Tag Archives: business development

Don’t Be LinkedIn-Lazy — Use it for Business Intelligence

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By regularly nurturing your LinkedIn network, you can get valuable business intelligence that can open doors. It happened to me and I want to tell you how.

LinkedIn MerlinWizard

LinkedIn MerlinWizard (Photo credit: Adriano Gasparri)

If you’re like most of my friends, you treat LinkedIn as an online resume-storage box. You probably devote most of your social media time sharing information with friends on Facebook or Twitter, and rarely visit or update your LinkedIn profile, seek recommendations, join groups, list accomplishments or even add a profile photo.

If you’ve been LinkedIn-Lazy, it’s time to change your ways. It’s the first place recruiters do their hunting; it’s a place where it’s totally cool to strut your stuff, and your achievements get showcased in a nicely organized way.

What’s most important to me? On LinkedIn, you can easily gather business intelligence by learning about nearly everyone who is sizing you up on a daily basis.

That little bit of information — above all else — is LinkedIn’s most valuable benefit to my business.

I treat LinkedIn as my little treasure hunt in reverse. The treasures aren’t hidden. They are in full view EVERY DAY. Every single day I find valuable gold nuggets for my business — the names and companies of those who’ve visited my profile page.

It’s my free business intelligence about who may be looking for a PR or social media consultant. It also tells me who’s trolling for possible partnerships or internships. With a little chutzpah, you can connect with those people and see what unfolds.

Here’s a nugget that recently dropped in my LinkedIn lap. I noticed a few days ago that a marketing exec from a major university visited my page. So I took the initiative to send this message:

Dear PERSON, I couldn’t help but notice your recent visit to my LinkedIn profile. Please let me know how I might help you or whether any potential job candidates have listed me as a reference. Enjoy your summer!

The next day I received this response:

Thanks for the note. I am looking for a XXXX to take XXXX to the next level. Ideally I am looking for INDUSTRY X, Y AND Z who can help to further raise our profile and engage prospects. (TEXT ALTERED BY ME)

By simply checking up on my LinkedIn profile visitors, I now have a continuing conversation with someone I might never have met. A door opened for me and I didn’t even push. I’ll let you know if it leads to business.

Having a solid, 100% complete LinkedIn profile is a must for any professional, whether or not he/she is looking for work. And it’s equally important to make daily trips to LinkedIn to see who’s scoping you out.

It also helps to take the initiative (or maybe, audacity) and let LinkedIn visitors know that you’re looking at them while they’re looking at you. As long as you can do it in a welcoming, helpful, non-creepy sort of way, you have nothing to lose and some valuable business intel to gain.

Happy Reverse-Treasure Hunting! 

Post happily written by Michelle Damico

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Tell me what you do (in a minute or less)!

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So tell me, what do you do?

When customers and prospects visit your website, Facebook or other digital properties, do they see a memorable message about  your business and how it helps people or other businesses? In an elevator or at a cocktail party would someone understand your business value proposition in a minute or less?

If “NO” is the answer to both questions, you should consider creating or simplifying your business message or starting from scratch with a message framework.

It sounds easier than it is. Creating one short soundbite explaining what you do and why it matters to your target audience takes time, perspective and a willingness to dig beyond your mission statement and product/service description.

It also requires a kind of objectivity that’s difficult to practice when your business is your baby. The message development process can take hours, days or weeks, depending on your own and your customers’ experiences. My approach is to take it in baby steps; the first three are fact-finding steps.

  • Know Your Audience — pinpoint their problem, and consider all the ways that problem keeps them worried or makes them lose sleep.
  • List all the ways your product/service solves that problem. If you have a long list, put the top three in priority.
  • Describe the most important features that you offer a customer and how those features specifically address that problem.

The final fourth step has more to do with your customer’s feelings or emotions. We all establish personal connections to a business. I choose a neighborhood printer versus going online for my letterhead and business cards because the manager of the Minute Man Press in my town makes me feel important. As a small business owner, that’s a good feeling and one that will keep me coming back.

So once you’ve done all your fact-finding in steps 1, 2 and 3, consider the emotional response from your client when you do business with him/her? Does he feel more secure? Trusting? Smart that he’s spending his money wisely? Protected because you’re watching out for her business?

Navigating this process requires your own review of how you’ve helped customers and the anecdotes they’ve shared about how you made a difference. It’s also best to conduct this messaging process with the help of a third party, someone who can be objective, who doesn’t live and breathe your business, and who can provide a different perspective of your business and your audience. The anecdotes you gather become the supporting points that bolster your message. These “proof points” also serve as conversation-extenders, since prospects want to hear about other customer experiences for a better understanding of how you’ll help them.

So let’s get a conversation started — What do you do?

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