Use Your LinkedIn Profile to Win New Business

Your LinkedIn Profile is your window to the world. It’s prime real estate positioned at the forefront of your network, and it’s working for you, building your brand 24/7.

Used wisely and your LinkedIn profile has the power to:

• Quickly position you as the ‘go to’ expert in your industry
• Dramatically shift your sales conversations and how receptive people are to you
• Create an entirely new marketplace of prospects who didn’t previously realise they had a problem and so weren’t interested in your solution
• Create a market place so loyal to you, they won’t consider talking to your competition, and will actually stand up for you in the face of someone promoting your competition
• Have people happily pay your full fees to have you work with them.

In this article, I provide a quick overview of some the main parts of your profile, for more information, be sure to click the invitation to ‘Read More’.

And if you’re about to embark on crafting a new LinkedIn Profile, be sure to download my Ultimate Guide to Writing a LinkedIn Profile Kit designed to help you write your LinkedIn Profile as fast and efficiently as possible.

1. Your LinkedIn Profile Headshot

Statistics show that having a LinkedIn photo results in 21x more profiles views and 9x more connection requests. Why?

Because when people see you, they get an instant feel for the person behind the profile and make a decision as to whether you are someone they’d like to know.

Therefore a professional photo is important – more so than on any other social media site.

LinkedIn is about business connections and requires professional conduct. I always say to people ‘If you wouldn’t show up at a board meeting in your wedding dress, don’t show up on LinkedIn in one’.

2. Your LinkedIn Profile Headline

Our Headline text will appear on LinkedIn Search Results and suggested connections, giving us the ability to grab the attention of our prospect and create curiosity.

At this stage, our prospect doesn’t know us and isn’t interested to learn more. With so much going on in their day, they will have little motivation or reason to click on a profile that doesn’t appear relevant to them.

Using words like ‘Company Director’ and ‘Founder’ is wasteful, as without context they mean absolutely nothing.

Instead, opt to create a sentence that sums up the problem you solve and draws your visitor in. It will set the context for your profile and tell prospects what to expect. It should resonate with those who need your solution. Read more.

3. Background Image

We’ve all heard it said ‘A picture speaks a thousand words’ and the same is true with your LinkedIn Background image.

Along with adding additional colour and interest to your profile, the picture can quickly convey a lot about your business.

It might be nice to think that people are generally interested in us, but the truth is with so much competition for our time and attention when someone opens a LinkedIn profile the only question on their mind is ‘Is this relevant to me?’

A background photo is a great way to quickly set the scene and establish the conversation you’re about to have with your visitor.

Not only that but it shows an extra level of care and professionalism and is well worth the time.

Getting this right shouldn’t have to stop you loading your profile, however. It’s a nice-to-have, not a must-have. Read More. 

4. Contact Details

5. Your About Section

Outline the problem you solve so prospects instantly understand the context of the conversation they are about to have with you.

It may sound harsh, but when it comes to LinkedIn, nobody cares about you until you become relevant to them. Without context, your prospect is unlikely to read your profile or consider you someone who has what they want.

Hidden behind the ‘See More’ make sure the first two lines of your About Section make an impact, so people want to keep reading.

Otherwise, they’ll click right past you and continue on with their day, not realising you had the solution to their problem.

Yep, the Summary section has changed the name. It still operates the same.

Find out more about how to write your LinkedIn About section here.

6. Current Experience

When writing the LinkedIn Experience entry for your current position, it is important to consider the buying journey of your prospect. If your headline has intrigued them the first thing they will do is scan your profile to decide whether it is worth reading.

What we don’t want to do though is repeat any content from the About Section. If our content is too similar, our visitor, who is still deciding whether they want to invest time reading our profile, will assume the text is the same and won’t spot the slight differences or paragraphs that are actually different.

It’s important to note that people scan profiles before opting to read properly, and they’ll stay in this mode for quite a while before opting to read. They are continually asking ‘Is this relevant to me?’ Read More

7. Past Experience

Do you know that your prospect is surrounded by a secret decision-making panel? They may tell you they are the person in charge and opt to purchase from you – but they’re lying to you!

Every one of us is surrounded by friends and family that care about us. Mention you’ve just invested in a new training program or solution for more than your quarterly income and they’re going to be asking questions.

Most people assume that their past-experience section won’t be read by other people. How often do you read someone’s past experience? However, the truth is, people do, and it’s these people.

The most important people in your new client’s life. They will want to know who you are, how you work, why you’re better than their mate who does the ‘same’ thing, and why you are the expert at what you do. Complete this section well, and you’ll have their loved one nodding in approval. Read More.