Why you should connect on LinkedIn to everybody in your organisation

The more people you’re connected to the easier business development becomes!

I get asked the same question time and time again by my clients “why should I connect to my colleagues in the firm?” A fair question and one that has a resounding yet simple answer.

I was recently asked it by one of my leading clients and drafted up the email you see below to go to all partners. I thought this may serve as both an explanation and as a template should you want to email your colleagues for the same reason.

I hope you find it useful.

Subject: Why do I need to connect on LinkedIn to my colleagues in the firm?

I get asked this all the time and fully understand the concerns you may have so I thought it might be worthwhile explaining why we encourage everybody within the firm to link to everybody else. Let me do this by using an example.

Employee A has decided to target company X to sell her services to but doesn’t know anybody there or, in fact, much about them at all.

Employee B happens to know Contact X, who works at company X, from a previous life.

Now if Employee A and Employee B are connected on LinkedIn as soon as Employee A searches for company X on LinkedIn she will see that Employee B has a contact there.

She will now be able to speak with Employee B to ascertain how well he knows Contact X and if well enough perhaps set up a fact-finding meeting to understand who the decision makers are, the incumbent suppliers, their budget and so on. This information is crucial when targeting a new company.

The purpose of all of us linking together is to create a firm-wide super network which not only speeds up the capture of new clients but will also make that all important “first contact” a good deal easier.

One of the biggest assets any firm possesses is the combined networks of its people – why not make the most of it.

What is e-rapport and how can it help you win more new clients?

E-rapport is a relationship built and maintained solely through social media; usually LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook.

People fall in love and get married and the only communication they’ve had has been via the Internet. They find and establish electronic pen-pals based upon a shared interest and, sadly, we’ve all read articles about the darker side of social media when used to  establish and develop highly improper relationships. Like it or not they are all a testament to the power of e-rapport.

E-rapport is important because relationships can only exist through interactions. These interactions do not have to be in person or over the telephone – they can be entirely electronic.

In my experience people tend to be more open to approach on social media from those they don’t know (especially true on Twitter) and when dialogue has been opened they are usually more chatty too, giving out (and receiving)  more personal information – also a requirement for building relationships. You can’t expect to develop a relationship if all you talk about is work, quel boring!

Of course in the longer run you need more than e-rapport: you will only do business with somebody you’ve actually met so up the relationship ante and give them a call or suggest a meeting. Man cannot live by e-rapport alone.

Avoid indulgence: its easy to connect with interesting people who will not be a benefit to your business but who are easy to talk to and will happily interact with you.  These people are called friends; they’re great to have but should not be confused with prospective clients.

So if you want to know why so many people benefit from using social media it’s because, amongst other things, they get to establish e-rapport, and therefore start relationships, with people they normally wouldn’t get access to.

I’d say that’s a pretty awesome thing to do and I’m hoping you do too.

Image courtesy of Ohmega1982 / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

12 things NOT to do on LinkedIn

The more people you’re connected to the easier business development becomes!

We all know that LinkedIn is an enormously powerful business tool and has now matured away from its “online CV” origins but are there any obvious bear-traps the hapless user can fall into?

Yes there are and here’s 12 of the most likely.

1)      Don’t only talk about your company on your profile

I’m going to be brutal with you… no one cares about your company.  If I wanted to know about your company then I would go to your company page.  On your profile page I want to read about you, sure a little bit about your company is acceptable, but I’m talking about a single line here; ‘A top 10 law firm specialising in large corporates’.  I want to know why I should choose YOU over the hundreds of other people who do the same job.  Remember people buy from people, not companies.

2)      Don’t be out of date

Don’t have awards on there that you won in 1999 or quotes from customers that you had in 2001.  If that is all you have then I am going to wonder why you haven’t had any quotes or awards since then, has your service slipped?  Did you become complacent and stop trying?  These are not questions that you want your prospective clients to be asking.

3)      Don’t use the common ‘buzzwords’

It’s the same as a CV.  No one wants to hear that you are a dedicated and trustworthy team player.  It may be true but these words have lost all sense of meaning.  Use words that are unique to the point that you are getting across.  If you are in employment law then talk about how conscientious you are about keeping up to date with the constant law changes, or how you have built your reputation on getting to know your clients culture so you can act accordingly.  Yes it means the same thing but it differentiates you from the crowd.

4)      Don’t send out the LinkedIn text

Never, and I mean NEVER, send out the text that LinkedIn automatically gives you, whether it be for an invitation to connect or a request for a Recommendation, people know this text and will not respond warmly to you.  Instead if it is an invitation to connect write about where you met each other, or how you help to be useful.  If you are asking for a recommendation then I would advise you ask them for it in person and then use the invitation on LinkedIn as a guidance tool.  Mention the work that you want to be recommended for and mention the topics you would like to be recommended for e.g. ‘As mentioned at lunch today would you recommend me for the work I did for you in February. If possible could you mention how I saved you money and was able to answer any and all questions you had quickly and effectively?’.  People will be grateful for the guidance.

5)      Don’t automatically recommend those who recommend you

This used to be the etiquette on LinkedIn, but times have changed.  Now it devalues any recommendations you may have and makes them look contrived.  Only offer recommendations to people you generally feel deserve it, remember you are putting your name and reputation on the line.

6)      Don’t have spelling mistakes

It’s exactly the same as in a CV or in a tender, spelling mistakes are like a plague to any potential business, it will stop it dead.  If you have problems with spelling (like me – Dyslexia runs in the family) then write everything in word first and then get someone else like a friend or colleague to read over it for you.  Better safe than sorry.

7)      Don’t accept competitors

Don’t accept invitations to connect from competitors, odds are they just want to scour your connections and rob them.

8)      Don’t have a casual picture

I have seen people use photos of themselves on sunbeds whilst on holiday, in a rubber ring in a pool and even one of a statue!  Your photo should be a corporate headshot of you in business attire.  People want to see your beautiful faces!

9)      Don’t have empty sections on your profile

Please don’t leave your summary blank, or fill in your work history for your current role but leave the others blank.  This shows laziness and lack of pride in your work.  Think of your LinkedIn page as your own personal website; fill it with as much information as humanly possible!

10)   Don’t join groups and immediately start selling yourself.

If you are in any groups you will know that nothing is more annoying than someone joining and immediately talking about themselves or their company or blathering on about all the offers that they currently have running.  People will immediately turn off and you may even find yourself reported to the group manager.

11)   Don’t join groups your competitors are in.

Why would you want to surround yourself with your competitors?  Why, if you are a construction lawyer would you join a construction lawyers group? Instead join a group where your potential clients lay, join construction professional groups.

12)   Don’t have too many Skills and Expertise

Yes its exciting when you realise that someone has endorsed you for a skill, but if you have too many that aren’t your focus you can end up looking like a Jack of all Trades.  Focus on between 3-10 skills that you wish to be known for.

Social Media Policy for Dummies (in 50 words)

A veritable buffet of social media products

Most firms I know have a social media policy big enough to choke a minke whale and quite rightly so because it provides all the legal cover they need but, will it actually have an effect in the real world?

Well if your social media users are prepared to spend the time to read it, inwardly digest and then commit it to memory then yes it will otherwise no it won’t. I think we both know which is more likely.

So here is a social media policy that works 100% of the time, is easy to remember and should be placed at the front of any official social media policy.

You’re in the pub surrounded by your best client, fiercest competitor, your boss, your co-workers, Rupert Murdoch and your mom. Anything you can say in front of these people that will not offend or be used against you (or your organisation) is safe to place on a social media site.  

Do feel free to send this to anybody using, or contemplating using, social media – I have found it resonates with most people and, despite its simplicity, does seem to make them more aware of the risks they face.

Enjoy social media responsibly.

4 ways to find and connect with prospective new clients

In my previous post I put forward the idea that attending networking events to find and connect with new prospective clients was largely a waste of time. In this post I’m going to explore four alternatives that in my experience are much more effective.

Flair Sales Life-Cycle

Before I do that let me just put these alternatives in their proper place in the sales life-cycle. As you can see sales is made up of 3 distinct collections of activities (plus a foundation level not shown). What we are talking about in this post are activities that fall into the “Capture” phase and should not be confused with the “Conversion” phase which is far more challenging and can last anywhere from a few hours (I wish!) to months or even years.

I have reinforced this premise because we sometimes forget that meeting and making contact with new prospects is actually the easy bit – “Conversion” and “Cultivation” are significantly harder and need to be approached with more organisation, process and control than the “Capture” phase requires.

That said I am going to explore four alternative approaches to attending networking events. It is important to accept that not all approaches will suit all readers and some are more effective with certain target groups than others so you will need to experiment to find out what works best for you.

Social Media

First let’s look at LinkedIn which is my favourite SM capture method; in fact last year just over 10% of my revenues came from this source and this year I think it will be closer to 25%.

I use the groups as the ideal way of finding and then connecting with potential prospects. By joining the right groups you can instantly be exposed to large numbers of people who are close to your Ideal Client Profile (ICP) and then you can invite people to connect just based on being in the same group. I did some work on this last summer and found that I got a 30% uplift on acceptances if I was also active in the discussions at the same time as inviting people to connect. Just a thought.

I also use the advanced search facility (I should say I have paid for the LinkedIn upgrade to get more facilities – well worth it I reckon) to identify good ICP matches then invite them to connect.

Don’t forget that if you’re going to use LinkedIn in this very proactive way you must make sure that your profile is in very good shape. More on this in the Summary below.

Twitter is less effective for me but I accept that this is probably not true for others. I generally work with lawyers most of whom have not succumbed to the Twitter bug yet but I do find it a useful way of connecting with Exposers such as editors and showcase administrators (see below).

The big thing with SM is that you can do it from the comfort of your own living room whilst drinking tea and watching Corrie (said he trying to appear a man of the people) which is especially useful if you either can’t spare the time to meet other people face to face or just don’t like doing it.

Showcasing

Let me be very clear here: I am not talking about doing a speech at a seminar in front of people who are already on your database with the aim of educating them on one topic or another. Last year Showcasing was the source of about 15% of my revenues. It takes very little time and is largely free so why wouldn’t you give it a go?

A Showcase has three objectives: -

1. To educate, enlighten, entertain and engage the audience.
2. To reinforce in their minds your depth of knowledge and that you’re a thought-leader.
3. To capture their contact details.

The last point is the thing that makes a talk into a Showcase: it is designed from the start to capture contact details. If I get less than 60% of the audience’s contact details at a Showcase event I consider it a failure.

It is important to remember that if you fail to achieve the first two objectives you probably won’t manage the third. It is all about adding value to your audience above everything else.

My advice to all my clients is to have at least one Showcase which they can confidently deliver either as a panel speaker (usually in about 15-20 minutes) or as a key-note speaker (between 50 to 60 minutes). You can use the same speech but limit your panel speech to 2 or 3 main points and avoid using PowerPoint.

One more thing: you can also Showcase in written form in published articles and the like; exactly the same rules apply. I don’t like it as much as speaking and it has never been as effective but it’s an alternative for those who don’t like speaking in public.

Proactive Referral Systems

Dan Sullivan, the daddy of all business coaches, once said “all the money you need is in the pockets of the people you know and the pockets of the people they know” – ain’t that the truth Dan. About 70% of my business comes from referrals and I track each and every one on my CRM system. From this I can split them into two: Bluebirds which are completely unexpected but are very welcome and Pros where I have influenced their arrival in some way.

At the heart of any referral system there has to be a good offering delivered well. Strangely enough it doesn’t have to be great, as we shall see, but it does have to be worthy of the price people are paying for it.

The thing that makes the most difference is the way you interface with your clients. In Flair we call these things Sili features (small items, large impact) and they have an enormous effect on your clients. Provided they make your clients feel special (not just a name in a database); appreciated (not taken for granted) and understood (we listen and respond accordingly) then you are probably on the right tracks.

Paddi Lund the Australian dentist and referral guru (that’s right I said dentist – check him out here) makes referrals a condition of being one of his patients. Now I’m not suggesting you take it to those lengths but I do suggest you make it clear to your clients that you are looking for referrals and just what type of people you would like to be introduced to. Noel and Les of Index Fund Advisers actually print what their ideal client looks like on their business cards turning them into referral cards. Very cool there boys!

When you combine Sili features with a good value offering, run the whole thing thru a CRM system (I’m a Microsoft Dynamics man myself) for maximum efficiency and make it clear you would welcome and appreciate referrals you can not only expect a significant number of Proactive referrals but also in increase in Bluebirds too.

Direct Approach

Now, if you provide a product or service that is similar to your competitor’s any kind of direct approach is likely to be a waste of time, money and effort. In fact I’d rather attend networking events than do this which should tell you what I think about direct marketing.

That said if you have something that is unique, useful, cheap, low-risk and above all easy to engage with that’s a different kettle of fish altogether. In Flair these are called Latch-key offerings and they are designed to be just that: door openers.

I will post on Latch-keys at some future point since they are far too intricate for me to be able to cover them properly in this post but I will say that when you are searching for them explore the minor niggles your clients have. Look for the irritants that they put up with but if you had a remedy you would get their attention.

I always have one or two latch-keys available to me at any one time and another in development. The sad part is that if you find something that works eventually the competition will copy it – whilst flattery is the highest form of compliment it can also be a royal pain in the butt sometimes!

Anyhow, once you have a decent latch-key at your disposal previously ineffective Capture methods such as cold-calling (not for me but feel free); buying lists of names and direct marketing to them or hiring a lead generation company can all be revisited. The difference is having a decent latch-key to promote instead of your regular revenue offerings.

Summary

So whilst we accept that the real business of new business takes place in “Conversion” (I’ll post on this in the future too) there are a wide number of alternatives to attending networking events that will help you find and connect with prospective new clients.

My advice would be to do the following without delay: -

• Get your LinkedIn profile up to scratch, join the right groups and get connecting. We have a free briefing document on how to do this. If you would like a copy drop me an email and I will send it over.
• Build a Showcase you can deliver in panel and keynote forms and get some gigs lined up.
• Sort out a few Sili’s and start asking for referrals – take control of the process.
• Identify, build and market a decent latch-key.

Do all of these things and you’ll never have to suffer one of those frightful networking events ever again except, perhaps, as a speaker.

As usual I would welcome your comments, support, criticism and suggestions (warning: I cannot guarantee all my readers are over 18!).

Good luck and good hunting.

8 things to remember when using LinkedIn recommendations

LinkedIn recommendations appear to divide the online community into two: those who believe they are a valuable part of an on-line persona and those who do not. I happen to fall into the former camp and here’s why.

According to research done by Miller, Williams and Hayashi and published in their book “The 5 Paths to Persuasion” three types of people accounting to 66% of the buying population want to know that you have successfully done for somebody else what you are offering to do for them.

So two thirds of those people you are pitching to are thinking “I wonder if this person can really do it?”. Of course case studies and testimonials are extremely valid ways to tick this mental box and I’m all in favour of using them but what about those people who took the time to research you before you even met and have already formed their opinion.

Using LinkedIn recommendations enables you to start the persuasion process even before you have met your prospective client. If enough people say your are good at what you do it’s bound to have an effect. Ok it might not make the sale on its own (I wish!) but it will get you off to a great start.

So how can we approach LinkedIn recommendations to get the most from them. Here are 8 guidelines you should bear in mind.

1. Avoid back-scratching.

If you accept a recommendation LinkedIn encourages you to give one in return. This looks a trifle contrived and should be avoided. If you do want to reciprocate then leave it for a month or so before you do so.

2. Be choosy.

There is no point having huge amounts of duplicate recommendations. Sure it is great for your personal brand if the recommendations all have a similar message but nobody is going to read the same thing over and over. They may even think you wrote them all yourself!

3. Don’t be afraid to ask.

It is always nice to receive a surprise recommendation but don’t leave it to chance. If you have completed a piece of work for somebody and you know they are happy with it then ask for a recommendation. Although LinkedIn does this for you I believe it is good practice to telephone or speak in person to your potential recommender and ask them if they would do it before you send the LinkedIn request.

4. Avoid internal recommendations.

It is unlikely that your boss or co-workers will write a bad recommendation for you. Everybody knows this which means that too many internal recommendations are not a good idea. Sure getting your boss or somebody from another department to write a few words is no bad thing but don’t overdo it – go for external recommenders if you can.

5. Recommend others.

There is no finer gift than an unsolicited recommendation. If somebody has done something remarkable or even did what they promised (alarmingly this it becoming more and more remarkable these days) then sending over a LinkedIn recommendation is a great way to say “thank you”.

6. Honesty at all times.

If you are called upon to write a recommendation for somebody who you feel you cannot give a unconditional thumbs up for it is vital that you do not mislead people who may read what you have written. Think of things that are positive and true and write them no matter how mundane they may be otherwise perhaps you should just ignore the request and hope for the best.

7. Talent and favour.

When you write a recommendation it is sometimes difficult to know what to put. If this is the case my advice is to say what that person is good at (talent) and what you really like about them (favour). An alternative is to write about a specific thing that they did for you. In either case I refer you back to point 6 above.

 8. Say thank you.

This goes without saying really but based on my own experiences I thought I’d say it anyway. My rule is if somebody does something above and beyond the call of duty they get a thank you and recommendations definitely qualifies in my book.

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I’m not sure if you agree with me when it comes to recommendations but if you do then my advice is to be proactive when asking for and giving and always be honest in what you write.

I would be interested to hear your comments on this subject as it does appear to generate some quite strong feelings.

Guest Post: The Simple Guide To Writing An Online Profile That Works

This is guest post by Heather Townsend of Joined Up Business Networking For Busy Professionals whose excellent blog can be found here:  http://joinedupnetworking.com

Yesterday I was given a masterclass in how to write your online profile by David Stoch of Meerkat PR, who specialises in getting his clients coverage in the national newspapers. I learnt so much I wanted to share what I learnt with you today:

1. Keep it short and sweet

Less is definitely more. You only have seconds to grab someone’s attention – whether they are meeting you online or you are trying to pitch yourself to a journalist or editor. If you try and bundle the kitchen sink into your bio, for example… “so & so is a coach, consultant, speaker, author…”, it will damage your credibility and also switch people off. For example, if you are qualified to do many things, try and crystallise that down to the headline. What value do you deliver to your clients?

2. Keep your basic bio to a simple structure

Your basic bio, which will be used on author credits, and in pitches to editors needs to have the following structure:
One sentence which states up to three things about who you are. E.g.

Heather Townsend is an Author, Performance Improvement Specialist to professional service firms, and Social Media Expert.

A paragraph qualifying your credibility:

Over the past decade, Heather has worked with more than one hundred partners and trained over 1000 lawyers, accountants and other professionals at every level, within the UK’s leading and most ambitious professional practices. She is the UK’s foremost expert on how business people can build meaningful and profitable relationships via social media and has been commissioned to write on key business topics by the Financial Times.Heather is the founder and Chief Coach at The Efficiency Coach, and co-founder of ‘the executive village’.

3. Qualify, qualify, qualify

By the way, writing the qualifying paragraph is tough. You need to strip out any marketing messages and ‘prove’ why you are what you say you are – and why you are credible. I wanted to say in my paragraph something like this:

“Heather is one of the very few people who understands both the commercial, leadership and people issues facing a professional practice”.

But, that’s not qualified and is marketing spin.

4. Use keywords & links

Your online bio goes every where… at the bottom of your articles make sure that you have links to the websites which are important to you. Hyperlink the keywords back to your website.

5. Use a colour professional photo of you

People want to see the real you – and even better if you can use a short video clip of you. Whilst your black and white picture may look very arty, your audience wants to see you.

6. Have multiple versions

Twitter restricts you to 160 characters, LinkedIn let’s you write an essay. You need to have multiple versions of your online bio, depending on the medium. For example, you want to have a keyword rich bio for LinkedIn and Twitter, but a different short bio to be used as an author credit.

What’s your tips for writing your online profile?

Purple Time + LinkedIn = Dosh?

I know we are all busy most of the time. Connected to our business all day, every day even when we are frying by the pool. Is being that connected all that cool? Well in some ways it is but the torrent of information we send and receive can mask the real issue – no time to reflect which is definitely NOT cool.

I have blogged about Purple Time before on more than one occasion and I have no intention of doing so again now but I wanted to share a real instance of how investing Purple Time for yourself  can result in an increase in business.

This morning I travelled to London on the train. I could have fired up the magic box and done some emails or worked on the design of my new website or countless other operational activities but I didn’t.

What I actually did was think about a specific challenge I have around LinkedIn: how can create an ethical revenue stream from my LinkedIn contacts without being salesy or unprofessional?

Well in between drinking coffee, reading the paper and staring into the darkness a solution suddenly came to me. Simple, with integrity and yet oh so doable. I have written it down and intend to test it out over the coming weeks and if it works I will be blogging it on my other blog (mikesbigonlineadventure).

I can’t say for sure it will work (although I think it will) but what I can say is that if I had spent the time in operational mode instead of letting myself have some Purple Time I wouldn’t have the chance to find out.

Give yourself some Purple Time today and see what happens!

Your LinkedIn Page and your Personal Brand

I have an extremely efficient PA (Hi Mel) who organises my life for me and to whom I am deeply grateful. One of the things she does for me is prepare a standard pack of information when I visit new people. It usually contains a location map (which I ignore of course – I’m a bloke), a few relevant snaps from their website, any previous notes I have made and their LinkedIn page.

Their LinkedIn page tells me an awful lot about them and it is always the first thing I turn to in the pack. If they don’t have one it tells me that they perhaps haven’t embraced the new digital world of social media and are quite probably locked somewhere in the 1990′s. Say hello to Color Me Bad and the Spice Girls for me would you Sport.

You can also tell if they have just put the bare minimum in (still not quite with it) and finally you can easily spot those people that have recognised that their LinkedIn Page is not only their own personal web site but completely underpins their personal brand.

When LinkedIn first came along it was a sort of a cross between an on-line CV and a way to find and connect to old friends and business colleagues. It is soooo much more than that now. You can add video, shared documents, PowerPoint presentations as well as share what you are up to with anybody who is connected with you. You can also use it to generate new business as well as make the most of the clients you already have.

Did you know that about 66% of people need to feel sure that the person they are about to buy something from has successfully provided the same thing to somebody else. Recommendations will do this for you – just make sure that they are good ones and do try and avoid the “I’ll do one for you if you’ll do one for me” trap. It isn’t very helpful really.

LinkedIn can do so much more (if you want a free guide on this just let us know) but for now just concentrate on getting your profile up to 100% (linkedIn measures this) and make sure it represents you in the best possible light. Here are a few things to do: -

• Get a good photograph of yourself, a head shot is probably best
• Get at least 3 recommendations from people who know you
• List out your specialisations: your unique genius. Try and avoid being all bashful – if you’ve got it flaunt it baby!
• Summarise what you do, the effect you have and why you are different.
• Put some contact details in their too – nobody will contact you if you live in a cyber-cave.

The one key message I wanted to get across is that if you look at your client’s and prospective client’s profiles they will most probably look at yours so make it reflect your personal brand and make it SHINE.

Leave a comment if you agree with me or in fact if you don’t – I’d love to hear from you.