them for their talents. Whatever you do, don’t try to make hard sales pitches on LinkedIn. It never works. Be nice to people – engage with their content. Social media is about being likable… so don’t shout your name in the middle of a metaphorically crowded room.

8. Create your own group

Grow your network big time by creating your own group. Did you know that you can export an entire email list from a group you own? That’s right… any member of your group can go straight into your email marketing campaigns.

When you create a group, create it around a topic — not your company. The group is all about content marketing… not pushy sales… so cultivate a healthy group culture by posting valuable content yourself.

9. Export your contacts to an email list

If you haven’t exported your connections and added them to your email list… go do it! If you haven’t started an email list… we have another discussion coming.

10. Use your url on everything

Always expand your network. Put your LinkedIn url on your business card, email signature, website bio, and any other place imaginable.

After every new contact you meet via email, or face-to-face meetings, follow up with them on LinkedIn. Even consider making it your goal to make one new connection every day.